Hi there, My name is Riley, I'm a Canadian man who will be turning 40 in a few months. I'm the author of three self-published books on different non-fiction topics (political philosophy, the Beatles and hockey) which I've completely, utterly failed to promote. I have been struggling for years on my fourth book, for all sorts of reasons. Because of my failure to do anything at all to promote my first three books, I wanted a champion for my fourth and spent a year pursuing literary agents and small niche pulishers. I got nowhere - I got a few rejections out of hundreds of queries. I find my motivation to finish the book comes and goes more than it ever did with the first three books. And so I am looking for ways to motivate myself to finish it and to do a better job on the parts I've already written. Years ago I was in an offline writers group that really helped keep me with my writing and helped me find support (and support and enjoy fellow writers). That group is long dead but I miss it. So I think I'm here because I'm looking to re-engage with the writer community, rediscover my passion and hopefully talk myself into getting back to being serious about publishing this latest book. So hi.
Hey Riley, I don't know if you've tried it already but I found creating and updating a progress journal here on the forums really helped me. Not only for my own updates and motivation but in seeing and helping others who are going through the same things. It's like a mini-community within itself. At the very least, I'm sure folks here will give you any feedback you might need on your current book. Welcome to the forums!
As another writer who writes mainly non-fiction, welcome to the forum. I would be curious as to what the topic of the fourth book is? I would also be willing to take a look at parts of your book that you are struggling with if you are looking for a beta reader.
That's a great idea! Though I write non-fiction, I used to do Nanowrimo to kick start drafts and the outside scrutiny really helped.
Thanks! The topic is the "just world fallacy," an under-studied cognitive bias (or combination of biases).
Would you pm me your outline for your book, this would give an idea of the general direction. It is a fascinating topic and one that can go in a bunch of directions. I am assuming you have a general message or theme you are working on that would bring it to an end. Looking forward to hearing from you...Bob
