ANSWERS from a best selling author.

[Dien Rice]

Hi Gordon and everyone,

Wow... Thanks to Raymond Steinbacher and to Gordon too, that was a pretty "meaty" interview!

That was a "keeper"... I went over it with my "highlighter" to get some of the main points.

I do consider myself to be a writer (among other things), so it was of particular interest to me...!

Here are a few things that "leaped" out at me...

Originally Posted by GordonJ interviewing Raymond Steinbacher

I look for hot topics that can sell at anytime, that are recession proof. ... It is hard to sell a million books to a small niche. ... look for ideas that will HELP people

This is great advice. What interests me is that this is the "opposite" advice of some, which advise writing for a small niche. I think it's because, if you focus on a small niche, it might be an easier sale (to people in that niche), because there's less competition. But, you're also limiting your final potential sales. So if you have strong marketing, go for the bigger niche!

My best advice: use every marketing weapon at your disposal. ... there are lists avaiable that have tens of thousands of names on them, and these people have bought books, so why not use that too?

We haven't talked about using lists here for a while. It's very sensible advice!

the more niched your info, the higher price

That's a great reminder of how a "niche" strategy should work. Because of the smaller niche market, you have to compensate for lower potential sales by a higher profit margin.

I know a lot of academic books are like this. The most I paid for a book was over $200, for a very specialized quantum mechanics book (back when I was doing physics), published by Cambridge University Press. (It was called "The Quantum Theory of Motion" by Peter Holland. I see it's only around $100 now, but when it first came out, it was more expensive! It was, and still is, targeted to a very narrow niche.)

I also really appreciated Raymond's explanation of his writing process. I've read a little about various writing processes, and it's interesting to compare. I think it also varies according to people's personalities and preferences. However, I agree that "locking" yourself in a room can really help. Though personally, I find it helps if you have a window. Without a window to look out of, it can get depressing! But locking yourself in a room - with a window - works for me too... Though I also like cafes from time to time (thank goodness for laptops!).

I'm a COMPUTER only writer, can't even read my own handwriting and dictating gives you a different product, tried it, didn't work for me.

This was great. I've also tried the dictating approach, and I agree, it ends up different compared to writing/typing. I find my articles have a different "quality" to them when they are dictated as well.

Old friends think you have an easy job, "is that all you do is write"? Well, obviously they have never written under the gun of a deadline

I find this too... A deadline helps to focus the mind...!

I wrote my first book ... in about 4 to 6 weeks and it took another month to fill it out and smooth it out for publication. Most of my books are written in a couple of weeks.

This is great info! It shows you CAN create a book quickly, if you're focused!

I certainly found it valuable, and I added this interview to my "saved" list of information about writing and marketing!

Thanks again to Raymond and Gordon... I'm very grateful for this "insight" into the mind of a successful writer. It's great stuff!

Best wishes

Dien