Blog History
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March 2016
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April 2016
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May 2016
- Wie schreibe ich ein Pferdebuch?
- THE AAB OF PUBLISHING - Aspiring Author Beware!
- 10 Ways to make your author friend cringe or smile
- MY HORSES - YOUR COACHES - Coaching with Horses
- Sagenhaft gute Pferdebücher ("Reiten ist nicht weiter schwierig, solange man nichts davon versteht." Udo Bürger)
- Fear of Change - Career Monster
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Wie schreibe ich ein Pferdebuch?
Kaum ein Thema spricht Dich mehr an als das Thema Pferde? Du verschlingst fast alles was der Markt an Pferdeliteratur zu bieten hat? Am liebsten würdest Du selbst ein Buch verfassen. Aber wie? Woher will ich überhaupt die Zeit nehmen, fragst Du Dich. Tja, und dann gibt es noch das Problem: würde ich denn einen Verlag finden, der mein Buch herausgeben wird? Dennoch - unter die Zweifel und Bedenken mischt sich immer wieder der Wunsch Dich über Deine Reitleidenschaft mitzuteilen. Wenn dieses Feuer immer wieder in Dir aufflackert, aufgepasst. Ich habe ein paar Tipps zusammengefasst wie Du Deinen Traum realisieren kannst. Wie die Amerikaner sagen, if you can dream it, you can do it’. Wenn Du es träumen kannst, kannst Du es auch tun. Laut der US Bestseller Autorin Elizabeth George braucht man Leidenschaft, Talent, und Disziplin zum Schreiben, wobei sie ausdrücklich betont, dass Disziplin die allerwichtigste der drei Eigenschaften ist. Aber alles Neugeschaffene im Leben beginnt mit einer Vision, einem Traum, einem Wunsch. Hast Du diesen? Dann lese weiter.
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The AAB of Publishing – Aspiring Author Beware!
At an author event some time ago, I sat next to an amiable, chatty young man. It wasn’t long before he whipped out his business card. ‘Author, Publisher’, it said.
‘What have you published?’ I asked, nodding my approval at the classy design of the card.
‘Nothing yet.’ He beamed a smile.
‘Oh, okay.' I looked up. My eyes scanned his face. “What have you written?’
‘Nothing yet,’ he replied.
The man astonished me with his confidence and optimism. I have never forgotten him.
More recently, at an author event hosted by 'Books and Everything' - a Facebook Book Group I am part of, someone said, “When I started out I didn’t know much; now I still don’t know much.“ I loved these wise words. I, too, don’t know much. I can only speak from what I have experienced. The publishing pool has become so vast, it is hard to develop in-depth knowledge on the many options at our disposal
I currently have seven books on the market. My first one was published in 2009. As a writer then, I had to write, keep to deadlines, attend to editorial flags, endure some gentle or sometimes not so gentle correction, and wait for the day, some twelve months later, when I could hold my book in my hands. Then followed a run of talks and interviews during which at first I tried to show up congenial and witty, but since being witty did not seem to be one of my strong points, I did my best to pretend to be unpretentious and humble. Inside, you must know, I was really, really, really… proud of my book. True humility soon followed, however, when at one radio talk-show a whole hour was dedicated to my first book, and not a single listener called in to ask a question.
Since 2009, the number of publishing options from which to choose has virtually exploded. In this article, I address those of you who have completed a basic manuscript, but don’t know where to go from there. Traditional publishers, vanity press in hundreds of guises, writing platforms - too numerous to count, crowd funding, crowd writing, online self-publishing options, author programmes, editing software (free, demo, trial, monthly subscriptions, once-off purchases, upgrades), PR ‘experts’, in fact ‘experts’ for everything. And then - all that ‘free’ advice! “Open up your book to the public domain – it’s the only way to get started!” they say. “Better still, give away the first 1000 hard copies of your book, and your book is guaranteed to take off.”
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10 Ways to make your author friend cringe or smile
Cringe Question 
1: “How many books have you sold?” Think about it – what you are asking her is, “How much do you earn”? If you are that close and you regularly ask each other, “How much did you pay for your new house/face lift/invitro fertilisation?” …then go right ahead. But remember also: authors can be extremely sensitive about their books. Unless they have sold in the millions they probably won’t like the question, irrespective how close you are. Here is what a newly established author can expect to earn with a traditional publisher for non-fiction: up to 12 % of the discounted price of the book (discounts are 40 to 50 %). For fiction 7 to 8 %. Any earnings will first be deducted of any advances paid before royalties are paid out. If an author self-publishes and does it ‘properly’, earnings work out more or less the same. On the surface, earnings seem higher, but the cost of publishing (using quality service providers, suppliers and material) is so enormous that she’s lucky if she even gets 7 % of 50 % per copy sold. A more lucrative avenue is online publishing for instance with Amazon or Createspace. Costs are contained to manuscript production and royalties can generate up to 70 % of the purchase price minus VAT. If your author friend talks about receiving 50 % royalties from her publisher, her book is not with a classical publishing house in the traditional sense. Nuff said!
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Why do we use horses in coaching?
How does that work?
Big, scary, dumb brutes. What could we possibly learn from them?
These two can bite, kick, bolt and buck, yes, they CAN but, and here’s the thing, they WON’T because they use their energy wisely. And that makes them anything but dumb! You’re quite smart yourself, because you already know that you could learn from horses, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this article. You may not even be aware that you know but subconsciously you have started to connect the dots.
Horses expect leadership, decisiveness, and that you take an active and positive interest in them. If you do not lead, vacillate over a decision, or show up distracted when you are around them, they may dismiss you as an insignificant bothersome fly, to be swatted away with an irritated wave of their tail. Does this sound like someone you have worked with?
Horses love it when you praise them, but only sincerely. They know if they completed a task well and appreciate your positive reinforcement, but will shamelessly abuse your flattery.
Horses tune into your body like no other creature I know. Your body is probably the most reliable source of information you have. Horses can help you learn how to turn on your internal hearing aid to listen to important decision-making data your intuition delivers to your brain somatically.
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Aus meiner geliebten Pferdebüchersammlung stelle ich hier sieben Reitbuch-Klassiker aus den Jahren 350 BC bis 1965 AD vor:
REITKUNST – XENOHPON – 350 BC
„Alles Erzwungene ist unschön!“
Ich beginne mit dem wahrscheinlich ältesten Pferdebuch der Welt, das noch im Umlauf ist:
Xenophons ‚Reitkunst‘. Ein zeitloses Werk! Obwohl es über 2000 Jahre alt ist, ist das Buch heute genauso aktuell wie damals. Xenophon war ein Schüler Socrates, ein Söldner und Pferdefachmann. Von ihm stammen die Worte: ‚Ein Pferd ist eine Angelegenheit der Schönheit‘. Sein Buch ‚Reitkunst‘ befasst sich kurz und bündig mit der Auswahl eines Pferdes, seiner Ausbildung, seiner Pflege und dem passenden Zubehör. Danach beschäftigt Xenophon sich mit dem Reiter und seiner Entwicklung sowie mit Ratschlägen bei Problempferden und wie man das Beste aus seinem Pferd herauskitzeln kann. Wer Reiter ist, und dieses Reitbuch noch nicht gelesen hat – es ist ein Muss!