Tag: snark

On the Radio

A lot of authors become unnecessarily stressed at the prospect of a radio interview. Maybe you hate the sound of your own voice. Maybe you think you’ll be asked a question for which you were not prepared and you’ll stutter and stammer and come off sounding like an idiot.

Well, you can relax. Those are the least of the things you ought to be worried about. The good news is that with radio, you have a lot of things working in your favor. For instance:
1. You don’t have to worry about shoveling out your Unabomber-type shack;
2. You don’t have to worry about your appearance. Go ahead, skip the shower. Do the interview in your bathrobe.
3. The only people listening to radio are behind the wheel of their automobiles, and they have other things to worry about—like texting friends. Continue reading “On the Radio”

My Opinion on Everything

K. S. Brooks with the Washington Post NewshoundThat’s right: I have an opinion on everything. I’ve shown you what your minimal requirements should be for building your author empire here. Now I’m going to tell you some other things you need to know.

1. Backlist. Having only one published book is NOT going to cut it. You need lots of books. If you expect to sell a million books, having a million titles to sell is a phenomenally good idea. That would mean you’d only have to sell one of each title to reach your goal. Of course, you know you can easily sell one book. So, your goal should be to write a good portion of the books you intend to sell. This is such simple logic. I don’t understand why no one gets this.

2. Loss Leader. A loss leader is something that you don’t mind losing money on because it draws people to your offerings and they purchase your other stuff. It’s like the sacrificial lamb of your backlist. This is something every author should have. I’m very good at loss leaders, so take my word for it. I have 10 of them. Continue reading “My Opinion on Everything”

Breaking the Code

We all know that in the real estate business, words and phrases which sound like one thing really mean something else. Spin doctors probably worked countless hours to come up with an entire alternative vernacular for every negative attribute of any kind of property.

Cozy actually means cramped. Rustic means old and falling apart. Quaint means peculiar. You don’t have to spend much time shopping for homes to break the code, but it got you there. It’s up to the salesman to do the rest. Continue reading “Breaking the Code”

The Heartbreak of IAMHS

operators are standing byHello, friends. I’d like to talk to you today about an epidemic that is sweeping through our community. It’s called Indie Author Multiple Hat Syndrome (IAMHS).

The symptoms of this affliction include night sweats, bouts of rage, feelings of inadequacy, and an overwhelming desire to dump the whole project in the trash. The malady bears some similarity to multiple personality disorder, except that in cases of IAMHS, the discrete personalities come in four standard types.

We turn now to a case study for a more in-depth look at IAMHS. The subject of our case study is…yours truly. Continue reading “The Heartbreak of IAMHS”