<\/p>\n

“What if…” It’s the beginning of a question that can lead to a big goal or a daydream. It’s also an incredibly useful question\u00a0for creative people is “What if…” \u00a0It is an important tool that can be used to open up the mind to possibilities and stir the creative pot.<\/p>\n

Novelists might ask questions about character and plot. “What if I change the gender of my main character?” or “What impact would this setting have on the story?” Writers of non-fiction might ask “what if” questions as they relate to their ideal readers. “What if she is struggling with ‘x’ rather than ‘y’?” And, as far as I can tell, every single writer — regardless of genre — occasionally asks, “What if nobody wants to read my book?”<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”What if nobody wants to read my book? #indieauthors” username=”AndreaPatten”]<\/p>\n

The anxiety surrounding that last question often leads us to do foolish things. They can range from seemingly “little” things like letting “a friend who teaches English” edit our books to Facebook posts or tweets begging people to “buy my book.” Or we enter into arrangments with unvetted coaches, leaving us with both lighter wallets and the same issues. Choices born of anxiety can make us look like amateurs and close off opportunities for progress.<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”Choices born of anxiety can make #writers look like amateurs and close off opportunities.” username=”AndreaPatten”]<\/p>\n

Sometimes “what if” questions don’t yield much but sometimes they can lead us to very interesting and exciting results.<\/p>\n

\n
• “What if authors could get help and support without paying too much for it?”<\/em><\/li>\n
• “What if writers could purchase only the services they need — at an affordable price?”<\/em><\/li>\n
• “What if we could find resources that had been successfully used by authors we know and trust?”<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  <\/p>\n

  It was a brainstorming session full “what if” questions like these that led a group of friends to commit to developing a new author services site. We think it’s different from what’s already available \u00a0because:<\/p>\n

  \n
  • We’re not chasing every single dollar out there. Prospective members must apply to — and be accepted by– \u00a0the team.<\/em><\/li>\n
  • It uses a co-op model: members have simple ways to support others.<\/em><\/li>\n
  • We maintain both public and members-only blogs and, in addition, provide members with tangible opportunities for increased exposure.<\/em><\/li>\n
  • We support a hybrid publishing model, supporting indie authors in through the self-publishing process or referring them to a more traditional publisher if we know one that’s a good fit for their work.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    If an author services site designed specifically for indie authors committed to producing high-quality work is something that interests you, it’s right around the corner. Beta testing will begin within the next 30 days, with the hope of a full launch this spring. And, finally, “what if” you’re someone who’s looking for this kind of support? Sign up for my so-far-never-used newsletter list (at the “contact” tab above) and I’ll let you know when we’re ready to roll.<\/p>\n

    [bctt tweet=”Who’s ready to roll?” username=”AndreaPatten”]<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n

    Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n

    Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n

    Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    “What if…” It’s the beginning of a question that can lead to a big goal or a daydream. It’s also an incredibly useful question\u00a0for creative people is “What if…” \u00a0It is an important tool that can be used to open up the mind to possibilities and stir the creative pot. Novelists might ask questions about character and plot. “What if I change the gender of my main character?” or “What impact would this setting have on the story?” Writers of non-fiction might ask “what if” questions as they relate to their ideal readers. “What if she is struggling with ‘x’ rather than ‘y’?” And, as far as I can tell, every single writer — regardless of genre — occasionally asks, “What if nobody wants to read my book?” [bctt tweet=”What if nobody wants to read my book? #indieauthors” username=”AndreaPatten”] The anxiety surrounding that last question often leads us to do foolish things. They can range from seemingly “little” things like letting “a friend who teaches English” edit our books to Facebook posts or tweets begging people to “buy my book.” Or we enter into arrangments with unvetted coaches, leaving us with both lighter wallets and the same issues. Choices born of anxiety can make us look like amateurs and close off opportunities for progress. [bctt tweet=”Choices born of anxiety can make #writers look like amateurs and close off opportunities.” username=”AndreaPatten”] Sometimes “what if” questions don’t yield much but sometimes they can lead us to very interesting and exciting results. “What if authors could get help and support without paying too much for it?” “What if writers could purchase only the services they need — at an affordable price?” “What if we could find resources that had been successfully used by authors we know and trust?” It was a brainstorming session full “what if” questions like these that led a group of friends to commit to developing a new author services site. We think it’s different from what’s already available \u00a0because: We’re not chasing every single dollar out there. Prospective members must apply to — and be accepted by– \u00a0the team. It uses a co-op model: members have simple ways to support others. We maintain both public and members-only blogs and, in addition, provide members with tangible opportunities for increased exposure. We support a hybrid publishing model, supporting indie authors in through the self-publishing process or referring them to a more traditional publisher if we know one that’s a good fit for their work. If an author services site designed specifically for indie authors committed to producing high-quality work is something that interests you, it’s right around the corner. Beta testing will begin within the next 30 days, with the hope of a full launch this spring. And, finally, “what if” you’re someone who’s looking for this kind of support? Sign up for my so-far-never-used newsletter list (at the “contact” tab above) and I’ll let you know when we’re ready to roll. [bctt tweet=”Who’s ready to roll?” username=”AndreaPatten”] SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-12088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thinking","category-writing-and-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12088"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=12088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}