Innovative energy is flowing through The Story Mint.
We have some amazing projects underway. We can't say too much because of commercial sensitivity but we are inspired by the way members are contributing their creative and commercial skills to making The Story Mint a success.
Breaking the code
Our big challenge this year is to find answers to the perplexed question of: How does a writer go from being published to a successful author with a decent bank balance? We are calling meeting this challenge; Breaking the Code.
Since starting The Story Mint, I have read many articles purporting to have the answer to the above vexed question. The answer is definitely much more complex than putting up a website, writing blogs and using search engine optimisation.
In his article, How much does the average author earn? Derek Murphy does some serious number crunching and makes the emerging writer's world look pretty grim financially. An article in Publishing Perspectives by Dennis Abrams doesn’t add much hope. He quotes The Guardian as saying, “54% of ‘traditionally-published’ authors (and nearly 80% of self-published authors) earn less than $1,000 a year.”
Published authors remember the day they held their beautiful new book in their hands. They remember how they felt as they posted the picture on Facebook, pride and a belief that their new career was about to begin shining on their faces. In that moment there is no hint of the impending realisation that being published does not always work that way.
So how does a writer transform into a brilliant marketer?
The Story Mint believes that the answer to that question could lead to answers that enable writers to get the rewards they deserve after all the years of hard graft.
Right now there are 4,572,429 books in the kindle store. That's a lot of books. So why would someone buy your book over someone else's? We know the cover holds some of the answer but what leads a reader to your book in the first place?
We know it is possible to be a best selling author. Some have done it. If they can, so can we. And without selling our souls.
This year we have made our mission one of Breaking the Code that leads to positive book sales. We have a number of initiatives being developed with this theme in mind.
Happy writing,
The Story Mint team
