Link to Reddit AMA by Self-Pub Author With >2,000,000 Sales

[RHL]

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/54ayvw/i_am_tr_ragan_an_author_who_wrote_for_20_years/

Even though the AMA is over, I thought this had some extremely valuable insights in it. Here are the highlights from the author:

Unable to get the attention of an NY publisher, in 2011, I self-published five novels, including my first thriller which had never been submitted by my agent. All of my books feature strong female characters. Within the first year, I signed with Amazon's thriller and mystery imprint, Thomas & Mercer. I have now sold over two million e-books.
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Whole world told him his idea sucked. Main-stream traditional outlets ignored him. He pursued CENTS and had runaway success.

Do everything you can to learn your craft. Join a writer’s group in your area or find another writer you can exchange pages with. Also read as much as you can. Most great writers are big readers. If you want to write a thriller, start reading thrillers. Dissect them, see what the great authors do. Why do you like their dialogue or plot? What are they doing to hold your attention? Write as often as possible, every day if you can. Don’t worry too much about the first draft. Get it down on paper. The best writing is in the revision.​

Surround yourself with experts in your field and take action to master creating value in your space. Don't settle for the fast, easy, glamorous parts of your business area-Dig into the difficult stuff. That's where the value is.

My cure [for writer's block], and I am not kidding, is to absolutely force yourself to sit and stare at your computer and then write, "The phone rang. She picked it up, surprised to hear ____'s voice." And then keep on going. Write crap because it might just get your juices flowing. Or write, "Someone was pounding on the door? At three o'clock in the morning?" And then go from there! I just start writing ANYTHING to get me going.​

I'm reminded of a certain someone whose forum tagline was always "butt in chair."

I hardly sell any print books! I do have them available, but 98% of my sales are e-books/audio.
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Not only can you be a mega-success self publishing, but the rewards are amazing. This guy doesn't have to pay to print and store and ship books, and the publishing house isn't taking 60% of the profits, so his profit margins are probably bonkers.

Writing a novel usually involves a lot of research.
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Even when writing fiction, you can't just vomit the first thing that comes into your head onto the page for 6-8 hours then call it a day. To make it compelling, you have to put in hard work-researching, writing, editing, re-editing, and finishing the product.


Hope this encourages our self-publishing people!

 

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