Has your life been interesting enough to write a book?

I once wrote a piece for a magazine about an interesting event that happened to me. I read and re-read and polished it until I felt it was gold and mailed it to the publisher. About a month later I got it back along with a letter of rejection. I re-read what I had written with a fresh eye after my mind had cleared from writing it in the first place and it was crap.
 

Grampa Don said:
Marketing is the key to e-book sales. There is no quality control for Amazon e-books. It will allow anyone to publish almost anything, and there is no charge to do it. This has resulted in a massive amount of garbage. You could write the greatest book in the world, and it would be so buried that only your friends could find it. Books are listed according to sales rank. So, you have to have pretty good sales to be seen.

A niche market helps. If you have something on a subject with little competition, it's easier to get a good ranking. But, a novel or autobiography is going to be tough. Belonging to a forum and putting a link to the book in your signature helps. If people like you, they may check it out. Giving away free copies to gain reviews and sales rank can help. Amazon allows that for a 2 week period every six months.

The sad truth is that the cream doesn't always rise to the top. As John wrote, you aren't likely to make a fortune. But, even just a couple nice reviews are good for the
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Grampa Don said:
Marketing is the key to e-book sales. There is no quality control for Amazon e-books. It will allow anyone to publish almost anything, and there is no charge to do it. This has resulted in a massive amount of garbage. You could write the greatest book in the world, and it would be so buried that only your friends could find it. Books are listed according to sales rank. So, you have to have pretty good sales to be seen.

A niche market helps. If you have something on a subject with little competition, it's easier to get a good ranking. But, a novel or autobiography is going to be tough. Belonging to a forum and putting a link to the book in your signature helps. If people like you, they may check it out. Giving away free copies to gain reviews and sales rank can help. Amazon allows that for a 2 week period every six months.

The sad truth is that the cream doesn't always rise to the top. As John wrote, you aren't likely to make a fortune. But, even just a couple nice reviews are good for the ego
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Grampa Don said:
all of my reviews are from customers, that have purchase the book, I don't give away anything on Amazon, I like to control things myself, I give away a book myself somethimes , but I have to purchase it myself, no such thing as a free lunch, to the author.
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Chet said:
I once wrote a piece for a magazine about an interesting event that happened to me. I read and re-read and polished it until I felt it was gold and mailed it to the publisher. About a month later I got it back along with a letter of rejection. I re-read what I had written with a fresh eye after my mind had cleared from writing it in the first place and it was crap.
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Do you know I must have sent the same piece in myself, (many times in fact!). :)
 
Grampa Don said:
Marketing is the key to e-book sales. There is no quality control for Amazon e-books. It will allow anyone to publish almost anything, and there is no charge to do it. This has resulted in a massive amount of garbage. You could write the greatest book in the world, and it would be so buried that only your friends could find it. Books are listed according to sales rank. So, you have to have pretty good sales to be seen.

A niche market helps. If you have something on a subject with little competition, it's easier to get a good ranking. But, a novel or autobiography is going to be tough. Belonging to a forum and putting a link to the book in your signature helps. If people like you, they may check it out. Giving away free copies to gain reviews and sales rank can help. Amazon allows that for a 2 week period every six months.

The sad truth is that the cream doesn't always rise to the top. As John wrote, you aren't likely to make a fortune. But, even just a couple nice reviews are good for the ego.
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When I published my first book through a small press in 2004, I sold thousands of copies, no lie. I was considered successful. But I worked hard that first year, marketing, promoting, doing book talks, speaking engagements, and going to festivals to sell my book. Speaking engagements netted me the most money for my time. In one hour of speaking, I sold 650 dollars worth of books. Amazon hadn't taken off yet. Not the case anymore. Too much competition. But I wasn't writing to get rich. I was writing because it was an inherent part of me. A creative endeavor to share my art with others.

The second book came three years later, and it was not as successful as the first one because I had an accident and was out of commission, so I didn't market it as much. My third and fourth books have sold well, but none of the books put together sold as well as the first one. All my books are ebooks and paperback. Some are hardback. I agree about the ebook sales, although at first I was doing very well. Once Amazon took off, where before there were 150,000 books published annually, now there are much, much more, it's much more difficult. I've stopped marketing and advertising. It takes too much effort. There's a well known Greek poet who never published his works, but handed out copies to his friends. He's long dead, but his poems are still around and he is being taught at universities. I think Thoreau wrote only so many copies, but we still learn about him in class. You never know....
 
All Amazon cares about is money. It costs them almost nothing to host an e-book. If it sells, they get their cut. If it doesn't, no big deal, a little disk space. A traditional publishing house has a stake in each book. If it doesn't meet some quality standard, they won't spend money to publish it. Amazon, on the other hand publishes stuff that is virtually unreadable.

There are treasures on Amazon, but it can take some work to find them.
 
I was taking to Forest Gump (Wiston Groom), a couple years ago, he lived across the bay in Daphne, Alabama near where the coffee shop was in Fairhope, anyway he told me, he only sold a few FOREST GUMP books, then the Movie came out, and thats what made his book a hit, he died a couple of years ago, I was going to go there for the funeral but was told it was a mess, because of cv19, and they were cleaning up from hurriacane , anyway he encouraged me to keep moving forward with my book, just like I encourage you to do, the pic is when I was with Jimi Hendrixs sister and Bootsy Collins , anything can happen in life.
 

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This is the script to date of life with a vintage MG. All the shows, events and laughs that we have enjoyed with our old car.
I did get quite an ear bashing from a lady when she asked me why the car is called Jessica. My reply being that like her namesake, she is a red head, and she has a great body and what got me into serious trouble was to say that she has a cracking pair of hooters! It's all in the book.
 
hollydolly said:
people tell all the time I should do it Rob... but some of it is so bad, I just would have real difficulty reliving it... . I could do it if I had a Ghost writer I think.. but to actually sit and write it myself I think would be too difficult
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Maybe it would be a good thing for you, getting it all out on paper. Seems to me the thread would have to be positive, so far as I can tell you've come through the adversity strong and able.

If you do let me know, I'll buy a copy.
 
Am not the type of material a paper book would do justice for. If some entity had been magically recording a video of my multi-dimensional list of adventures and accomplishments, that would be very interesting. However not something a later biographical video could accomplish due to logistics, conditions, and remote locations. In the future, if 8k PC monitor displays I've been now waiting years for, ever become product versus the expensive 8k televisions manufacturers have only been interested in, then yeah many people will come to know parts of my unique life. Mixed feelings about becoming a public person.
 
I've had a lot of experiences, and some have said I should write a book. However, one person (a writer) said no one would want to read it.

In any case, I'm not motivated. Because I was a copy editor, people thought I was a writer too, and urged me to join a writers' group. In the group, I realized that I wasn't a writer. Not like the other members. They really loved writing, even if they weren't very good at it. To me, writing was just a so-so hobby, which I abandoned after a year.

Also, it seemed that half their time was spent "trying to get published." That isn't a bad thing, but I had things I'd rather do.

A few years ago, an older online friend wrote her memoir. I bought it and read it. I had previously "typed" her according to the little I knew about her. But I learned that she was much more than that.

I came to the conclusion that everyone should write a memoir. Except me. I'm not motivated.
 
If copyright wasn't much of a concern, the diary section on this forum would be a good place to start. One chapter at a time, no pressure to write long or finish, and you will get readership and feedback, thus encouragement, the moment you start it. After a while, you may be surprised at what you have accomplished.
 
I suggested to a retired veterinarian that he should write a book about his life, and I'm afraid he wasn't keen on my slightly impertinent suggestion, (though he's highly capable I'm sure, even aged ninety, and he was very highly thought of as a vet, and as a man by all, including my father when he used to come to our farm regularly).
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I guess if there was a literary genre called " My Bizaar Life". I wasn't a war hero, or anything. Didn't even discover the cure for anything. But I have had just plain weird experiences. I was a Psychiatric Nurse. My book would definitely be a sit-com type book.
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You have been a Psychiatric Nurse? Surely you knew a lot of real interesting people at that time.
 
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Yes If I start back in 1800s and work my way forward to now , my own twist and turns in life , Ive enough to have a long running series of books .
 
It's in the works as the saying goes. Joint effort by my husband and I ....
stories from our travels...there are still more stories to come.
Have already penned our family history, not for publishing, but copies
are with religious organisations, Oxford University and the head of
each of our family has a copy.
Quite an expensive venture, but well worth it.
 
Currently writing my memoirs. The contents of my writing include dysfunctional parenting, living in multiple towns and communities, my dad and church, awards/achievements, mental illness, independence, sexual experiences, psychosis, and drug use.
TMS treatments helped sort through memories giving rise to clarity. This is not the first time I tried to write a record of life experiences, but it has been the most productive effort I have ever made.
 
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