Recently I attended the Millionaire
Bootcamp for Authors.
On occasion it was as silly as its title.
People were sent in to warm us up before
each talk.
‘I’m going to make you do things you don’t
want to do!’ one woman cried.
The Black Eyed Peas blasted around
the conference room as the woman tried frantically to get us up on
stage to dance away our inhibitions.
I love dancing but I was at a loss to see
how shaking my booty in front of 500 people was going to help promote my novel.
Perhaps if I’d heard Raymond Aaron earlier
I might have run up and initiated a dance off with the less inhibited
foreigners already waving their arms about.
Mr Aaron delivered my favourite line of
the weekend, ‘If what makes sense to you doesn’t get results, then do what
doesn’t make sense to you!’
Along with the energetic line dancing we were
also encouraged to massage each other’s shoulders and ‘high five’ at every
opportunity.
Inevitably there were grumbles of: ‘We
aren’t American.’
So why was I there?
Because experience has taught me that it’s
not enough to write a book.
It’s not even enough to get an agent and
a publisher.
You have to actually sell your book as
well.
I went to the talks because I wanted to improve
my chances of earning more than the average writer, which is estimated at £4000
a year.
It was soon obvious that the talks were
geared for people writing non-fiction; people who had businesses and people who
were in a great hurry to get published and get rich.
The speakers insinuated miracle
techniques to write a book in 90 days, or 30 days or in Mr Aaron’s case, just
10 HOURS!
While my new fiction posse rolled their
eyes, the rest of the audience jumped up and down with glee.
Speakers offered 60 minutes of great
information and then their talks turned to sales pitches which had people
sprinting to the back of the room to sign up.
And
every course, however expensive it was at the beginning, was inevitably reduced
to £1,997.
I didn’t part with my overdraft that
weekend, but I did get a lot out of the talks.
I met some wonderful people, got some
great tips and I left with my mind buzzing.
‘Insanity
is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,’
Einstein said.
Well now I've got a fantastic plan of action.
Unfortunately it’s written on the outside
of my box and until I break out I won't be able to read it.
Perhaps I have to 'high five' my way out...
Perhaps I have to 'high five' my way out...
