In my last post, I covered the horror stories that are told about becoming an author. Now, for the flip side. There are fairy tales that say you are going to make thousands, even millions, off of your book because you have a good idea, you write well, and there are many self-publishing services that will make sure your book gets to the top, and you will be a multi-millionaire… ok, I exaggerated that last point. What I am saying is this: there are promotions about how, if you use this service, that service, writing coaches, self-publishing services that offer options (at a cost of course) for cover design, formatting, editing, and marketing… if you just use any or all of these services you will have amazing success and your lack of use of these services will hold you back from success. Are these fairy tales true? The odds are no, but there are some amazing success stories with self-publishing. It can’t be denied that it has happened.
There are stories of people who sold so many copies self-publishing that a traditional publisher came and offered to buy the book and sell even more copies. I, as I’m sure you know, would not find an offer from a traditional publisher to be desirable, yet others do. For others, this is a mark of success. A traditional publisher coming to you… how great is that, right? The very people writers often have to court are now courting the writer.
Of course, when these courses and services are promoting their wares, only good reviews are given, only beautiful examples are used. Yet, if you do a little bit of research, you will find that these examples are most likely from the most costly options. If you look at reviews from other sources, you will find either lots of angry customers or possibly a mix that shows a midline rather than an outstanding, wonder service.
The thing is… people want to believe in fairy tales. We want to believe in happily ever after, even though many of us know that you don’t get something for nothing. So, when these services and courses tell us that we can pay for happily ever after, so many jump at that opportunity without considering if happily ever after really is what they will get.
We must remember that even in fairy tales the protagonist doesn’t reach happily ever after by paying money. Even if they give something to get something else that leads them to that beautiful final page, discretion was used to know who the right person to give that something to was. What if the peasant’s daughter gave her exiled queen grandmother’s pendant to a knight in shining armor to find out later that he was really just a thief whose armor was nothing more than cheep metal with extra sheen? There is no happily ever after for her.
This is just my point. When people have something to sell, of course, they will offer us glass slippers, tell us that flowers and diamonds will fall from our every word, or that we will gain a kingdom. What we have to remember is that there are many wicked witches posing as benevolent queens. So many charming brigands pose as charming princes. The saying “too good to be true” exists for a reason. Do your research, listen to those who have prior experience with your potential hero, and make sure you don’t listen to people who clearly just like to rant. In this way, you are more likely to sort out the poisoned apples from the regular.
Keep in mind that, even if they are not imposters, these people are not fairy godmothers, and they can’t bippity bopity boop us to our happy ending. It will take effort from us, and the results are not likely to be magical. If you made your decision well, you will most likely end up with something you can be pleased with, and that is nothing to sneeze at.
Your quest can be an adventure all by itself, even while having to navigate the scoundrels and sort the fairy tales from reality, all the while not being discouraged by the tales of doom and gloom that are used to dissuade the less than stalwart adventurers. Just remember your goal and enjoy the journey.
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