We Are Not The Same.
As a writer, author and student of life, I’m always looking for ways to improve. Even a stubborn Black mule like myself is open to changing or enhancing my technique in order to adapt because only the smart and the strong survive. I recently sat through a two hour free seminar for authors looking to increase their book sales. As an author with a book to sell and no money, of course I rushed to sign up to secure my spot for this free seminar. I wanted to make this piece because of the the realization that not every author is in it for the love of writing. Hell, a lot of these “best selling” authors don’t even write their own books. I know this may come off as hating or even gate-keeping. If I read this piece and my mind was wired to always see the bad in everything I’d call myself a hater, too. A hater would believe these types of authors don’t deserve the success they’ve had. I believe everybody out there doing something big deserves success or at the very least lots of praise for their work even if they achieve something I want doing it a different way.
With that being said, the way I write my stories and why I write my stories are different from what I call “seminar authors.” Authors who “write” one, maybe two, maybe a few books with the catalyst of those books being lessons they’ve obtained during seminars, usually paid courses. The “seminar author” starter pack consist of a story (their life story), a desire for more money, a create quick scheme and marketing. Like every author, there’s a story behind “the story” as to why the story was told. Seminar authors tend to take a page out of my book when creating their first book which is to share the story of their life. Most of them don’t make multiple books about their life. Their next book if there is one is how they made X-amount of dollars being a first time author. These types of stories are usually catered to those who want to make a lot of money, period, regardless of what the job title is. These “authors” are essentially really great marketers who’ve turned themselves into a business/brand all off of one book. That shit is dope, but it is not art.
One of the reasons why I tell everybody whether they are a writer or not to document their life through writing is because it is something everyone can do and we all have a story. Anyone can be an author, but not everyone who produces literature content does it for all the same reasons.
I am an artist! -OG Loc.
One of the valuable take aways I got from that free seminar was how creating and selling books can be compared to creating and dropping albums. What was told to viewers was that we should drop a new book every year because the most popular and relevant music artist are the ones dropping projects every year. True, but not the full story. The “artist” working to remain relevant tend to be highly paid for some time, but there’s a drop off in the quality of their art, if you ask music lovers like myself. Who cares about quality when you’re getting money, right? Eventually everybody cares. Even the most greedy music fans can sense a cash-grab and are turned off by it. The declining sales from these annual artist prove that. When you’re dropping every year equating relevance to quality, you shouldn’t be surprised when more people realize the two don’t mean the same thing. They’ll start to demand quality from your work or they’ll stop supporting you. This happens within the music industry all the time, this will happen to writers who believe the more they release low quality content, the hotter they’ll remain because “something is better than nothing.” That saying doesn’t work in most fields anymore. Ask the Dems how that strategy is currently going for them. I’m not shitting on this man’s seminar. As stated before I found a number of major keys to take away from that night. Sure, I don’t believe relevance is a good barometer of quality. That does not mean I think staying relevant does not matter. Fellow authors or future authors, take it from me, a ghost writer, it is not wise to release something for a very long time. Especially when you have dedicated readers. Especially when you are broke. When I say “ghost writer” I don’t mean someone who writes for others, I mean someone who releases one book or project and then ghost everyone until they pop back up promoting or releasing a new book or project. Even if you’re someone like myself and that style somewhat fits your personality, the wise thing to do in my opinion is to still release something. Let it be a “loosey.” A “loosey” can be artwork or articles related to your current WIP, most recent or past. Loosey’s can also be blog post or poetry pieces if you’re into that. If books are like our albums then ebooks can be our mixtapes, EPs, LPs. Ultimately as the independent artist that we are we decide when we want to release our art. If you want to be remembered and revered, put out quality art and don’t focus too much on releasing for sales. This is not advice from a rich best seller. This is advice from an author who loves the process of writing and making books so much that he isn’t willing to totally take the “easy route” in order to make some sales on his books. In general the seminar was good, I’m just peeping game. A game I finally got an up close and personal look at.
My Book “Late Nights on Broadway.” https://smile.amazon.com/Late-Nights-Broadway-Ernest-Sandefer-ebook/dp/B08QDVN1SF/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=late+nights+on+broadway&qid=1638380015&sr=8-2
