Mark Dawson
@pbackwriter
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Writer: John Milton, Beatrix Rose, Isabella Rose, Atticus Priest and others. More than 6m copies sold worldwide.
United Kingdom
Joined October 2010
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I've been an indie author for a decade now. I've been fortunate enough to have been full time since 2018 and have sold lots of books. Some thoughts and strategies for my first ten years. Long thread incoming:
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- Lend a helping hand to those following in your footsteps. We don't pull up the ladder once we've climbed it. The indie industry is friendly, collaborative and mutually supportive. There aren't many like it.
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- Write great books. That’s a minimum.
- You must be professional. You’re in competition with traditional publishers and other professional indies.
- It’s not easy. There are no shortcuts or magic bullets.
- Advertising used to be a luxury. It isn’t any more – it’s a necessity.
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- Write a series with returning characters. It makes it easier to market.
- Adverting does work for kids books and non-fiction (I advertise both).
- BookTok is a thing. It works.
- Choose your platforms. It's tough to be good at all of them (and I am not).
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- Comparing yourself to others is a fool’s errand. We’re all inherently insecure, and it’s easy to look at Author X and ask why you don’t sell as well as they do.
- You will need to invest some capital (although, comparatively, not much).
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- Writing to market is good (in principle) but it won’t work if you don’t love what you write. Tried that, hated it. Find the intersection between the two and plant your flag slap bang in the middle.
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- Give thanks for what is possible. It's easy to forget that this was a pipe dream 20 years ago.
- We're not in competition for readers. There are more than enough to go around.
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- Careful who you learn from. Lots of snake-oil salesmen out there. Check their books – can they sell? Telephone number ranks suggest they don’t know arse from elbow.
- Jim Rohn was right: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
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- Be respectful. Never talk down another author’s books. It’s a small world.
- Don’t obsess over your sales. Trends are hard to spot over hours; easier over days; obvious over weeks and months.
-
@BookBub
still works. Don’t listen to anyone who says that it doesn’t.
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- Tactics come and go. Strategies last. Build them.
- Model successful authors. Adapt what they do to suit yourself.
- Romance authors are at the cutting edge of marketing. It has always been thus.
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- Your mailing list will be your single most valuable asset. Nothing else comes close.
- Organic subscribers are best. Make sure your end matter is optimised.
- Don’t trust FB marketing experts. Remember who they work for.
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- Pay for expenses on a credit card that offers points. It’s free money, and, when if you become successful enough where you are spending a lot, it can amount to a tidy sum. (I use a Platinum Amex – let me know if you want a referral link!)
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- Don't believe the naysayers:
@AmazonKDP
is not evil. It’s not perfect, but the Amazonians I know all love books and care about authors. They’ve given tens of thousands of writers careers they would only have dreamt of before.
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- You *will* need to invest a lot of time.
- UK based? Look at whether it’s worth registering for VAT early so you can claim it back. It saves me lots of money a year.
- When you can afford it, get an accountant. They are worth their weight in gold.
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- Don’t expect to be more productive when you have more time to spend on your writing business. I’ve never been more effective than in 2014 when I commuted to and from London every day.
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- This is a business. Don’t be precious about writing. Be an artist in the morning and sell your ASINs in the afternoon.
-
@BrainfmApp
works. Or, at least, I think it works and that’s good enough for me.
- Get over your phobia of spreadsheets. You must know your numbers.
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Hi
@neilhimself
- we interviewed Ukrainian sci-fi author Anton Eine for our podcast this week. He's writing in a basement with his wife and three year old. We're trying to power him up the chart - an RT would be kind:
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- Knowing the value of readthrough is critically important. A £1.99 sale might not make you £1.39 if the average reader buys three more books and makes you £5.57. You can afford to pay more for each reader if you make more, but you need to know the numbers.
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- You’ll make mistakes along the way. I’ve made loads.
- Difficult times can be an opportunity. How people react will help you sort your friends from the leeches and hangers-on.
- Exercise. Sitting at a desk will kill you (or, for this writer at least, his back).
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- Digital adoption still has a long way to go. Most people prefer print. I think that’s good: they’ll come to the Dark Side eventually, and I’ll be waiting for them. “Jack Who? Here’s John Milton and you can enjoy his first book for a fraction of the cost.”
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- Dogma gets you nowhere.
- Multiple streams of income provide security and peace of mind.
- Sweat your IP. Once you’ve written a book, it is an asset that you need to put to work. Think how you can monetise it: audiobook; film and TV; paperback; hardback; foreign rights. Etc.
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- Blog tours are so 2005. I don’t think they’re worth the effort.
- Press and PR…? No thanks. Same.
- You don’t *need* an agent, but they can still be very useful. Mine does foreign deals and film and TV (and introduced me to my print publishers)
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- A digital backlist can earn for you: in perpetuity, with (comparatively) minimal work once your marketing machine has been established. It's a cliche, but you can earn while you sleep.
- Digital stores offer infinite shelf space.
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- There is no one true way. Take the best bits from one author’s strategy, blend it with the best bits from another, add a little from successful entrepreneurs in other industries, and make something that is entirely yours.
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- Going wide or exclusive is a matter for every author. It is personal and influenced by a multitude of factors (attitude to risk, politics, days available to learn, location of readers, etc). I’ve seen groups that demean those who are in Select. That’s foolish.
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“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
― Anton Chekhov
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Happy Christmas. We’re showing our Ukrainian friends what an English Christmas entails (hint: I’m a bit drunk).
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“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
― Anton Chekhov
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“The thing all writers do best is find ways to avoid writing.”
― Alan Dean Foster
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One of the main things that I’ve learned in ten years as an independent author is that building a mailing list of fabulous readers who enjoy my books is the best way that I can invest my non-writing time.
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“As far as I'm concerned, the entire reason for becoming a writer is not having to get up in the morning. ”
― Neil Gaiman
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“As far as I'm concerned, the entire reason for becoming a writer is not having to get up in the morning. ”
― Neil Gaiman
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“Do you drink?"
"Of course, I just said I was a writer.”
― Stephen King
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“Every writer I know has trouble writing. ”
― Joseph Heller
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“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
― W. Somerset Maugham
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An interesting article in
@thebookseller
this morning about publishers paying more attention to self-published authors. I’ve been banging on about this for ages: if I ran a publishing house, one of the first things I'd do would be to look for ways to work with successful indies.
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There’s a lot of negativity about writing and publishing at the moment. From the ALCS survey (mostly trad author earnings reported as £7k per year), to piracy, to unpleasant drama, and more. I don’t agree - it’s a great time to be a writer. Here are
#10tweets
why:
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“There are two kinds of folks who sit around thinking about how to kill people: psychopaths and mystery writers.”
― Richard Castle
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That moment when you finally figure out the twist at the end of your book… and then another twist suggests itself, and, best of all, they both fit together naturally and credibly. Atticus is coming along nicely.
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“The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.”
― Ernest Hemingway
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“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.”
― Ernest Hemingway
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From 40% to 90% in the time it took me to have a coffee. This is definitely the future. Well done
@GRIDSERVE_HQ
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“The thing all writers do best is find ways to avoid writing.”
― Alan Dean Foster
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“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.”
― E.B. White
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“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word to paper.”
― E.B. White
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“I don't know why I write. I don't know why anybody does it. Maybe they're bored, or failures at something else.”
― Cormac McCarthy
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Authors! Do you think AI is a threat? It might be, but not for a while yet. And while Skynet thinks about how to extinguish us, we can enlist its help in any number of ways. Like writing first drafts of ad copy...
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“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
― Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades
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“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
― Louis L'Amour
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“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
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“As far as I'm concerned, the entire reason for becoming a writer is not having to get up in the morning. ”
― Neil Gaiman
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The three books in the Atticus Priest have now sold around 1500 copies in Salisbury’s Waterstones, making it their bestselling series this year.
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“Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written.”
― George R.R. Martin
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“If a writer stops observing he is finished. Experience is communicated by small details intimately observed.”
― Ernest Hemingway
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For a writer, I’m shamefully bad when it comes to reading outside of my research. I struggle with being easily distracted, and so I have made a real effort to get back into reading purely for pleasure.
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“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
― Ernest Hemingway
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I was first published in 2000. I’d always wanted to be an author, and I thought this was the start of something special. I worked with great people and had a blast. I went to literary parties. I drank a lot of red wine. I told myself I’d quit law and write.
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“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”
― Robert Frost
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“If a writer falls in love with you, you can never die.”
― Mik Everett
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“Only a generation of readers will spawn a generation of writers.”
― Steven Spielberg
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Looking for the perfect Christmas present? How about signed and dedicated copies of Atticus Priest’s first three mysteries?
Come and meet me at Waterstones in Salisbury on Saturday 9 December between 930am and 1130am and I will very happily oblige. I may also have mince pies.
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“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
― W. Somerset Maugham
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Atticus is coming soon – probably this week – but, after that, the next two books will be back to back Miltons. Better get cracking.
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“As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand.”
― Ernest Hemingway
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“Do you drink?"
"Of course, I just said I was a writer.”
― Stephen King
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“Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink and be filled up.”
― Stephen King
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Seven months later and our Ukrainian family have moved on to their new flat and their new lives. It’s been an unbelievably rewarding experience, especially for our kids - Roman and Samuel will be lifelong friends, and Freya has been the sweetest and kindest big sister possible.
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“There are two kinds of folks who sit around thinking about how to kill people: psychopaths and mystery writers.”
― Richard Castle
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“A writer is someone who has taught his mind to misbehave.”
― Oscar Wilde
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“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
― Stephen King
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“The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.”
― Ernest Hemingway
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“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
― Stephen King
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Something to add - underpaying and discriminatory publishers aren’t the only game in town now. Self-pub is colourblind and entirely meritocratic.
#publishingpaidme
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“Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.”
― T.S. Eliot
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Been a big year so far, and more to come. Close to closing a really cool deal for Hello Books and am working on something new and super ambitious for late ‘23. Atticus selling strongly, Beatrix next month & the next two books will be Milton. Doing my half century the right way!
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“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
― Stephen King
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I tweeted a thread recently that received *way* more attention than anything I’ve ever posted before. It was on the occasion of my first decade as an indie author and some of the things that I’ve learned along the way.
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“Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.”
― Molière
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“Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.”
― Jules Renard
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“The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes. ”
― Agatha Christie
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Hope you enjoyed Bulletproof. Lots more to come - after I’ve had a week away with the family!
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“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
― Stephen King
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“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
― Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades
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Excited.
We are incredibly excited to share the proof for our first fiction title! The Cleaner is the first book in the John Milton series written by
@pbackwriter
Described as the British Jack Reacher, Milton is the British governments top assassin, but what happens when he wants out?
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“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.”
― Neil Gaiman
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“There are two kinds of folks who sit around thinking about how to kill people: psychopaths and mystery writers.”
― Richard Castle
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