61–70 of 85 posts
I deeply regret writing my novel. It took an agonising 8 years when I was desperate to get it out as soon as possible. The issue was that I wanted a certain level of quality. I ended up self publishing on Amazon :/ I try not to think about what I could have done with the time: study math, programming, do stand up comedy etc. etc. It is what it is I guess.
I’m a working novelist (I put out about two books a year, I’m a WSJ best-seller, Edgar nominee, blah blah blah) and the number one mistake I made in the past is the same as when I would sit down in front of a code editor or Photoshop and not have a plan. While we can all “seat of the pants” things to some degree, without a detailed plan your chances of getting derailed increase exponentially. I’ve written best-seller…
The mystique (if that's what it is) seems to be quite specific to being the author of a book. Writing a series of articles for a national newspaper or being a commercially successful screenwriter or ghost writer somehow isn't good enough, even if it's much more lucrative.
I’m a working novelist (I put out about two books a year, I’m a WSJ best-seller, Edgar nominee, blah blah blah) and the number one mistake I made in the past is the same as when I would sit down in front of a code editor or Photoshop and not have a plan. While we can all “seat of the pants” things to some degree, without a detailed plan your chances of getting derailed increase exponentially. I’ve written best-seller…
It's worth mentioning, perhaps, that a lot of writers don't have a plan/outline: Stephen King, for example, who has described in great detail how he works in "On writing": he starts with a situation and develops it as he writes. In fact, in most cases where I've read about how a writer works there is no plan/outline. However, it was mentioned in court proceedings that Dan Brown had an outline for "The Da Vinci Code",…
I’ll also add that anecdotally, my writer friends who outline go through far fewer revisions than those that don’t.
If your process works, don’t mess with it.
I’m a working novelist (I put out about two books a year, I’m a WSJ best-seller, Edgar nominee, blah blah blah) and the number one mistake I made in the past is the same as when I would sit down in front of a code editor or Photoshop and not have a plan. While we can all “seat of the pants” things to some degree, without a detailed plan your chances of getting derailed increase exponentially. I’ve written best-seller…
Just curious, how long does the outlining take? I've read a similar notion before (Doctorow claiming to write a book in a year by writing 20 minutes per day - but he also has a plan what to write beforehand). I am curious if outlining doesn't really count as work in the minds of many writers?
I've tried publishing a novel in India (English) and it is much more painful than the 80k limit. A top editor told me, more like lamented, that they focus on historical fiction or romance because "that's what sells" I wrote a decent thriller which my friends read in one day because they loved it. Granted, they are my friends so they could by lying, but the publishers just read the synopsis and saw that it isn't histo…
First rule of publishing: money flows towards the author, not the other way round. (Not necessarily very much money mind, but it’s the direction that’s the important bit!) No reputable agent charges authors directly for their services - their income comes out of a cut of the money paid by publishers to authors. If you have a stack of books that your friends actually like & can’t get published, do you have anything to…
You won't believe his arrogance. He replies "This wasn't an offer"
I was planning to publish on Kindle but I'm not sure how to market the book.
Do you know perchance how to market Kindle books? I read that 99% authors don't market their books.
I want to be among the 1%!
I've tried publishing a novel in India (English) and it is much more painful than the 80k limit. A top editor told me, more like lamented, that they focus on historical fiction or romance because "that's what sells" I wrote a decent thriller which my friends read in one day because they loved it. Granted, they are my friends so they could by lying, but the publishers just read the synopsis and saw that it isn't histo…
Have you considered self-publishing? If the books are complete and would be wasted otherwise... may be worth a try.
I think there's an interesting phenomenon here how a lot of people get obsessed by producing a book. I have seen so many blogs by aspiring writers, and overheard their conversations on trains, too. What drives people to do this? I think most of them don't hold much hope of becoming rich or famous: they understand that most writers need a day job. Perhaps for some reason they consider themselves inadequate until they…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
First rule of publishing: money flows towards the author, not the other way round. (Not necessarily very much money mind, but it’s the direction that’s the important bit!) No reputable agent charges authors directly for their services - their income comes out of a cut of the money paid by publishers to authors. If you have a stack of books that your friends actually like & can’t get published, do you have anything to…
First rule, that's what I thought and I declined his offer. You won't believe his arrogance. He replies "This wasn't an offer" I was planning to publish on Kindle but I'm not sure how to market the book. Do you know perchance how to market Kindle books? I read that 99% authors don't market their books. I want to be among the 1%!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
First rule, that's what I thought and I declined his offer. You won't believe his arrogance. He replies "This wasn't an offer" I was planning to publish on Kindle but I'm not sure how to market the book. Do you know perchance how to market Kindle books? I read that 99% authors don't market their books. I want to be among the 1%!
Definitely not my area of expertise! But go read the blogs of people that have been successful at it - plenty of tips there.