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Every paragraph I read of this article I was shouting "That makes so much sense!" Here's why.

When I started writing my publisher asked me "why do you want to write this book?" For me it was not a tough question. I was writing this book because I wanted to share my flavour of writing with the world. I was lying though. I wanted to write this book because it had been boiling in my heart and soul for decades and if I didn't, I would have regretted it to the end of my life. It was not about winning awards. It was not about being recognized. It was not about earning millions. I needed to get that book out of my dreams and into my hands. Many authors think that when they write their first book, they'll finally be discovered and become famous. They write that first book with the same thinking of 'Write it and they will read!' Sadly however, that's true .00001% of the time. Why? Because authors don't really start selling until they've written several books. How come? Well, it's because they're building their brand and it is only when they have that clean and clear message of who they are, what they write about and why they write about it .... and do so repeatedly ... that people begin to take interest.

Thanks for this!

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author

Thank you for your story of screaming in the forest! But don't worry, we've heard you ... loud and clear :-)

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Thanks Anna Garleff. Some very useful points. It's got me thinking about post-retirement, what I want to say, and how to get my message to the right target audience.

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