14 Comments

Another excellent podcast and guest, Meg! One of the things I find we're still pretty terrible at as authors is the elevator pitch and knowing our audience. Whenever I run The Pitch on the Lunar Awards, I can tell immediately who still struggles with it. An elevator pitch is 1-2 short sentences and a call to action. That's it. It's a teaser, an appetizer leading to a full meal.

I hope to share all of the details on the entire self publication process when my next short story collection is finished.

Thanks for helping us all out by getting the inside scoop!

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Thank you for listening, Brian!

The elevator pitch only works when the writer is CONFIDENT in what their book is about. If they're even a tiny bit unsure, the pitch flops. It's also just really hard to be confident in anything we do as writers because of all the damn imposter syndrome symptoms we experience. And it's hard to speak up for our art and fluff our author feathers proudly in general. Some people are good at it. They're called confidence hoarders, and they have special devices that suck all the confidence out of whatever room or writer's cohort they're in and use it to their advantage. I'm kidding. Sort of. 😂

I look forward to your writings on the self-pub process. I'm on the cusp of entering that realm myself, but I'm nervous about it. Mostly because I want to make sure the outcome is worth all the effort I'll put into the process. SO MANY UNKNOWNS!!!

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From the experience of doing it once already, I can tell you it's absolutely worth it! You will learn a lot that you can share and that will carry you onto greater things. It's one stepping stone of many toward a more fulfilling writing career. Then it will be a question of whether it's worth doing it again... and again... and AGAIN!

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Dooood. Will you be putting up a read-version? You know me and audio. The Dain Bramaged wanna know. 😜

In the meanwhile as I await your answer, I followed your handy link to Dot. 🤩 But I cannot figure out how to 💖 chapters. Or is that not a thing over there? So fun!!! Muah!

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There's a transcript for the podcast!! At the top of the post, you should see a button for it.

As for liking or "voting" on the chapters on Wattpad, it's possible you need an account with them to be able to do that, and leave comments, but I'm not sure. I've done far more writing over there than reading. 🙂Also, likes might be easier to administer in the mobile app. if you're willing to download it for your reading experience. 💜💜💜

Let me know if you have any trouble accessing the transcript.

It's funny because our voices are so similar, there are a couple of spots where it looks like we're talking to ourselves. But you'll be able to get the gist of the convo for sure. 😂

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Ahhhhh I see. You can only get the transcript on the desktop view. Shweeeet.

As for Wattpad I was on the app. Hmmm…I shall hunt further. 🧐

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Another great edition with some excellent promotional insights from Claudine.

Four things jumped out at me from the discussion:

1) Every author should consider themselves a solopreneur. These days I refer to myself as the founder and CEO of Amran Gowani, Inc., which is a one-man show that creates and sells novels, blog posts, YouTube videos, etc. I'm planning to pitch a piece on this soon.

2) The biggest problem with the Substack model is not every type of content creator can succeed. Meg knows well the challenges from our discussions, and from my webinar with Jane Friedman. For fiction writers and creators in less "valuable" arenas, there's a circular flow of money between creators who are trying to support each other, but this ultimately does few people any good. When I launched the paywall on my newsletter in January 2023 I comped at least 30 Substack writers because I didn't want them to feel compelled to pay me just so I could pay them right back. I've comped fewer people over the ensuing six months, but I still agree with the approach. We need to find ways to bring real people -- readers! -- to the Substack platform, and that's very, very challenging. Even Substack can't solve it -- that's why they rely on established names, from "traditional" media outlets, to bring users to the platform.

3) Meg: regarding writing a non-fiction book, I'd caution that your order of operations might be mixed up. Securing an agent for a non-fiction book proposal will likely be much more difficult than for a novel. In the non-fiction space the author platform is such a major driver (e.g., op-ed columnist, university professor, investigative journalist, politician), and right now you likely don't have a platform big enough to interest an agent. The inverse, however, could still work. If/when you grab an agent for a novel, and publish said novel, your fiction writing can then serve as the "platform" for your non-fiction proposal. For example, Stephen King wrote Carrie way before On Writing, and Anne Lamott wrote several novels before Bird by Bird.

4) As an obnoxious Michigan alum, I'm required to inform you Rudy sucks, and he was offsides on his crucial play.

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Great bullet points. 🙏

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1) Yes, I patronize that business regularly and can attest to its superb level of customer service and quality craftsmanship. Sometimes the ads can be a little flashy, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2) My Stock Fiction bumper sticker campaign is overdue.

3) You're right.

4) You're killing me. 💔

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P.S. Thanks for being such an active listener. ❤️‍🩹

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Great ideas for authors. 🥰🙏

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Thank you for listening, friend!!! I so appreciate your support. 💜💜💜

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Equal parts thrilled and exhausted listening to this fabulous conversation between Meg and Claudine Wolk. Bought my copy of Get Your Book Seen and Sold - and subscribed. ☑️

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Thank you so much for listening, Troy! I'm thrilled that you found it so exhausting - in a good way! 😂💜Happy reading. You'll tear through that book in no time.

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