Writing, Publishing, Marketing and Selling Your First Book during Lockdown

John W Hayes

Sep 30, 2020·3 min read

How many great books, songs, works of art, and other creative endeavors are going to be made during this period of isolation?

I’ve been incredibly lucky in my career as a writer. I’ve not only managed to earn a living from my craft for well over a decade, but I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed myself while doing it. How many of us can truly say that?

I believe great writing doesn’t happen in isolation. Writers need to get out there, meet people and experience life in their writing is going to have a pulse. You might think that writing is the perfect job for an introvert. That may be true for some writers but were Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemmingway or Charles Bukowski introverts? I don’t think so.

A big part of my job is speaking to fellow writers. I do this in the hope of inspiring them to be more productive but also to aid my own productivity. The people I meet when I’m out on the road have so many fascinating stories, I often wonder why so many of them struggle to get them down on the page.

It’s a very rare occasion when I’ve come out of a writing seminar that I’ve not been inspired to write a piece of problem-solving content — and all great writing should solve a problem (how to entertain, enlighten, frighten or even arose someone).

The Elephant in the Room: COVID-19

So the fact we all in various states of lockdown for the foreseeable future is a big problem for me. I’ve canceled seminars all over the UK and mainland Europe. But this doesn’t mean we have to isolate ourselves from each other. In fact, it creates an even better opportunity to get together via technology.

In the real world, these events typically cost in excess of $100 to attend. This is to cover the expense of travel, meeting space, the all-important buffet, and of course my time. In the online world, most of these costs are not applicable and so I am able to invite attendees to join the event for free.

I am, however, convinced these events will hold tremendous value to aspiring authors and so I’m inviting attendees to pay however much they feel the seminar was worth to them after the event with no obligation and no hard sell.

My Writing, Publishing, Marketing and Selling Your First Book Seminar is now available online for only $7.99 (when purchased directly). The course is also available on Udemy and Skillshare.