Self-publishing?

There has been a shift in the way self-publishing is viewed in recent years.

Once upon a time, a writer would be mocked and largely unread if s/he were to self-publish their story. Back in those days, if you weren't traditionally published it meant the quality of your writing was simply not good enough.
But not anymore.
Self-publishing has emerged as a realistic way to get yourself out there and there are currently around 250,000 books self-published every year. Writers are no longer afraid to go this route and for good reason too. With enough monetary funds and a little bit of confidence, it is possible to market your novel just as well as traditional publishers, and there are many cases where publishers who turned a blind eye to an author's work, offering them big money when their novel sells in the thousands.
If you believe in the quality of your work, then don't be afraid to go ahead and put it out there. Most of the time publishers deny a writer not because of the quality of the work, but because of the writers lack of a "name" to sell copies. However with one or two successful self-published books, you can acquire that "name". Don't be afraid to self-publish if you believe in your work, chances are you might be the next big thing!

Good luck

Be different!

The best way to end up finding yourself published?

Be unique.

It sounds really simple doesn't it? But with thousands of stories written every single day, how is it even possible to make yours really special? Pretty much every story we read or come up with ourselves has been rehashed a hundred times already, so in that case the only way you can make the story special, is by making your writing special. When you put our own voice to a certain story, it instantly sounds different. You could write a story about Hercules, about Jesus, about Buddha, about Odysseus, about Mohammed, about whoever and whatever, and even though there have already been a million stories told and written about this lot, no story has ever been written the same.

How do you make it so different that it'll pique the interest of major publishers though?
Add a completely different twist to it. Tell the story through the villains perspective...and make the villain seem like a prick or a hero himself or whatever. Use a bit of poetry here and there to break up the usual prose.
Above all use your own experiences to write the story, to truly make it your own. Imagine the story of Buddha, yet similar to the annoying brother you were as a child, you could write the comedic story of Buddha through the eyes of his little brother who annoyed the hell out of him (and if he didn't apparently have a little brother...then whatever make it up! Fiction people fiction!)

Good luck with it guys.

You learn something new everyday!

Honestly I just learnt that you can't really make a new page on a blog. So my most recent blog post in regards to a new page...is in fact redundant. But in saying that it is still maintained in a metaphorical sense. I have "metaphorically" made a new page on this blog by adding short stories and poems every once in a while aside from my regular (and slightly annoying) blog posts.

Now to make this somewhat pointless blog post somewhat meaningful, and relevant to writing and my title, go learn something everyday! So yeah, learning stuff is definitely a positive, and should be done on a regular basis....

It'd be safe to say reading this particular blog post of mine was a complete and utter waste of your time. Take care guys. Won't do it again I swear.

A New Page

So I have decided to add a new page to this blog. The page will feature poetry and short stories that I have written, and of course you too can feel free to share something you've written. Every week or so I will write a new poem or a new short story and add it to the page.

Finally the readers of this blog won't just have to put up with mindless ramblings from a young man, but they will have to put up with mindless writing from that young man too. I hope you all enjoy of course, I expect you won't but it never hurts to hope for the best. Just one of those things you'll have to put up with I'm afraid...not really actually, this is the internet, you can leave whenever the hell you want and read something else.

Why Bother?

This is a question which has plagued the majority of us by naysayers for generations upon generations.

Why bother?

Why bother writing? Why not just live a comfortable life as an office worker/a doctor/a teacher/a whatever whatever.

Well to this question I have to ask another question...
why did Thomas Edison bother inventing the light-bulb?

As human beings we have so much potential. Some of us are gifted in inventing, some of us are gifted in story-writing and some of us are gifted at athletics.
Story-writing has always played a major influence throughout history. Texts like The Odyssey, the Bible, The Lord of the Rings, One Thousand and One Nights are all some of the most incredible stories which humans were able to create from all around the world during different eras. Religions and myths and legends and even more stories stemming from them.

There is nothing better than a good story. And a good story-teller today could have a shrine made for him one day, or heck who knows, maybe even a cult to believe the stories he fabricated, (look at the obsession some women have with 50 Shades of Grey, no reason why they can't one day see the novel as divine).

I know I already believe A Song of Ice and Fire by George R Martin is pretty divine. Those books are the best I've ever read, perhaps even a better read than the Bible.
If you're still asking yourself: why bother writing at all? Then let me summarise why right now.
So you could maybe have your name one day immortalised and revered by your work. To have myths and legends and religions centred around the fiction you wrote. To place your mark in history. No biggie. Definitely not even a proper reason to bother writing....(it is).

Take care!