ON THE WRITE TRACK

With Charles Chatmon

Empire Beat Magazine

Hello new and aspiring authors. My name is Charles Chatmon, contributor here at Empire Beat Magazine, facilitator for the California Writers Collective, and executive director of the L.A. Black Book Expo. In the past five years I’ve helped new and aspiring authors achieve their dreams of becoming published, and you can too. While fame and fortune aren’t guaranteed, the following simply asks one simple question…

WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION?

First, I would like to ask you a question. What is your motivation? In other words, what inspires you to pick up a pen and write? What gets your juices flowing as your fingers pound the keypad? Is it because you have a story to tell? A message to convey, or is it simply because you love to write?

Whatever your motivation is, believe that you will write the best story possible for yourself, not for anyone else. You are your own best audience and as time goes on, the readers will come, but you must convince yourself your novel is the best thing you’ve written, even if you are a new author.

In my experience, I find new authors grow frustrated when they finally publish their title, but sales for it aren’t what they expected. Not only are they disappointed, but they quit writing altogether. Please, we urge you to not give up on your dream if you have more stories to write or more helpful advice hidden deep inside of you. There are famous authors who are known for just one book, while others have produced multiple best selling titles. So please, whatever comes from your heart, don’t give up.

The numbers reflect that neither you nor I are the only writers out there. Do you know that according to the Jenkins Group, 80% of Americans want to write a book? That equals to 200 million people looking to publish their first title!

Here are more statistics for you:

About 120,000 books are published each year in the U.S.

(Source: www.bookwire.com)

A successful fiction book sells 5,000 copies.

A successful nonfiction book sells 7,500 copies.

(Source: Authors Guild, www.authorsguild.org)

So while these numbers are encouraging, here’s a list of challenges you’ll face as a new author:

1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.

42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.

80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.

70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

57 percent of new books are not read to completion.

70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance.

70 percent of the books published do not make a profit.

(Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com)

53 percent read fiction, 43 percent read nonfiction. The favorite fiction category is mystery and suspense, at 19 percent.

55 percent of fiction is bought by women, 45 percent by men.

(Source: Publishers Weekly)

If you’re still committed with going through on your dream of publishing a book, good for you! The next question then becomes, what can I do about it?

What you must do is first; write that manuscript. Second, find your target audience, the base you’re writing your book for and then find ways to promote it.

The first step for any author, new or experienced, is finding a comfortable place to write.

Finding a comfortable place to write is key; it allows your mind to create the story you want. It can be at a comfortable, quiet place at home, or it can be in the quaint setting of a library, coffeehouse, or while you’re washing your clothes in a Laundromat. Wherever you find peace and freedom to write your work is the best place for you.

Note: I’ll add more helpful tips for new and aspiring authors in the future. Along with teaching writer’s workshops, I also proofread manuscripts. Contact me at proofersnfocus@gmail.com for samples and a quote. Until the next time, keep writing!

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