I'm going to write that book, baby.

[Selfy]

So thank you for MJ, then Chickenhawk, then Held For Ransom. I've been absorbing information here for months, but Chickenhawk thread really got me fired up which I traced back to HFM

I'm totally going to do this self-publishing. I have been running a blog for some time now with marginal success. The concept of which generally falls under Alpha male masculinity. Like I said it's only been marginal successful but I am ranked #1 as it is somewhat a deviation from the mainstream definition.

So now i head off to self-publishing. I write fast now, and my concepts are built. I would like to incorporate much of it to a romance novel. I would like to take a crack at the Alpha male sub-genre but this time writing for women! I would like add my twist to it. So yeah here it goes.. !

//edit sorry chickenHAWK not head.

 

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[Selfy]

So far what's been done:
-read concepts from HFM.
-I have a sub-genre picked. First book will be 10,000 words roughly.
- I read three books from that genre. I kinda understand what they want.

Current state:

I'm struggling now with the plot but I want to incorporate some of my masculinity theory stuff and project it to the story. I write fast though if it is free write.

Let's get that book outta there, baby!

 

[m_e]

Chickenhead

made my day!

-----

But seriously, good luck!

 

[Selfy]

some of my concerns:

I understand that women want to read from other women. I will in essence be a woman writer. I don't think I can link back to blog bc that is for a totally different audience, and will alienate my readers (oh no he's a woman.. !!?!??!?)

The plot probably will be my biggest problem. Are the other writers just building plot in their heads? chickenhawk said she likes to take long walks. I tried to go that route and had a good plot. Then I sat down and it morphed to something totally different.

 

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[Selfy]

made my day!

-----

But seriously, good luck!

Thanks for pointing it out. Haha!

 

[Selfy]

Some notes I have from HFM.

Figure out the "title" and roughly the market, cannibalize an existing plot. Time is of the essence.

 

[Lauryn]

Are the other writers just building plot in their heads?

​

I definitely do this.

I'll start out with a basic concept in my head. I'll even create an outline. But, for some reasons, the words don't flow, or it takes too long to write. So then I get stuck, and I'm forced to throw something crazy in the works. It will actually work for me, but then I end up with a deeply modified plot that looks nothing like my outline... well it does, but...

It's like coming home from the supermarket with 80% of what you intended to buy, forgetting 20% of what you needed, and then coming home with a bunch of extra stuff you didn't need but also decided you wanted at the last minute.

 

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[Selfy]

I' m up to 6k words now of what might referred to as a verbal diarrhea. At least it gave the plot some form, some basic rules, and some characters.

I really have no business writing, but I do well with unleashing a torrent of words that would later take on form.

It needs a finish. The heavy slush of words also needs to cleaned up heavily. This is no easy task.. anyone thinking of writing as a road to fastlane needs to get their headcheck as it truly is a butt in the chair profession.

Roughly it would be 1k words per chapter. Building into something only the lords of the writing world knows.

I need to track exactly how much I've spending on this.. and would get HFR's time tool tracking. Some readers of my blog suggested I write for a manly audience. My novel is for females. I must reconcile the two along the way.

 

[Lauryn]

I need to track exactly how much I've spending on this.. and would get HFR's time tool tracking. Some readers of my blog suggested I write for a manly audience. My novel is for females. I must reconcile the two along the way.

Pen names.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Also having no business writing and recently entering the self-publishing arena, I'll give a few pieces of advice that I should have followed before I started:

1. Buy and read Writing the Breakout Novel.

2. Buy and read 10-20 best-sellers in your genre. I'd argue that romance is probably one of the most difficult genres to write well, not because of the competition (because that market is absolutely insatiable), but because of the difficulties in coming up with a winning premise and constructing an escalating romance/plot/sub-plot(s) that don't bore the reader to sleep. (It's really a lot tougher than it looks... or reads, I should say).

3. Once you decide on something... anything, commit, get it down, get done, and get it published - regardless of how crappy you think it may be. Going through the entire process of finishing a complete story from start to published will teach you a LOT of stuff you won't learn without just doing it. I wanted to quit my first story at multiple points, but forcing myself to plug through it, I'm VERY grateful that I did. Not because it's topping charts or anything, but because of all I learned in the process.

4. Take advice with a grain of salt (even this), just because someone's method of writing works for them, doesn't mean it is right for you. Take CH's writing method - all that writing by hand and brainstorming and the slower pace - many would scoff at that, but it's exactly what allows her to push out winning products. Find what writing/brainstorming methods are best for you and work them to ground. In the end, it's all about writing the best story you can, so do what works for you in order to make sure that happens.

5. Keep a notebook of any book premises you randomly come up with - write them down without fail! Like, when you're sitting around watching TV and you think "If xyz happened in this plot, or if they wrote out the side characters back story, it would be an amazing read." Write that stuff down (with as much detail as possible!) and just let it build up, even if you don't use it. You'd be surprised how fleeting winning premises can be when they're just zipping through your mind during your daily routine. Then, when you get stuck on what to write for your next book, you may have pages and pages of random premises that can spark all kinds of inspiration and ideas.

6. You don't have to be a best-seller to make money self-publishing, you just have to find your audience. Even my weak first works have garnered some fans and have made plenty of profit compared to the cost to publish them.

7. Don't share your work until it's finished! I think most new writers are craving and looking for validation, but when they share their unfinished work, they get feedback that makes them change plots, characters, or even quit! - all before anything has even really been built. Changing some things after allowing someone to read your finished book is a lot different then starting to change something after letting someone critique your first two chapters (commonly called the editing phase. It exists for a reason ). Everyone, and I mean everyone, is a side-seat writer. I strictly adhere to the "you can't read it until it's done" rule and I'm so, so glad that I do.

Just some friendly newbie advice. Hope it helps. Good luck.

Oh, and I also found the same research about female pen names. Which is why I write under one even though I'm a male. Don't sweat it too much.

 

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[Selfy]

"I'm tempted to approach cute girls in this coffee shop to get some inspiration." -- that was from yesterday.

It turns out I did approach her and with execution I now have some more material. She wasn't into Alpha male sub-genre but rather, she was into rockstar (given her age). She was inexperienced with dominant males, having been brought up in a sheltered environment; and the fact he was 10 years older than her.

"I would like to dip you.. " he said.
"What for??" she said hesitantly
"research for a book i'm writing" he smiled as he put his arm across her back. He shifted her weight to her pelvic bone and squeezed his right foot between her legs. She felt a little uncomfortable but his strong hands kept her at bay and locked into his tight frame.

"but people are looking at us" she exasperated. He calmly assured her that he was a professional. As people were drinking their starbucks watched anxiously at the young couple, it gave the scene a sense of mystery and delight, a break from the quotidian life. Maybe that is what people want. To jar their experience to live in the fantasy like this young girl. She would wake up with a slight smile as she would spread the details to her friends through facebook. Yet it wasn't facebook, it wasn't twilight, she was having the experienced lived in real-time and she would not know how it would end.

"I'd shift your hand in the back and lock it.. do you like that?"
"no.. i don't like that."
"what if I grab your throat," would you like that...?
"no.. I don't like that either."
"then you are a freak of nature!" he mockingly tells her
"no I'm not!!" she replies obviously inexperienced in the way he would later contort her body. His own personal model for a book he's writing.

He silently ponders what it is that could probably turn her innocent mind into a reader. He ponders this an returns to MJ Demaracos forum.

//write time 20 minutes. No editing.

 

[Selfy]

I'm up to 7k words in the book, but it is becoming more a of a slog.

I NEED TO EXPAND MY VOCABULARY. IT NEEDS TO BE QUICK and rapid or else it breaks the concentration.

He sees her now, as he was typing this, another college girl is back in the desolate starbucks where she studies and he writes everyday. He had talked to her briefly. But she was shy type science major who just failed her optometry finals.

"I see you back again princess.." I wonder what else you can teach me to carry my book forward.

 

[Selfy]

He invites her over to his table. There were no electrical outlet where she was, and he knew she was here for the long term.

Looking over the fastlane forum and the edge of his laptop he sees a cleavage and a girl with thickset glasses looking at the graphics of her anatomy book. What did he know about anatomy of the eye? Nothing, but from his ex gf he heard the word hippocampus (?) and the pleasure center.

"Is it oxycotin the love chemical?" He breaks and interrupts the silence.
"Yeahhh... I supposed so.." she responded suspiciously

What would break her. How do I get her to come over my camp. Her cleavage staring me at the face. He won't have time, she would finish her finals in a few days and he will not see her again. It was these situations he lived for, the chase, the challenge, the harder they come the better it would be for him. It was an addiction. His addiction to oxycotin. The love chemical that surged in his brain and fixated his eye to her cleavage.

 

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[Selfy]

I'm up 8k words. I have the general plot and a two themes that is propelling the story. I reduced characters to four, with the last one as the reveal in the last chapter. My plan is to publish in Day 10. I am now in Day 3, so I'd like to finish the end scene by tomorrow and get into editing, of which will be significant as I just puked most of the words out.

To anyone out there. What I find is that I do not write linearly. I jump in and out of chapters. I have a rough idea of where it is going then add things to it.

Goal is 10k words but I suspect it will crash in at 13k.

 

[Selfy]

So far the writing has grown to 10k then reduced to 8k then up 11k then down to 9k. I have the plot down now and the characters are built. Writing a book is hard work. It seems I can only write good for an hour then my mind loses the drive. I have to take a break for an hour, then write for another hour, repeat It is a slog.

This is my first fantasy book ever.

I don't expect this book to be a best-seller, I don't even expect it to get a lot of purchases. It really lacks the quality to be honest. Maybe the second book will be better.

I see now that the plot must be written in advance or at least a general guide-line. I am no reader nor a great writer. What I do have to offer is the ability to push through. The book will be released within a week.

Some questions for my fellow self-pubbers.

- Do you guys carry the plot in your head? Do you have like a movie in your head then write it down to form?
- Do you guys hammer out a book hour after hour? Or do you divide it into sections? Or do you work it linearly?
- Do you guys get your work proof-read or reviewed? Is this necessary?

I really look up to the people here who didn't have much of a writing background to go ahead and get successes in this field. Like I said, this really is hard work and I realize that this is not exactly a fast-lane business unless you had already put in the hours.

 

[Vigilante]

"I'm tempted to approach cute girls in this coffee shop to get some inspiration." -- that was from yesterday.

It turns out I did approach her and with execution I now have some more material. She wasn't into Alpha male sub-genre but rather, she was into rockstar (given her age). She was inexperienced with dominant males, having been brought up in a sheltered environment; and the fact he was 10 years older than her.

"I would like to dip you.. " he said.
"What for??" she said hesitantly
"research for a book i'm writing" he smiled as he put his arm across her back. He shifted her weight to her pelvic bone and squeezed his right foot between her legs. She felt a little uncomfortable but his strong hands kept her at bay and locked into his tight frame.

"but people are looking at us" she exasperated. He calmly assured her that he was a professional. As people were drinking their starbucks watched anxiously at the young couple, it gave the scene a sense of mystery and delight, a break from the quotidian life. Maybe that is what people want. To jar their experience to live in the fantasy like this young girl. She would wake up with a slight smile as she would spread the details to her friends through facebook. Yet it wasn't facebook, it wasn't twilight, she was having the experienced lived in real-time and she would not know how it would end.

"I'd shift your hand in the back and lock it.. do you like that?"
"no.. i don't like that."
"what if I grab your throat," would you like that...?
"no.. I don't like that either."
"then you are a freak of nature!" he mockingly tells her
"no I'm not!!" she replies obviously inexperienced in the way he would later contort her body. His own personal model for a book he's writing.

He silently ponders what it is that could probably turn her innocent mind into a reader. He ponders this an returns to MJ Demaracos forum.

//write time 20 minutes. No editing.

Maybe you should've taken the time to edit and at least got the forum owners name correct.

Fun read though.

 

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[Selfy]

MJ DeMarco, but then I should have done the editing.

The names of the novel even shifts. I just kinda know what they are about.

I really want to get this book out. It's gon get there baby!

 

[COSenior]

While you're editing, exasperated is not a verb.

 

[Selfy]

Thanks guys. Wow, my English sucks? Seriously I have no business in writing a novel, but oh well.

- I am done with the book, minus editing. I'll be paying someone to proofread and do the cover.

- I reckon it took me about 25 hours to write. I don't know. I'll spend another couple hours editing.

- I got the toggl that heldforransom mentioned in his first post and will be tracking time spent in developing the next book.

- Next, I will get some how to write novels as suggested by @Lauryn; I figure I'll invest some of "how to write" book before I blast through the next one.

- Next will be editing this crap of a book. I said crap because it really is crap; i'm not going to sugar coat it.

- Btw my genre is Alpha male werewolves

Toggl

 

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[Lauryn]

While you're editing, exasperated is not a verb.

...No...? (*Looks around feeling lost*)

 

[Selfy]

I figured the first book took almost 30 hours to develop. I'm tracking the time now with toggl. I am now waiting for the cover which I purchased on fiverr. Now I make some minor tweaking, busting out the thesaurus to give some flower power to the scenes.

Two pronged action as I wait:

1.) Improve writing: learn about skeletons, word play, grammar, character development
2.) Improve research: Amazon research to understand more of the ecosystem

I put some of my non-fiction books on amazon when I started and pleasantly surprised they had sold.

I reread some of Heldforransom thread and surprised to see he actually uses roughly 25 hours per book with his 37 titles. He has things definitely systematized so I'm looking to do the same.

 

[Selfy]

Preparing for the second book with the two pronged ultra newbie approach.

Improve Writing
- Got two writing books to help me, plot skeletons and fire in fiction. This should help me as I am blindly wrote the first book.
Improve Research
- Read 3 books of my genre. If I'm going to be writing this stuff, at least read this stuff right?

I relearned something that I haven't seen since gradeschool. It's called protagonist.. pro-tahhh--goooh-nisssss

Hey, if I can do this, this would mean absolutely anyone can.

 

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[Selfy]

Toggle says he spent some 3 hours in getting the knowledge he needed. He is hungry. He sees a cute petite girl sitting quietly in the corner of the coffee shop. Can he approach her? He hasn't been talking to many people since isolating himself with writing an erotica novel. Time to sharpen the fangs.

Maybe she reads erotica? She doesn't look the type. But perceptions of images are signalled social constructs hiding the inner-nature behind a brand of premium Arabic roast he reminds himself. He will never know if he never tries.

"Excuse me miss," he says cautiously approaching the girl, "I like your earrings. They remind me of my mom's."

"oh..?" she seemed confused.

"No i'm kidding.. do you have a dictionary on your laptop? I need to look a word up," he says smiling as he looked straight into her eyes gently shifting her perplexion into a slight attraction.

"oh.. yeah.. " she started glancing around the cafe. Was she in a hidden trick show she wondered.

"k, princess. Type 'exasperated' -- wait -- do you even know what that means?"

She gave him the same perplexed puppy look and shook her head.

"ummm.. neither do I. Do you like to read?"

 

[joanna]

Ha ha ha, fun little updates. Great job with the writing speed. If you can keep the speed and add more and more quality over time you're on the right track.

- Do you guys carry the plot in your head? Do you have like a movie in your head then write it down to form?
- Do you guys hammer out a book hour after hour? Or do you divide it into sections? Or do you work it linearly?
- Do you guys get your work proof-read or reviewed? Is this necessary?

1) Plot in head, and see scenes as movies in my head (and they're even in colour ). Though I would like to / should do more upfront plotting (not just in my head...)

2) I tend to write in scenes. One thing I'm actually trying to work on is to not stop at one scene per day. For some reason, my brain thinks we're done for the day when I get to the end of the scene, which isn't very productive.

3) No one is perfect, especially when they look at their own stuff. I'm of the opinion you should get at least a proofreader after you're done. Reviewers are a whole other topic.

 

[Lauryn]

Some questions for my fellow self-pubbers.
- Do you guys carry the plot in your head? Do you have like a movie in your head then write it down to form?
- Do you guys hammer out a book hour after hour? Or do you divide it into sections? Or do you work it linearly?
- Do you guys get your work proof-read or reviewed? Is this necessary?
I really look up to the people here who didn't have much of a writing background to go ahead and get successes in this field. Like I said, this really is hard work and I realize that this is not exactly a fast-lane business unless you had already put in the hours.

1. The plot is in a skeleton, but as I start writing, it starts to flow in its own direction.

2. No I definitely do not. I'm currently re-structuring my plot because extra characters are building themselves in, and I like Carmen's husband more than her. This means everyone may like him more than her, and that's not good lmbo.

To be more precise, I hammer out one chapter at a time, focus on making the scene entertaining and informative. I have written a sex scene without having any foreground for it, only because I was in the mood and needed to demonstrate to myself the theory that being excited about what you're going to write will make it easier to write - and it was. Oh it was.

3. I get it reviewed, and I have invested in Grammarly. I also have beta readers to look over the book for me.

 

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[Selfy]

Book two is done but unreleased yet as I wait for the cover.

Still crap but it's like crap with a spray of flowery perfume. And let's not forget that crap is fertilizer that bring forth the blossoming of sweet smelling roses.

Write time is 35 hours

Throw in some research and admin stuff and the total run time for this 10k word book clocks in at 40 hours. I banged this out in 7 days but it still felt like a real grind.

I need to get my speed up and my write time down to 25 hours to make it feasible.

Any ideas?

Gonna invest in some writing power. Fix my damn sentences to make me more professional at it.


------------

Problems with the first book.

I didn't anticipate that you can't drill down on Amazon all the way in categorizing your book.

It stopped at a category. It stopped at like romance/paranormal but I wanted it to be in romance/paranormal/hairydogscats/withtwolegs

The books I researched were in the hairydogscats/withtwolegs category so I wanted to put it there, but Amazon doesn't let you drill down that far.

So I guess I should have done more keyword research. It sold 3 in 3 days. But I hope it sells more. lol

 

[Selfy]

Book 1 generated 10 sales in its first week, so i'm happy about that.

Book 2 should have been released but my cover guy has not delivered yet. I think I should do covers myself, or get another guy. Damn it. I have zero artistic ability nor desire to look at guys with rock hard abs.

Book 3 is now done.

Book 3 write time clocks in at 30 hours (7days). 10k words. I did a bit of plotting before blasting through it. It made my writing less painful. I didn't have to dream this shit up as I go along. I know some of you guys do 10k a DAY, but for someone starting, I think it's something that builds in time.

Book 4 begins. Looking at my genre, I can see that I may have chosen a broad category as writing seems to be top-notch. So I'm going to dig one level deeper into this. This is going to be a little less romantic and more on the dirty side. Fawk. Time to sharpen the fangs.

Looking to release a book a week.

 

[ChickenHawk]

Congrats on your progress, you're really moving along!

I know some of you guys do 10k a DAY

Yes, but those people are obviously machines, like @COSenior, who puts just about everyone to shame, word-count wise. I'm a painfully slow writer, and have come to more-or-less accept it. Personally, I think 40 hours to do 10K isn't bad. And no matter what you do, it will probably feel like a grind, or at least it still does for me...until viola, there's a bright, shiny new book.

Still crap but it's like crap with a spray of flowery perfume. And let's not forget that crap is fertilizer that bring forth the blossoming of sweet smelling roses.

Hah! Love this!

 

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[Selfy]

Book four is done minus one pass editing. Roughly 7k works for a deeper niche.

I released book two but it didn't sell. Not even one. Something wrong? I put it under /shortstories this time. Or my cover sucks or title sucks or intro sucks. I'm not happy with that, kinda disheartening to be honest. I love to test it with different titles/cover and see if I get sales. But republishing doesn't get it into "new releases" does it?

I'm releasing book three but getting my first book designer even if he takes forever. Btw, I invested time in learning grammar rules again just for more confidence.

Peace out everyone and keep grinding!

 

[Selfy]

This might help someone out there who is thinking about self-pub after reading the awesome threads by HFR or chicken hawk. It is especially helpful for those who aren't even writers. These are a couple of things I learned so far, a guy who is now on writing book 5. It is by no means a success post, quite the contrary, it is actually more of the failures I have so far.

You see, I released my second book, and got one sale. I put in 40 hours of work and I got something like less than a dollar. Needless to say, it was a soul crush. I stopped publishing book 3 and book 4. Something is wrong. I reread HFR's thread, and things started to clear up. Things that I didn't quite get when I first read it.

- Realize that what @Held for Ransom is doing is like a mental archery game. He said he is not a writer, neither am I that's why I find inspiration in his thread. He aims for a target, but being a non-writer, he is shooting at a distance blind-folded. To compensate for this, he gets cues from the market and uses the system.

- He spends roughly 20 hours per book for his 34 titles. A feat that I am still figuring out how he does. Ideas of having half-baked stories is a possibility. But I think this guy definitely has things systematized. He shoots the arrow multiple times, hoping one will eventually hit the target, getting better at each successive shot.

- The arrow is the story and it consists of three parts, the tip, the stem, and the feather. The tip, which is the title, cover, and introduction is more important than the stem, which is the actual story. If you're a non-writer, you have to really digest that. The story is the stem, a quality story plus writing skill like @ChickenHawk can get far, but quality writing without a tip will not hit the target. The end of the arrow is the balancer feather, which is market research such as understanding sales-ranking and leveraging categories. Non-writers like me, will have a weak stem, but we can compensate with the tip and the feather.

Now concretely, I think I know why book 2 didn't sell.

- I didn't do market research on Amazon. I just blasted with writing it and hope it stuck. I didn't know a fck all about categories, keywords, sales rank. What a stupid mistake and I paid dearly for it.

- The cover sucks. Man it truly sucks. I'm thinking of making my own covers, since I played photoshop 11 years ago. lol. The investment in relearning it will probably pay-off.

- I didn't focus on my tip, which are the cover, title, intro, and blurb. These things should have been my focus. It needs to be the focus.

- I literally spent too much time writing. I'd like to write a quality book, but it's not possible at the moment. I'm going more "modelling" my book after this.

The most important aspect that I learned is this venture is going to be HARD. Yes, now looking at Amazon knowing what I know now. It is getting a little more daunting. Try reading a real fiction-writer's book, then compare your writing skill. Man, what a demoralizing comparison. If you're thinking about entering this or are struggling to make it, realize that competition is a lot more fierce now. I don't think I'm dreaming that up, as the bulk of the books in the niches I looked at were published recently. Things are changing and I will still continue trying to hit my targets.

Good luck.