How Many Books Will You Publish in 2014?

[britnidanielle]

The year is winding down, and after 3 months (lol!) in the self-publishing world, I'm considering what I'll do next year.

I recently asked a question on KBoard asking "how can I find my audience" looking for feedback about my covers, blurbs, etc. I got a lot of good (and a little tough) criticism. I decided to reevaluate a few things.

1) Only professional ish from here on out: I like to think of myself as a good writer. I've had success as a freelancer (getting jobs w/ major mags, etc.) and I want to maintain that same level of quality with my fiction. So unless I can design a STELLAR cover, I'm outsourcing it to that guy from GoOnWrite (or someone else) & I'm going to try to hire an editor, especially as I move into longer works. This is a bit of an investment, especially considering editors cost serious money, but if I want to release professional quality work that will play with the big girls, so I got to do big girl things! (or something lol)

2) Writing actual novels: Because of the genre I'm playing in--Chick Lit/Contemporary Romance--I need to step my game up. Novellas sell, but not as well as full-length novels, so I'll be focusing on that (and novel-length series, which I need to figure out).

Which brings me to my original question. How many novels will I--and you--be putting out next year?

Going into this whole thing I wanted to take HfR's advice and just write as much as I possibly could. I was feeling all pumped and ambitious and planned on putting out a short book a week (delusional, much? lol). When I saw I couldn't really sustain that, I switched to a book/month. But that left little time for Beta readers & editing & cover design. So now I think a more reasonable timeline (for me) will be one book every 6-8 weeks.

So in 2014 I plan to release AT LEAST 6 novels (not novellas), 8 if I can stick to my 6-week timeline. Sound reasonable?

How about you?

 

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[santa]

I had a quick flick through of the kb thread and you certainly got some feedback!
I can't remember where I read it, but I recall someone asking a famous author what 3 skills where he most important in this profession. 2 were writing related and the other was THICK skin!

"I was feeling all pumped and ambitious and planned on putting out a short book a week (delusional, much? lol)."

Don't be too hard on yourself. You set a target. Went for it, and you are now re-assessing. 6 is certainly possible. Although, how many betas are you planning to have read through your stories and what sort of turn around do you expect?

One other thing to consider is, up to this point how many novellas have you written vs novels? It might take you a little while to adjust, so maybe factor that in for your first couple of books.

 

[britnidanielle]

I haven't written any novels...YET.

But it's coming. Each novella (I'm working on my 3rd), so far, has been slightly longer. And I could have really written 'Turn It Loose' (my first book) with the follow-up I'm writing now if I had given myself more time. I think I just needed to start building some momentum.

6-8 full-length novels (60k+ words) is my goal for next year.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I'm hoping two at a minimum...

1)My second installment of TMF (not named so of course)
and
2) Vigilante's importing guide.

 

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[Hicks]

I've been thinking about this too.
If I stay in non-fiction I think about 20-30 (sounds crazy I know). But I'm thinking of moving into novels as well...would appreciate guidance if the time comes.... I have the feeling that fiction will be slower at the beginning but would speed up once you get good at it....whereas with me at least non fiction doesn't seem to speed up much.

 

[ChickenHawk]

Very interesting insight on novels versus novellas. My current project started out as a novella, but has quickly grown into what will encompass at least two novels. At first, I was frustrated by this, because I wanted so badly to hit the publish button sooner. But it does seem that longer books(assuming you can churn them out at a steady pace) have some definite advantages.

Since I'm writing in the same-ish genre, I'd love to hear what nudged you in that direction. Better sales potential? Longer shelf life? Other factors? My current project is a New Adult Contemporary Romance, and it does seem that full-length books have more staying power. But then you see people who make it big with shorter works, and it's hard to say which path is right as far as time versus reward.

As far as next year, I'm looking at publishing at least four novels. That'll be a stretch though, unless I leave the day-job. The dreaded, dreaded day job...

 

[Breaking Free]

6-8 novels. I'm all in... just need to decide which ones to write first, since all my ideas are easily trilogies, with series potential.

That and if my KW book keeps gaining traction, I may have to expand that too. Arrrgh, I wish I could get paid to do this now, so I didn't have to do a day job too

 

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[joanna]

Since I haven't outlined the books completely yet, it's hard to say whether they end up being novels or novellas, but the plan for next year would be:

- The Hunt (wanted to do this year, but seems unlikely now)
- Vampire Bytes #2
- Night of the Lost Brides
- The Kingslayer's Apprentice
- 3-4 erotica titles (these are likely shorter) - maybe more, but sine my last year's plan was way to ambitious, I'm trying to be realistic here

So I guess that would be about 8 books.

 

[thesaintv12]

It may be a little early for me to comment here, but it seems like a good opportunity to set some goals for the coming year.

I'm still working through my first novel, but at my current pace I'd like to think I can complete one full length novel in two months. By complete, I mean first draft, edit and second edit. I will then start the next book while I get the cover and professional edit (or the nearest I can afford) for the previous book.

I am not expecting much to happen until I get a good few titles up, so I'm going to focus on keeping the writing momentum going.

So, that would mean two trilogies in one pen name and one short series in a different genre and name.

I'm aiming for the best quality I can at the price I can afford.

 

[COSenior]

It's great to see everyone's goals! Maybe this could be like weight-loss/fitness buddies, where we all cheer for the others to keep striving for those specific goals.

I've got two paths to consider. One, if the publisher for whom I'm writing what will amount to an application novel picks up my work, I'm thinking 6 to 8 isn't unreasonable, given that I'll be doing it part-time. If not, I may lower the word count a bit and go for one a month. However, I'm committed to keeping them at least at 200 pages, or around 60-65k words so no one can complain about price vs. length at $2.99.

My client seems to think we can do about one a month for him, three weeks writing and one editing, and I agree as long as he can plot as fast as I can write. We finished the first draft of his first book yesterday.

 

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[britnidanielle]

Very interesting insight on novels versus novellas. My current project started out as a novella, but has quickly grown into what will encompass at least two novels. At first, I was frustrated by this, because I wanted so badly to hit the publish button sooner. But it does seem that longer books(assuming you can churn them out at a steady pace) have some definite advantages.

Since I'm writing in the same-ish genre, I'd love to hear what nudged you in that direction. Better sales potential? Longer shelf life? Other factors? My current project is a New Adult Contemporary Romance, and it does seem that full-length books have more staying power. But then you see people who make it big with shorter works, and it's hard to say which path is right as far as time versus reward.

The main thing has been the KBoards, really. ALLLLL of the advice I've asked for and read has said, "Write novels."

Novellas may work for erotica, but in my lane (I'm embracing contemp. romance), the best sellers are actual novels (and novel-length series).

 

[Lauryn]

I plan on one major novel, a condensation of an adult sexual instruction book already published and another book.

So there are definitely 3 being developed/edited and created.

Like you, quality is the key for me, so if I can create masterpieces with those three, I'm fine with three and will publish more as quality/time allows.

 

[AubreyRose]

I'll jump in here since I'm new! Been self-publishing since Jan 2012. I like to plan by quarter since occasionally books end up taking off and I'll want to write a sequel. I had no idea 12 months ago that I would be writing what I'm writing now. So here's my first quarter plans:

January:
- bundle together the paranormal romance series I have and publish it as a novel
- publish the novel I'm writing now (a new adult sequel)
- write/publish a contemporary romcom chicklit novella (will be the start of a series if it does well)

February:
- write/publish a vampire novel (or two novellas, haven't decided)
- write/publish new adult paranormal novella (will be the start of a series if it does well)

March:
- write/publish paranormal romance novel
- write/publish sequel to whichever novella series is doing best

I just recently (like, uh, last month) surpassed my day job income with writing, but sales are so variable I hate to rely on it. Maybe in another year I will be able to focus entirely on writing...

Britni, novels are so much harder for me to do than novellas. I don't know why, but I can never seem to keep track of everything in a novel like I want to =/

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

Since I'm writing in the same-ish genre, I'd love to hear what nudged you in that direction. Better sales potential? Longer shelf life? Other factors? My current project is a New Adult Contemporary Romance, and it does seem that full-length books have more staying power. But then you see people who make it big with shorter works, and it's hard to say which path is right as far as time versus reward.

I'll throw my two cents in here.

In the novella vs novel debate, I think the most important thing is what your market actually wants. Readers are certainly creatures of habit and I think some genres are slowly becoming more accepting of shorter works, but most are still looking for that "full meal" when they make a purchase.

The genre you mentioned, New Adult Contemporary Romance, is one where I've seen novellas being much more accepted than in something like Young Adult Fantasy.

I think for most genres outside of erotica, novels are going to out preform novellas in every aspect because it's what customers want and have been trained to purchase. I'd even go as far as to say that it's writers who are pushing novella acceptance and not readers. Writers, particularly new writers (and I'm guilty too), want to be able to push out short works quickly and get the income rolling in, thus the allure of novellas, because it's easier and less work than novels.

I think the time vs reward thing only applies if you're writing in a genre that readily accepts novellas, otherwise you're hamstringing yourself and you'll end up having to produce even more content to make up for the decreased interest in shorter works. Also important to note that of all the marketing opportunities out there, many are much, much more friendly to novels. In fact, I don't even think Bookbub allows novellas at all, but I might be wrong about that.

While it's completely dependent on your genre and other factors, I think the best long-term strategy is to pump out full products/novels as fast as possible. And although a little off topic, I think the ultimate key to fastlaning a fiction writing career is production and process. I mean, if you can hone your process to the point where a novel a month or more is like breathing, so many other factors become pretty trivial (like novella vs novels). Well, maybe not trivial, but there's just so so much more you can do when your income isn't dependent on a handful of titles per year and your catalog is quickly filling up with products that are in-tune with your market.

Anyway, just my inexperienced .02 from what I've researched and observed.


Edit: As for my 2014 goals, I'm really, really hoping I can fine tune my production to a novel a month, or one full trilogy every 3 months, even if it kills me.

 

[COSenior]

I don't know why, but I can never seem to keep track of everything in a novel like I want to =/

Are you using Scrivenor? A spreadsheet or other way to map out scenes? Do, please, post a progress thread so we can follow your journey.

 

[mstyle]

I have just completed my first novel and what a journey too (check it here) even with the effort and the dedication it takes so much hard work, but for 2014 I'm starting the next in my series of novels, I think if you have it within you you'll make it happen regardless!!

 

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[Rawr]

I mean, if you can hone your process to the point where a novel a month or more is like breathing, so many other factors become pretty trivial (like novella vs novels). Well, maybe not trivial, but there's just so so much more you can do when your income isn't dependent on a handful of titles per year and your catalog is quickly filling up with products that are in-tune with your market.

I pull up Elle Casey or Racheal Van Dyken and look at how often they launch..and what the estimated daily earnings are. It is simply incredible.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

I pull up Elle Casey or Racheal Van Dyken and look at how often they launch..and what the estimated daily earnings are. It is simply incredible.

What kind of numbers were you able to come up with?

 

[DennisD]

I won't be writing any novels in 2014. If I split my focus off of castleforge I won't get anything done. No changing lanes until I get my exisiting business 90% systemized.

But I see a lot of you saying "My audience likes ____" which makes me realize I need to do a lot more research.

I want to take on medieval fantasy.. but I didn't enter the genre myself through literature... I entered through tabletop games and videogames. Right now I have a very interesting take on an area not very well explored.. an interesting world I've built (through pen+paper exploits) and some great plot structure.. So I don't know if reading existing fiction in the genre would help my universe develop or just kill my originality.

 

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[AubreyRose]

Are you using Scrivenor? A spreadsheet or other way to map out scenes? Do, please, post a progress thread so we can follow your journey.

I've used Scrivener for my novels, but a Word file seems to work just as well for me. I tend to do broad outlines on sticky notes in a physical journal and then outline each scene briefly in Scrivener, then go back and fill in each scene. I will have to start a progress thread!