[PROGRESS THREAD]: Six-figure Fiction

[VeeGirl]

Thrifty, do you use a photo for your author bio? I heard some people use stock photos or alter a photo of themselves so that they are unrecognizable. Do you think it helps when building a fan base and gives fans a more personal connection to the author?

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

Thrifty, do you use a photo for your author bio? I heard some people use stock photos or alter a photo of themselves so that they are unrecognizable. Do you think it helps when building a fan base and gives fans a more personal connection to the author?

I like the anonymity that a pen name provides, so I just use a graphic logo of my author name. I think caricatures work well too. Some go for the in-depth interaction, using their real names, pictures, etc, but that's just not how I want to do it.

The beautiful thing about pen names is that it's quite all right to burn through one publishing stories that don't quite hit the mark while improving at the craft. After publishing my novella trilogy and continuing to read a ton in my genre, I learned a lot. So much so that I have little doubt that my next story will likely read like it was written by a complete different author.

Experience is the best teacher, I think. I didn't know what I didn't know until I just dove in and got some things published. Now that I have, combined with the massive amount of reading I've been doing, I can more clearly see areas where I can greatly improve, and how. I don't think this would have been the case without the experience of the writing and publishing the first story.

In the end, if my first pen name gets burned while I learn the craft and what-not, so be it. I can always start another.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

March Update:

Late to posting this because I haven't been writing. Truth be told, I've decided I want to go back to school, and I've pretty much just been studying my butt off. I have to take the ACT in less than a week and it's been YEARS since I've opened a textbook. I took some practice tests and the mathematics looked like hieroglyphs... seriously, lol. So, I've just been studying. Once this test is out of the way, I intend to get back to genre study and, hopefully, actually writing something.

One thing I'll say about the genre study I've done is this: I don't know if it's because I'm old, single and cynical, but I have a newfound respect for good romance writers. Sounds simple to write a boy-meets-girl story and make it trendy, but coming up with a winning premise and a plot that engages readers in this genre is a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I intend to stick with it though, because I feel I have things to offer readers of this genre, but I may start another pen name to write on during the downtime that's more my "passion."

I don't like the idea of splitting my efforts, but I haven't really decided either way, time will tell. For now it's just getting this test out of the way.

As for the writing, I can report one interesting thing:

I added a parenthetic to my titles that doubled my sales. Granted it's just going from 15 to 30, but I can clearly attribute the results to the added description in my title. All I did was add what type of book it was in the title. For example:

My Title (A new adult romance - book 1)
My Title (A cyberpunk psychological thriller - #1)
My Title (YA Fantasy Adventure - #1)
My Title (YA Urban Fantasy - #1)

Adding that little bit of description, for whatever reason, bumped my sales up. As for sales report, my omnibus is still outselling everything else by a big margin. The permafree has been included into a new category on Amazon - Kindle Short Reads. I've seen no noticeable bump from this, but I imagine it's kept the series from falling off the radar, which it probably would have by now.

Anyway, even though I'm focusing on something else right now, and that the tone of this thread is much different from the burning flame of "I'm going to do this - watch out!" that it started out as, I'm still going to keep writing. That's one of the great things about self-publishing in this age, you can work on it when you want, and it's basically passive income. Your books are there, for sale, forever.

No matter how this progress thread ends up, I think I'll always strive to write now. I truly love the challenge, and it IS a challenge. It's something you can always do in whatever spare time you have, or full time, and publish for pennies, and get paid for life. I'm hoping to get back to it very soon, and I'm still hoping to tackle my goal!

Keep updating those threads everyone, it's so, so inspirational!

 

[MorgothBauglir]

All the best, good luck with your ACT.

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

All the best, good luck with your ACT.

Thanks! Hope that last update didn't come off like an "I'm quitting" post, because I'm definitely not. I still have every intention of outranking a ChickenHawk or (insert self-publishing fastlaner here) book and making my goal. Maybe just not as fast as I had initially planned.

 

[Bigguns50]

I added a parenthetic to my titles that doubled my sales.

My Title (YA Urban Fantasy - #1)

Would people actually type in Search "Urban Fantasy" ?

Great thread ! Sounds like you have a good plan. Keep going !

 

[COSenior]

There is nothing wrong with refining, redefining or expanding your goals. I would imagine that we all did it when we decided to write, in fact. I know I was pursuing a real estate investing strategy full-time, and ghostwriting to finance that when I was introduced to this forum. Now I'm pursuing a different strategy, or will be when the trajectory I'm on with writing hits its peak.

I'll miss your great analytical threads, though, so hope you'll still be doing that in your 'spare' time.

Good luck on your ACT and don't be a stranger!

 

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[ChickenHawk]

Good luck on your ACT! I definitely see the logic of what you're doing, and who knows...something in your new pursuits might inspire your next future book. You've added so much value to these writing threads, so don't be a stranger!

 

[LisaK]

March Update:

Late to posting this because I haven't been writing. Truth be told, I've decided I want to go back to school, and I've pretty much just been studying my butt off. I have to take the ACT in less than a week and it's been YEARS since I've opened a textbook. I took some practice tests and the mathematics looked like hieroglyphs... seriously, lol. So, I've just been studying. Once this test is out of the way, I intend to get back to genre study and, hopefully, actually writing something.

One thing I'll say about the genre study I've done is this: I don't know if it's because I'm old, single and cynical, but I have a newfound respect for good romance writers. Sounds simple to write a boy-meets-girl story and make it trendy, but coming up with a winning premise and a plot that engages readers in this genre is a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I intend to stick with it though, because I feel I have things to offer readers of this genre, but I may start another pen name to write on during the downtime that's more my "passion."

I don't like the idea of splitting my efforts, but I haven't really decided either way, time will tell. For now it's just getting this test out of the way.

As for the writing, I can report one interesting thing:

I added a parenthetic to my titles that doubled my sales. Granted it's just going from 15 to 30, but I can clearly attribute the results to the added description in my title. All I did was add what type of book it was in the title. For example:

My Title (A new adult romance - book 1)
My Title (A cyberpunk psychological thriller - #1)
My Title (YA Fantasy Adventure - #1)
My Title (YA Urban Fantasy - #1)

Adding that little bit of description, for whatever reason, bumped my sales up. As for sales report, my omnibus is still outselling everything else by a big margin. The permafree has been included into a new category on Amazon - Kindle Short Reads. I've seen no noticeable bump from this, but I imagine it's kept the series from falling off the radar, which it probably would have by now.

Anyway, even though I'm focusing on something else right now, and that the tone of this thread is much different from the burning flame of "I'm going to do this - watch out!" that it started out as, I'm still going to keep writing. That's one of the great things about self-publishing in this age, you can work on it when you want, and it's basically passive income. Your books are there, for sale, forever.

No matter how this progress thread ends up, I think I'll always strive to write now. I truly love the challenge, and it IS a challenge. It's something you can always do in whatever spare time you have, or full time, and publish for pennies, and get paid for life. I'm hoping to get back to it very soon, and I'm still hoping to tackle my goal!

Keep updating those threads everyone, it's so, so inspirational!

That is actually a big increase for just doing that. Are all your books Novellas?

 

[Thriftypreneur]

That is actually a big increase for just doing that. Are all your books Novellas?

Yeah, so far.

 

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[LisaK]

March Update:



I added a parenthetic to my titles that doubled my sales. Granted it's just going from 15 to 30, but I can clearly attribute the results to the added description in my title. All I did was add what type of book it was in the title. For example:

My Title (A new adult romance - book 1)
My Title (A cyberpunk psychological thriller - #1)
My Title (YA Fantasy Adventure - #1)
My Title (YA Urban Fantasy - #1)

Adding that little bit of description, for whatever reason, bumped my sales up. As for sales report, my omnibus is still outselling everything else by a big margin. The permafree has been included into a new category on Amazon - Kindle Short Reads. I've seen no noticeable bump from this, but I imagine it's kept the series from falling off the radar, which it probably would have by now.

Keep updating those threads everyone, it's so, so inspirational!

Did you do this just in the Kindle Form area where you put your title or actually on your book cover? Is that a stupid question? I think I understand but want to make sure because that is some really great advice and should be pretty easy to do. Thank you.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Did you do this just in the Kindle Form area where you put your title or actually on your book cover? Is that a stupid question? I think I understand but want to make sure because that is some really great advice and should be pretty easy to do. Thank you.

Amazon's title area only.

 

[Selfy]

Try not to blame your writing, because you have to build an audience before your stories are judged at all.
Generally, most people think "I shouldn't deal with this back alley book" for new writers, so you want to ideally create comfort with readers with a low level of obligation getting into the book. Initially to do that, people need human interaction/an excuse to be reading it
- it was free
- this crazy guy sold it
- saw it on the shelf
- sally had one and I thought she liked it so I bought her another

Risk speaking to them, and they might risk responding.
I recommend selling them by telling people about it and reading them some awesome excerpts.

If you are writing for girls, go down to a coffee shop and read your stories to some. When they are twirling their hair and their imaginations are overflowing, THAT is when you know you have them.
You could sell 20 of your books by hand in a few weeks if you go up to girls
If you are daring enough that is
And make sure they leave a review after. Make them pinky swear. (offer to buy them another coffee, and get them to purchase your book and leave a review)

Here is what you say:
"Hey I'm thrifty"
"Hey thrifty"
"Do you guys have time for a quick question"
"Sure"
"Do you guys like romance books"
"what kind of romance books"
"Well, short sexy stories (or whatever yours is)"
"I've never really read many of them/I like them sometimes but usually they have to be recommended to me/etc etc etc"
"I personally think they are cool, and I'd like to write them"
"Oh really?"
"Yeah I think it would be great to have a job writing about that stuff, its nice"
"Yeah it would... So you write now?"
"Actually I do, but I have just started"
"Oh really what do you write?"
"I actually have a book on me, I can read you some if you like"
"Ok, but only if its really good"
"Ok, I'll pick a good bit and you tell me what you think"

Then you put on your narrator voice, wow them, and tell them actually how easy it is for them to buy it and take a read, and that you'd consier it a favor if the leave a review too.

Think about how cool you will feel with reviews like "hey thrifty! I read the book you wrote and wow I think you have a future in this, keep writing!" plus it makes you feel really accountable for the books you put out there and there quality because you realise that you are personally on the line when promising these people face to face that they'll have a good time.


As a writer, you shouldn't be afraid to really speak TO people. Creating a connection over text is what makes writing hard.

@RogueInnovation

Was just going through Thrifty's thread and then I saw this. I HAD TO COMMENT!!!

BC that's exactly what I did!!! LOLZ! Coffee shop! Trying to sell my book to random girls! Lolz

In fact, I've asked girls about my covers before launching them. Asking which ones they preferred in the 123photo site. Sorry man. But that was hilarious.

It starts with,

"I need a female opinion..."
Next thing you know I have a start of small beta reader email list.

Gold!

 

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[Selfy]

Just finished reading this thread. I'm glad you're still posting here thrifty. It seems like you put in a lot of work in these ventures and I hope you become a raging success in this field. Don't give in to the desert of desolation.. desertion desert.. or whatever type of desert MJ called it.

When you first published on my thread, you said something like #1 nobody can teach you how to write or something like that and #2 jot everything done. And i've taken that to heart. So I hope you make a come back!

 

[Thriftypreneur]

When you first published on my thread, you said something like #1 nobody can teach you how to write or something like that and #2 jot everything done. And i've taken that to heart. So I hope you make a come back!

Yep, I'm still here. I'm currently working on launching a new pen name in a much more targeted genre. I've just finished the designs for the mailing list and facebook page, but I'm still trying to outline the debut book for this pen name, which is taking me too long.

I just figured I'd wait to post any updates until I had something worth posting, like publishing a new title and some sales or something.

 

[LisaK]

Yep, I'm still here. I'm currently working on launching a new pen name in a much more targeted genre. I've just finished the designs for the mailing list and facebook page, but I'm still trying to outline the debut book for this pen name, which is taking me too long.

I just figured I'd wait to post any updates until I had something worth posting, like publishing a new title and some sales or something.

I am glad you are still posting and also want to say this about your thread. I have appreciated your honesty regarding the emotional ups and downs you've had during your process. I have and am mirroring many of them. You said quote= I just figured I'd wait to post any updates until I had something worth posting, like publishing a new title and some sales or something. [/quote] and I say...please don't wait for only the "big news" to post. Your in between posts have helped me a great deal. I have just published my first Novella and know I need to start on the second book. I feel like the day after Christmas...a little let down. I have tried to do some initial marketing. I've been studying some courses and have no idea if they really have merit. I'm pretty sure I'm totally blowing it....but then again I really have no idea. It felt good to make a goal and accomplish it. The goal being, produce my first book. I was shooting for a novella because I never imagined I'd be able to write more than 10,000 words in the first place. To my surprise I produced over 40,000. Now that I did that I actually think I might be able to write a novel. However, that said, I am of course wondering if the 40,000 words I wrote is just a bunch of crap. I don't know....blah...I don't know. In addition I wonder, can a mediocre book still sell well with some decent marketing, key words and genre pick? I wrote in the genre I did because it interests me and I had a story. I did some research and it appeared I might be able to rank well in that genre with a little marketing. I guess I'll soon find out.

Anyway, what I am getting to is this: thank you for posting so much of your inner workings. It helps keep me moving forward because you are moving forward. There is some great support on this forum and I appreciate that as well. I partially want to give up....today....a few minutes ago...but after rereading your thread and getting here, I'm going to just take one more step forward, quit rolling around in the murk, and get started on book two.

 

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[LisaK]

.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

.please don't wait for only the "big news" to post.

A little update for those still following:

I'm now 2500 words into my debut novel for my new pen name! I'm hoping to do a two book series, but that's still unclear.

Already completed:

Cover designed for debut novel.
Facebook page designed with custom graphics presenting my pen name as a brand in my new genre.
Mailing list set up, designed and branded for new pen name.

A long way to go as I'm shooting for 70-80k words for this book, but I'm excited about launching this new pen name using everything I've learned from my first attempt.

 

[ChickenHawk]

I'm now 2500 words into my debut novel for my new pen name! I'm hoping to do a two book series, but that's still unclear. Already completed...I'm excited about launching this new pen name using everything I've learned from my first attempt.

Oh yay! So glad to hear you're launching a new pen name and going with full-length novels. Sometimes, a fresh start is just the thing, especially when your first pen name has given you added experience. Please keep us posted!

 

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[COSenior]

Cover designed for debut novel.
Facebook page designed with custom graphics presenting my pen name as a brand in my new genre.
Mailing list set up, designed and branded for new pen name.

Did you do all this yourself? PM me if you'd like to show me and possibly let me hire you to help me do mine. I, too, am launching a new pen name, but I've worked it from the other direction. All I have for the sales/marketing side is a domain name. But I'm about 70% done with the book.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Six-Figure Fiction: Take Two!

I'm back! Hope everyone has been doing well. (Sorry if I missed some PM's that any of you sent a while ago.)

Hard to believe this thread is over a year old. It's been a while since I posted or updated, aside from lurking and following the progress/success of others, but I feel it's time to start this progress thread back up.

Since this thread began, I've changed my life pretty dramatically. I've come to realize that this writing goal (or any fastlane goal, for that matter) never had a chance without taking care of myself first. When I started this thread, and throughout my first publishing attempt, I can safely say that I was in the midst of the darkest time of my life. The past year has see me come to terms with many personal demons. I was suffering from severe depression, I was overweight, I drank too much, I smoked too much, I had no drive or ambition, I was a shut-in, and I felt like I was just waiting around to die. Pretty much, I was just a hot mess all the way around.

Fast forward to today, and I feel like a completely different person. I've... :

- Started seeing a doctor regularly who has me on some light meds for anxiety/depression.
- I enrolled in college and am now a full-time student.
- I started eating much healthier.
- I quit drinking.
- I quit smoking.
- I've been going to the gym 5-7 days a week.
- I've lost 10 pounds, so far.
- Finally made a way to get some much needed dental surgery in Nov. that I've needed for years.

Overall, I'm just getting my life on track in every way possible--physically, emotionally, mentally. The only thing that's left is to make a financial lifestyle change and get that area of my life going in the right direction, too. So, with that in mind, I'm finally ready to get back to writing. While I really wanted to wait to post this until I had a new book done or something, I've realized that progress in my life is directly related to progress in my fastlane plans, so I'll likely be continuing to clog this thread up with my ramblings and analysis.

Where I'm At:

Currently plotting out story for new pen name that I began preparing a while ago. Premise is finalized, just working out the details. Looking to incorporate quite a few supporting characters so I can use this story to launch a romance-family series. Would be nice to have the majority of my stories be entwined for entertainment value and sell-throughs. Probably going to start on the story within the next couple days, but I plan for the majority of it to be completed during NaNoWriMo.

What I've got done so far:

Genre Selected: Contemporary/New Adult Romance
Facebook Page Created: https://www.facebook.com/matthewmonroeromance
Email List Created: http://eepurl.com/VQq-H
Writing Log Created:

(Really wish there was a NaNoWriMo style app for personal use as a writing log. Anyone know of one?)

Installed Bookkeeping/Sales Software: http://www.storyboxsoftware.com/tdownload.htm (If anyone knows of anything better that helps track/compile/organize sales data into a usable form, please let me know! This works, but it could be soooo much better.)

All that's left is to finish plotting and start writing. Amazon author page, author website, etc are still on the To Do list too, but this is enough to start publishing with.

Additional Thoughts:

As for the old pen name, it's still earning a little every month on auto-pilot. Interestingly enough, after compiling all my reports in TrackerBox and looking them over, the pen name has made roughly $400+ over the course of a year--which is pretty neat considering I invested less than $10.00usd into it. Can't wait to see what I can do with this new pen name now that midterms are over.

Anyway, gonna start on some homework and get ready to hit the gym.

 

[LisaK]

Yay! I'm so glad to hear about your progress both personally and professionally! Depression can be a circular trip if you don't find a way to break out of it. I'm so glad to hear you found some medication that has helped you. I've had my own battle with depression and anxiety. I'm sure our travels make us better writers in the end. Congratulations, I'm really happy for you!

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

October Update:

- Officially celebrating 1 month of being a non-smoker.
- Hit target weight of 175lbs, now trying to build muscle while continuing to cut body fat. (Any advice here is welcome because I feel scrawny.)
- While plotting out potential ideas, I like to throw together mock-up covers to capture the essence of the story. The cover below is a mock-up for the debut novel I'm currently working on. Interested in any feedback on this cover (what type of story/genre it portrays, eye-catching enough, etc).

This cover is just a mock-up I threw together for another story idea that I had. It's being put on the side for now.

I decided not to sign up for NaNoWriMo as my school work has been pretty hectic as of late. Pretty unlikely that I'd be able to guarantee the daily word count necessary to get 50k done in a month. But I wish those participating the best of luck. However, one thing I have been doing is getting up 2 hours earlier so that no matter what I have going on with school or life, I'll always have from 4:30am to 6:30am everyday to write.

 

[COSenior]

I'm a bit confused by what's going on in the 'chestal' area in the first cover. Looks like it might barely scrape by Amazon's censors, but maybe not. It screams erotica to me. It could just be my monitor, or the fact that I've been writing all day and my eyes are tired, but the brightness of the pink against gray shade makes the edges go fuzzy for me.

The second one says possibly chick-lit, possibly NA, but without the obligatory shirtless guy, not sure NA readers would notice. Sorry if that isn't the feedback you want. For the record, I like both covers, the second one better than the first.

Building mass with muscle rather than fat requires workouts and protein. Are you drinking protein smoothies? If not, that would be my suggestion. You can pack a smoothie with protein by basing it on Greek yogurt and adding protein powder, but be careful to make sure you aren't sensitive to the type of protein. I can't take soy protein because of my thyroid, and I'm allergic to milk protein, so whey is out. I'm basically screwed.

Did you do NaNo last year? I'm having a blast with it. All these crazy people going absolutely nuts, including me. As you know, I write full time so the 50k isn't really a stretch for me. To make it one, I joined the NaNo Overachievers and set a goal for two novels of 80-85k each. End of day two, and I've got 16347 words down. Missed my goal today because the power went out for two hours. It's good to know I've still got it, though. I've been lazy most of the summer, averaging less than 6k. If I hit my goal for this month, 40k in December will give me over a million words this year. Woot! If only I could make a dollar a word...hehehe.

 

[Rawr]

Gaining Mass by Anthony Elis. A year from now you'll wish you read it today. Craziest gains I've ever had.

First cover is good if you can get under the radar - i'd say odds are against you. you can try brushing black on the chest area, and on the back of the girl draw a line for a "bra". I don't see second cover working nearly as well as the former.

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try some more adjustments with the first cover. Really trying to stay away from half naked dude on the front, though. I don't want to get lost in the sea of male torsos of NA and Contemporary romance.

@Rawr I'll check that book out, thanks!
@COSenior any tips for improving my word count? I'm still slow as ever. According to 2k to 10k it's likely because I'm trying to make it up during the writing instead of knowing what I'm going to write before hand. How thorough are your beat sheets/scene maps for getting your high word counts?

 

[Lauryn]

Welcome back!

 

[COSenior]

@COSenior any tips for improving my word count? I'm still slow as ever. According to 2k to 10k it's likely because I'm trying to make it up during the writing instead of knowing what I'm going to write before hand. How thorough are your beat sheets/scene maps for getting your high word counts?

Actually, not as thorough as they were when I first started. I spend a little more time on fleshing out my characters and write the arc of the romance and the arc of the suspense in what I call a concept document. I write a few sentences that capture the protagonist, conflict, antagonist, setting and twist for the major scenes in each beat point. I learned that from doing Holly Lisle's How to Revise Your Novel course. I figure if I do that first, I won't have as much to revise. I pants it from there, mostly because I'm too impatient to get to the writing to plan every scene, but I'm working on that.

I'm learning to use Scrivener's corkboard view to facilitate organizing the structure of the novel right in the manuscript file. As I get to each scene that has notes, I read them and write the scene directly under the notes. When I have it right, I delete the notes and keep going. But, you're probably right. I tend to struggle more and write more slowly when I'm trying to figure it out on the fly. Since my plots have gotten more complex, I have to remember a lot more as I write.

 

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