Guest Post: Turn Up the Lights by Jean Naggar — Part 2

There is one mantra for every writer who believes in his or her work: Never give up. I have taken it to heart for others, and have seen it work for my own book. If the book has intrinsic value, a writer can alert readers in any number of ways. The ultimate challenge is to inform the world that it exists. It is no longer enough to write a good book, to create and formulate an enticing production, taking advantage of POD (print on demand) options, setting it up with Kindle for high royalties. If no traffic drives by, the glow of the higher royalties will never reach the outstretched hand of the writer.

Years ago, one of my authors who had young sons constantly skateboarding around her neighborhood, had T-shirts made up for them. The book jacket of her first novel was on the back, and the front read “my mother wrote the book.” Another author left a voicemail message on her phone: “I can’t take your call right now. Leave your name and number, and while you are waiting for my return call, visit your neighborhood bookstore and ask for my latest book (title).” Clearly, it is imperative to use imagination and ingenuity without embarrassment, and to make use of every dangling string within reach.

The years have taught me that no outreach goes unrewarded. The reward may come next day, next year, or in five years, but it can always be traced back, and it always happens, sooner or later. So pay it forward. Never doubt your vision. Grab every opportunity to reach out into the world, help other writers, learn more about the opportunities out there in the seemingly limitless publishing world we are in, where new venues for writers emerge every day and offer more variety than ever before.

About Jean Naggar

Jean Nag­gar was born in Alexan­dria, Egypt. She grew up in Cairo, mov­ing to Eng­land, and then New York City, where she cur­rently resides. She is the founder of the promi­nent Jean V. Nag­gar Lit­er­ary Agency, Inc. Her work has been pub­lished in the New York Times, the Vil­lage Voice and Pub­lish­ers Weekly. She is the mother of three adult chil­dren and grand­mother of seven. Now, she is at last explor­ing her child­hood dreams: to write.

Her mem­oir of a mag­i­cal child­hood, SIPPING FROM THE NILE, My Exo­dus from Egypt, is avail­able in print, Kin­dle and audio ver­sions at the fol­low­ing link: Ama­zon, or you can visit her at: www.jeannaggar.com and www.JVNLA.com.

http://vrc.afterburner.com/video.php?n=Afterburner_Day_Overview&f=ab_day