Published monthly, on the 15th of each month
Published and edited by Angela Booth

In this issue:

Editorial: We're back!

Toxic Criticism [Eric Maisel]

Extract from tenth Pro Write Workshop, "Write and Sell an eBook"

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Editorial: We're Back!

It's good to be back.

You'll notice some changes in the new issues. They'll be shorter, and will be published monthly, rather than weekly. This is because of the amount of junk mail floating around. Large issues trigger sp#m traps. Small issues do too, of course. Unfortunately, there's nothing that we can do to ensure that you get your issues regularly. We'll all have to be patient and hope that in the next year or two the sp#m situation will be brought under some control. CSB will now be published on the 15th day of each month, so visit either Digital-e or Pro Write to read issues if you don’t get them.

If you need a more regular fix, then read either the DE or PW blogs — the URLs are at the top of this issue.

All best wishes from

Angela

In his latest Creativity newsletter, Eric Maisel says:

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Criticism falls into three broad categories: actual criticism, anticipated criticism, and self-criticism. Examples of the first are getting a poor job performance review, having your painting attacked in painting class, being held up to ridicule by a sibling, or hearing from a friend that your latest poem is your worst so far. Examples of the second are worrying what people will say should you dare to sing in public, fearing an attack by the critics if your novel is published, or imagining the critical things that your parents will say if you let it slip that you are thinking of switching careers. Examples of the third are demeaning your own efforts, feeling that nothing you do is ever good enough, and presuming that you will never realize your goals.

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Read the entire article (you'll need to join):

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/creativitynewsletter/

Here's an extract from Lesson One of our tenth workshop. If you're not a member of Pro Write, join at http://www.prowrite.biz/

Pro Write gives you —

• a new workshop every month, giving you an opportunity to BUILD your professional writing career by learning new skills and techniques; and
• free writing help whenever you need it — all you need to do is post a question on one of Pro Write's forums.

If you're serious about your writing career, we are too. Join us on the high road to success today.

Extract from Lesson One of "Write and Sell an eBook".

Why write an ebook?

The primary reason is money. You don’t have to sell many copies of an ebook to make a profit.

How many copies do you need to sell? Let's work it out.

Let's say that you've written an ebook of 20,000 to 30,000 words. (This is a good length for an ebook. Reading on a computer screen is uncomfortable. Say what you've got to say in a minimum of words and your readers will thank you.)

Your ebook took 60 hours to write. If you were being paid at a rate of $60 an hour, you'd make $3600 in 60 hours. At $30 each, you'll need to sell 120 copies of your ebook to pay yourself for the time you spent writing the ebook.

Almost any book you write will easily sell 120 copies. Compare this number with a traditional publishing house which won't consider a book unless it's a sure thing to sell at least 5000 copies.

The second reason for writing an ebook is time. You can get your ebook to readers quickly, because you don’t have to put up with the hassles of the traditional publishing process.

If you go the traditional publishing route, it will take you 60 hours to put the book proposal together. After you've completed the proposal and sent it out, count on at least six months before the proposal is accepted by a publisher.

Add another six months to write the book, and another year before it hits the bookstores. Two years from idea to publication day is standard for a traditional book.

Here are a few more reasons to write an ebook:

• an ebook builds your name online;
• it's a good entrée for a traditional book. Don’t be surprised if a traditional publisher knocks on your door to offer you a book contract when your ebook is online;
• writing an ebook builds your skill and confidence. Writing a book is a major undertaking. The size of the project deters many otherwise competent writers. Although you may think that you can complete a long project, you won’t be sure that you can do it until you've done it. Do it once however, and you know that you can do it again.

You'll find the complete lesson on Pro Write.