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    A Tale of Two Authors
    A Tale of Two Authors
    A Tale of Two Authors
    Ebook113 pages1 hour

    A Tale of Two Authors

    By Sean Platt

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Meet two authors. Both make mistakes. Both find success.

    Both have vitally important lessons for modern authors.

    In A Tale of Two Authors, successful indie author Sean Platt takes you on a year-long journey with aspiring writers Pete and Alexa.

    Pete and Alexa will make many mistakes, some obvious and some less-so. They will celebrate successes and overcome obstacles. Ultimately, they will show that there is no single, step-by-step plan that will inevitably lead you to self-publishing success. But they will also help you to see that there are common pitfalls you can avoid and best practices you can apply to make success more likely.

    There are so many ways up the mountain of self-publishing success. Let this short parable help you find the best path for YOU.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSterling & Stone
    Release dateOct 22, 2019
    ISBN9781393618126
    A Tale of Two Authors

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    • 3/5
      Author should have been clear from the start about which of Pete and Alexa’s decisions the readers should also make and which were decisions the reader should avoid. Also there is no mention of or reference to opportunity cost other than at the very start and very end. It was somewhat painful reading Pete’s story.

    Book preview

    A Tale of Two Authors - Sean Platt

    Introduction

    Your life is more expensive than you realize.

    This is the reality for most artists, but because people like us are less likely to think in terms of pure dollars and cents, it’s easy for this truth to sneak up on us, to swallow our lives, and turn into an inescapable prophecy.

    Don’t let that happen to you.

    Understand the basics of opportunity cost and you will travel through your life with a more consistent compass. Know how this essential measurement should factor into your decision-making process, so your choices will get progressively better, and you can eventually afford to buy the life you’ve always dreamed of.

    That’s the distinction too many of us miss. Most people believe that life happens to them instead of the other way around. A basic understanding that there is an expense to everything in life, even if that cost is only opportunity, lubricates our decision-making in ways that make it easier to put long-term considerations first.

    Risk can’t always be properly calculated, but it should never be ignored. Because just as everything has a cost, you can also never entirely escape risk. If something seems void of peril, chances are good that you’re simply unsure of what you’re surrendering.

    We risk our capital, our energy, our ideas, and our opportunities.

    Even if the dream is free, we each pay a tax on the journey.

    This book is about understanding the opportunity costs of your choices, so you can sharpen one of the most important — and probably undernourished — skills you need to live a prosperous artist’s life. The actual definition is simple: opportunity cost is the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen.

    We’ll spend the rest of this book exploring that idea.

    As with most nonfiction we publish at Sterling & Stone, this title only exists because we wish someone else had written a book like this for writers. Their work might have saved us from some of our worst mistakes, so we figured we could do the same for you.

    I’m laughing right now, thinking about how many times we bit the big one because we failed to understand (or heed) this basic principle. Johnny and I were the worst, but Dave wasn’t much better, living on the opposite side of the chasm, taking too few chances instead of more than his share.

    The wolf of sacrifice was dressed in sheep’s clothing of opportunity so often that we eventually started seeing fur and wool as one. Instead of stoking the embers of our dreams and sticking with the stories we wanted to tell, we followed false opportunities until we found ourselves on an island where we never even intended to drop anchor, let alone make home.

    Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Now that we can easily see some of what we could’ve done better, and would have had we known, we want to share our earned knowledge with you.

    Johnny and I both came from the business world before we plunged ourselves into fiction. That particular plus and minus helped us to see an abundance of opportunity in the indie space, but it also diverted our attention and sidetracked our ambitions.

    Understanding that there is a cost to every decision will help you to pursue the things you really want in life, rather than the things you have been chasing because you thought you were supposed to, or because that’s the path you were already on and it felt scary to change.

    Every choice has a sacrifice.

    You don’t have to do this alone. Instead of telling you about some of our studio experiences and letting you learn through our missteps like we would usually do, this time we thought it might be better to show you the story through the lens of two author avatars we’re sure you can relate to.

    So now, I’d like you to meet Alexa and Pete.

    Chapter 1

    Alexa told her butterflies to shut up.

    Actually told them, even though she wasn’t crazy and used her mind instead of her voice to issue the missive, I need you guys to cool it — you’re really not helping!

    She didn’t think coffee would help. All that acid in her stomach. But writers drank coffee, and holding a white chocolate mocha was like walking around with a socially acceptable woobie. Not one person in this place had the slightest idea that Alexa was lactose intolerant.

    Just be yourself, Jason had told her, over and over and over, whenever she suggested that maybe attending Abraham Specter’s Superstar Storyteller Summit wasn’t such a great idea.

    Next year would be better. Alexa wasn’t ready to be a full-time author, so attending an expensive in-person event would be a total waste of time.

    Stop making excuses, Jason told her every time. This is what you’re supposed to do, so let’s not waste another year of your life waiting around for the chance.

    Her husband was right and she knew it, so Alexa bought her ticket after that last chance email came in, before the price jumped from expensive to prohibitive. Jason could work remotely for a week, giving her enough time to attend all three days of the conference, plus travel on either side without any worry. James and Diego were both still under five, so now was as good a time as any and better than most.

    After nearly a year doing the research, Alexa had decided that self-publishing made a lot more sense than querying for a publisher. She wanted to build a legacy for herself and take control of her career. The Superstar Storyteller Summit was the best place in the world to do exactly that.

    So yeah, I still need you guys to cool it!

    Alexa gave her butterflies another reminder as she moved up a spot in line. Told herself that she belonged at the Summit, same as anyone else in Faraday Hall. Imagined all the books she would write and the readers she would eventually touch. Pictured the pride on her family’s faces.

    May I help you?

    Alexa blinked, surprised to find herself staring at a barista who didn’t look old enough to have had her quinceañera. She needed to get out of her head. A large white chocolate mocha, please.

    The barista didn’t even say sure thing, or anything like it. She turned around and started on her drink while Alexa wondered if everyone she met in the next three days would know what a total dork she was.

    Alexa felt sorry for the barista. She was so young to hate her job so thoroughly. It looked like she had a grudge against the mocha. Handed it across the counter with a half-scowl. Alexa took it and tipped her $2 anyway. Maybe that would help her have a better day.

    She turned around, took a step, and crashed into an overly-excited man moving too fast for his body.

    Surprised, Alexa accidentally squeezed her cup.

    The lid popped off and a volcanic splash of poorly made white chocolate mocha flew froth-first from the cup’s open mouth to douse the white T-shirt worn by the overly-excited man, soaking it in a creamy shade of brown and drenching most of his caption: The book was better.

    I’m so, so sorry! Alexa exclaimed, already walking over to grab a handful of napkins, the barista half-smirking and half-ignoring her.

    But the man was laughing. My fault for wearing white.

    I just … Alexa didn’t know how to finish.

    It’s okay, I promise. Unless there was some sort of acid in there, and it’s slowly eating through my clever T-shirt and will soon be dissolving my skin. The man smiled. Seriously, that was at least half my fault. Why don’t I buy you another coffee?

    That’s not necessary, but thank you.

    Really, I insist.

    Alexa surprised herself with a laugh. I actually didn’t even want coffee.

    Ah, a prop. He gave her a knowing nod and held out his hand. I’m Pete. It’s good to meet you.

    Pete laughed yet again.

    He had been talking to Alexa all day and their conversation had barely slowed. They kept running

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