The E-Book Experiment: An Intro

I had a big long post to start this off, and then I realized it was a rant about the traditional publishing industry. And that wasn’t supposed to be the point of it.

So, I’m starting again.

I’m a writer. An author. A STORYTELLER.

I started to learn to read early because I was fascinated by these wondrous marks on paper that others would read to me. Stories! These marks were always the same and could be read! Then I realized my mother was using these strange marks to write her own! Oh, wow. I had to get into that. I wanted to read them on my own and, even then, before kindergarten, I wanted to WRITE my own.

When my class started using Dick and Jane to teach reading and writing (I had a head-start on that class), while the rest of the class was working on the shapes and the sounding-out of the words, my little pea-picking head was looking with scorn at these stories, declaring, “I can write a story better than THIS!”

Sound familiar? Anyone having flashbacks of reading a book and then throwing it across the room saying the same thing? I was just a little ahead of most people on that. 😉

And it hasn’t stopped since then.

I have always wanted to make a living telling stories that others enjoyed. As time went on, and I continued to study the industry, it became clearer that it was becoming harder and harder for the CONTENT producers in the industry to make a living.

Which has been sad. It’s made my heart sick at times. The dream I’ve had since before starting school was almost impossible from the very start as I’ve never been delusional enough to think I would be one of those special people to get one of the lucky break 5-6 figure book contracts.

But, times and the technology are changing.

I’ve been in the business world a long time now. For the past several years I’ve been approaching my writing like a business, in that I’m making actual business plans and have a writing schedule. And the schedule has been working great! I now have product to sell and share.

Now it’s time to do something about the sharing part of the dream, and with it, hopefully, the ‘making a living’ part. After all, this is MY career and no one else’s. To think someone else will help me in building that career is pie-in-the-sky idiocy.

I would like to think I’m smarter than that. 😉

Starting now will be a series of posts titled “The E-Book Experiment.” Why it is called that will become clear as the posts go on.

The first part of series will look at business basics and applying them to the publishing world, along with a few basic conclusions. Others may disagree with the conclusions, but hey, that is THEIR career choices. We all have choices to make and live by.

Then the series will progress to the meat of it: the writing.

I’m looking forward to this, even though it may mean I need to adjust my 5 Year Writing Business Plan. But I’m hoping this will mean adjustment in a good way!

Stay tuned for the next part!

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“The E-Book Experiment” chronicles the business and creative side of an experiment with the business opportunities new technology and creative outlets now afford content producers. Will if fail? Will it succeed? The only way to know is to approach it with a solid plan and try. No regrets!

I hope the details of this journey will be a help to other authors. As the process proceeds to selling the final products I will also share hard data that might be useful in the decision making process of other authors who recognize that only they can take charge of their careers. For a listing of all the posts in this series, please click here.

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The E-Book Experiment: An Intro

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