Writing Business

Self-Publishing Writing Business Writing Life

Writing, Self-Publishing, and Making Money

Posted on by Easton Livingston

I don’t really like to write too much about self-publishing and the business side of things on my website for a couple of reasons. The first would be I haven’t arrived yet so I can’t be giving out to much advice on the matter. As a matter of fact, I’m restarting everything. However, I have learned much and sometimes when I see something that I know that I know and it can help out someone, I’ll give out my little two bits.

Contrary to what some people say, wanted to make money as a writer is not a sin. It’s not an obligation either. Being self-published, you have to work hard at it. Real hard. There’s nothing wrong with hard work. However, that should be coupled with working smart. That’s what this post is about. There is more than one way to make money as a writer and one of those ways has nothing to do with selling books. It’s has more to do with working smart.

Self-Publishing Writing Business Writing Life

The Quest to Write Faster – Part II

Posted on by Easton Livingston

Last week, I posted how I was on a quest to write faster and I’m still on that quest. This week, I’m going to lay out two more reasons why writing faster is something that I have to do.

I feel I must preface this by saying that writing faster does not mean that you have to write badly. If you write faster, you’re writing more words. When you’re writing more words, you’re seeing the mistakes that you make and every time that you write, those mistakes will begin to dwindle in terms of content, structure, grammar, etc. They say that it takes about one million words for a writer to really get their voice and write well. I don’t adhere to that but if you did believe that then writing faster would simply get you to t hat milestone quicker.

Writing fast does not equate to writing junk and that notion needs to be done away with if you are interested in productivity in your writing. I’ve only been doing this for a little bit now, just scratching the surface really, and I can tell you that this has made a great deal of difference.

Writing Business Writing Life

The Quest to Write Faster – Part I

Posted on by Easton Livingston

People go on quests for many different reasons. When we think of a quest, we’re normally thinking about some grand adventure of swords and heroes and damsels in distress. But once we strip the word down to its basic meaning, it simply means a mission. A goal.

Every novelist is on the same quest which is to finish that book that has been inside them forever. Some writers go about that in the George Orwell length kind of way. Like Animal Farm. Others go the Robert Jordan or James A. Michener kind of way. They take a REALLY long route to finish their quest.

Well, I personally do not have the desire nor the inclination to take a Robert Jordan type of path to get my novel out. I want to get it out as fast as I possibly can which means that I have to write fast. Not only must I write fast but I want to write fast. There are more than a couple reasons for this but today, I’m going to just give you two.

Film and Television Superheroes Writing Business

Netflix’s Daredevil and Writing

Posted on by Easton Livingston

Daredevil has always been a favorite superhero of mine since the mid-1980s when Frank Miller redefined him. I’ve been collecting his comic off and on ever since. I was disappointed tremendously when the movie version of Daredevil was released in 2003 (just adding to one of the many reasons I loathe seeing Ben Affleck in any superhero film). Well, Marvel has rebooted him in a series on Netflix which was recently released. Of course, I had to do one of my infamous posts on it.

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My Book Cover Journey: Part III – The Business

Posted on by Easton Livingston

It’s generally understood that the three top things that sells a book are the price, the description, and the book cover. That’s just part of the business and it’s a part that we have to deal with business-like. That means when we are ready to get that cover done, we already have our agreement in hand and ready to send off to the designer, illustrator, or both if they are all one person. But do you really have to spend hundreds of dollars to have a lawyer draft you up one? Uh…the answer to that is an unequivocal, no. Here’s what you need to do.