About GT Phillips:
GT Phillips was born in the mid-50’s in Sarasota, Florida, where he lived until 1991. His parents relocated there from England shortly after WWII. Since ’91 he’s lived in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina. He’s been blessed with a wonderful wife and life partner, has 3 grown children and 1 grandson and loves writing, technology, gadgets, computing, family, church activities, healthy living and the great outdoors.
His education and life experience has been extensive and varied with a continual lean towards helping others. Over the last 10 years, Phillips has turned his passion for writing into his profession and loves the added benefit of being able to work from his home office. He has excelled as a freelance author and has written extensively both for others as well as himself. His publications are scattered across the ‘Net in the form of niche websites, articles, blog posts, website content, copy-writing, white papers, press releases, marketing materials, training/info series, squeeze pages and sales letters.
Although his subjects have been “across the board,” his focus has recently turned to his personal desire to help others to improve their lives through the publishing of non-fiction help and guidance books. As a long-time, self-proclaimed “health nut,” these books are centered around health, longevity and maximizing one’s lifestyle.
What inspires you to write?
My life has been a lifelong learning experience and I believe one should never stop learning. I also have a passion for teaching and helping others in their life journeys. Writing gives me the opportunity to do both, along with the ability to serve others far beyond my immediate sphere of influence.
Tell us about your writing process.
My writing process involves a lot of research and analysis prior to getting started. If I have a particular subject I wish to write about, I research it thoroughly to determine if there is a need and interest before moving forward. If so, I produce a general outline as to what I’d like to cover and how to lay out the book. This acts as a “modifiable guide” that ultimately ends up being summarized in the Table of Contents.
I then research the various “chapters” one by one, gathering information and resources that can be compiled and used to support my writings. I use EverNote Professional for my research and data-gathering and then gradually organize it into a rough draft to bring everything together.
From there, I copy the draft over to Scrivener, which is like a word-processor on steroids for writers and authors. This is where I spend the rest of my time honing, polishing and editing until I get everything just right. I read everything over multiple times and do whatever tweaking and improving is needed each time. I also share the manuscript with a couple of others to obtain their reactions, input and any suggestions.
I’ll then “lay the book down” for a few days while I prepare and test the various formats and work on other items such as the sales and information pages, key word selections, book cover, SEO plan, and marketing preparation. I then read through my book again, as if I was a customer, to make sure that everything is perfect.
The reason I take so much time on reading, editing and perfecting is because once a book is purchased there’s no going back. And my reputation is on the line. I want my readers to receive extreme value, over and above the price and their expectations. I also want them to become regular readers and purchase my future books. Most importantly, I want them to benefit with their new-found knowledge and feel compelled to take action and put it to good use…
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I only write non-fiction books.
What advice would you give other writers?
My advice to authors, especially new ones, would be to review my writing process above and then set up their own, customized system based on their unique style and approach.
Read quality books on the subject of self-publishing – there are many on Amazon, for example. There are also courses available as well. Just be sure to check out the reviews and feedback in order to get a good idea of their actual worth. Every book on this subject is written differently, with many unique perspectives. If publishing on a particular platform, such as Amazon, zero in on literature that is geared towards the Amazon publishing platforms. Also note the date of publication since Amazon (as well as everything else online) is constantly evolving, changing and being updated.
Choose the best times to write when you are at your peak performance – then stick to it. Develop a good routine and terminate any distractions, such as smart phones and social media, so you can stay focused on the task at hand.
Learn how to optimize your book for the ultimate exposure and also how to market it to give it the push it needs to get noticed. Sales and good reviews help to promote higher rankings. Once things are up and running to your satisfaction, get right on to your next book. Keep the momentum growing. The more books you write and cross-promote, the better they will all sell as you establish yourself as an authority and grow your list of loyal readers.
Finally, in this explosive new era of self-publishing, set yourself apart from the crowd by publishing the highest quality literature that you can. Rise to the top and let the trash compact towards the bottom. Again, as this section is extremely abbreviated, get out there and “go to school” if you wish to become a serious author – and do your homework. It will accelerate your success and save you a lot of time and grief in the long run…
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I was influenced to become a self-published author because I’ve dome a lot of writing over the years and it is my passion. It’s also a means of expressing myself and my interests while being able to help others. Self publishing is undergoing explosive growth due to all the new technology and the ease and economy of doing so on platforms such as Amazon.
Today, self publishing allows many otherwise unknown authors to be able to step up to the plate and compete with the big boys. Just a few years back they may not have even tried to go the traditional route because of the seemingly insurmountable hurdles involved in getting in print.
I also started out on very tight budget which made book-selling sites like the Amazon Kindle Store very attractive. It is also the world’s largest. I was very fortunate to be an “old computer geek” from way back (to the very beginning), so it was very easy for me to learn the ropes and get everything done online. Someone who is technically challenged may find things a lot more difficult, with many choosing to delegate some of the various tasks involved. This could be such items as a graphics artist for the book covers and any illustrations within the pages, editors to make sure the manuscript meets quality standards, marketers to promote the book, all the way up to actual ghost writer to write the book for them!
I feel blessed and satisfied to be able to do it all myself…
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I believe the future of book publishing looks bright overall. The only ones who may have concerns would be the original print publishers – I’m sure they are not pleased with Amazon…
Everything looks good for the self-publishing industry for several different reasons, the main one being modern technology and the tremendous growth of the various eReaders flooding the market. I’ve personally used them for years and love how you can download a book instantly – and cheaply – and be reading within a couple minutes!
I also like the fact that your whole library of books can go with you wherever you go and be instantly available to tap into whenever needed. Today, society is used to getting things right away – impulse buying is big. Ebooks can also be read during a commute to work, while on a trip, while waiting for an appointment or just in a long line…
Consuming electronic books can also reach across platforms and readers, and many books can be made available not only electronically, but in paper and as audio files as well, such as with Amazon’s Audible. This is the information age and consumers appear to have a veracious appetite that will last well into the foreseeable future…
What genres do you write?: Non-fiction
What formats are your books in?: eBook
Website(s)
GT Phillips Home Page Link
Link To GT Phillips Page On Amazon
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
