If you can't read...you can't write

It's been said that authors should read more than they write. One main reason, reading well edited books and stories helps you learn how to use language correctly and effectively. Often you can tell how well read a writer is just by reading his writing.

One reporter used Sarah Palin's book as an example. Even though he felt she was ditsy, he felt her writing showed that she had been well schooled and read a lot.

If you want to write Urban Fiction and haven't read Iceberg Slims stuff you are missing a great opportunity. This is the first writer of urban fiction and has sold over six million books. his first book, Pimp was eventually translated into German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish and Greek.


Some may feel his stuff isn't like what they are writing today and they are right. He wrote books that sold by the millions. He did things that no other writer was doing at the time. Most of us can't do that because we only read one type of book and basically copy it to be on the safe side.


But if we read other types of fiction, we might be able to stretch past our writing comfort zones and produce new classics. But it starts with reading. 

Amazon.com new lending library sucks

If you are an independent author you have probably heard about amazon's new program. For me it sucks. Two reasons:

One, they want you to only sell your book on amazon to participate.


The more authors that join and the more books the enroll the smaller each share of the six million becomes. If ten thousand books are enrolled and each one gets an even share thats only six hundred for the year. Which comes out to 50 a month.

Even if the kdp select payout went up to ten million, thats only a thousand dollars a year if all 10,000 books were divided evenly. I don't sell that many books, my readership is a narrow base, and I know that many of my readers use the amazon app on cell phones and Nook readers.

Until I hear a independent making more than $60 per month from one title and still SELLING books on amazon, I can't afford to participate.

And in the NYC area many black women own Nook e readers. And they are my customers. Why would I make a deal that would deny me customers. I think amazon is trying to smash smashwords and barnes and noble.

This program may work for some writers f they are more popular, but at my level in the game I am too small to benefit from this...to be continued.

Alan Cramer writes fiction, not fairy tales

Bourgeois (AKA) Boojee

My newest book is  out. Bourgeois (AKA) Boojee is a continuation of the Detective Honey Sinclair saga. it's a dram in the first degree. I don't like promoting my books here, but shit I do gotta eat. It's also available on Barnes&noble nook. 


Check it out

Good luck charms that sell books

There's a discussion in one of amazon kindle's forums about if it takes luck or skill to be a successful writer.

The truth be told it takes lots of luck and skill. We all know there are plenty of lucky authors who were able to get there books mentioned on Oprah. Being on her show was like getting the winning lottery numbers two days before the lottery. But many forget the skill part. If your book is garbage and Oprah or whoever reads it and can't get past the first page, guess what?

All the luck in the world won't help you get that shout out. In other words people have to like your books. And not just any people. I'm talking about people who read and are willing to tell others about your book.

It takes some luck to have these first tier readers discover your book. And it takes some marketing skill. If you're an established author already with some sales under your belt, you have passed this hurdle. But if you are new, getting your book noticed may feel like the hardest thing to do.

If you are new and self published there are few things you can do.

1. Write a good book. Not a book that you and your loved ones think is good, but a book that people who pay for them think is good. Everybody's not going to like any book, but you better make sure the first tier readers like it. Because if they don't like it they will tell people your book sucks.

2. Only promote your book to people who read that type of book. I don't like romance books. Therefor every romance book that I come across will look like garbage to me. Why waste time and energy pushing your book to people who probably won't like it anyway. I write for African Americans in general. I don't promote my books in general to white readers. Some may say I'm missing out on potential sales but I learned from drug dealers a long time ago, you don't try to sell heroin at church picnics. You might have some luck with Tyler Perry movies but the dope probably won't sell too good.

3. Listen to the advice of people in the business. Things are changing fast, so some of the things they tell you might not work anymore, but listen anyway. You can use your own gut feelings to figure out if what they tell you is right. And too some degree you will have to trust luck. But the old saying is, if you want what someone has, you have to do what they do.

These three things can increase your luck factor. Because every seasoned gambler knows, you should never make a sucker bet.

Separating the men from the boys & I'm not talking about Penn State

See what a good title can do?  Actually I'm talking about separating professional writers from amateurs. 

1. A professional is an amateur that didn't quit. I've talked about it before, writers have to have persistence. It's important to understand that I don't mean just keep writing garbage. 

2. Pro's constantly are trying to better. We have to read books on writing, and learn from our customers experiences.

3.Pro's know that it's a business. When customers complain about our product we can't just get mad and say they are stupid because they couldn't understand your book. Because if their gripe is legit, and enough people agree, you won't sell too many books. And what that means is your the stupid one. But there is help. Read number two on this list again.

4. Pro's get paid. We can give away free samples of our writing. I gave away close to five hundred books a few years ago. But i sold a lot more. There's no semi pro league in writing. If you have ever gotten money for writing you are a professional.

The thing is the market is more competitive than ever. Not only do we have to compete with hundreds of new writers daily, there also playstations, 360's and movies on demand. Pro's recognize this and do what they need to do to deal with the new competition. 

Boxers like Mike Tyson used to study tapes of other fighters. Modern armies send in spies before they go to war and performers practice at least 8 hours before a one hour performance.

So we have to man up. In order be professionals. We have to do a little more than the other guy. Most importantly we have to keep writing. In reality, I'm saying this too myself more than anyone else.

The Class System

It seems to me that there are two kinds of ebook buyers. There is the die hard read a book every few weeks reader. And there is the read every once in a while or when the weather is bad reader. When I look at my amazon and Barnes & Noble sales a few of things pop out at me.

The die hard readers read all types of books by all types of authors. But it looks like they tend to go after top sellers and or books from traditional publishers. Many of them will read indie authors books but some won't. I think this is why indie sales go down in the summer. Amazon is still selling lots of book, just not as many indie ones.

In the winter or when there is a spat of bad weekend weather, my sales and sales ranks go up.  This is when the every once and a while readers start to buy. This crowd seems to be more willing to give indie authors a try.

The weather was nice in NYC this weekend and it seems I couldn't give my books away. But on rainy weekends my sales seemed to jump even in the summer.

This may seem obvious to most of us, but some times we don't do things based on observations. More often than not our actions are based on emotions. Many writers got depressed and talked about wanting to give up during the summer. The extra competition, plus the fact that the die hard readers weren't that supportive of indie authors made them FEEL that it wasn't worth it. They stopped writing.

Now when sales for indies pick up in the winter they won't be ready with new books. They'll hear about all the indie ebooks that are selling and rush to write. The problem will be though, their books won't be finished until the spring when indie sales start to go down again. Again they'll be flooding the market when our type of books are not in season. Publishing like many other businesses is subject to seasonal cycles.

Just like there are two classes of regular readers, there are two classes of indie writers. Those that can get regular sales and those that can't. Both groups know that writing is an art. But only one seems to realize that publishing is a business.

You're fast you pass

If you read books on writing or have taken a class on writing, you've probably heard that good writing takes time. This may be true if you're writing a text book. But if you writing fiction there's no proof of this. Some of the greatest writers have written over a hundred books and short stories. And when I use the word greatest, I talking about writers whose books sell.

Why is this important. Because in the new world of ebook publishing, quantity counts. If you have put out an ebook, you may be wondering where the sales are. But if you have three or more ebooks out you are starting to see some sales. I'm not saying if you write a lot of books you are guaranteed a lot of sales but your chance will be increased.

This is because once people read an author they like, they will often read more of his books. Also if people see your name popping up on a few amazon or Barnes and Noble titles they may be more inclined to try you out.

Three of my shortest ebooks were written in one day. They're not best sellers but they sell one or two books a month. If I complete my goal to write over on hundred books in the next ten years that could add up to five or six hundred sales a month on books that are not selling well. Now imagine if one or two of them sells well.

I don't know about you but I am in this for the money.

By the way those one day written ebooks are under different pen names. This is important, but I'll tell you more about that later.