5 (Plus 1) Tips for Indie Writing Sucess

Okay, so it might be a little weird that I'm posting success tips, when I haven't actually found real indie success myself. However, once I add my SmashWords affiliate sales I'll be right around 200 sales for August, so that's not terrible either. So, here's what I've learned in the last year or so:

1. Use a professorial editor and then at least one professorial proofreader (I've started using two) - Indie books get a bad rap for being poorly edited--that's because many are. However, with one exception, every successful indie author I know goes to great lengths to produce an error free manuscript.
2. Get a great cover (see examples: http://www.mjaware.com/covers/med.jpg & http://www.mjaware.com/covers/GirlsBite.jpg) - You don't have to spend a lot of dough. Here's two low-cost cover artist I recommend: XXXXXXX and  Rebbecca Weaver. Rebbecca does great photo manipulations and she even does the cover layout too.
3. Get reviews (if most are not positive your probably DOA) - This one is a harder than you'd think because a lot of bloggers won't review or even deal with indies. This week I've e-mailed two dozen reviewers, asking for a review or even just an announcement of my upcoming release and I offered to give away a free print copy of SZJMB to their readers. However, only five have replied (I'm sure more will) and only three of those are going to review (the other two graciously offered to promote with a giveaway).
4. Write a great description - Your cover gets a reader to click on a title, but the description gets them to purchase (or at least download a sample). Make sure their are not grammar errors (this means have someone else check it for you) and keep tweeking it until it sells.
5. Marketing and promotion - Besides reviews you need to start a blog, Facebook, or Twitter account. But don't do all of them just cause you have to. For example, I don't do Twitter well, so I skip it. But I just opened a Facebook page(Got a minute? I only have three 'likes'). Believe it or not commenting on other blogs and posting on message boards helps sales too (the messages get indexed by Google and show up in search results). Just make sure you stay civil.

And number 6.... Keep writing, of course.

A whole Weekend of Writing and a New eBook of Shorts

Cover by my good friend
Ronnell D. Porter.

One of my kids was out of town this weekend, leaving just the baby for my wife and I to watch. As a result I got almost a whole weekend of writing done. Wow, it was great. Of course, I paid for it this week and have been swamped ever since.

Still, I was able to get a new little collection of shorts published. Hide-n-Go Coffin has three MG/early YA short stories. I've put it up at both Amazon, and Barnes & Noble (Apple coming soon). At 6,000 words it's a fairly quick read. If anyone would like a free review copy just e-mail or send me a message and I'll be glad to send it to you (also let me know what format, Kindle, Nook, PDF, MS Word).

 Book Description

Includes two three 'terrorific' short stories.

Playing hide-and-seek in a cemetery is disrespectful. When it happens to be cursed, the results can be deadly. Or even worse, as Jason finds out when he takes a bet to play an ill-fated game on Halloween.

Includes the bonus short story: Brother's Keeper – Zack would be wise to spend less time looking for his missing sled and more time worrying about what is lurking outside. But he's not the only one who'll have to pay for his single-mindedness.

Also includes the bonus short story: Grandpa's suits – A game of spin-the-bottle with the school pervert isn't a bright idea. Fortunately for Zoey, she's not quite alone.

These stories are not recommended for kids under 8. 

Ditching the Super Bowl to Write

I've been swamped at work and haven't been able to write any night before 11pm or later. So, when Grandpa offered to watch the kids on Sunday, I jumped at the chance. I figured I could watch Green Bay squash The Steelers (The 49'er's are my favorite team, but Green Bay is my backup). There's just something about the intensity of the championship game that makes it so exciting to watch. Then last night, inspiration hit, I found the missing piece to my current WIP.

I wrote down a bunch of notes and had trouble sleeping because I kept thinking about how it would all fit together. So, as I'm writing this I can hear the coin toss in the other room (I'm going to have to close the door), but I'm just about to lay pencil to paper (or rather fingers to keys) and knock out the final pieces of my manuscript.

Make no mistake about it, I'll take a few breaks to check the game, but this is the first time I remember missing the Super Bowl since I was 12.

I know in the scheme of things, missing one Super Bowl isn't such a big deal. But when I think of all the hours I've spent trying to master the craft, it really adds up.

What's the biggest thing you've given up to pursue your writing?

What's your process Blogfest!

I'm participating in Shallee McArthur's What's Your Process Blogfest. There's about 35 bloggers participating, so check it out. You're sure to find some good ideas.

I'm going to cover my process in three phases, pre-manuscript, manuscript, and post-manuscript. I'm on my fifth or sixth manuscript, so my process is still evolving. But, what I've been doing does seem to be working for me.

Pre-manuscript

One thing I've learned is don't bother writing unless you've got a great idea. For me, the idea part isn't too hard (it's the execution that I have to work at). The toughest part is is coming up with a big idea that I'll love to write. For me, if I don't fall in love with the story and the characters, there's no use.

However, even if I love the idea, if it isn't going to sell, I'm not going to write it. I have too many hard drive novels, as do most writers I know. My advice is not to bother writing quite books, manuscripts about talking animals, or whatever agents aren't buying right now.

In fact, I try to come up with the hook before I write my first word. What's a hook? Two kids fight off an army of the undead, armed with nothing but Super Soakers--that's a hook (from my most recent novel). It's what you're going to tell that agent you run into in the elevator, on your way back to your room, at your next conference. It's what's going to appear on the jacket cover to make kids go, Wow, I've gotta get this book. If you idea doesn't have one, don't bother.

Next, I layout the story. Here I use a step sheet. Basically, I just start a word document with a step-by-step for the story. Here's short an example:

Dude moves to new town.

Meets a girl.

Falls in love with Girl.

Turns out Girl hunts vampires.

Just one problem, Dude's a vampire.

Okay, so that's a plot from Buffy, but you get the idea. Mine are usually about 200-400 words by the time I'm done. I'll also work out the subplots and key scenes in the step sheet. That way, I'm never lost when writing my manuscript, as all I have to figure out is how do they get from one step to the next.

Before I start writing I have one more step. It's the most important pre-manuscript step (for me). I call it falling in love with my characters. It's where I get to know them. There's lots of ways I do this. Here's just a few:

Do an interview. Start writing out some questions and type out the character's responses. This is a great way to get a background for each character and makes getting each one's voice down a lot easier. You'll probably even end up using a few lines from this in your manuscript.

Write a short with your characters. It's a great way to get to know them and see how they'll react to stress. Several times I've taken parts of my short stories and plugged them right into the novel. Plus, if I really work the short (which for me is about a dozen edits) I really have each character down by the time I'm finished.

Play it out in your mind. This works great if you have an active imagination. Approach it like meditation. Sit in a quite place where you are not going to be interrupted (I know, that's easier said then done), and keep a pen and notebook handy. Then close your eyes and imagine your characters. I often approach this like a movie--especially if I've hit a roadblock or dead-end.  I start right at the beginning of my story (or even before the beginning) and walk right through it. When I get to the point where I'm stuck, usually the characters just continue with the story for me.

Which is one of the reasons to keep a notebook handy; so you can write down whatever creative solutions to your plot problems that may come up. Plus, you'll also find sometimes your characters deliver the perfect line of dialog without any help from you (write these down right away so you don't forget them).

I often use this process during the writing process as well. And I always keep an eye out for anything that doesn't feel right, or new characters that pop-up on their own, stuff like that.

Manuscript

As you can see, it sounds like I don't really begin writing until I really have the groundwork laid. While this is usually true, I often come up with a story idea and just want to start writing. Fine, I do it. I just go back after I've exhausted my inspiration and do the prep work then. I find what I initially write usually doesn't make it into the story anyway and end up just doing more prep work.

Actually writing the manuscript is (usually) the easiest part for me. That's not just because I've done some of the leg work up front. It's also because if I don't feel inspired, I'll simply muscle my way through it. In my opinion, there's plenty of time to get it perfect later. Right now, I just get the words down.

I don't worry about making it perfect. I don't make sure my grammar is correct. If I can't think if a word, I'll leave a few underscores and put a synonym or two behind them to remind me what I was thinking when I re-read it later on.

Yes, I sometimes go through later and delete entire scenes because they stink. So what? As long as the final product is my best work, I'm fine.

Here's another trick I use while writing the manuscript. For me, each time I sit down to continue a manuscript getting started is the hardest part. I have to re-read a little just to figure out where I've left off and then hope I can get back into the groove of things.

Instead, what I do, is edit everything I wrote the day before. I'm not perfecting the prose here. Just obvious errors, filling in the missing words, etc. By the time I've done a quick edit on everything I wrote the night before, I'm almost always ready to start writing again--it just gets me back in the story.

Post-manuscript (aka Revision or to some, Hell)

This is where most writers make it or break it. For me, it's where I spend most of my time (I'm talking months and months). As I said before I'll go over a short story a dozen times. Same for a manuscript, maybe even more. The difference is each edit takes days or weeks.

Depending on how I am feeling, I'll either dig right into the editing, or I'll take a week or two off. But no matter what, at some point, I'll take weeks probably more like a month to let the manuscript sit before I come back to it. This really helps me look at it with new eyes and I see all types of stuff I missed before.

At some point I'll print my manuscript out and edit it on paper. I also like to feed it into my Kindle and have it read it back to me. Both these methods really help me find errors, bad dialog and other stuff I just always seem to miss when editing on a computer screen.

It takes me 8-10 edits before the manuscript is read to show to a beta. I try to get at least 4 trusted betas. If I get two saying the same thing, I'll sit on their feedback for a few days before deciding if they are right or not. If I don't wait a few days, I can't look at their comments objectively. Then, when it turns out their comments are right (they almost always are), I'll rewrite and send out to a couple more betas.

Finding a good beta reader is hard. Most of mine only do manuscript exchanges (so they have to have something for me to edit at the same time). However, I can always find someone I know to do a partial beta. These are helpful if used right. Obviously, they can provide feedback on the first 3 or 4 chapters, or say, the ending. But I'll also use them for key scenes. I'll take a paragraph or two for some back story, tell the beta reader what I'm aiming for and see if they feel I've nailed it.

Once I'm convinced my manuscript is perfect, I set it aside for a month, maybe more. I can work on other projects, or on the query letter during this time (not the synopsis though). I just don't want to open or look at it at all during that time. When giving it a final reading, I try to imagine I'm reading it for the first time. This works great for finding inconsistencies and small plot holes.

Wow, I think that's my longest post to date. If you got this far, I hope you found something I said useful and will be able to incorporate it into your own process. If you have any tidbits to add, just post a comment. Heck, maybe even write up a post on your own process.

Hitting the Writing Wall

The 'writing wall' isn't to be confused with writer's block. Hitting the writing wall is much more serious, as it can spell the end of a writing career before it even gets started. 

It's when an inspiring writer, often after years of trying, suddenly feels a great and urgent need to just give up. Maybe it comes after a pointed rejection letter or a bad critique. Some writers seem to never experience it, while I've seen others--notably on the AbsoluteWrite Forums--hit it hard. It's impossible to gauge just how many writers experience it, because we never hear from the ones that succumb.

For me it happened after about 2 1/2 years in, which just happened to be about 6 weeks ago. I haven't been serious about writing all that time, but I have been doing it regularly. However, for the last six to nine months I've been writing daily, taking a writing course. I've even cleaned out a room to use as my writing space.

So when I finished my latest manuscript, Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb (I'll write up a little something about it in the future), I knew I was only 1/2 done. Eight edits later--yes, I edited the whole book eight times--I was ready to show it off to a beta reader (for those who don't write, a beta reader is another writer, who reads your manuscript and makes nasty comments in the margins).

When it came back and the first comment went something like, I couldn't really get into the story, because I couldn't get past all the spelling and grammar errors. You really need to polish this up before you send it out.

I'd spent three months doing just that! So, at first I figured he was just crazy; after all you have to be a little nuts to offer to read the first draft of someone's unpublished novel. But after seeing his edits, I knew he was right.

Normally critical feedback doesn't bug me; I see it as an opportunity to improve. This time, I was dumbfounded, was my self-editing really that bad? I was forced to conclude, yes.

So, now I'm staring at this wall--that's just snacked me right in the face. Two and 1/2 years and I'm not even close. Will I ever be able to write something publishable, yet alone really good? I could have taken the family on vacation with all the money I've spent on books, classes, etc. Am I just stealing from my loved ones pursuing this dream?

The fact is, I don't know. This is my third completed manuscript; I've decided to ride it out. The characters in my story deserve that much. I'm certainly not over this wall yet, but I've decided to climb.

Did you experience the writing wall? If so, how did you get over it?