Straightforward and encouraging article by Dean Wesley Smith in the Kirkus Review:

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/blog/writing-and-publishing/dean-wesley-smith-self-publishing-bestseller-how-i/#continue_reading_post

Thanks, Terry - his blog is well worth reading (I know you follow it yourself).

Interesting post this morning on David Gaughran's blog on the opening up of a potentially huge ebook market in India, which could be another revenue stream for self-publishers:

http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/the-indian-kindle-store-isnt-the-real-deal-yet/#more-2374

Thanks, Toast. Interesting article. Yet another thing to try to keep in mind in the wonderfully liberating but also worryingly task-inducing world of self-publishing.

Incidentally, Dean and Kris are about to offer online workshops (if they aren't already - I haven't checked recently), which will be well worth checking out. I suspect Dean will do one on self-publishing.

Hi Terry - yes, the online workshops look very interesting, though very expensive:

http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?page_id=7474

Well, I don't know about very expensive. I've just had a quick look and it seems that a six-week course costs about £190, which is around £32 per week. For that you get a 1.5-2 hour video lecture, an assigment personally assessed by Dean, and a 30 mins video on the groups' homework in general. Actually, I'd say that's pretty cheap.

A top business coach would charge at least £1,000 for the same kind of session. Okay, writers aren't big businesses (mostly)and not getting at you, but I sometimes feel writers don't expect to pay much for their training. Or to put it another way, how much do you think those courses should cost?


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Apologies. Realise I sound a bit snippy about this! It may or may not be partly due to writers having for so long got into the mind set that publishers and agents will take care of everything; pay for everything. So our field may be a little behind others in realising that good training costs.

Hi Terry - that's OK, no offence taken and I understand the point you're making. I had been thinking about it from that angle too - i.e. we should expect to pay for professional development.

But I think the question is - can we get the info/training another, cheaper way that's equally effective?

For example, one course Dean is offering that really interests me is his Cliffhangers one (US$300 like all of them). But I wonder whether I could get the same info from self-directed reading. I wouldn't get his feedback, of course, and I've searched for books purely on cliffhangers and can't find any - but hope there might be stuff online or as book chapters. Dean says on his blog that he taught himself about cliffhangers by studying them in other people's novels; maybe I can do the same.

Or maybe I can't! But it's weighing up that £200 against the alternatives that's the question for me.

I would love someone else to be the canary down the mineshaft for me!

Are you planning to do any of his online courses?

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I should also add - I used to be sent on expensive courses on professional development for my work and never went on one that I thought was close to the kind of learning experience I could have got on my own with a book. I prefer self-teaching when there are good teaching materials to be had but getting feedback would be a big plus.

Hi Toast, you make some good points.

But I think the question is - can we get the info/training another, cheaper way that's equally effective?

No easy answer to this, as you know. What I would say is that if you always strip your training down to what you think are the most effective/cheapest basics, it's likely you'll miss out on much of the unexpected but valuable additional benefits that come with being less prescriptive. I think I said this earlier, but when I look back at the things that really helped my writing, they often appeared in the margins of what I thought was the main event. I think this is because we tend to believe we know what our writing really needs, when in fact we usually don't.

I don't know if you'll learn how to write cliffhangers for free online, or if Dean's course would do the job best. As you know, I learnt a tremendous amount from the masterclass I did with Dean and Kris. Then again, this is an online workshop with specific elements, so the ancilliary benefits may well be less obvious.

If I hadn't done the masterclass, I'd sign up for the Pitches and Blurbs course. That was one of the best things we did in Oregon. All of us were hopeless at it when we started. It's not only important to learn to pitch your work, I think it's also vital that you can concentrate your thinking about your work in general, if that makes sense. Commercial writers do this all the time, of course. But even if you don't like commercial writing, the lesson of making your work sound exciting and unmissable is important for everyone, I'd say.

I should also add - I used to be sent on expensive courses on professional development for my work and never went on one that I thought was close to the kind of learning experience I could have got on my own with a book. I prefer self-teaching when there are good teaching materials to be had but getting feedback would be a big plus

.

I completely understand and have had similar experiences. However, a good teacher provides something a book never can, which is insight and challenge to your specific work.

Thanks Terry - must admit I just checked Dean's website to see if he's still got some Cliffhanger places left!

The Pitches & Blurbs one is the other one on my "really fancy it" list.

I think you're right - the real benefits are going to be getting personalised feedback, particularly on your blind spots.

Thanks for this, Terry. I'm a big fan of both Dean and his wife. Her Rusch Report was fascinating. I read the whole thing!