A lot of the problems new novelists and memoirists encounter stem from one thing.

I see their plaintive posts and emails all the time.

1. “I self-published my novel last year and promoted it free with a Bookbub ad, but after the freebie run, I’ve only sold a handful of books.”
2. “I’ve written a memoir and I’ve been querying agents, but get nothing but rejections, so I’ve decided to self-publish. A publisher has approached me. Is $12000 the right amount to pay for publishing? They say marketing will cost even more. But you have to spend money to make money, right?”
3. “I’m working on a novel. I plan to self-publish it next summer. I’ve bought a domain name for my title, TheWindsweptHeart.net, but now people tell me my website should have my name in the domain. Do I have to buy a new domain name?”
4. “The agent of my dreams just rejected my full manuscript. I’ve had it with writing. I’ve devoted five years of my life to this book and nobody wants it. I don’t have the money to self-publish, so I’m going to cut my losses and quit. I’ll never write another word.”
5. “I having been finish my memoir. You find for me agent to publish. I need money now.”

All these people have made the same mistake: they’ve put all their emotional eggs in that one basket: THE BOOK.

They all want to publish THE BOOK right away instead of writing other stuff: another book, short stories, creative nonfiction essays, blogposts.

Here’s the thing: writing that first book is just the beginning. You need to BUILD INVENTORY before you set up shop.

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