The TRUTH About Becoming a "Successful" Author or Writer

Are you REALLY a successful author if you’ve written ten novels, had them published for FREE through Amazon KDP, and have sold less than 20 copies of the $0.99 eBook?

Prolific? Yes.

Author? Yes.

Successful? I guess it depends on one's definition of “success”.

Are you a successful screenwriter if you’ve written 10 screenplays, received a handful of professional feedback for each - none resulting in anything other than a “PASS”; entered a handful of screenwriting competitions and never getting beyond the Quarterfinals?

You haven’t sold or optioned any; in fact, you haven’t received a single response from the hundreds of query letters you’ve sent out. Worst still, the reams of paper for these screenplays printed out are- right now- sitting on top of your desk!

Again- if this is your definition of “success”, then I assume you've achieved your goal.

MY definition for success- in both situations- is far different.

The TRUTH of the matter is that when you do something “on the cheap”, it’s almost ALWAYS going to look it. Amazon KDP publishing IS free- but is it the best choice? I have seen hundreds of KDP books, and of them LOOK awful. If they look awful, they’re likely going to read poorly, or that’s what most people are going to believe.

You need THREE things when you are trying to sell your book and/or screenplay (and, for the sake of clarity, we’ll only discuss books is today's article).

You need a great product.

You need a knowledgeable and professional editor.

You need a great marketing strategy from a team of marketing experts.

A) GREAT PRODUCT

I don’t “teach” how to write a novel, and that’s NOT the purpose of this article. Let’s assume you already KNOW how to write a novel, and your concept is a unique and compelling subject matter that should attract buyers.

It takes - on average - 6-12 months to complete a 350-page novel of 80,000- 100,000 words. Why would you take a year of your life to write your life’s work, then use a FREE publishing service that gives poor book cover choices, poor formatting, standard AI editing, and no marketing help?

This decision is counterintuitive to your need and desire to have a great selling book on your hands!

You post this eBook on your social media, totaling 5,000 friends and followers across four or five platforms, but you’re probably NOT getting 5,000 sales from this.

You’re not even getting 500 sales.

At THIS point, you’d be happy with 50 units sold in a year! ?

Now, you want to make it a movie, and producers look at the sales numbers and realize “There is no audience here!”

With a FREE publisher, this is generally what happens. It's often called-

"Getting what you paid for!"

B) KNOWLEDGABLE AND PROFESSIONAL EDITOR

Your editor MUST be someone other than the writer - for practical purposes.

• Whatever mistakes exist when written by the writer, they will likely be overlooked by the writer who also edits.
• You need someone with expert editing skills, be it in AP-Style, or Chicago-Style editing.
• To make the product “professional”, you’ll need someone with the skills to FORMAT.
• The editor requires formatting skills in all three styles of books: eBook, soft cover, and hard cover formats.

Again, this SOUNDS a lot easier than it is, but I have been contacted by numerous people in the middle of self-publishing their projects, stuck on trying to lay out a better, more professional-looking format.

C) GREAT MARKETING STRATEGY

We have mastered the art of marketing for years through our screenwriting business, but recently, with our expansion, we’ve taken it to another level indeed.

I can’t (and won’t) speak about OTHER publishing houses, self-publishing businesses or hybrid publishers, but I CAN speak intelligently about TSM Publishing and Marketing Services- a subsidiary of The Script Mentor screenwriting service, and Shark-Eating Productions.

At TSM, we have a multi-pronged approach to marketing one’s book and “branding” the author, including-

• Social media marketing posts in all major SM formats.
• Two (2) logos and social media “covers” (graphic displays on their SM cover pages).
• Produced videos highlighting “Coming Soon”, “Just Released”, "On Sale Now”, etc.
• Three (3)-days-a -week social media postings for TEN (10) weeks (or more). *
• On-hand weekly management of author’s social media posts.
• Strategic and targeted marketing.
• Creation of web sites or SM pages dedicated to the project and writer for their audience.
• FOUR (4) teasers with FOUR (4) uniquely different ad copy (5 sec).
• FOUR (4) still ads with FOUR (4) uniquely different ad copy
• TWO (2) boosted ads per month with ad copy (will be a combo of stills and animation).
• ONE (1) digital commercial ad (10 sec).
• Organic growth plan(s).

Once you determine just how affordable this marketing strategy can be, you'll want to implement it right away!

*More posts and more weeks available for additional charge.

TOMORROW: Frequently Asked Questions Regarding TSM Publishing and Marketing Services.

WRITER'S BIO: Mr. Scala spent 24-plus years in the Hollywood community and was the Executive Director for the?72nd Annual Academy Awards,?as well as The Soul Train Awards,?The Grammys,?The Blockbuster Video Awards Show?and?The Saturn Awards Show. With three produced features- "Assassin 33 A.D.",?"Black Easter"?and?"The Tombs". All three are currently available on Amazon Prime and Tubi.

THE SCRIPT MENTOR and TSM Publishing and Marketing now offers a full array of additional services to the author and screenwriter, including...

• Original screenplays.
• Rewrites of your screenplay.
• Complete Ghostwriting services, to include novels and screenplay adaptations.
• Lifetime mentoring- as many scripts as needed; any script; any time.
• Marketing and networking strategies and implementation assistance.
• Hundreds of bona fide DIRECT phone/email A-list contacts from personal list.
• NEW- our creative Pitch-Deck division!
• NEW- Full Social Media marketing division, including sizzle reels, video teasers, promotional SM pages, TV commercials and electronic billboards!
• NEW- Publishing division which includes editing, formatting for eBooks, hardcovers and softcovers, full-service distribution- and TWO publishers!

Contact [email protected] for additional information, cost analysis and written proposal!