Do you want to write a Best-seller? (Part 1)Written by Arthur Zulu
“Whatever you can do or believe you can, . . . begin it now.”—Goethe When beggars receive freshly minted coins from lords with a bow and a smile, it is not that they do not desire to ride horses as masters do. But wishes don’t ride horses. I have oftentimes been contacted by many young writers for suggestions to develop a story. After they receive ideas, they chicken out. One of them—a female American—wanted help to develop what I think is a great story. You probably know about it: Ted Kennedy watching on as his girlfriend drowned in a river. I pity such dreamers. They are among world’s eminent failures. It will therefore be a miracle if you yourself will ever write a book after reading this. If you do, then thumbs up, for you belong to few great minds on earth today. Anywhere you look today, 20 percent of people are getting 80 percent of best things in life. Or put another way, 80 percent of all good things belong to 20 percent of people. Or, one person succeeds out of five! So, 80 percent of all best-sellers today are written by 20 percent of writers. And, out of about five writers, only one has written a best-seller. Where is other four? Out of five writers that thought of writing, only one wrote. Out of five people that wrote, only one got published. And out of five that got published, only one became a best-seller. That is principle of life: Only those who back their desire with action succeed. For nobody has “the power to curse darkness” someone says, “unless he has courage to light a candle.” You don’t write best-sellers by wishing that you did, and go to sit on sandy beach of Pacific Ocean dreaming of your millions and far away islands with lollipop names. Don Quixote great visioner didn’t even do that. At least he fought imaginary enemies. What did Hippocrates say? “Ars longa. Vita brevis.” Translation: “Arts is long but life is short.” The point then is this: Don’t dream it; WRITE IT! Best-selling books don’t just happen; just as good writers don’t grow on trees. You have to work hard—put your heart in your work, to write a mega-yield title. Today, everyone is falling heads over heels for magic of Harry Potter. But if J.K. Rowling—the single mother—didn’t have gumption to write herself off dole, story of Harry Potter wouldn’t have been written or read. A number of factors help to make best-sellers. I have provided a number of those factors here to help you write that your echo-Bible. Write on a best-selling topic. I have listed 10 best-selling topics in early chapter of this book. Why not think of working on one of them? But think carefully before you choose a subject. You don’t want to write on a topic because everyone is writing on it and winning prizes. I can tell you what is happening this moment zillions of light years up there in world of stars and galaxies. But can you imagine that? If things like that are beyond your imagination, then don’t dream of writing science fiction. Come down to earth and spy on your neighbors who are marrying this moment and divorcing after wedding day.
| | Do you want to write a Best-seller (Part 2)Written by Arthur Zulu
“If a man has talent and cannot use it, he has failed.”—Tom WolfeIn first installment of this essay, we said that if you want to excel as a writer, you would not only have to write on a best-selling topic, but that you would also have to master your style, and know your audience. But that is not all. What is more? Write your Style A writer said: “All authors are like mounds of literature. They grow from light of ancient.” But is true that all writers are copycats? Not really. You might have a favorite author, or another writer would have influenced your work. But one thing is clear: no one in this universe is your equal. You are unique. That means your writing style has to be different from mine. It is for this reason that an editor at Random House who saw a typed copy of The Thirty-Nine Steps as a new book had no difficulty in likening it to style of Jerzy Kosinski. But sad enough, he didn’t know it really was author’s book. When you speak in a foreign voice, a discerning listener would have no difficulty recognizing you as a hypocrite. In same way, when you borrow another author’s style, a good reader will equally know that you are masquerading. And that is not good enough for you. Promote your book before and after publication The best time to begin your book’s promotion is when you start writing it. This is right time for you to make use of some of promotional options discussed earlier in this book. This means that you can start your media adverts, book reviews, and serialization of your story. Then keep record of contacts from readers and bookstore owners who are interested in your work. Send them a press release as soon as your book is released and see response that you will get. This book that you are reading started that way when it was first published as an e-book. When author contacted his initial list of potential buyers after book’s release, he had tremendous response. Why don’t you do same? If it worked for him, it will work for you. Pre-release publicity has helped writers sell tremendously when their books were made available to public. For instance, Tom Wolfe's book, A Man In Full sold over a million copies before anyone could say Jack Robinson.
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