So it's been a while since I last mashed fingers to key to this blog because behind the scenes I've been mashing fingers to my latest writing project. Self isolation, the whole Covid-19 business has given me a lot more time at home and in turn I've channeled that into a lot more time working on my writing projects. (My next one will be published in a couple of weeks - awesome!)
In the process, I've learnt quite a few things that you might find helpful in your own writing/self publishing journey.
Pour yourself your favorite hot beverage and let's get into it!
In no particular order (I'll sort it out into categories when I build up a sizable list here)
1. WORD JUST WORKS
I started out writing with Microsoft Word 2007 for my first book and flash forward a few years and I'm still using Word 07 to do everything. From a few other authors suggestions I did take a look at other writing programs but I couldn't wrap my head around Scrivner and while I trialed Bibisco, I found myself gravitating back to Word. Basic word processing sure but a lot quicker than writing by hand. Or chiseling in stone. Yes it's the equivalent of a no frills commuter class transport but the point remains it can get you there if you put the work in.
(Don't have Word or can't afford it? Why not try Libreoffice - open source and completely free!)
2. TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO SETUP
I don't know why it's taken me a whole five books before I finally setup Word in a layout with preferences that cuts down on the formatting tasks but I've finally got there. For me it was getting rid of the extra line when you hit enter and auto tabs for new paragraphs. Now I can breeze through writing without having to backtrack so much to tidy things up (which I was doing when at the editing stage at the end of it anyway but I'm happy to save some time now).
Five minutes asking Google various things and I was good to go.
3. A HELPFUL DRIVE
I use Google Drive a lot. For work, for family stuff and especially for my wiring. The fact that you can create brand new pages and write away on them wherever you are is brilliant and as a consequence I have many folders with many pages containing notes, ideas and chapter pages easily accessible wherever I am (even on my phone!). Mp3s, jpegs, cover mockups, everything.
Plus you can leave backups on it. And it's free. Thanks Google!
4. ONE COPY IS RISKY
I did mention that Google Drive is a helpful place to store backups? Oh yes, in the tip above this one. DON'T GO WITHOUT A BACKUP. It's been forever and a day since my computer at home had a major crash but that's not to say that one day I won't wake up and my hard drive has managed to eat itself and everything on it. Save your work in more than one place and on more than one computer/service/media. Save often, backup as often as a precaution.
5. A FRIENDLY RIVALRY
Lacking in motivation? Find a friend who's also writing and getting chatting about what they're up to, how far they are in their latest project, what's coming up next etc. You may find it's the inspiration you need to get back into your own project with a bit more gusto. They've almost finished their first screen play? What the hell am I doing in my spare time? Just as long as your rivalry doesn't become an unhealthy obsession of course. You are not Joe Exotic the Tiger King.
6. MORE A TURBO THAN A LONG HAULER
You know those authors and writers that can sit down, get typing and not come back up for air until they click over more than 5000 words in a session? I am definitely not one of them (I tried it once but it was a bit of a chore). My attention span, my house full of distractions, my work, my family - there's plenty going on that has forged my writing sessions into roughly 1-2 thousand words each.
Which actually works for me just fine. Churn out 1k words and then come back to it the next day and churn out another as it all adds up. Bursts like a turbo rather than a interstate road trip that takes up most the night.
(And eliminates the risk of a potential couple of thousand words that I struggle to get out and ultimately not like so much when reviewing)
Find your comfort zone and enjoy the drive.
7. IF IT'S CONFUSING OUT LOUD, WELL...
If you're wondering if a passage or paragraph makes sense, read it out loud. Still confusing when you're reading it back to yourself? Time to rewrite it until it all becomes clear.
8. HOW MANY WORDS?
There's no official rules to how long/how many words your latest magnificent works needs before it's ready to go but if you're concerned about your latest story either being too long or too short and your potential readers objecting to it, take a quick look on Amazon. Search through the genre of what you're writing and take a look at the page count for the books in the top 10 best sellers for that market. Are you far off the mark? Write more. Way too long? More editing needed. Fairly close? Happy days!
9. STOCK AS A ROCK
Once upon a time I dismissed stock photography websites as I figured I could get everything I needed free from Google to make my covers. This is akin to walking through through a second hand car yard hoping someone has left a Formula One car there and the car yard owner is flogging if off super cheap, not sure on what it's actually worth. With enough time and searching you can find plenty to worth with and in far more quality than most stuff you're dredging out of Google Image Search (not to mention having the proper license to use it.)
Using stuff I've bought from Shutterstock, I've gone from this cover:
Which was okay (although looking back I hate the font - it just doesn't suit the scene at all) but after working with some much better images, I came up with:
Which I'm far more happy with. Will it help it sell more? Time will tell!
13. THINK IN THE RAIN
Drawing a blank for ideas when you find yourself sitting in front of a screen? Turn it off and go and do something else. Strangely I find my biggest inspiration and idea generation occurs in my morning shower. I've barely woken up, the coffee is still working it's way through my system but still the ideas keep coming and suddenly I know what's going to happen next in my latest story (yeah I'm a pantser over a planner and that's worked well for me so far).
Stay tuned, plenty more to come!
In the process, I've learnt quite a few things that you might find helpful in your own writing/self publishing journey.
 |
| My next book on the way! |
Pour yourself your favorite hot beverage and let's get into it!
In no particular order (I'll sort it out into categories when I build up a sizable list here)
1. WORD JUST WORKS
I started out writing with Microsoft Word 2007 for my first book and flash forward a few years and I'm still using Word 07 to do everything. From a few other authors suggestions I did take a look at other writing programs but I couldn't wrap my head around Scrivner and while I trialed Bibisco, I found myself gravitating back to Word. Basic word processing sure but a lot quicker than writing by hand. Or chiseling in stone. Yes it's the equivalent of a no frills commuter class transport but the point remains it can get you there if you put the work in.
(Don't have Word or can't afford it? Why not try Libreoffice - open source and completely free!)
2. TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO SETUP
I don't know why it's taken me a whole five books before I finally setup Word in a layout with preferences that cuts down on the formatting tasks but I've finally got there. For me it was getting rid of the extra line when you hit enter and auto tabs for new paragraphs. Now I can breeze through writing without having to backtrack so much to tidy things up (which I was doing when at the editing stage at the end of it anyway but I'm happy to save some time now).
Five minutes asking Google various things and I was good to go.
3. A HELPFUL DRIVE
I use Google Drive a lot. For work, for family stuff and especially for my wiring. The fact that you can create brand new pages and write away on them wherever you are is brilliant and as a consequence I have many folders with many pages containing notes, ideas and chapter pages easily accessible wherever I am (even on my phone!). Mp3s, jpegs, cover mockups, everything.
Plus you can leave backups on it. And it's free. Thanks Google!
4. ONE COPY IS RISKY
I did mention that Google Drive is a helpful place to store backups? Oh yes, in the tip above this one. DON'T GO WITHOUT A BACKUP. It's been forever and a day since my computer at home had a major crash but that's not to say that one day I won't wake up and my hard drive has managed to eat itself and everything on it. Save your work in more than one place and on more than one computer/service/media. Save often, backup as often as a precaution.
5. A FRIENDLY RIVALRY
Lacking in motivation? Find a friend who's also writing and getting chatting about what they're up to, how far they are in their latest project, what's coming up next etc. You may find it's the inspiration you need to get back into your own project with a bit more gusto. They've almost finished their first screen play? What the hell am I doing in my spare time? Just as long as your rivalry doesn't become an unhealthy obsession of course. You are not Joe Exotic the Tiger King.
6. MORE A TURBO THAN A LONG HAULER
You know those authors and writers that can sit down, get typing and not come back up for air until they click over more than 5000 words in a session? I am definitely not one of them (I tried it once but it was a bit of a chore). My attention span, my house full of distractions, my work, my family - there's plenty going on that has forged my writing sessions into roughly 1-2 thousand words each.
Which actually works for me just fine. Churn out 1k words and then come back to it the next day and churn out another as it all adds up. Bursts like a turbo rather than a interstate road trip that takes up most the night.
(And eliminates the risk of a potential couple of thousand words that I struggle to get out and ultimately not like so much when reviewing)
Find your comfort zone and enjoy the drive.
7. IF IT'S CONFUSING OUT LOUD, WELL...
If you're wondering if a passage or paragraph makes sense, read it out loud. Still confusing when you're reading it back to yourself? Time to rewrite it until it all becomes clear.
8. HOW MANY WORDS?
There's no official rules to how long/how many words your latest magnificent works needs before it's ready to go but if you're concerned about your latest story either being too long or too short and your potential readers objecting to it, take a quick look on Amazon. Search through the genre of what you're writing and take a look at the page count for the books in the top 10 best sellers for that market. Are you far off the mark? Write more. Way too long? More editing needed. Fairly close? Happy days!
9. STOCK AS A ROCK
Once upon a time I dismissed stock photography websites as I figured I could get everything I needed free from Google to make my covers. This is akin to walking through through a second hand car yard hoping someone has left a Formula One car there and the car yard owner is flogging if off super cheap, not sure on what it's actually worth. With enough time and searching you can find plenty to worth with and in far more quality than most stuff you're dredging out of Google Image Search (not to mention having the proper license to use it.)
Using stuff I've bought from Shutterstock, I've gone from this cover:
Which was okay (although looking back I hate the font - it just doesn't suit the scene at all) but after working with some much better images, I came up with:
Which I'm far more happy with. Will it help it sell more? Time will tell!
10. TRY BEFORE YOU BUY
Just on stock photography, if you do your own covers and you've been umming and erring over two possible photos but don't know which one to buy - download them both first complete with watermark and see how they fit in your project. Yes it won't look as clean as photos without the mark but the purpose here to to see which one works best and then buy the rights to it. Neither work as intended? Keep searching and downloading for free until you find the one you want to buy.
Additional note on 9 and 10 - I am no longer using or reccomending Shutterstock for a number of reasons:
-I tried their ten free photos month offer and forgot to cancel in time. Which automatically put me on a yearly plan of 10 photos a month for $30. Again I forgot to cancel in that month and got charged for another. When I finally got through to someone, I got charged an extra $22 a month (the discount rate + gst for living in Australia.) So two months plus cancelation fee has meant I've now paid over $100 for about 25 photos all up. Not bad really at $4 for a high quality photo but the longer you go, the more it's going to cost you unless you wait out the full year, paying as you go (don't forget to unmark the auto renew button!)
-The contact us button doesn't work. The message button doesn't work so you have to call them. I flagged this on Twitter and they told me they couldn't see any problems. According to the web, I'm not the only one having these dramas.
-Reading through the review sites, apparently Shutterstock have dropped their payments to contributers to just 10 cents per photo which is utterly rediculous. I'd rather support a stock photography site that pays a lot more than 10 cents a use when they're making a tonne more.
-Never again.
11. I WANT TO TRY MAKING MY OWN COVERS BUT I DON'T HAVE PHOTOSHOP! SHOULD I BUY IT?
I'm still using a copy of Photoshop that I bought years ago and still haven't found the need to update it to the latest cloud based subscription service version (don't get me started on subscription software - hello Adobe!) However if a cheap old version of Photoshop isn't available, you can try Gimp instead. Like Libreoffice mentioned above it's completely free and ready to roll plus it comes with quite a few helpful tutorials to learn with along the way.
12. CHAIRMAN OF THE WRITING ROOM
Once upon a time I was writing away on a ten dollar office chair that I picked up at some office clearance center (and got a free school bag thrown in too!) As expected it gave me as much support as an angry mother in law when you get drunk at the xmas lunch. Earlier this year I upgraded to a $99 student office chair that looks more like a racing seat and is far more comfortable when seated for more than an hour.
If you're going to spend a lot of time writing (and undoubtedly you will) make sure you're comfortable. And make sure you park your bum in every chair you can find before you decide on the one you want.
Yes the $249 chair did look better but the $99 I found felt better to sit in. Plus it's part racing red and helps me dream of Ferrari's when I become a writing success (still working on that one.)
11. I WANT TO TRY MAKING MY OWN COVERS BUT I DON'T HAVE PHOTOSHOP! SHOULD I BUY IT?
I'm still using a copy of Photoshop that I bought years ago and still haven't found the need to update it to the latest cloud based subscription service version (don't get me started on subscription software - hello Adobe!) However if a cheap old version of Photoshop isn't available, you can try Gimp instead. Like Libreoffice mentioned above it's completely free and ready to roll plus it comes with quite a few helpful tutorials to learn with along the way.
12. CHAIRMAN OF THE WRITING ROOM
Once upon a time I was writing away on a ten dollar office chair that I picked up at some office clearance center (and got a free school bag thrown in too!) As expected it gave me as much support as an angry mother in law when you get drunk at the xmas lunch. Earlier this year I upgraded to a $99 student office chair that looks more like a racing seat and is far more comfortable when seated for more than an hour.
If you're going to spend a lot of time writing (and undoubtedly you will) make sure you're comfortable. And make sure you park your bum in every chair you can find before you decide on the one you want.
Yes the $249 chair did look better but the $99 I found felt better to sit in. Plus it's part racing red and helps me dream of Ferrari's when I become a writing success (still working on that one.)
13. THINK IN THE RAIN
Drawing a blank for ideas when you find yourself sitting in front of a screen? Turn it off and go and do something else. Strangely I find my biggest inspiration and idea generation occurs in my morning shower. I've barely woken up, the coffee is still working it's way through my system but still the ideas keep coming and suddenly I know what's going to happen next in my latest story (yeah I'm a pantser over a planner and that's worked well for me so far).
14. TAKE A BREAK
No seriously, don't ignore this one. Take a break. Take many breaks. Especially if you find yourself pouring long hours into your latest book and then jumping straight into bed after it. If you're anything like me you'll toss and turn all night trying to get scenes out of your head and worrying about parts of the story that you won't realize don't actually exist in your book until you get up again in the morning. Stretch. Exercise. Pour yourself a nightcap and watch junk on Netflix for an hour. Just do something other than writing. Your sleep and the feeling you have the next morning will thank you.
15. GIVE YOUR WRITING PC A VACUUM
Okay not literally but once in a while, give it a clean out. Mine (especially the downloads folder) is an absolute mess every three months or so, so it's a great idea to put some time aside and like the house, give it a general tidy up. Put things in folders (or create new folders), put all your notes in the same place, delete all the photos you're no longer going to need for your covers. Also use this time to create backups. Remember Tip 3? A perfect time now to throw a lot of stuff up on Google Drive.
16. AMAZON ADVERTISING
Actually this one I'm still learning myself because after a few campaigns, I've spent a little amount of money and barely shifted anything. However you can learn quite a few things from the experience (even if it doesn't translate to major sales)
-If you're getting the clicks on your ads but no one is buying then your cover is interesting but your blurb isn't. Or your price is too high. Or you don't have enough reviews for people to take a chance on your work. But the good news is, your cover is working so far.
-If you're getting the clicks on your ads but no one is buying then your cover is interesting but your blurb isn't. Or your price is too high. Or you don't have enough reviews for people to take a chance on your work. But the good news is, your cover is working so far.
-If you're getting impressions but no clicks, it may be your cover dragging things down.
-People search for the weirdest things so don't be afraid to put them in your search terms. I kid you not, 'War War' is a search term that earned my book a couple of clicks. Who searches for 'War War' exactly? Turns out someone does!
-Find writers who do similar stuff to what you do and use their names as search terms.
-Bid low to start and raise your bids as you need to. According to Google the lowest you can bid is 0.02 but good luck getting any impressions with that one. I've spent a week with 10 cent bids on over 200 keywords but haven't gone anywhere. I've raised them to 20 cents each and I'll go a week to see if anything sticks. Will report on this one shortly.
-I finally got some impressions coming though...11 days later. Why the 11 day wait? No idea. But it turns out I didn't need to up my bids after looking at zero data for almost two weeks. Still I'll keep things at .20 for a time and see what happens. I can always drop it back lower if I need to.
-Use as many keywords as you can. Terms in the book, other authors, their book titles, everything. You never know what people are looking for and what might hopefully steer potential readers over to your gear.
-Once in a while, tune/prune/revise some of your keywords. At the time of writing, I've had 1406 impressions but zero clicks and therefore zero sales. Most of those impressions have been from using the words 'Warhammer' and 'Khorne' (a bloodthirsty demon god from the Warhammer world). Looking at it now, my book has absolutely nothing to do with that universe so I've realized there's not much point in targeting them. Same with Dan Abnett - as much as I admire his incredible work (and it is brilliant), our books have little in common so using his name as a keyword is a mistake. Off the list it goes!
17. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR
And through various attempts at book traction from Fiverr.com, nothing's happened other than my bank balance decreasing slightly. Yes the credible sellers will deliver what they promise but I didn't sell a bean through any of the things I bought there so I'm hesitant to recommend it..
Stay tuned, plenty more to come!
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