Role Models...Joe Paterno? Be Careful Who You Choose.

I am a self published author.  In the publishing world the general public has been led to believe that self published author's work isn't any good or they would not have chosen the "vanity publishing" route.  However many self published authors are proving that rumor false by becoming Best Selling authors, and they did it without the help of big publishing companies.  I am one of 700,000 self published authors, true some will be poor writers but the odds are we aren't all bad.  Just because we chose to self publish doesn't mean we tried traditional methods and failed.  For me, I chose it because I'm a control freak and wanted things to be done my way.  I will admit that I have struggled when it comes to marketing.  Writing is my cup a tea, it's just talking with  my hands, and I'm quite good at that.  But marketing on the other hand is a whole new beverage for me.  One that has a bitter taste.  So I'm always on the lookout for a new flavor; guidance.  My friend, who is an award winning, recently NYT Best Selling author I might add (not self published), sent me an email about a guy that has been very successful at self publishing.   He too is a NYT Best Selling author as well as an Amazon Kindle Best Selling Author.

From that e-mail I purchased a book called, How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months, written by John Locke. In his book John shares his marketing plan on how he used social media to become a best selling author.  He was however first a self made millionaire in the insurance business.  And now a successful author.  I'm just a housewife and a mom.  I don't care about becoming a best selling author but I spent 6 years writing, and a lifetime creating, the stories that I've published in my book and I'd like to share them with more than a dozen of my closest relatives.  OK, I'm exaggerating but not much.  With the invention of e-readers, you can purchase books cheap.  In this case, for the low price of $2.99, that's less then a fancy cup of coffee.  For that price you can afford to spit out the bad ones and go to Starbucks.  With all that aside, I had a point to make.  It's the real reason I'm blogging today. 

In John Locke's book How I Sold... he tells of a blog that he wrote in November of 2010, he said it "is the blog that changed my life."  It is titled "Why I Love Joe Paterno and My Mom!"  In that blog John talks about how his father died when he was only two and how his mother never remarried.  She told him one day to find a role model to look up to, to choose a person of high character...and that "he will never let you down."  When I read that, my heart sank.  Oh no! I thought.  When John wrote and published this book, publicly announcing his role model, a man he says he has loved for 44 years, he had no idea what the near future held.  And now with the recent bad publicity and the firing of Joe Paterno from Penn State, I worried how it made John feel.  I felt his pain.  I have been disappointed by mankind.  I have been guilty of putting people high up on a pedestal thinking they could do no wrong.  But I since have learned that is "unfair" and I'm only setting myself up for disappointment.  We all have and will fail at some point in our lives, more than once.  I have learned that if I put my faith in mankind that they will ALWAYs let me down.  It say in Hebrews 13:5 that God will never leave you or forsake you.  And God will NEVER let you down.  So as far as a role model goes, for me, I'm sticking with God because He is the ONLY ONE that will never disappoint me.

For Now,
Sherrie Gant
A Sacred Place, Memoirs of a Female Hunter
www.sherriegant.com