|
I generally publish a book every month. There are better times for sales, but it's harder to rank during those times as the traditional publishers are pushing all of their books at that time. So I think it's pretty much a wash and I wouldn't recommend waiting before publishing. My two best breakouts were both in March (this year and last), so there you go. The quicker you publish, the better imo, all other things being equal.
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 20:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 18:21 |
|
|
moana posted:I generally publish a book every month. There are better times for sales, but it's harder to rank during those times as the traditional publishers are pushing all of their books at that time. So I think it's pretty much a wash and I wouldn't recommend waiting before publishing. My two best breakouts were both in March (this year and last), so there you go. The quicker you publish, the better imo, all other things being equal. Do you write and complete a book every month? Or is it like, write book one month, edit and revisions the next month while also writing another book? Either way, that schedule sounds really intense. And don't you have a day job, too?
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 22:27
|
|
|
It's no more than what most of the successful people in this thread are doing, really, that's 2-3 hours of writing per day. I quit my day job last year. The whole write/edit timeline is usually a month and a half, but I publish every month.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 23:21
|
|
|
moana posted:It's no more than what most of the successful people in this thread are doing, really, that's 2-3 hours of writing per day. I quit my day job last year. The whole write/edit timeline is usually a month and a half, but I publish every month. You are a machine. I say this in all jealousy. I mean honesty.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 00:24
|
|
|
How did everyone do in April?  Any new sales records, amazing word-counts, etc?
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 01:59
|
|
|
Won't know until the 15th when we find out the KU rate, but I'm pretty sure this'll be my first six-figure month  Pretty sure I'll quit right before I hit the million mark just to make Sean mad~
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 02:39
|
|
|
moana posted:Won't know until the 15th when we find out the KU rate, but I'm pretty sure this'll be my first six-figure month You inspire me...to get rich I'm trying to write 30,000+ words this month, probably going to be closer to 40,000-50,000 
angel opportunity fucked around with this message at 02:44 on May 7, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 02:41
|
|
|
moana posted:Won't know until the 15th when we find out the KU rate, but I'm pretty sure this'll be my first six-figure month loving fantastic, Moana. Congratulations! I had a fantastic month as well, though I'm an order of magnitude below you.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 02:52
|
|
|
moana posted:Won't know until the 15th when we find out the KU rate, but I'm pretty sure this'll be my first six-figure month That is awesome. Tell me all the secrets. Secret 1: Be able to publish a book every month... I should probably start with that one, really. This first book is going to take me 3 months, minimum. If I can't do 2 and 3 within two months each, I might have to reconsider this life plan...
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 03:27
|
|
|
Dr. Kloctopussy posted:Secret 1: Be able to publish a book every month...
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 03:44
|
|
|
moana posted:Won't know until the 15th when we find out the KU rate, but I'm pretty sure this'll be my first six-figure month I would explode into a ball of flames, you have no idea.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 08:28
|
|
|
moana posted:I think my first two novels took longer than that, actually. It really gets easier to more you go. My first novel flopped hard. Fifteenish novels later, I'm starting to get the hang of it. The only secret is to keep improving with every book and don't give up. Do you mean this in terms of the quality of work that you turn out, or in terms of marketing them / doing the "business" side of self-publishing? If it's the former, how do you contend with people associating your name with the bad works and letting that negatively impact their view of the good ones? Or do you publish under different pseudonyms?
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 10:37
|
|
|
If a novel flops hard enough, not enough people will have read or seen it to associate your name with it. It's not like people google your back catalog before they buy your book. Now, if you've had five or six great ones and publish two or three shitters, then you might be in trouble.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 11:11
|
|
|
Sundae posted:loving fantastic, Moana. Congratulations! I had a fantastic month as well, though I'm an order of magnitude below you. Drone posted:Do you mean this in terms of the quality of work that you turn out, or in terms of marketing them / doing the "business" side of self-publishing? quote:If it's the former, how do you contend with people associating your name with the bad works and letting that negatively impact their view of the good ones? Or do you publish under different pseudonyms?
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 15:26
|
|
|
moana posted:You still have a day job, though, right? When do you get to quit that poo poo?! Yeah.  The countdown is started. I can't quit before July due to contractual obligations (I get a huge-rear end fine if I do). I was previously anticipating end of March 2016 due to wife's student loan payments and creating sufficient (1 yr) savings, but that was before my sales exploded over the last 1.5 months. If I keep up the current rate of sales, that deadline is going to move forward a lot.I'm making more than my day-job (pre-tax/benefits) now, so it's looking really good.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 16:17
|
|
|
I'm slowly getting more and more comfortable with writing longer things. It used to be a struggle for me to get to 4K, now I can't keep anything under 6K and I'm frequently up over 10K. Question the first: Has this been anyone else's experience? I'm curious to know if it's the normal process. Question the second: For those of you writing longer stuff (long novellas, novels, etc.), is that how you got to the point you're at? Or did you just kinda jump right into novel length?
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 17:28
|
|
|
I started writing in the 10k to 20k range. Last year my books were 30-45k words long. This year I'm aiming for 60-90k.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 18:09
|
|
|
moana posted:The only secret is to keep improving with every book and don't give up. Of everything I've read since starting this whole thing in January, this is pretty much the most consistent advice. Keep writing, write more, write better, don't stop. There are all these tricks and marketing schemes out there, and some of it works and some of it doesn't, but ultimately it's all about writing more and better and figuring out what works for you. gently caress with your metadata all you want, but make sure you're still churning out those words. Anyway, that's my mindset. I'm trying to think long term. I'll sell more books with 5 on the market than I did with 2. And I can't even consider/imagine/bank on some huge breakout hit. That kind of slow, methodical plodding doesn't come naturally to me. I want megasales right loving now. But I'm actually making some money (however little) on my writing for the first time ever, and I'm going to keep doing that.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 18:46
|
|
|
I've had two 5 digit months in a row. It's a pretty awesome feeling to make more writing than at my day job. There's a light at the end of the tunnel now, I can see it, just need more words, more novels, more more more! My average day is now 2k-3k of words. It's amazing how your mind gets used to it, I used to struggle to write 1k a day, now I do that during the first cup of coffee. It's been really cool to watch my back catalog stabilize. With every release they've been selling better. Even my worst selling story, dogs in power armor, has paid for itself now. My plan is materializing and it's settled at a few more good releases and reliably writing 4k a day. At that rate I can release a novel a month and be like my goonidol, moana. The other scifi guys in my niche that release at that rate are doing pretty drat well.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 20:09
|
|
|
Yooper posted:I've had two 5 digit months in a row. It's a pretty awesome feeling to make more writing than at my day job. There's a light at the end of the tunnel now, I can see it, just need more words, more novels, more more more! This is fantastic! 5 figures/month in scifi is just really a dream come true.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 20:22
|
|
|
Thanks! Unfortunately this month is middle 4 digits, but hey, that's why I need more catalog. At the end of the day, every problem, issue, concern, and piece of self doubt is solved by one thing. Write More Words.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 20:26
|
|
|
Yooper posted:Unfortunately this month is middle 4 digits now I have to take back everything I said 
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 20:27
|
|
|
I feel the same way. 
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 20:30
|
|
|
Is there a resource somewhere that outlines various romance genre conventions? I have a friend who writes and may be interested in doing some freelance. I'm also curious what people do to market their stuff? I illustrated and "wrote" an alphabet book a month back. I got passed around a local mom's group when I ran a promo, but otherwise my book has flatlined. I'm working on ideas for another children's book currently. I know it's a completely different genre than what most are doing here.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 20:52
|
|
|
Yooper posted:dogs in power armor Go on...... I must know more.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 22:03
|
|
|
Sundae posted:Go on...... Haha I had to look this up too, doesn't really look like my thing but you can find it pretty easy if you search for the blurbs in the thread.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 22:12
|
|
|
Sundae posted:Go on...... DogForge was my first stand alone novel after finishing a series. It was either that, or a piece about a drunken starship captain who accidentally steals the clone of the Emperor. It was a blast to write, I finished it in no time flat, and it sold like poo poo. Like DogShit. I don't dwell on it, instead I focused on writing the next novel which peaked at about #250 on Amazon. DogForge  quote:The world is not as it seems.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 22:40
|
|
|
smallmouth posted:Is there a resource somewhere that outlines various romance genre conventions? From the OP: howtowritearomancenovel.com
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 23:28
|
|
|
Yooper posted:DogForge that cover is amazing
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2015 23:28
|
|
|
the brotherly phl posted:that cover is amazing all yooper's covers are pretty great
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 00:04
|
|
|
They got good once I quit trying to do them. Seriously, don't do your own cover.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 00:27
|
|
|
Blue Scream posted:From the OP: howtowritearomancenovel.com I missed that. Danke.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 00:33
|
|
|
A couple years ago I read an awesome sci-fi book about a warring species of telekenetic dogs. A human crashlands on their plannet and builds a radio for one of the dog armies etc etc. I think it was nominated for a hugo award but I can't remember the name of it and google is failing me. My collection of short stories is doing decent. Have made 100 bucks so far! I'm having a tough time motivating myself to write when I come home from work, so I'm thinking that I might try writing in the morning before work.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 00:39
|
|
|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 00:42
|
|
|
Learning of the year: You will never be satisfied with the amount you are making. I made $500+ per day for the last 30 days or so, but today is only on pace for about $375. That's still over $10K a month, and I'm actually disappointed. I'm publishing another 25K words today, so hopefully they'll get be back into the stratosphere again. 
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 00:42
|
|
laxbro posted:A couple years ago I read an awesome sci-fi book about a warring species of telekenetic dogs. A human crashlands on their plannet and builds a radio for one of the dog armies etc etc. I think it was nominated for a hugo award but I can't remember the name of it and google is failing me. It's funny you should mention that. The first one is "a fire upon the deep" and I read it a few months ago. I thought it was a self-published thing from a new author so I picked it up at a free promotion, I had no idea it had been awarded literary prizes. I actually wasn't impressed and struggled through it but up until this time I thought it was just some guy in his basement
|
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 00:44
|
|
|
e: /\/\/\ f; blaxbro posted:A couple years ago I read an awesome sci-fi book about a warring species of telekenetic dogs. A human crashlands on their plannet and builds a radio for one of the dog armies etc etc. I think it was nominated for a hugo award but I can't remember the name of it and google is failing me. A Fire Upon the Deep. On a personal note I'm up to a whopping 4 pages a night! Congrats everyone else on your accomplishments! e: for content A Fire Upon the Deep is part of a trilogy I think? Just google Vernor Vinge. I can see my copy from here is how I know syscall girl fucked around with this message at 00:50 on May 8, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 00:48
|
|
|
laxbro posted:I'm having a tough time motivating myself to write when I come home from work, so I'm thinking that I might try writing in the morning before work. This is the only thing that works for me. I'm wrecked at the end of the day. Set the alarm to get up earlier, have coffee ready to brew, and you'll be amazed at the difference it makes--especially because the first task of the day is now something you actually look forward to
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 00:48
|
|
|
Blue Scream posted:This is the only thing that works for me. I'm wrecked at the end of the day. Set the alarm to get up earlier, have coffee ready to brew, and you'll be amazed at the difference it makes--especially because the first task of the day is now something you actually look forward to Yea! I'm definitely a morning person. I'm gonna wake up at 5 instead of 6 and start sipping on my thermos of coffee. Won't do it 5 days a week, since I just started a new job and need to be on the ball. Writing is only a hobby right now, but you guys making 4+ figure months have me dreaming!
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 01:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 18:21 |
|
|
my new erotica writing schedule is to just stay up really late until I finish my words
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 03:49
|
|