36 Real Authors Talking Writing and Publishing - a book #giveaway

Earlier this year I was on one of the many Facebook groups for authors that I belong to and another member Ashton Cartwright asked for people who'd like to be involved in a book to help other writers.

Naturally I said yes and now the book is available as both an e-book and a paperback. I'm one of the 36 authors who contributed to the book.

(If you'd like to win a copy enter below).

Now that the paperback is available I thought I'd ask Ashton about how the project came together. Don't you just love the cover? So pretty!

1. Ashton, how did you get the idea for the book ?
I've been writing and publishing books now for about four years, and I get asked a lot of the questions, generally the same questions and fairly often; things like "How hard is it to become an author" or "I've got a good idea for a book, but don't know how to start." or even "I've written a book, but don't know how to get people to buy it."

So I thought it might be a good idea to write some of my answers down, in the hope that new authors would get a bit of benefit from it, and would hopefully avoid some of the mistakes that I'd made in my own publishing career.

2.Where did you find the authors?
I was very fortunate to be a part of several excellent online author groups, both for Australians and for international authors. Writing and publishing is a community in which everyone tends to do their best to help one another, particularly for self-published or indie authors. When I mentioned in a couple of places that I was looking for some authors to give their advice to new writers, there were lots of people very happy to oblige. (35 plus myself in fact!)


3. Did you learn anything interesting about the authors - something that they all had in common, something that separated them or anything surprising?
The thing that most hit home with me was that even though we each had a different story to tell, we still had a lot of similarities. Nobody in the book had written an instant best seller and made millions of dollars. Some of us were able to write full time, but we worked really hard at it to make it happen. Some of us were just starting out, and were also working really hard at it to make it happen. I think a lot of times people assume that if you write a book, your work is done. You just get to sit around at home, waiting for handsome royalty cheques, and signing autographs when people meet you in the street. The truth is usually far different from that. Every author I know that has had even a modicum of success has had to work hard for it; they've had to stay focused, stay committed, and just keep learning, writing, and moving forward. Being a writer is definitely not a quick path to success, but it is definitely worth all the effort. :-)

If you would like to get your own copy either e-book or paper back you can buy it here.

---

a Rafflecopter giveaway