Louis’ Journey:
Louis worked in the banking industry for more than 20 years and is a qualified chartered financial analyst. As part of his bucket list he wanted to write a novel.
He was very good at writing reports and got frustrated to only write the factual information.
As part of his bucket list he wanted to do snow skiing and horse riding overseas which both resulted in him getting hurt.
During the time he was injured he found writing as a good outlet and keeping his mind preoccupied. He saw an advert for a writing course which he enrolled in. As part of the course it triggered the creativity which was latent in his mind.
He focused on acquiring the skill set and it was only once he decided to leave corporate when his first book “Submerged” a crime thriller was written and published.
Books that influenced him:
Richard Branson’s books
“The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho
Knowledge investment:
He reads regularly to learn writing styles from other authors and also enjoys the life stories of other people.
Habits:
The rule for being an author is to write every day, even if it is just 500 words. He is focused on his health and spends each day doing some form of exercise.
In a nutshell a typical day would include reading, writing, exercise and interaction with his fellow writers on social media.
Biggest Challenge:
A writer is typically a left brain person who studied some form of journalism and fall into the artist category – musicians, painters etc. Writing fiction is the more difficult part of writing and he gave himself a fixed timeline to accomplish this.
Analyse the Business:
Product:
Your product is a script which must be of very high quality to even be considered. In terms of international publishers there are 400 American and British publishers that look at scripts for the fiction market.
Publication Strategy:
The ultimate goal for any author is to have the book internationally published and having it in local book stores and getting reviews is the stepping stone towards the international market.
A hybrid model was what Louis settled with in terms of him carrying the financial risk by paying the publisher for services. As part of each paperback copy that is sold in bookstores there is a revenue share model with the publisher.
Write to Market:
The steps involved to get the book ready for selling involve the following:
- Writing the book
- Design the Cover
- Think of this as your packaging and it needs to be attractive in order for the book to be visible in the bookstore.
- The designer needs the summary of the story that will enable them to design a better cover.
- Compile the back page summary.
- Compile information sheet for sales teams that comprise of extracts from the book.
- Book launch
- Make use of a publicist who already has connections to reviewers and journalists.
- Tell everyone you have a connection with to attend the book launch.
Go to Part 2 of the interview.
