by Evanlowe | Dec 17, 2017 | Uncategorized
Chelsea Campbell published her debut book The Rise of Renegade X through a traditional publisher, and thought she’d hit the jackpot. But then the sales weren’t great, and the publisher didn’t do much work to promote it. Overall, it was a disappointing experience. Because of the bad sales, when Campbell wrote a sequel and showed it to them, they turned her down. Of course she was dejected, but she also knew that this rejection didn’t have to be the end of her dreams. For years, fans of her first book asked her when her next book was coming out, so she knew she couldn’t disappoint them. She created a Kickstarter campaign to self-publish another book in the series. Although a Kickstarter campaign can be difficult to get funded, she got 77 backers to pledge a total of $2,517, which was enough to pay for editing, layout, cover art, and other things required to bring a book to life. Book 2 came out to the great glee of all her fans. A little while afterwards, both books took off on Amazon. In the Superheroes, category, they soared to the top of Amazon’s bestseller and hot new releases lists. What’s more, the series is now optioned by Disney Channel Movies. In four years she never made any money in traditional publishing. Yet here she was, a little bit after publishing her second book, and she was killing it financially. Even that is not the end of the story: the books sold so well that a publisher gave her a big advance for the third and fourth book (an editor for Skyscrape contacted her agent). So even though...
by Evanlowe | Dec 16, 2017 | News
Chelsea Campbell published her debut book The Rise of Renegade X through a traditional publisher, and thought she’d hit the jackpot. But then the sales weren’t great, and the publisher didn’t do much work to promote it. Overall, it was a disappointing experience. Because of the bad sales, when Campbell wrote a sequel and showed it to them, they turned her down. Of course she was dejected, but she also knew that this rejection didn’t have to be the end of her dreams. For years, fans of her first book asked her when her next book was coming out, so she knew she couldn’t disappoint them. She created a Kickstarter campaign to self-publish another book in the series. Although a Kickstarter campaign can be difficult to get funded, she got 77 backers to pledge a total of $2,517, which was enough to pay for editing, layout, cover art, and other things required to bring a book to life. Book 2 came out to the great glee of all her fans. A little while afterwards, both books took off on Amazon. In the Superheroes, category, they soared to the top of Amazon’s bestseller and hot new releases lists. What’s more, the series is now optioned by Disney Channel Movies. In four years she never made any money in traditional publishing. Yet here she was, a little bit after publishing her second book, and she was killing it financially. Even that is not the end of the story: the books sold so well that a publisher gave her a big advance for the third and fourth book (an editor for Skyscrape contacted her agent). So even though...
by Evanlowe | Dec 2, 2017 | Uncategorized
Melissa Leong was a business journalist who wrote a YA vampire novel, What Kills Me, and sent it to 20 agents. Unfortunately, many of them didn’t respond and others flatly said they weren’t interested in the topic, without even reading the manuscript. After enduring many rejections, she didn’t know what to do. Her novel sat untouched and she wondered whether she should stick with journalism and not try fiction again. That is, until she finally took advice from her friends to self-publish. She did so through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing site and waited for something to happen. With the price set at $2.99, nothing did happen. She sold virtually no copies. But when she dropped the price to under a dollar, at $0.99, she rocketed up to Amazon’s bestseller list in the Occult and Action & Adventure categories. Soon she had a ton of spectacular things happening: interviews from prominent bloggers and reviewers and book outlets massive amounts of publicity tons of reviews from ardent fans fan mail and, of course, sales, sales, sales ($ $ $) Best of all, three movie producers contacted her for TV/movie adaptations. No word yet, but she’s still hoping the series makes it to the big screen. Melissa Leong has proven you can still become a six figure author with a 99 cent ebook. Melissa Leong writes under the pseudonym Wynne Channing ___ You, too can have your book optioned by Hollywood for a movie or TV show. You just need a road map. Download my free guide Your Book Can Become A...
by Evanlowe | Nov 12, 2016 | News
I used to revere all the established writers. Not that I don’t revere them anymore. I still do, but the more I’ve gotten into my writing career, the more I’ve discovered that while I enjoy reading their books, a lot of what they say about the craft of writing is either regurgitated advice I’ve heard before, or the advice doesn’t ring true… at least not for me. Here, I have culled six quotes by famous writers. Several have meaning beyond their words. Want some honest writing advice from famous writers? Have at it. “Write Drunk, Edit Sober” This quote plays like a humorous comment, advice you jokingly give to writers before you begin doling out the good stuff. I’ve even posted it on my Facebook page as a joke. But Hemingway is dead serious with this one—sort of. Leave it to Hemingway to wring deep meaning from such a short sentence. You can get drunk if you want to, but that’s not what he’s talking about. So what did he mean? Writing and editing require two different states of mind. Writing takes a free mind. You have to be bold, brash, free flowing, and experimental—like a drunk. Editing, on the other hand, requires an organized mind. You have to be tough as nails and analytical as you go through your work—like a sober person. Hemingway’s metaphoric quote is actually about the two very different states of mind required to do both jobs. It’s something each of us as writers needs to keep in mind as we take off our writing hats and don the editing brim. Write like a drunk, edit like...
by Evanlowe | Nov 1, 2016 | News
Laurie’s career as a systems analyst was winding down. Her two daughters were grown and out of the house, and Laurie’s husband, Aaron, was still enjoying his career in corporate sales. It could have been a lonely transition for Laurie, moving from the day-to-day work world to a life of gardening and bridge clubs. “It wasn’t something I even thought about,” Laurie tells me from her home in San Francisco. “Instead of being worried about the transition, I was excited. In fact, it was the most excitement I’d experienced since the birth of my children,” Laurie says with a guilty smile. “I’d been wanting to be a writer for as far back as I can remember. Now, it was my time.” Laurie had piled up dozens of stories over the years, along with lots of life experience, and she was ready and excited to share her stories with the world. Not that starting a new career is easy. “When you’ve completely changed your focus after so many years your brain needs to get rewired,” Laurie told me. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you need to realize you may not be able to do it alone.” That’s when Laurie turned to me. Here are five tips I gave Laurie to help jumpstart her second career as a writer. Brush up on your skills Don’t start out by jumping into a novel. Read a book on the craft of writing, join a writing group, and practice. Now that you’ve rediscovered the joy of writing in your mind, rediscover it on the page. Rome wasn’t built in a day,...
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