A bad experience in any aspect of your life leaves you with flaring warning signs. Unfortunately you become hesitate about doing business, having a relationship with, or committing your time or energy to anyone or anything that reminds you of that unfortunate moment in your life. If we keep the warning as a guide, we can avoid the perils that others set. Handle your business don't allow the business to handle you.
Your business has a plan, an outline a direction and although you may find yourself lost, confused or misguided, your business is guided by your commitment to your plan. We often seek others to further our mission, add credence to work, promote, and service our needs. These tasks cost and most often (if not sponsored) we sacrifice to assure our product is presented in the best light. We travel near and far, post and promote, and go to events that would further our dreams. Bad experiences are like the detour, the road that ends with no indication if you should pursue the journey, a wrong turn, left or right could cause us to become discouraged. Unpack our product, put it on display and without an audience what do you have........the making of a bad experience. How does one pickup their spirits without counting the cost, the lost, the frustration? How does one think about the event they skipped to come to an event that provided little to no restitution?
Your business has a plan and as nothing in life is a guarantee, you learn from experience. The bitter with the sweet, the good with the bad.....weigh the options and change the course. Each year is a year of growth, as it should be for any business owner. As an Author we often forget, as self-published authors, we have a business. We are not trapped to one lane on this highway to our final destination in this field. There are plenty that print, edit, promote, advise, design covers, typeset.....and yes, host events. Your calendar is based on the sales made, the networking done, and yes the hospitality through it all. Choose and understand this walk, as a author, and a publisher is not promised to get you there fast. Most of us just want to get there, to be acknowledged as authors. Use the bad experiences with printers, promotions, editors, agents and reviewers to move on with a force that has to be reckoned with. Remain professional in your attitude, your character, and watch as others will the heights you will gain.
After losing money going with a POD......I decided to strap on for the ride, the scams, the naysayers. I decided that the ills that are in the industry won't make me sick of what I love, writing. We need exposure, those of us that are new as well as those of us who are seasoned, but bad promotion, events, and yes even a book that no one wants to read should not fragment your ability to move on. Bad experiences teach.......cause if it were all good.......everyone would be an author.
Nanette Buchanan, Author
www.ipendesigns.net
