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News, Fiction Updates & General MusingsDoes Writing Get Easier Over Time?
Today’s blog topic comes courtesy of a question from reader Kati.
Kati wanted to know whether the novel writing experience gets easier with more experience. Specifically, she wondered whether I noticed any changes in my writing speed over time. So for example, whether it once took three hours to write a chapter of 1,500 words, and now it only takes, say, an hour.
Kati worded it well: for her, it’s “not really the ‘sitting longer in the chair,’ but more a ‘getting more out of it once I sit’ thing.”
This is why I absolutely love writing these blogs and hearing from readers, first off. I actually learn a hell of a lot more just answering questions. So thanks to Kati for this brilliant question that forced me into thinking, and thanks to everyone else who has got in touch.
In all honesty, I don’t believe I’ve become a faster writer over time. Not consciously, anyway. I never rush my writing–I just spend more time in the chair writing.
But there are two elements to this answer of whether writing gets easier or faster over time and with more practice: firstly, there’s the critical side of things, and secondly, there’s the individual side. I’ll go into both below.
The Critical Block
When a writer writes their early books, they are often a struggle because they spend a lot of time in the chair overthinking. I was guilty of this–I sat there staring out of the window pondering my next word, my next sentence, my next paragraph.
And yes, doing this adds on time to the writing process.
I call this the critical block.
With the critical block, a writer might take twice as long to write 1,000 words as the average professional writer. Forgetting all other mitigating factors like typing and thinking speed (which we’ll go into in the individual side as they are just as important), these writers might feel like getting the first draft words down is a struggle.
A key to writing the first draft is to trust the subconscious. To throw up on the page, as some writers put it, then clean up all the mess in the rewriting and editing stages, of which will take their time.
The key to overcoming the critical block and writing faster as a result is to just write the words without constantly stressing about quality. Because you can address quality later–you will address quality later. But at the first draft stage, worry more about writing a fun and entertaining story.
Do that, then fix the words and fix the story later.
Yes, you will need to rewrite. Being a fairly messy drafter, I do about five to ten rewrites per project, and these include story rewrites and complete sentence rewrites, cutting and adding, reordering, things like that. I’ve thrown whole drafts away before too. Just the nature of the method.
But I keep on getting the words out in the first draft. I type as quick as I can without rushing, allowing my brain to do its work and my fingers to keep up, and I don’t worry.
Not worrying about the grammar and spelling during the first draft is critical. You can fix those later.
Worry about the story in the first draft. Even story problems can be edited and rewritten later, but keep a close eye on them.
Enjoy the writing process and you’ll write to your full potential. It’s as simple as that.
The Individual Considerations
There is a double-edged sword to this though, and that is the simple fact that every single writer is different.
And we should respect, appreciate, and bear that in mind.
One writer might write 3,000 words per hour. They might be amazing words. Another might write 350 words per hour. They might be just as amazing.
The simple, honest truth is that some people write quicker than others. There isn’t a set speed–a set pace–where quality dips.
So the writer should just focus on their own pace and write to it.
I know, I know — it’s easy to get discouraged when you see people writing twice as much as you in a day. But there are many mitigating individual factors. Some people take a bit of a delay in getting the information from the brain to the keys. Others need to think more about certain sentences, and others simply don’t type as fast.
But that’s fine. It’s all fine.
Protect your own pace. Your own method. Protect your writing, and don’t compare yourself to others.
And that’s why I still think the answer to this question–whether I write faster over time, or whether the process gets any easier–is probably “no.” The writing itself doesn’t get any faster. And it always stays about the same difficulty, as long as you conquer the critical block. And sure, typing more might make you a faster typist just by practice.
But the process stays the same. Your way of handling the process however may make it easier.
It’s as simple as that.
Thanks to Kati for the excellent question. Keep them coming, everyone!
Ten Novels Later…
I realised something amazing when I wrote the final words of my latest work in progress, Sunlight.
I just finished my tenth novel.
It’s a really amazing realisation for me considering I started writing around five years ago. To be honest, I’d completely lost track of how much I’d written — I’m having so much fun creating stories that milestones and things like that rarely even come into the equation.
But wow. Ten novels. Taking a step back out of my own shoes and that really is something.
My dream was always to write a book. I used to spend hours working out the best way to plan, the best way to go about writing, when in fact the best way to write is the simplest: sit down and make up a good story.
Of course, there’s loads of craft to learn along the way, loads of business changes to adapt to, loads of hurdles and land mines, but if you just keep on writing, you can conquer all those and create something–or some things–you’re proud of.
I’ve written ten novels and nine of those are now for sale. They’re all selling, to varying degrees. Wow. That just blows my mind.
I’m a lazy person too, by nature, so hopefully this is proof to you that as long as we pursue our dreams, we can achieve so, so much. Dreams aren’t realised by accident: they are realised when we go and chase them.
Thanks for all the support. I really appreciate it.
What now? How do I celebrate?
Well, seeing as writing is my job and I love my job, I’m going to take a coffee break and then I’m going to go over my initial plans and jot down some ideas for book eleven.
Because for me, there’s no greater pleasure in life than creating stories.
Find something you love and spend as much time doing it as possible.
Saturday Writing Prompt
Bit of a cheat post today because I’ve been busy formatting the two Blake Dent books for launch next week, but I’ve been reading a great book called Million Dollar Productivity by Kevin J. Anderson and wanted to share an excellent quote with you. It ties right in with some of the blogs I’ve done on finding the time and working hard these last few days.
“Do bank tellers or librarians get to stay home and wait for the muse to “inspire” them before they go to work? Nope.
Does a surgeon cancel his scheduled procedures for the day because she doesn’t feel “inspired” to perform a hernia operation? Does a barista stay home because he just doesn’t feel the creative satisfaction of making coffee that day?
Why shouldn’t a writer do a full day of work–as in actually writing for hours? Put in your time. Butt in chair, fingers on the keyboard, producing words.”
Brilliant quote from a fantastic author and book. Just had to share it here more for my own future motivational reference than anything. Hope it resonates with you too.
And go buy Million Dollar Productivity by Kevin J. Anderson right now. It’s available here at Amazon, or even better, here in a special non-fiction craft bundle with loads of other great writers like Chuck Wendig, Dave Farland and Dean Wesley Smith.
There we go. My blog post for the day. I told you I’d be doing one per day, no matter what it takes. This just about scrapes it.
Now back to real work…
Quote from Million Dollar Productivity by Kevin J. Anderson. Copyright 2014 Wordfire, Inc.
Marketing a Book: How, When and Why?
Writing isn’t easy.
But compared to the business of writing, it’s an absolute breeze.
Because these daily topics have so far dealt with a lot of questions I’m asked, I figured I’d continue that trend and talk about something I actually get asked the most: how do I sell books.
Or rather, what do I do to market my books.
The short answer would be to go read my post on how to make a living writing fiction from back in April. In that post, I’ve piled in everything I’ve learned about writing and the business of writing, and it’s the reason I went on a blogging hiatus: I didn’t think I had anything else to say on the non-fiction side of things.
Alas, I still get asked about marketing, so there are obviously more answers and more explaining to do. And I’ve learned lots more since April too, as every writer should.
The idea of marketing books comes from the industry of promotions that we live in. We turn on the television, we see adverts for cars. We listen to music on Spotify, we get adverts for albums. We go to a football match, adverts for football shirts, for upcoming matches.
This subconscious absorption of a culture of advertising is one of the reasons why when we finish a book–or while we’re writing it–we can’t help but work out how the hell we’re going to tell everyone about it.
My first advice on how to market books? Write the book for a start.
When I wrote my first novel, I spent a lot of time telling people about it. On my blog, on my Facebook page. I did a lot of advance advertising. I built up to a big launch…
And then the launch was a bit of a washout because everyone was already sick of hearing about it.
In the traditional publishing world, launches are important. Getting a certain amount of sales in a certain amount of time is what the business revolves around, after all, and is the difference between a bestseller and a failed book.
In the independent publishing world, things are different. We don’t need big launches for our books.
I’ll say that again: we don’t need big launches for our books.
I can hear the cries already. “I just spent a year writing it — of course I’m going to go all out and promote it at launch!”
Telling your friends, family, blog and social media about your new book release is fine, but an expensive, exhausting launch period just isn’t necessary anymore. You’ll likely lose more money than you make.
Bear in mind I’m talking newer authors here. Established authors can, and will, of course benefit from big launches. They’ve spent years acquiring fans, so that’s just a part of the journey.
But big launches for a first book? Not important.
The best thing you can do to market that first book is get it on sale and then get writing the next one.
I understand this is frustrating. You want to make instant money. You see everyone selling better than me and you can’t understand why. Trust me, I’ve been there, and not so long ago.
But the publishing industry has never been one of short-term rewards but for a very, very lucky minority. Even multi millionaire bestsellers like JK Rowling went through loads of rejections before finally getting a publishing deal. Even then, it took a bit of time for Harry Potter to start selling.
In indie publishing, there is no rejection anymore. And because there is no rejection, we come to expect sales right away. We spend lots of money on promoting and lots of time marketing, when in fact the best thing we can do is write the next book.
So that’s my number one marketing tip at any stage of a writing career: write the next book. Don’t have any expectations for that first book, because chances are you’ll be disappointed. Accept that a career in writing is a career, and nobody owes you a living. You have to earn it. If you don’t have the guts for the long haul, you aren’t ready to be a writer yet. Sorry.
So, say you’ve got a few books out. Say you’re launching a new book in a series — the third book, for the sake of this argument. Is now a good time to think about marketing that first book?
Absolutely yes!
You have a few products out. So you can run a discount or a free promotion on that first book and bring eyes into your whole series. Do an ad with Bookbub if you have enough reviews. Go perma-free if you’re feeling ballsy.
The best time to market a book is when you have a funnel of other books to attract readers to.
Think about those promotions I mentioned earlier on. The discounted football shirts, just because I’m a big football fan. What is the purpose of those? Well, it’s a bonus. You turn up to the match you’ve paid for and you buy that shirt as a bonus. That shirt wouldn’t be discounted without a reason. It’s a draw-in. A deal sweetener.
Or a better example: I got a letter a few weeks ago from an online food delivery service. They told me I could have the first and the fifth box free if I signed up for at least five weeks. The other snack boxes were £3.99 each.
There’s a reason for this. It’s to draw the customer in to the next product–the paid for product. And it worked. I enjoyed my free box and stuck around for the next few. I’ve just had my free fifth box, and now I’m thinking about staying on even longer.
Now let’s imagine this in book terms. Say you’ve only got one book out, so one box. You make it free. Advertise it. Promote the hell out of it.
Okay… and?
There’s nowhere to go next for the reader, for the customer. All you’ve done is given away a few books. Sure, you might keep a few readers, but most of them will just forget you. Readers want instant gratification. They want to finish a book and if they love it, they’ll devour the rest of an author’s bibliography.
So promote those first books in a series when you put a second book out. And a third. And a fourth. Never just on its own.
And that’s about it for active marketing. Seriously, that’s all I do. I promote my first books in series when I have a new book coming out.
How? Well, I have a mailing list that has grown into the thousands over time. I use free and discount promotions, ad sites. I tell my Facebook and Twitter and blog followers when I have a new book out…
And that’s it.
A word on the mailing list: get one set up. Now. Drive readers towards that list the moment they finish your book. It’s a way of you keeping in touch with readers without having to worry about being lost in a sea of tweets or buried under Facebook’s weird ever-changing visibility algorithms. Put links to it in the back of your books and on your websites. Let it grow naturally.
And as you keep on releasing books that people want to read, it will grow, that’s a guarantee.
Summary
It’s easy to look at sales, see them not doing as well as your expectations, and deciding you need a promotion.
But really, it’s a good idea to show some restraint. Monthly or weekly discounts are just going to stop readers buying your books at full price. It’ll look desperate, too, and that’s not a look that’s advisable.
So be smart with your book marketing. Do promotions and discounts and freebies and Bookbubs and Freebooksy’s and mailing list and social media and permafree… but only when you have a few books out. And even then, do them on special occasions, like a launch of a new series book or a Halloween promo, things like that.
Until then, best option is just to keep on writing.
Writing isn’t a get rich quick business. It never has been, and it never will be. If you can’t accept that truth–can’t accept the years of hard work you’re going to have to put in before you start seeing sales–then maybe being a writer isn’t such a good idea.
Nobody gets rich quick in any profession, bar a lucky 1%. The industry and readers don’t owe you a living. So fuck luck and start working hard and making your own.
Keep on working hard, battling through, fighting.
Or don’t, and keep on hoping to be that lucky 1%.
PS: be human in all of your marketing too. That’s something I’ll go into more in the future. Scheduled posts are a big no-no.
KDP Select: Is Kindle Unlimited a Perfect Deal Sweetener?
Over the last couple of years, I’ve written a few posts on KDP Select, Amazon’s publishing program offering benefits for 90 days of exclusive enrolment.
I’ve grown up with this system, so it’s only natural that my views on it have changed over time. I was there when free promotions caused a boom up the paid rankings. I was there when they became less effective. I was there when Countdown Deals launched.
And my views have continued to change. I spent all 2012 in KDP Select, half of 2013 out of it and most of 2014 not even considering it.
And then Kindle Unlimited came along and forced me to reconsider.
For those who don’t already know, Kindle Unlimited is Amazon’s Spotify/Netflix for books. You pay a flat fee of £7.99 per month, you get unlimited access to hundreds of thousands of eBooks and audiobooks. The royalty payout is decent — there’s plenty of other blogs discussing that — so there seems to be enough of a draw there to make a writer consider going in.
Initially, I shied away from Kindle Unlimited. I’d started making gains at the other stores, so I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to jeopardise all that in pursuit of something that might not even work.
Naturally, being the experimental person I am, I decided to throw a few of my books in the deep end and see how they swam.
My thinking behind my decision was this: 90% of my book sales are at Amazon and 10% elsewhere. Of that 10% elsewhere, 90% of those sales are Dead Days sales. So non-Dead Days books make up a tiny percentage of the total pie at non-Amazon stores.
So I kept Dead Days available everywhere and put most of my other books into Kindle Unlimited. This was back in July. How did my KDP Select Kindle Unlimited experience fare?
Pretty well, actually. I get more borrows now than I got sales at the other platforms. Not a crazy amount more, but enough to make Kindle Unlimited well worth considering.
I’m actually seeing the benefits of having a series all in KDP Select again, too. Although they don’t have the power they used to have, free promos can be a handy tool when, say, launching a new book in a series and running a temporary discount. I’m starting to see more long term benefits with KDP Select than the short term boosts before, which is pleasing.
That said, I’m still not too sure my number of borrows through Kindle Unlimited justifies exclusive inclusion in KDP Select. I think it’ll take another three month term to really judge that. Oh, and there’s the small matter of income, too — I’ve seen mine take a little dip in September. Nothing significant, but enough to get me thinking about whether the Kindle Unlimited effect might have something to do with it.
My advice to writers considering Kindle Unlimited and KDP Select: I still think KDP Select, here in 2014, is the best way to get your fiction selling copies. Even if you just enrol for one KDP Select period, with the promotional tools Amazon offer, you’ll get a better shot than by distributing everywhere.
That said, I actually think KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited is ideal for writers like me: writers who have been at this for a few years now, and have a decent sized backlist. A few ongoing series, too. With KDP Select’s free promo and Countdown Deals, Amazon offer a couple of good, easy ways to promote our first series books when new releases are launching, and Kindle Unlimited just adds another sweetener to the deal.
Will I be going for another round of Kindle Unlimited? For some of my books, yes. The ones that are borrowed more now than they sold at the other platforms before. Which means the McDone series.
I’ll also be launching the Blake Dent books as Amazon exclusives to try out a few marketing things with them.
Hope this clears up your decision a little. Mostly though, don’t worry about this if you only have one or two books. Keep on writing. When you have a series, maybe then consider KDP Select and the benefits of Kindle Unlimited.
But more than anything, do what works for you. No two writers are the same. Always be aware of changes.
Stay adaptable. I know I will.
Writing What Sells: A Good Idea?
I have a confession to make.
Earlier this summer, I wrote a romance novel.
Now this isn’t too hard a stretch of the imagination. All of my books, even the darkest ones, have romance at the core. After all, romance is something that binds each and every one of us in some way or another. It is one of those universal themes that everyone can connect with, whether longing for someone or happily married.
But anyway, I wrote a full romance book with intentions to launch it under a pen name.
Why did I do this? Well, like I’ve said in the past, I don’t release everything I write. I use my writing to experiment sometimes. To try my hand at different things and work out just how comfortable I am writing that way. Experimentation is, after all, the only way we can really learn what sort of writing we love.
But this romance novel. Why did I actually write it? Probably because I read that romance sells.
Now first off, before I am accused of doing so, this blog post is not a dig at romance writers, or any writers for that matter. Many of my inspirations are romance authors, and they are pros at what they do. Everyone is different, everyone has their own ways. It’s simply a post weighing up whether writing solely to sell is worthwhile, especially in these days where everything is publishable. Romance, as a genre, is just an example, being the best selling genre and all.
Got that? Phew. 🙂
Now this romance I wrote. It was a perfectly decent book. Good story, plenty of twists in sync with those of the genre. So why did I scrap it?
Well, it just wasn’t me. It was a chore to write. It felt forced.
It was written to sell, and as a result, I found it unsellable.
It’s quite hard admitting something like this in public, believe me. But you’d be surprised just how many bestselling writers have pen names in different genres. And fair play to them–they’re clearly better than me at jumping over seamlessly to those other genres.
But to me, writing something so distinctly not me just because it sells… I found that uncomfortable, and I’m definitely not able to do that with confidence just yet.
There’s a lot of advice out there to new writers. And that’s fantastic. But it can be harmful, too. There’s comments telling new writers only to write X because it’s hot right now, or not to bother writing Y because there’s no way it’ll sell.
So that new writer believes these voices, who most often are wonderful people and have good intentions (and are full of experience in their own field), and they write what they believe is sellable.
They write what they believe is sellable at the expense of writing something that is distinctly them.
As a result, the writing process might be a slog. The writer may feel unfulfilled at the end of it. The whole thing might just put them off writing forever.
Not to mention, their own real voice is suppressed, not allowed to develop, not allowed to flourish.
I believe that it takes a writer five books before they truly, truly know their speciality. I believe it takes five books worth of material down before their voice takes on a life of its own.
But if a writer writes a book based on what someone else is telling them will sell, I don’t believe that’s giving the writer’s voice a chance to grow. I think it’s like giving the writer a filter and telling them to writer through it. Some of that writer’s voice might sneak through, but a lot of it is held back in that filter.
And the bits held back in the filter might just be the difference between your voice and everyone else’s.
Don’t get me wrong: genre sells, to a certain extent. I write suspense thrillers, or at least that’s how I broadly define myself now. I’ve done mystery, science fiction, horror, pure thriller, satirical crime, post-apocalyptic. But in all those genres, having found my way after a few books, I know I write suspense thrillers. I take a lot of pleasure in writing short, snappy scenes that build up to page-turning cliffhangers. I like shocking my readers–I like doing things that many writers would shy away from because it might have an effect on the salability.
But I write suspense thrillers. That’s a commercial genre. So bear that in mind. I don’t write stream of consciousness, or anything like that. I do write commercial fiction, but commercial fiction with a bite.
Did I get here right away? No. Course not. It took me a while to realise this is what I specialise in. And funnily enough, what I described above is what I enjoy writing the most.
I’ve tried writing to sell. And by that, I mean writing solely with “This will please the audience here…”
I found no fun in that. I felt dirty, even.
So now, when I sit down, I think “Wow, that’s an interesting direction to go in… the audience might hate me for that. But let’s see, because it’s what I want to do, and this is my story.”
Sure, I’ve made some missteps along the way. I’ve had to rewrite and edit scenes–shit, entire books sometimes–all because I’ve gone a step too far in the craziness–in the “Ryan Casey-ness”. But the point here is, I tried it. I let my voice play. I told myself a story.
You should trust your voice. Trust your instincts. By all means write to sell, but make sure you write for someone else first: yourself.
Because if you can’t have fun with your fiction–if you can’t write the stories that you’d want to read–then what’s the point?
Instead of following a crowd, lead a crowd in whichever genre you feel most drawn to.
And who knows? You might just be the next big thing.
If not, at least you had a blast.
We’re blessed in these times we live in. We can publish anything we want to independent publishing platforms without it having to be to an editor’s taste.
So write whatever crazy shit’s inside you and trust that there’s other people as weird as you out there to read it.