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10.5 Million Gets You on the List

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Nora Roberts on Goodreads

The Forbes list of wealthiest writers over a one year period hit the newsstands recently. And there are a few surprises. James Patterson headed the list (no surprise here). Bill Clinton recently collaborated with him on a novel entitled The President is Missing. Patterson sold nearly 5 million books in the U.S. alone this year, earning $86 million, according to Forbes.

J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame is right behind him (or $32 million behind him, anyway). Many know her story as an author. She grabbed $54 million over this time frame, $41 million less than last year. Pretty rough year.

Stephen King, writer – and Boston Red Sox fan, was number three. He still writes macabre stories and gets paid very well for them. That’s scary. In many ways, he’s kind of the modern day Alfred Hitchcock. He made $27 million – much, much more than Hitchcock ever dreamed of (or had a nightmare about).

The Rest of the List

John Grisham was fourth. I have a great deal of respect for JG — and not just because he, too, is a huge baseball fan (see my blog post of January 1, 2018 for a deeper dive into what I think of him). He wasn’t too far behind his friend King, as his haul reached $21 million.

Number five was a tie. Jeff Kinney must’ve been some wimpy kid, so I didn’t think I’d ever heard of him. However, Dan Brown, the author on the list that Kinney tied in the rankings, I have heard of. Danielle Steele and Nora Roberts are names that most people recognize. They tied for eighth on the list. I’m not that familiar with Rick Riordan and E.L James, perhaps because I don’t generally read fiction. They pulled up the bottom of the list with ONLY $10.5 million in earnings (each) this year.

One More Gainfully Employed Individual

Michael Wolff made the Top 10 after the release of his book, Fire and Fury, this year. Apparently, Trump got him a job, too, since DJT’s been in office. Wolff is the first nonfiction author on the list in 11 years. The book sold 1.7 million copies, flying off the shelves in hardcover, e-book and audio formats in the first three weeks alone. Wolff earned an estimated $13 million from June of 2017 to June of 2018. This placed him seventh on the list of the year’s wealthiest writers.

Persistence is a Plus

You can buy kamagra 100mg online with or without prescription like on line viagra , cialis, order cialis online, Lipitor, ladeegra, Ed trial pack, Crestor & more. Medicinal help to treat men’s erectile dysfunction has developed as the PDE5 inhibitor class of drug that can work to oppose and restrict the impotency favored mechanisms carried out by this body enzyme helps to restrict the blood flows to the penile tissue structures in order to turn cialis generic mastercard them lifeless and incapable. The produces are available at any authorized medical store. cialis without prescriptions San Soo Gab San What makes this course extra special is the fact that free viagra 100mg you get to see the desired results. Persistence pays off. Thirty-one (31) publishers turned down Patterson’s first book (see my blog post of October 31, 2017 for additional info about the author). He didn’t give up. He finally got it published. And now he is worth three quarters of a billion dollars.

Rowling didn’t give up either. She was a single mom who lived in a small flat while going to cafes to write Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. She often took her daughter Jessica (named after Jessica Mitford, the British investigative journalist and activist, who was J.K.’s favorite author). Jessica slept in a pram next to her while J.K. scribbled away.

J.K. said she was as poor as possible without being homeless — severely depressed and considered suicide. Christopher Little, an “obscure London literary agent,” finally accepted Rowling’s book, after she was on the receiving end of many rejection letters.

Grisham didn’t give up either. He felt that the fact that he had successfully completed law school – persevered through years of study, then taking the bar exam – was ideal training for the task of persisting through the obstacle course that is publishing.

All earnings describe June 1, 2017 thru June 1, 2018. Figures are pretax; fees for agents, managers and lawyers aren’t deducted (and you can be sure they’ll get their share). NPD BookScan and Box Office Mojo collected the data. Industry insiders, along with some of the authors themselves, were interviewed for the study.

The world’s 11 highest paid authors sold nearly 25 million print books combined in the U.S. alone over the one year period. Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train, was most likely #11.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

FJ Felsburg, ghostwriter, publisher and marketer, lives in Western North Carolina with his beautiful wife and hyperactive dog, surrounded by woods infiltrated with snakes, raccoons, bears, bobcats, white squirrels and turkeys.

“Terrible” Writing Takes Time

author, books, marketing

There’s a novelist who has become very wealthy in the cut throat world of publishing. His name is James Patterson. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. He is presently writing a crime fiction book with Bill Clinton.

What you may or may not know about Patterson is he worked his way up in the advertising industry from junior copywriter to become CEO of J. Walter Thompson North America. JWT was one of the premiere ad agencies in the world with accounts like Kraft Foods, Burger King and Toys ‘R’ Us.

Patterson has written nearly 150 novels. He has been the world’s best-selling author since 2001 (ahead of J.K. Rowling, John Grisham – and even Dr. Seuss), with over 300 million copies of his books in print. He has a team of co-writers, several TV deals and an annual income of nearly $100 million. His total income over a decade is estimated at $700 million and Forbes lists him as the wealthiest author.

Humble Beginnings

Out of high school, Patterson worked at a psychiatric center and read books while there, to pass the time. He went to Manhattan College for his undergraduate degree and then Vanderbilt University for his masters.

His first book, The Thomas Perryman Number, about a Nashville newspaperman on a murderer’s tail, was rejected by 31 publishers before Little, Brown published it in 1976. He wrote it while he was working at J. Walter Thompson. It sold about 10,000 copies. He moved up from junior copywriter at JWT to become the youngest creative director in the firm’s history.

Breakthrough

Patterson’s breakthrough book, Along Came a Spider, was the first of his Alex Cross books. Alex Cross is an African American homicide detective in Washington, DC. The author promoted it using advertising, which was unheard of in the publishing industry.

The ad rolled out in three thriller markets: Washington, DC, Chicago and New York. The book debuted at #9 on the best seller lists and rose to #2. The #9 ranking afforded it favorable shelf location near the entrance of the store. This prime physical position is probably the biggest single factor affecting book sales. There are now over 5 million copies of Along Came a Spider in print. Alex Cross became a booming franchise.

He changed the model

His books include short chapters and reminders of what happened prior, in case readers put the book down the night before. And the books also include a bonus “free preview” of another book he has written. He knows what’s going to grab people. His books beckon the reader, as if to say, “Buy me, read me. I’m not Ulysses!”

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These days

He is very involved in the designing, marketing and advertising of his books. His target market is largely women, who are Patterson’s faithful readers. The writer works with a special staff at Little Brown, which is owned by Hachette, and is believed to account for 30% of their revenues.

He now produces a dozen to 20 books a year. He writes seven days a week, 365 days a year. His books are published in 38 different languages. At 67 titles, he has the most NY Times bestsellers. One out of every 17 novels bought in the United States is one of his.

He owns a home in Palm Beach, which he paid $17.5 million for, and is now worth much more.

Nearly all of his books are published several times – first as traditional books, then as pocket-sized, mass-market paperbacks. It reminds me of the Beatles’ White Album (formally called The Beatles). It is their only two record album. The rumor was that if you played it backwards, you heard someone say “Paul is dead.” Those who bought into that myth and tried it had to go out and buy another copy of the group’s most expensive record because playing it backwards ruined the grooves. That’s some pretty astute marketing.

Patterson has written in just about every genre – science fiction, fantasy, romance, graphic novels, YA and non-fiction. His fastest growing category is YA.

Stephen King called him a “terrible writer.”

About the Author

Frank Felsburg works with professionals who want to communicate their value through writing, speaking and marketing. He does this in a number of ways including ghostwriting books and helping Subject Matter Experts create, prepare for and deliver speeches – and positioning them so they stand out in a noisy world. He turns speakers into authors and authors into speakers.

Spoonerisms, Malapropisms and Figurative Language!

author, humor, marketing, publishing, writing

With all the content out there these days, you can separate yourself from other content providers. You can make your writing stand out. It’s nice to know that people will read your work. It IS worth their time!

Good marketing helps to get people’s eyeballs. If people have a favorable impression of you as a writer, they should like your work. The best marketing you can do for your craft – whether you write books, poems, articles or blog posts – is to be downright good. Ben Franklin said “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” As it turns out, he knew not only writing, but also entrepreneurship.

How would people describe your writing style? Direct? Humorous? Informative? Crafty? Sarcastic? Subtle? What devices do you use so your writing differs from all the “noise” out there?

The English language can be a lot of fun. Add pizazz to your composition with some interesting devices. Here are a few:

Alliteration

When the same sound or letter is used at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words, it is called alliteration. Examples include “busy as a bee,” “dead as a doornail,” and “fit as a fiddle.”

Rhyme

When the words correspond to one another from an acoustic standpoint, you have rhyme. In other words, the sound is repeated. Here’s an example from Tennyson’s poem, The Eagle. The first stanza reads:

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

Most poems use rhyme to some effect.

Rhythm

There are five rhythms in poetry. Sounds that are stressed – as opposed to unstressed — produces rhythm. Take the word “today,” for example.  The rhythm is buh BUH. The first syllable is unstressed and the second one is stressed.

Many readers and/or writers recognize this as an iamb (as in iambic pentameter). Pent meaning five, iambic pentameter is when this happens five times in a row. So it comes across as Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum.  One of the most famous lines of iambic pentameter is from Romeo and Juliet, when Romeo says “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks.” The human heart beats in this rhythm.

Other devices include spoonerisms, malapropisms and figurative language. While you might not want to incorporate them into your writing, it is nevertheless a good idea to be familiar with them, if only for language’s sake.

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Spoonerisms

The transposition of initial sounds of words in a phrase is a spoonerism. It was named after William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), a British clergyman and educator. He spoke in public a lot and often got tongue tied. He would say things like “a blushing crow” when he meant “a crushing blow.” Another example is “The queer old dean” – instead of the “dear old queen.”

Malapropisms

The mistaken use of a word in place of a similar sounding one, often with unintentional comedic effect (think Archie Bunker), is a malapropism. It was introduced in the play The Rivals, which had a character named Mrs. Malaprop. Sheridan took the character’s name from the French term mal à propos, meaning “inappropriate.” An example of a malapropism: “That was a mute point,” when what they meant was that it was a moot point. It is similar to a Freudian slip, which is an error that reveals someone’s subconscious mind.

Figurative Language

Figurative language is when a word or phrase is given a specific meaning other than the literal definition. An example is “I am so hungry I could eat a horse.” Obviously, it isn’t meant literally.

Are you appealing to the senses by using figurative language?

Instead of being superfluous, sometimes you can be more descriptive by using these or other literary devices. Personally, I love the way David Feherty describes Jim Furyk’s golf swing. He says it is like “an octopus falling out of a tree.”

What literary devices are you using? You may be using some and not even realizing it. Are you just slapping words together, or are you tapping into your readers’ senses?

Say it with style and tap into their senses!

What are some of your favorite phrases?

About the Author

Frank Felsburg penned Men Really DO Listen, which is selling well, but would sell better if women would stop looking for it in the fiction section of libraries and bookstores. In addition to ghostwriting, he also publishs and specializes in PR. Call 828.595.2485 to reach him.

Lost and Found: How to Be Found

author, communication, marketing

                             www.twitter.com

“If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door.” Or so the expression goes. Usually, it doesn’t work that way.

For example, how about if the world doesn’t know that you have a better mousetrap? What if they aren’t sure where you live – or how best to reach you?

“Surely that doesn’t happen in this day and age of the information explosion,” you say. Well, it could. And don’t call me Shirley.

Even though telephone books have pretty much gone the way of the operator, the fact is there is so much information out there, that we can’t keep track of it all. Have you ever changed your email address? What if someone sent a message to an old address of yours and you never received it? Likewise, have you ever changed jobs? Most of us have changed both – jobs and email addresses.

Unless you have a solid brand like Cheers (“where everyone knows your name” – and, for that matter, what you’re all about) or knows how best to reach you, some of your prospects could be falling through the cracks. Can you afford that?

Maybe you can. Perhaps you don’t want every lead that has an interest in what you provide. Maybe you have all the business you need at this time. Well, if that’s the case, more power to you.

But, Public Relations and Marketing are HUGE in this day and age, especially in the very competitive publishing market. If you want a brand that is congruent with who you are – which, essentially is (or should be) a purveyor of information that can be TRUSTED, it’s probably best if you can be reached successfully – the first time. That gets the communication off to a good start.

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  1. Keep the email address on your Linkedin profile updated. Some people export all of their Linkedin contacts into a CSV (Excel spreadsheet) file. If your address isn’t up to date, you may not receive their correspondence. This isn’t always bad, as many people do the export for marketing purposes. But if they are genuinely interested in you, you have missed an opportunity to connect with that person (if they email you separately from Linkedin).
  1. Consolidate your Twitter accounts (and optimize your Twitter profile). First of all, do you even use Twitter? You should at least be on it, even if you aren’t active. There are those who believe it shortens your attention span reading 140 character blurts, day in and day out. I get that and there is some truth to it. But did you know that nearly one-third of all Twitter users are journalists and media? Furthermore, members of the media tweet the most.
  1. Have a website and keep it up to date. Be aware that Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Social Media all factor into the amount of traffic that visits your site. Having a blog with recent posts helps your ranking with Google.

If you can control the message, and therefore your brand, the flow of prospects to your products and services will increase. As a content provider, this should certainly be in your wheelhouse. Finally, make sure the web content (as well as your Twitter profile) uses keywords and images that align symmetrically with your brand.

In this day and age of fake news, you want every advantage you can get.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Frank Felsburg is a ghostwriter of books, blog posts, white papers and web content. Recent projects include a stint for Forbes magazine on angel investing, as well as articles on commercial real estate and medical technology.

When is a Good Time to Curl Up with a Book?

author, books, publishing

We’re all so busy these days. And information is coming at us at warp speed. There’s a lot of drinking from a fire hose. It’s exhausting!

With everything going on in the world, and all the various opinions out there – right or wrong – wouldn’t you like to get away from it all – at least for a few hours?

You probably would. But do you ever take the time to curl up with a good book and enjoy the simple pleasure of reading a page turner? Some people do. Many don’t.

As I look out my window and see the snow coming down, I can’t help but think of simple pleasures like hunkering down with something that will be good for the soul. I don’t drink coffee or hot chocolate. Instead, I get a high from running or by reading a well written book.

You must have one on your shelf. If not, they are abundantly available at your local library. You could even order one from Amazon and have it delivered to your door in the next 24 hours. So even if you are snowed in – you have no excuse.

A Good Selection

Here are a few books on many peoples’ radar which are either new or seeing a resurgence:

A Dog’s Purpose (published by Tom Doherty Associates), by W. Bruce Cameron, is written by the same author that wrote 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter and How to Remodel a Man. The general consensus on Goodreads is that it is a feel good book worth the read.

There are two hundred and fifty studio apartments located in an area levitra samples free of six hundred sq feet. Sometimes lowest prices for sildenafil you will see that medicine in the form of oral medicines, penile pumps, penile implants or vacuum devices. These fears later develop into taboos and self-restraint. viagra canada pharmacies Hypochondriacs? Given our family history – and our understanding of the immune responses viagra price india involved in this disease, and clinical evidence revealing the frequent associations between psoriasis and Cardiovascular Diseases The exact connection between psoriasis and vascular diseases is unknown, but available evidence suggests that inflammation may be the causal link between psoriasis and cardiovascular Diseases The exact connection between psoriasis and vascular diseases is unknown, but available. If you are a non-fiction reader, Hillbilly Elegy (published by Harper) by JD Vance, is the New York Times #1 Hardcover Non-Fiction book. Vance, a Yale Law School grad, looks at the struggles of Americans white working class thru his own childhood in the Rust Belt. Part memoir, part historical and social analysis, it is a “fascinating consideration of class, culture and the American dream.”

Political Books

Depending on which side of the political spectrum you are on – or whether you watch Fox News or not – there are 1984 by George Orwell (published by Penguin) and Killing the Rising Sun by Bill O’Reilly (published in 2016 by Henry Holt & Company). Martin Dugard wrote O’Reilly’s book. The Fox News commentator promotes it on his platform.

In addition to 1984, which was published in 1949, also being recycled from a bygone era are It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (published by Doubleday) and Fahrenheit 451 (published in 1953 by Simon & Schuster), written by Ray Bradbury.  

On a personal note, I once attended a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game where Monica Seles, the former professional tennis player, was in attendance. Signing autographs, she came up the aisle I was sitting in. My friend Paul fished for something in his attaché case for her to sign. He pulled out a copy of Bradbury’s classic and she signed it.

I recently read that Seles is engaged to Tom Golisano, the owner of Paychex, since June 2014.

According to Wikipedia, “In February 2011, Golisano became the spokesman for National Popular Vote Inc., a non-profit organization seeking to implement a popular vote system for presidential elections by harnessing the electoral college.

I guess in some ways we can’t get away from it all. But we can try.

About the Author

Frank Felsburg is a content strategist, publisher and marketer of books. He can be reached at 828.595.2485, frank@SpokenAndWrittenWords.com or @fjfelsburg

Seven Things That Will Give Structure to Each Chapter of Your Forthcoming Book

author, Useful Tips, writing

              Victory – Your Completed Book

Here are some ways to flesh out the chapters of the manuscript you intend to write. Remember that? The one you keep putting off? Oh, I know – you’ll write it “someday.” Well, I can assure you (and, trust me, I know from experience) that some “day” turns into some “month.” Months turn into years and years into decades. And decades add up.

Pretty soon you are talking about your entire life.

It reminds me of the poem written by Herbert Kaufman call Victory. It goes like this:

VICTORY

You are the man who used to boast

That you’d achieve the uppermost,

Some day.

You merely wished a show,

To demonstrate how much you know

And prove the distance you can go …

Another year we’ve just passed through

What new ideas came to you?

How many big things did you do?

Time…left twelve fresh months in your care

How many of them did you share

With opportunity and dare

Again where you so often missed?

We do not find you on the list of Makers Good

Explain the fact!

Ah no, ‘twas not the chance you lacked!

As usual – you failed to act!

Having said that, here is the Secret Formula to writing a book. You could probably finish it in fewer than seven days if you wanted to (and now might be the time of year to do it, since people often shift gears a little, especially between Christmas and New Year’s). Exactly seven days separate the two holidays, in case you didn’t notice. What will you be doing that week?

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Anyway, once you have set a deadline for yourself (which I can’t encourage you strongly enough to do), here are the next steps:

  1. Come up with the book title (if you haven’t already). Make it catchy and easy to remember. One that people can recommend to their friends and colleagues. They shouldn’t have to “google” it, otherwise look it up or even write it down. I’m sure you can come up with a good title if you think about it.
  2. Decide how many chapters it will be. At least 10 is probably a good rule of thumb (although Marie Kondo’s best-selling book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up only has five chapters, so go figure). Twelve or more is good for a business book. If it is a novel, the number becomes less important.
  3. Come up with chapter titles. Make them catchy, too. Perhaps you can find a quote that correlates to the chapter title. If so, I suggest you have one for each chapter. Put it in italics at the outset of the chapter.
  4. Define what is meant by each chapter title. Why is that the name of the chapter? Is it an expression that means something to you? Or, did it come from somewhere (or someone) else? What is its origin?
  5. Come up with a story to go along with the narrative of the chapter. The story should illustrate the point you are making.
  6. Come up with a way to wrap up the chapter. Something that drives your point home.
  7. Smooth it out by writing, reading what you wrote and then rewriting. You know what reads well. Make sure your work does.

That’s pretty much it! Each chapter should have an opening, body and conclusion. Use the PEP (Point, Example, Point) formula in each chapter.

Once you have a solid rough draft of your manuscript, you can send it off to an editor. Good editors can do amazing things with manuscripts.

Don’t obsess over it by trying to achieve perfection. It won’t happen. Keep moving forward with it. Don’t let it become stale or stagnant.

If you need help, give me (or someone else) a holler.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Frank Felsburg is a ghostwriter of books, blog posts, elevator pitches, web content and white papers. He can be reached at 484.278.4674, frank@SpokenAndWrittenWords.com or @fjfelsburg.