Talk the Talk
Today is going to see another first for me.
I have been persuaded /invited / coerced* into giving a talk at the Bahrain Writers' Circle monthly meeting. I have given a couple of talks in the past about my work and a charity I'm involved with. So I should be fine, yes? No! Tonight will be my first as a published author, and will be talking to other published authors.
Not a real published author, some might say. You are self-published. Yes I am, as I had always intended to be.
I know there is still an amount of stigma attached to being self-published, but nowhere near as much as there used to be.
Even Print on Demand (POD ) is becoming more accepted in the big wide world, as people are waking up to the writing revolution.
The downside to all this is that there are mountains of badly written or badly edited books out there, and every author has to compete with them. Some I have persevered with because I could see the terrific story behind the poorly executed or badly edited writing, while others I abandoned when it became clear there was no structure or even story there at all. And you have to remember I still struggle trying to read Hemmingway, one of the gods of writing.
Anyway, I digress. Reading is a very personal thing. Like food, just because one person likes the recipe, it doesn't mean the next will. Before self-publication we had to rely on the tastes of a relatively small number of people to serve us something we could all eat. On the other hand, they did filter out the badly executed recipes, but they also filtered out some absolute crackers.
Now, publishing is an equal opportunity employer. We can all have a go, and like they say, the only way to become a better writer is to write. I look forward to seeing some of the huge amount of talent that is still hidden away out there.
Go on. Have a go at publishing your own work. It probably won't make you rich, but it will give you an immense amount of satisfaction when that first sale is made.
(*delete as appropriate)
Fishing for Stones is available on Kindle.
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