Wired Writer

The Dark Side Lures With Promise of Amazon Best Seller Rank

A shout-out is in order for Devon Ellington linking me to her wonderful blog, Ink In My Coffee. Unpretentious and well-written, I think you should take a look over there. She's an honest-to-goodness writer, making her living by her literary spinnings, and lucky for us, she regularly takes a little time out of her day to give us the low down on her wordsmithing. Devon is straightforward, personable, and and a little magical all at the same time.

Writing Wadding
I admit I almost, almost gave in to temptation and bought the Amazon Best Seller program when it was just starting out and the price was the equivalent of a dinner and drinks for two. I'm glad I didn't -- and not because the price is now $3,000. (Hello! Mucho Dinero coming through.) Angela Hoy of Writers Weekly.com has a really good piece on this program which, essentially, jimmies the Amazon sales count. Take a look at Angela's Writers Weekly here.

I especially like what Tim Bete had to say. An award-winning columnist and author of In the Beginning...There Were No Diapers, Tim says, "If I was going to spend $3,000 for book publicity, the Amazon program wouldn't be high on my list. My book... reached the top-10 Amazon.com best-seller list in the parenting humor category. The book's overall Amazon rank was about 2,600. But I did it using tried-and-true online publicity methods and my own elbow grease." He goes on to give the link to his Amazon sales chart and concludes by saying: "The bottom line: I did it with my own time and saved $3,000."

The con game is slicker and more subtle than ever, due to mass media. Sometimes it's hard to see the manure through all the supposed cash cows. That's why I've read Angela's newsletter for years: it's a no bullsh*t zone.

My Official Word Count Before I Fell Asleep On My Keyboard: 703.

I am finding the biggest obstacle in getting above 1,000 words a day is my schedule. There are only two things I cannot do without that also take up a lot of my time: 1.) sleep and 2) everything else. The sleep, I'm sorry to say, I just can't budge on. It has to be 8 hours or my brain starts forgetting things like how the house key fits in the lock and which way I write the number ''3".

As far as everything else, well, I think that has more to do with making good use of the sporadic free moments between the job and family duties/activities. Erma Bombeck struggled with this as well. “Show me, dear God,” she prayed one day as she washed clothes, changed diapers, and prepared the evening meal for the family, “how I can use the talent of writing that you have given me to do your will."

One day, while her children were napping, she picked up a tablet of paper and began to transfer her experiences as a mother into writing. Eventually, she sold these reflections to a weekly newspaper for $3.00 a column. They caught the attention of an editor by the name of Glenn Thompson who in turn brought them to the attention of a syndicate. The rest is history. In a few years, a housewife from Centerville, Ohio, was being read throughout the entire world. (Thanks to www.peacechurch.cc for the above blurb.)

I will continue to work on the schedule, taking hints from other writers. That's why I read other writers' blogs such as Devon's. Wonderful resources, they are. (Talk like Yoda, will I? Amusing myself at my audience's expense, yes, hmmm?)

Hahahaha! I like my sense of humor. (Now followed by more talking like Yoda. To myself. Please stand by.)

Okay. I'm done.

Non-Writing Wadding
Observations on the ride operators at the local county fair:

• Just what particular circumstances in one's life drive him/her to be a carnie? I mean, you don't hear five year olds running around, saying,"Yeah, a fireman sounded niced, but then I saw the people who spray the puke off the Whirly Wig Out and I want to do that!"
• And how does the parent of such carnie describe their offspring's choice of vocation? "S/He's in the entertainment business and s/he travels -- a lot."
• And dental insurance? Hello? McFly?!
• That aside, they took conscientious care that each of my kids were safe while on the rides. Thank you.

Wiping the 'Cheez-It' cracker crumbs off my keyboard,
Wired Writer

posted by A.M.Adams @ 8/11/2005 09:37:00 PM