Chicken Scratchings

Posts Tagged ‘The-Red-Hen-Association’

I hear people say that they always knew they wanted to write. Those people often wrote stories as children. To others the writing bug came later. I was in high school. My 11th grade English teacher submitted a poem I had written to a state poetry contest. I didn’t know she had done this, and I didn’t know that I had won some recognition until the school principal called me out of class and told me. I must have appeared totally discombobulated, because this was the first time ever I had been called to the Principal’s office — I couldn’t imagine what I had done wrong — but by the time I arrived, I was sure it was something. I had been known to be a smart-mouth and a passive-aggressive little pr_ _ k. Since all my transgressions, until now, had flown safely under the radar, it was a total mystery how they reached the top of the school hierarchy.

You would have thought my walk down the empty halls, with my mind agitating like a crowd whose team was 2 points from the championship with 3 seconds on the clock, and my hands sweating like the locker room after 2nd period gym class, was a slow walk to the gallows.

I was shown into the inner sanctum. The Principal smiled, rose, reached over the walnut desk and shook my hand. “This must be how they do it,” I thought, “just before strapping the condemned into the electric chair.”

“Have a seat,” he said, still smiling. “Congratulations.”

Huh?

“Congratulations for getting an honorable mention for your poem in the Utah State Poetry Society’s Youth Contest.”

He seemed sincere, but I didn’t have a clue about what he was saying. He might as well have been speaking Swahili.

He presented me with a newspaper clipping and there was my name and the name of the poem I had written circled in red ink.

Later, came an embarrassment of attention. The school newspaper printed my poem, a photo of me, and an interview. The question was asked, “When do you write poetry?”

I responded, “Just when I’m in the mood,” followed by a nervous laugh.

The headline read — His Moodiness Amuses Him. See what I meant by embarrassment? What high school boy wants to be thought of as moody? I wasn’t the athletic type, but I didn’t run or throw a baseball like a girl either. Moodiness was a term reserved for girly-boys. That wasn’t me, even if I wasn’t the fastest runner on the track. I have a long torso and short legs. I wasn’t built for speed.

From that day on, I thought of myself not as a poet, but an occasional writer of poetry. Defining me as a poet took many, many, more years and honestly, I’m still not sure I deserve that particular tag.

How about this for fun?

What about you? You who found the patience to wade through this post, how did you awaken to the writer in you? What is your story?  We could use The Red Hen Association’s website to publish your stories about your paths. Send a jpeg photo too and we will publish your story and your picture.

• What are the chances that your book will become a bestseller?
  

• Is it possible to predict future success or failure?
  

• Is there a sure-fire program that if you follow it step-by-step will take you to the promised land?

I remember a television interview with John Lennon of The Beatles fame. The question asked was, “Do you know when making an album which songs will be hits?”

John Lennon didn't know

John replied that he never knew, in fact the ones that made it often surprised him. I think that is probably true of books too. Sometimes, not frequently, but sometimes, a book succeeds even when the author wishes it wouldn’t. Take the case of J.D. Salinger who detested the success of The Catcher in the Rye, when asked in an interview, “Did you think it would be such a popular book?”

Salinger’s response was, “It’s been a nightmare.” And that was all he would say on the subject.

By a raise of hands how many authors out there would be unhappy if they had his success? I know that I wouldn’t. I’d be jumping up and down and praising the Lord. My dream come true was Salinger’s nightmare.

How can you know if your book will be a bestseller?

How can you know if your book is going to be a hit? You can’t. There are too many factors involved to make anything a sure deal. You can have a beautifully written manuscript, with superior editing, a wonderful design and even though it should sell – it won’t. There just aren’t any guarantees.

Let me give you an example from my own life experience. Twenty-six years ago I was involved in publishing a natural health magazine called The Herbalist. As a service to our advertisers, and a way to monitor ad response, we included a bingo card. For those who don’t know, a bingo card in a magazine has nothing to do with the popular game named Bingo. It is a mail-back card with numbers matching numbers inserted into the advertisements. A reader could circle the number on the ad that interested them. We collected the data and sent computer printouts to the advertisers. Sometimes an advertiser would get pages and pages of response and sometimes they would get very little. What surprised me was the success of a tiny, 1/6th page black and white ad for a book. The ad was poorly designed and the photo used was so bad that it looked like someone dropped it and ground it into the dirt with their heel. It was so ugly we took great pains to place it in inconspicuous places so it wouldn’t ruin the look of our magazine. Month after month this small ugly ad pulled some of the best response. It often out-pulled beautiful, full page, full-color ads.

We tried to come up with an explanation of why this was happening. Someone suggested that the ad looked so cheesy that people assumed it was a bargain. Others thought the subject of the ad was more germane to our readership. We didn’t know what the truth of it was then, and still don’t today. Things work or they don’t.

There is only one guaranteed way to fail

That’s the point with publishing. There is no guaranteed way to succeed and only one guaranteed way to fail. The sure way to fail is to not publish. Maybe J.D. Salinger should have gone this route. It could have saved him a life of seclusion.

Can you improve your chances of success? You bet! There are many roads you can take to promote your book. The good news is, if one road doesn’t work for you another might, and The Red Hen Association of Self-Publishing Authors has been formed to help you succeed by shining a light on the path. We will do our best to help you, but the real magic is to keep trying. Don’t give in to discouragement and keep trying. That’s the best advice anyone can give.

The Red Hen Association is just a hatchling at this point. Whether it becomes the voice for independent, alternative, or self-publishers will depend on how we grow.  I’ve stated the goals of the association in the manifesto, but I think they bear further examination.

1. The association is intended to create common ground for all self-publishing authors to mingle, share their experiences, and assist one another. This is a place where the successful can pay it forward and the novice is assured of safe, reliable guidance.
2. The association intends to provide educational opportunities to help writers achieve their goals more surely and quickly. These educational opportunities will include:
   1. White Papers, Books, and Free Blogs.
   2. Seminars, Trade Shows, and Conventions.
   3. Self-study audio and video tapes.
   4. Publishing news and opportunities.
3. The association hopes to support authors in developing credibility in the marketplace, by:
   1. Developing standards and helping self-publishers abide by the standards to create increased pride and professionalism.
   2. Establishing a Red Hen trademark and allow self-publishers whose products meet tough standards to use the mark on their books and other marketing materials.
   3. Work toward equal access to booksellers shelves.
   4. Carry on the cause of self-publishing through speeches, blogs, and seminars.
   5. Create public relations and marketing opportunities for member authors such as: Creating a book review section on both blog and newsletter.
   6. Publishing co-op catalogs to send to libraries and book stores.
   7. Sponsoring events such as book fairs, to highlight Red Hen authors.
   8. Explore and advise writers on opportunities that may be available elsewhere.
4. Protect authors from the Wolves and Knaves that prey on new writers by:
   1. Developing standards for would be services such as printing, editing, graphic design and allowing the approved to carry The Red Hen Association trademark.
   2. Surveying members who use unapproved vendors to gather information that could be valuable to ranking them for service, quality, and costs.
   3. Keeping an eye on lawsuits, and court cases involving shady services to advise members to steer clear of them.

   Whew, this is a long ambitious list and not complete. There is much to do before this hatchling can fly. I won’t be able to accomplish these tasks alone, so if there are writers out there in cyberspace who can see a way to assist these efforts please let me know who you are and how you can help. Thank you.

If you have a book ready to market, are just finishing writing a book, or have plans, it isn’t too early to learn how to implement the practices you’ll need to make your book sell. Social networks are big and getting bigger. You can use them as a beginning point to developing international credibility. I learned a great deal from The Author Platform, check into it and see if they can help you on your way. Just click here for more information.