Bridge of Words

Let’s look at some basic math on the money in writing. Imagine that your goal is to earn at least a modest $40,000 a year from your writing. What paths can lead to that amount of money?

1. Sell a lot of books.
2. Build a base of fans.
3. Use writing to promote another business.

The first method is the showiest. Rocketing up the bestseller list is a jackpot, especially for a first book, whether fiction or non-fiction. How does it happen? A book first catches the attention of a publisher, then receives good marketing, and then it catches fire with readers, and all of a sudden, we have a new hot author. From my observations, the books most likely to hit this sweet spot are both well-written and meaningful. They have a voice that appeals to many people and a message that resonates.

Imagine that your first book comes out as a trade paperback — the ones new literature tends to arrive in — at $16 per book. If you receive a common 15% royalties on it, that’s $2.40 per book sold — to reach $40,000, you will need to sell 16,667 copies. A few books rise much above this, and the sky is the limit for those. From anecdotal evidence, it appears that many, perhaps most first books, never sell enough copies to earn out their $5000 advance against royalties. In other words, they sell fewer than 2000 copies.

A second path to reaching $40,000 is to have 1000 raving fans. Kevin Kelly develops this idea here:

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php

and talks about some further research into it here:

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/04/the_case_agains.php

For a writer, earning $40 per fan per year probably means completing three books per year, self-publishing them and selling them through a website so that the profit per book is $10 to $15. This could work, with some sales outside the fan base. The critical concept here is to tend those fans well, communicating frequently with them and offering something that they are passionate about, so that they purchase everything you put out. Include some special editions, some upgrades, a tip jar, and some additional merchandise such as t-shirts, and this begins to look very promising — as long as you enjoy cultivating the fans.

I have seen a third option work well. These are the business owners who write a book and use it to create the platform for their business. A book establishes the author as an expert. It adds an instant level of credibility, and introduces you to a potential customer in a much more in-depth way than the most comprehensive website. Coaching, consulting, and public speaking are natural complements to a book. However, I’ve read of a plumber, and a cleaning specialist who’ve expanded their business significantly with a book.

For this path, imagine that you sell 1000 copies of the book on the self-publishing model at $10 profit each, then 1% of those who buy it go on to hire you for a $3000 other service, whether it is a speaking engagement, six months of coaching, or remodeling their kitchen. There’s your $40,000.

Are there other alternatives? Of course. The first one that comes to mind is selling very many articles. These three interest me the most.

And all of them benefit by following the principles of Bridge of Words. If you can write in a way to connect to readers, all of these will be easier.

Punctuation has meaning.  It also has a look.  Here’s a case where those who want punctuation to be meaningful and those who want it to look right come into disagreement.

Take a look at the following sentences:

He spells his name “Jynsyn.”
He spells his name “Jynsyn”.

Which one do you think is right?

Right now, there are two competing rules that determine which of those sentences is right.

The first rule may be the more established.  It says that the period goes inside the quotes, period.  This is the “looks right” rule.  The period looks a little more connected to the letters of the sentence when it is inside the quotation marks.  Because quotes are high, and periods are low, when the period goes outside the quotes, it looks a little stranded.  Plus, this rule is easy to follow.  A copyeditor travelling quickly over a page can swiftly spot any places where a period is next to quotes, and make them all the same.

The second rule is a little more complex.  It allows a period and a quotation mark to have two different relationships, depending on the meaning of the sentence.  It lets the punctuation express more nuance.

This is the second rule:  “A period goes inside the quotation marks when they enclose a complete sentence; it goes outside the quotation marks when they do not enclose a complete sentence.”

By the second rule, that last paragraph has a correct relationship between the period and the final quotation mark, and so does the second sentence about Mr. Jynsyn.

I see both versions in well-edited text.  After all, the first sentence about Mr. Jynsyn seems to imply that the period is part of his name.  On the other hand, the lonely period in the second sentence is not beautiful, either.

So, what do you do?  For writing in your own blog, letters, and so on, you can pick the rule that suits you.  When writing for someone else’s publication, follow the publisher’s style guide on this one.  Rule 1 seems to be a little more common – if you are unsure, ask or check their previous publications.

In either case, follow one rule or another consistently throughout a single work.  Attention to details like that is the mark of a professional.  Being able to carry out either rule consistently through a work is a mark of a flexible editor.  But switching back and forth within a single piece is just sloppy.

I love writing. It’s the original mass medium. It’s accessible to nearly everyone. It takes very little expense or technology to write or to read.

Let’s look at how writing improves on speaking. What is written down can be improved, made more efficient and more beautiful before it is delivered to its audience. I find it profoundly respectful for someone to write their knowledge to share in an optimized form. A writer who writes well saves me time. First, carefully chosen words save time. Next, I can easily pick up what I need and skip the rest. Finally, I read words significantly faster than I can hear them. Time is my most precious resource. I appreciate writers who save it for me.

Writing has other advantages over speaking. The writer and reader need not be in the same place at the same time. Where would we be if Shakespeare’s plays had been improvised rather than recorded? Also, once writing has been delivered, it remains preserved. What someone has written down can be checked, referred to, and stays accurately historical. What was said shifts in memory. That’s why Samuel Goldwyn said, “A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.” And writing is searchable – that’s how I know Samuel Goldwyn is the one who said that.

I love books, too. I like holding them and smelling them. I like the look of them lined up on my shelves, reminding me that I could read them again. Or loan them out or give them away. I like how they last. I like how a book can be a long and substantial conversation. Whether with a kindred spirit or someone who challenges me, that exchange is extended enough to reach new territory. Someone who has written a book demonstrates more expertise than someone who gives a two-hour speech. Books are the antidote to sound-clips – and yet, books are entirely patient, letting me take them up or put them down as I will.

This is a challenging time for writers and books. The publishing industry and book distribution systems are changing. The number of manuscripts reaching agents and publishers are at an all-time high – while the number of books that sell remains steady. Other media gather more attention and money.

Yet the best speeches, audios, and videos are written first.

So Bridge of Words is about helping writers connect to readers. It’s about: the process of writing, to bring words into form; the process of rewriting, to make the words more valuable; putting yourself into your words, to bring the best you have to your readers; and delivering those words to your readers, so they serve their purpose.

Welcome.