The Insecure Writer and Writing Your Second Book

Today is April's contribution to Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group.

What makes me an Insecure Writer this month?

Not knowing if I have a second novel in me or not. 

Those of you who follow this blog regularly know that I finished the first draft of my debut urban fantasy at the end of 2019. I’m now in the editing stages and, though the process can be frustratingly slow at times, I’m confident it will be finished sometime this year. 

I’ve been studying various aspects of marketing and selling books for the past couple of years, and one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that it’s quite advantageous to complete at least two books in your series before you release the first one. The idea is that allowing too much time to pass between releases will cause your fans to forget about you. If you’re a slow writer like me, that’s a real concern. 

Note: I’m not talking about rapid release marketing, the perils of which I discussed in my previous post. 

So, I’ve already begun work on the sequel to my still unfinished debut novel. Crazy? Perhaps, but I’m having fun with it, allowing myself to work on whatever chapter appeals to me at the moment, without the pressure of having to show any of it to my critique partners. I’m happy with the results so far, but will this book be as good as the first? 

That’s a fear all debut writers face. Will I be able to do it again, or did I only have one book in me? 

Optional April 1 question: How am I and the family coping with the current crisis? 

As is the case with most of the rest of you, my entire family is stuck inside the house pretty much the whole day, which means boredom is a constant danger. My son is so bored he actually spent a couple of hours cleaning his room yesterday. Talk about the approach of Armageddon! 

We’ve been reduced to the point where we consider any trip away from our house as a sort of mini-vacation. Here are a few vacation pics of our trip to the local pizza place. 

Excitement is in the air!

Success!

Back home again, ready to recover from our trip

Our next planned outing is driving to Costco to gas up our car. The family is stoked! 

Take care everyone, and stay safe!


ChemistKen

The Perils of Rapid Release

Yeah, yeah, I know. This blog has been pretty quiet lately. And it’s my fault. I’ve been so focused on editing my story that I felt guilty every time I even thought about posting. But thanks to COVID-19, I now have plenty of time to write. 

These days, a lot of authors are opting for Rapid Release as a technique for selling their books. Rapid Release is when an author releases multiple books in a series at once, typically about a month apart. The idea is to keep interest in a series high for an extended period of time, stimulating the Amazon algorithms into promoting the books for you. 

Lucy's version of Rapid Release - Photo by Giphy

Unfortunately, turning out that many books at once is problematic. You either have to be a really fast writer (definitely not me), or you have to hold off on releasing any books in the series until they’re all written, something most writers can’t afford to do unless they have a large backlist paying the bills. There are many risks to this approach, one of them being that you may find yourself three or more books deep into a series before discovering none of them are selling. The biggest concern, however, is that the quality of your books may suffer if you’re driving yourself to write too quickly. 

While I’m much too slow of a writer to ever consider this approach myself, I’m disappointed to see some of my favorite authors heading down this path. Not that I don’t want to read more of their stuff, but the quality of their writing has definitely taken a hit. 

For example, one of my favorite fantasy/science fiction writers jumped onto the rapid release bandwagon last year. Normally, she’s pretty good at weaving her worlds into the story naturally, letting us savor her worldbuilding one piece at a time. To my dismay, the first chapter of the first book in her new series (released in early 2019, I believe) was little more than an infodump. I couldn’t believe it was the same writer. 

It was like she was trying to cram all the details of her world in at the beginning, so she wouldn’t have to worry about them later as she cranked out her story in record time. Even worse, much of this info-dumping was done using cringeworthy “As you know, Bob” type dialogue. For those of you who haven’t heard the term before, it’s where the people having a conversation are telling each other things they both already know as a way to force feed info to the reader. It was painful to read, and to be honest, I couldn’t even finish reading the free sample provided by Amazon. 

Recently, another author whose stories I enjoy also jumped into the rapid release pool. I had volunteered to be an arc reader for them, but quite honestly, the stories were so poorly written, I stopped reading halfway through the second book. It was like reading a first draft. Not that the grammar was bad or the editing poor, but the writing needed lots of tightening. 

Pages passed with nothing happening. Mysteries brought up earlier in the story were forgotten. The main character spent a LOT of time thinking about what he should do. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the character kept thinking these same things over and over and over again with no resolution. Entire chapters could have been cut without hurting the story. It felt as if the author was padding the wordcount. To top it all off, so little happened during the story that when I reached the big reveal near the end of the book, it felt as if I were only at the halfway point of the story. 

So be careful if you opt for rapid release. If the quality of your book suffers, you’re going to pay for it down the line with disgruntled readers.

ChemistKen

The Insecure Writer and A Lack of Progress

Today is March's contribution to Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group.

What makes me an Insecure Writer this month?

I’m not exactly sure. Just a vague sense of unease that I’m not where I should be at this point in time. 

For one thing, my series of posts on building my brand have come to a screeching halt. It’s not as if I haven’t been working on building my platform, but there are so many facets to this marketing stuff, that breaking it down into blog-sized pieces may take a while. In the meantime, the edits on my urban fantasy are progressing at a reasonable rate, but it’s March and suddenly I’m worried I'm already falling behind. 

This month’s question is: Other than the obvious holiday traditions, have you ever included any personal or family traditions/customs in your stories? 

The short answer is no. Maybe it’s because I haven’t written that many stories yet, or perhaps it’s because my family and I don’t really have much in the way of traditions. I’ve borrowed habits and traits from family and friends to round out my characters, but that’s about it. 

I'll be returning home today from a very enjoyable trip to Florida, so my ability to visit everyone’s blog may be limited. See you next month.


ChemistKen

The Insecure Writer and Taking On the Publishing World

Today is February's contribution to Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group.

What makes me an Insecure Writer this month?

All the things I have to do before my book comes out.

Those of you who stop by this blog on a regular basis know I’ve started a new series of posts chronicling my journey into book marketing. Now that the first draft of my debut urban fantasy is finally finished, I’m entering a whole new world of publishing. There are editors to find, email lists to build, social media sites to conquer, cover designers to interview, a dedicated author website to construct… 

And here I thought editing my novel would be the hard part.

So, if you’re interested in seeing how I approach this book marketing stuff, stop by every now and then and I’ll keep you updated. Comments and suggestions will be welcome. Who knows, maybe you’ll pick up a few new tricks along the way, too.

I took a little break from writing these last couple of days and focused on getting my office back in order. The first order of business was to dig through the huge stack of papers handed to me by my critique partners over the past year and confirm I’d added all their suggested changes to my manuscript before tossing the papers away. Yes, that empty space on the shelf looks really nice. Too bad it'll probably fill up again soon.

I also cleaned up the filing system on my computer. I had too many versions of each chapter. Before crits, after group 1’s critiques, after group 2’s critiques, plus a slew of other variations. To be honest, I wasn’t completely sure where the most recent version of each chapter was located. Now that’s all taken care of and it feels good.

Anyway, the year is one twelfth over, and if last year was any indication, this year will fly by so quickly I’ll need to maintain my focus to get my book out the door before it ends.



ChemistKen

Should Author Websites Be For Readers Or Other Writers?

Photo Courtesy of VisualHunt

In my last post, I promised to explain what I would do with all those author names I’ve been collecting in preparation for building my author platform. Unfortunately, the gastrointestinal illness that swept through our house, along with a bit of procrastination on my part, put an end to that promise. So in the meantime, I’d like to respond to a few of the comments I received in that previous post. 

A few of you mentioned that since I have this blog, I already had an author platform. In one sense, you’re correct. I’ve posted on this blog off and on for the past seven years and, in the process, have made many new writer friends. I learned so much about the writing process over that time, I can scarcely believe I’m the same person who first began writing Hogwarts fan fiction ten years ago. So yes, this blog is a great platform for connecting with other writers. 

Unfortunately, it’s not such a good platform for connecting with readers. 

Reason #1. The purpose of an author website is to give your readers a chance to come and meet you as a person. They don’t want to hear about the trials and tribulations of learning how to write, or read about the intricacies of book marketing. They want to learn about an author’s books, his likes and dislikes, and what he’s currently doing. 

Reason #2. I have all sorts of plans for my author website, and there’s no way I can do those kinds of things on Blogger. 

Reason #3. Although I love the title of this blog, it doesn’t seem terribly professional for my author website to be named after another author’s IP. 

My current solution is to keep this website going, along with having a dedicated author website. It’s not that I’m excited about running two different websites—especially when I haven’t been terribly rigorous about posting here as of late—but I think it’s the best way to go for now. I may eventually merge the two once I become more established as a writer, but in the meantime, I think keeping two separate websites is best. 

Is it possible for a writer to have a single website that caters to both readers and other writers? Of course, it is. (I’m looking at you, Elizabeth Spann Craig) But until I understand what my author platform should look like, I think I’ll keep my options open.

Until next time...

ChemistKen

The Road To Publishing – Part 1

This is the first in a series of posts chronicling my journey to publication.

Photo courtesy of Visual Hunt

“So much to do. So much to learn.” 

Okay, I finished the first draft of my debut urban fantasy last month. I’m pretty much done, right? All I have to do is polish up the manuscript, have it edited, and then upload it to Amazon. The champagne is cooling even as I type.

Hold on, not so fast. According to everything I’ve read, I should have been working on my author platform long before now. I should already have an author website, an email list, and a tribe of followers on social media. I should have already begun connecting with other authors in my genre. I should already have a small, yet rabid, group of superfans.

The sad truth is, I don't have any of those things. (Hangs head in shame) My focus the last few years has been on finishing my book, not worrying about how I would sell it. Luckily for me, I’m a slow writer, which means I still have plenty of time to accomplish these things before my book comes out.

But where do I begin? I know I need a dedicated author website, but what should it look like? How often should I send out newsletters, and what should they contain? Which social media platforms should I focus on? What should I put into my automated email welcoming sequence? I’ve spent the last two years researching all this book marketing stuff, but there’s a big difference between knowing what to do and actually doing it. 

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. In the end, I have to decide which approach works best for me. So, with all the aforementioned questions, what should be  my very first step in my grand plan to conquer the book-reading universe?

Build a list of comp authors.

Not what you were expecting, was it? Think about it. If I want to evaluate the various techniques for building an author platform, what better way is there than studying how other authors go about it? Having a list of authors will allow me to:

• Compare their websites
• See how they engage with their readers
• Discover what social media platforms work for them
• Find out which editors and cover designers they recommend
• Lots of other things I haven't even thought of yet.

So how am I compiling this list? 

Step 1. Find 20-30 authors in my genre, urban fantasy. I'll want a nice mix of A-listers, B-listers, as well as authors who are just starting out. Each group has different strengths. Finding them is easy. I read urban fantasy, so I already know seven or eight names of authors whose books I enjoy. By entering their names on Amazon, I can peruse their “also bought” lists and find more authors. This shouldn't take more than an hour.

Step 2. It’s important to find authors outside my sub-genre, too. In my case, there's epic fantasy, magical realism, dark fantasy, etc. Do their platforms differ from urban fantasy authors? If so, how? And I don’t want to forget science fiction authors either. My story weaves in some science along with the fantasy elements, so finding authors that mix fantasy and science is a must.

Once I have all these names, what am I going to do with them? I’ll tell you next time.

ChemistKen

The Insecure Writer and Stepping Into the Publishing Arena

Today is January's contribution to Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group.

What makes me an Insecure Writer this month?

It’s the start of a new year, which also marks the beginning of my roller-coaster ride of becoming published.

Last year, my goals were to finish uploading my Hogwarts fanfiction to Wattpad, complete the first draft of my urban fantasy, and begin making contact (once a week) with other authors in the fantasy and science fiction genres. 

As you might expect, the results were mixed—mostly due to events beyond my control. 

Back in February, I was downsized by my company, causing major disruptions both to my family and my writing.  The edits to my fanfiction ground to a halt, as did my plans to connect with other authors. Needless to say, searching for another job can be kind of time-consuming.  

I'm happy to say things have finally settled down. The job market in my area is not good, at least in my area of expertise, but I eventually settled into tutoring chemistry online. It doesn’t pay nearly as well, but we have enough savings to keep us afloat, so all is good. And in a classic “lemons to lemonade” bit of self-delusion, I took all this as a sign that I should become more of a full-time writer. 

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Hey, at least I finished the first draft of my WIP. Woohoo!

So, now it's time to get my butt into gear and buckle down for the real work of publishing my story. Editing the book, formatting it, uploading it to Amazon, and then marketing the darn thing isn’t going to happen by itself. So here are my 2020 goals.

• Publish my urban fantasy.
• Make significant headway on the sequel.
• Connect with other authors in my genre.
• Build an author website.
• Post on this blog (the one you’re reading now) on a regular schedule again.

The original goal of this blog was to chronicle my journey as a writer. Although that journey will never really end—there’s always more to learn—my focus has changed over the past few years. These days, I’m more interested in the marketing side of things. For this reason, this blog will now be concerned with chronicling my journey to becoming a published author. I’ll still have the occasional post on the craft of writing, but mostly it’ll be about the trials and tribulations of publishing. 

I’ve done tons of research into topics like reader outreach, marketing, and publishing, but to be honest, these are just abstract concepts floating around my head. It’s figuring out what to do on a day-to-day process that I have to figure out now.

I’ll keep you updated. 


ChemistKen

P.S. This month's question asks what started me on my writing journey. Just consider the name of this blog and you'll have the answer.