Sean Platt > Quotes

“The first draft is your “vomit onto the keyboard” draft, wherein your task is to simply keep moving and outrun your doubts.”
― Sean Platt, Write. Publish. Repeat.:

“Success comes from hard work and the accumulation of small numbers.”
― Sean Platt, Write. Publish. Repeat.:

“People will buy bogus quick-fix solutions all day long, but few want to hear that the way to build a business or make money is to work hard for a long time and never surrender.”
― Sean Platt, Write. Publish. Repeat.:

“Understand That Bad Reviews Are a Sign That You're Relevant The only way you could never get any negative reviews would be if you were so incredibly irrelevant that no one thought you were worth talking or thinking about.”
― Sean Platt, Write. Publish. Repeat.:

“The reward of being able to tell stories every day is worth the effort required to make it happen, no matter how long it takes.”
― Sean Platt, Write. Publish. Repeat.:

“Thirty, forty miles?”  “Well,” said Lila, verbally pouting. “I guess we’d better settle in for a long trip.”  She pushed her body even harder against Raj, then glared at the side of her father’s head. Lila and Trevor got along with Meyer, but they were still teenagers. Piper, recently a teen herself, tried to understand, but often there was no use. Somewhere around your twenty-second birthday, teenagers started sounding like melodramatic idiots no matter what you did.  “That’s another reason to get a hotel room,” Piper said. “They might let planes fly again. We can take the Gulfstream.”
― Sean Platt, Invasion

“The people who read pirated books are never going to buy your work anyway; it’s a totally different audience than purchasing readers. Even if you could scrub your stuff from the Internet, you’d only be keeping your book from pirate readers. You wouldn’t convert those readers into buyers. They’d simply read something else that was free.”
― Sean Platt, Write. Publish. Repeat.:

“Everyone is OK with a blank piece of paper, but the minute you start putting words on it, you’ll start losing the people who don’t like those words.”
― Sean Platt, Write. Publish. Repeat.:

“But here’s an ugly truth about typos and other small editing mistakes: They exist in traditional books, too.”
― Sean Platt, Write. Publish. Repeat.:

“Do you know what truly, honestly separates people who succeed from those who fail? It’s simple:  People who do the work succeed. People who don’t fail.”
― Sean Platt, Write. Publish. Repeat.:

“If you want to succeed in indie publishing, be prepared to work your ass off and demonstrate patience. Writers who aren’t willing to do those two things will fail. Period.”
― Sean Platt, Write. Publish. Repeat.:

“Taking acceptable risks is a key ingredient for success. If the path was easy, everyone would take it. Ballsy people, if they’re intelligent and learn from their mistakes, shape the world. The thing that few people get is that ballsy people aren’t any more certain than anyone else. They know they could fail, but also know that if they don’t take a shot, they can’t succeed either.”
― Sean Platt, Write. Publish. Repeat.:

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
― Sean Platt, Yesterday's Gone: Season Two

“Meyer closed his eyes, obeying the summons. But this time, Divinity’s presence was further away, not as intimate.”
― Sean Platt, Annihilation

“If the world is dead, at least it took Applebee's with it.”
― Sean Platt, Yesterday's Gone: Season One

“Day One, Morning  The Dempsey Penthouse, New York On the morning the ships came, Meyer Dempsey found himself preoccupied with drugs, sex, and business. It would have been hard to believe that just six days later, only one of the three would seem to matter.  “You’re not listening to me, Heather,” he said into the phone. “I’m going to be in LA from Friday to Tuesday. I’ve already booked time with the studio on Monday. The whole reason I’m coming early is—”  Heather cut him off, probably to feed her need for a zinger more than a reply that couldn’t wait. Heather was always “on,” never really able to take a break and just be a person for once. It was one of the reasons they hadn’t been able to stay married. It was like living with a jester.  “Because you want to do the Walk”
― Sean Platt, Invasion

“Control or block?” Piper asked.”
― Sean Platt, Contact

“strength and a weakness — an obsessive-compulsive breed of obstinacy. Those who couldn’t accept the obvious would slam their heads against the inevitable until they exhausted their numbers and dwindled to nothing.”
― Sean Platt, Colonization

“Howdy there, you’ve reached Boricio’s Center For Mental Fitness. Please listen to the following options: If you’re obsessive compulsive, press #1 over and over, 47 times or your mother will die. If you’re co-dependent, turn to the nearest asshole and ask them to press #2 for you. Multiple personalities, I will direct you to buttons #3, 4, 5, and 6. Press them all, one at a time. If you’re paranoid, we know who you are, and we will motherfucking find you. Delusionals press #7, then patiently wait for your transfer to Planet Zebot. Schizophrenics, listen for your inner assholes. Sufferers of short-term memory loss, try again later. And those afflicted with low self-esteem: Fuck you, no one wants to talk to you.”
― Sean Platt, Yesterday's Gone: Season Four

“In an ethical sales transaction, the buyer and seller should be equally pleased. Each party should feel like thanking the other. Ethical marketing is nothing more than letting people who might like your product know it exists — and, ideally, giving them some sort of a deal that makes the offer better for the potential buyer.”
― Sean Platt, The Indie Author Power Pack: How To Write, Publish & Market Your Book

“What if tomorrow is the day you check them and see your father?” Piper pointed toward the spiral staircase in the room’s corner. “Right up there, at the door by the bathroom, appearing on the kitchen camera. What if he comes back, but we never see it?”
― Sean Platt, Contact

“I’m not sure what you mean.” “Ask him if he’s telling the truth.” Cameron thought she must be kidding, but Jeanine’s eyes were hard and serious. “Right.”
― Sean Platt, Judgment

“Raj, hang on. I need to—”  “Don’t try explaining anything to me. I understand just fine.” He stared at Piper for an elongated moment. Raj knew what he wanted; he knew who were his friends and foes; he knew exactly where he had to go and what he needed to know. About those things, Piper could only guess, but the minute they’d left the station courtyard he’d shouted directions to Jons that had steered them toward the big blue pyramid.”
― Sean Platt, Annihilation

“slowly. They followed the crowd like a river. Then, with an exhale of relief, they found themselves free, to the side of the road, safe to dart back through the noise barrier as soon as they found Trevor and Piper. “Dad!” Meyer looked up to see Trevor running at them. His eyes flicked to Raj, who was dirty and smudged with what might have been someone else’s blood, and at Lila, who seemed knocked about but unhurt. Meyer swept Trevor forward, shepherding the three of them like sheep”
― Sean Platt, Invasion

“Take Daddy’s hand. And Clara, to Lila’s immense relief, merely walked alongside him without claiming his offer.”
― Sean Platt, Annihilation

“So now there really are little green men on the moon?” “These people weren’t official SETI. They didn’t understand the data at first. Turns out, they were hearing an echo. Something not from the moon, but bouncing off the moon.”
― Sean Platt, Annihilation

“They have insurance, and my insurance has been ripping me off for years. I owe them one.”  “How do you know it’s the same insurance company?” said Lila.  “They’re all owned by Satan. Let’s go.”
― Sean Platt, Invasion

“Typical. Lemonade turned back into lemons, then into piss.”
― Sean Platt, The Beam: Episode 1

“filibustering, and”
― Sean Platt, Invasion

“Oh shit, I’m sorry,” Brent said. He never knew what to say when someone mentioned death. And he always felt like “sorry” was one of the worst things you could say. It was so ... trite. Yet, he could never think of anything better. He’d tried other phrases, like “sorry for your loss,” but that felt like a cheesy cop show line, even if it was slightly better than “sorry.” If he were being honest, he’d simply say, “that sucks,” because death truly did exactly that. But “that sucks” seemed almost flippant. So, he always fell to the old uncomfortable standby, “I’m sorry.” “It’s okay,” Luis said. And they always say that, too. ‘It’s okay.’ No, it’s NOT okay. It’s never fucking okay. “I”
― Sean Platt, Yesterday's Gone: Season One