52 books in 52 weeks. Writing them.

[LifeTransformer]

Don't really want to bump this thread again today, but! I've found an app called Hemingway (hemingwayapp.com) that is meant to do a similar job to PWA, but it only cost $9.99.

So I'm going to give that a go to start with.

 

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[Boozoon]

For some reason the link you gave does not send me to the actual app but to something else. here is the one for whoever is interested ->
http://www.hemingwayapp.com/

Also, just a note on those kind of apps. Although they can really spot mistakes and inconsistencies, I have found many times they do not follow the trends on how a book is written at a particular niche.

For example, in erotica it's not uncommon to read "I did" "I saw" "I had" in the same sentence. In PWA though, they flag it as an error and tell you to avoid using "I" so many times.

Hence, my tip, before using an app editor make sure you have a good understanding of what your niche wants/expects, writing wise, and be ready to ignore some of the mistakes

 

[LifeTransformer]

For some reason the link you gave does not send me to the actual app but to something else. here is the one for whoever is interested ->
http://www.hemingwayapp.com/

Also, just a note on those kind of apps. Although they can really spot mistakes and inconsistencies, I have found many times they do not follow the trends on how a book is written at a particular niche.

For example, in erotica it's not uncommon to read "I did" "I saw" "I had" in the same sentence. In PWA though, they flag it as an error and tell you to avoid using "I" so many times.

Hence, my tip, before using an app editor make sure you have a good understanding of what your niche wants/expects, writing wise, and be ready to ignore some of the mistakes

Funnily enough, I spelt Hemingway wrong haha.

How close to "perfect" do you get with pro writing aid? There's certain issues I simply can't seem to fix in my writing.
One of the stories I've done is written first person past, so there is a lot of "I" "Me" "He" "She" etc. and I simply can't seem to remove many of them.

EDIT to clarify, I read what you put above, just wanted to know if you try to remove any from that kind of story or not? And what do you aim for with the others? If you get say 100 errors on PWA, do you try and knock it down to say 20,40,50 etc? What do you mainly focus on?

Transitions report is annoying too, I don't use many and it's saying most of the time to add about 20% more of them.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Hopefully I've not asked too many questions lol.

It's certainly helped me to clean up a lot of stuff so far though which is great!

Progress Update: I'm writing book 4 at the moment. Still sticking to the first niche.

One of my pen names is going to be doing cookery books I think, (I cook a lot). So that niche is going to present some other challenges. The writing will be easier but photos/no photos? Stock/Take them myself for total authenticity? etc.

 

[Boozoon]

Well first of all let me say that I am still figuring out things myself (3 stories out, will start the 4th one in a while). So having said that :

You don't have to remove them but keep in mind you can always say Jake instead of "he" or Jane instead of "she". As a reader myself, I might get too bored reading he he he he he he he he all the time. The same is true with "that", man I literally use that too often and you can always remove it. One thing I do when I finish the bulk of the book (even after editing it) is sit back and read random parts of it. If I am happy with it, I will think it's time to publish it. Later, when I have 10+ published works, I might edit them again. You should also not forget you can go back any time and edit it, so just focus on the important stuff.

Out of the top of my mind, with PWA I almost 100% ignore the "vague" term they put at some of my words (no idea wtf vague is supposed to mean).

I ignore 80-90% the sticky sentences and the ones who are long but if I find one is going for too long, I will split it into 2-3 sentences.

I pay tons of attention to words that repeat themselves many times. Here are some resources I occasionally use
http://www.onlinecollege.org/2012/01/17/50-sophisticated-words-you-should-start-using-instead/
http://www.spwickstrom.com/said/
http://blog.crew.co/5-weak-words-to-avoid/

I ignore the "beginning with -ing" error.

I try to keep a rational head when they tell me "You have started 3 or more sentences with 'I'".

And that is all I can remember at the moment. It's been a week since I pasted my text in WPA. Oh also, I paste my text when the whole book is finished. For me, if I try to edit when the story is not done, I lose momentum. Sorry but I can't seem to remember if I have gotten a transition error before :/

As for photos in your new niche, you can't go wrong with Angie -> fiverr.com/pro_ebookcovers
She does not charge the image and she is great at what she does. Only drawback she is so full with clients, she puts the occasional "On Vacations" sign and even if you order, you have to wait for 5-6 days. Still totally worth it.

Finally, if you have 47 dollars to spare, you can't go wrong with Pete's, @ped89 new course, called the Epic Launch. I know you have gotten his KW video and let me tell you they have even better material in the course. I am not 100% sure that it's focused on guys like me and you that want to just write tons of books. The majority of the users in the course want to become best selling authors so as to use it as a business card, or at least that's what I have gathered. Still it has a lot of applicable material in there and Pete's videos are top notch, totally worth the investment. Also note I am not somehow affiliated, I just joined and like what they have done at Epic Launch ^_^.

 

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[LifeTransformer]

Well first of all let me say that I am still figuring out things myself (3 stories out, will start the 4th one in a while). So having said that :

You don't have to remove them but keep in mind you can always say Jake instead of "he" or Jane instead of "she". As a reader myself, I might get too bored reading he he he he he he he he all the time. The same is true with "that", man I literally use that too often and you can always remove it. One thing I do when I finish the bulk of the book (even after editing it) is sit back and read random parts of it. If I am happy with it, I will think it's time to publish it. Later, when I have 10+ published works, I might edit them again. You should also not forget you can go back any time and edit it, so just focus on the important stuff.

Out of the top of my mind, with PWA I almost 100% ignore the "vague" term they put at some of my words (no idea wtf vague is supposed to mean).

I ignore 80-90% the sticky sentences and the ones who are long but if I find one is going for too long, I will split it into 2-3 sentences.

I pay tons of attention to words that repeat themselves many times. Here are some resources I occasionally use
http://www.onlinecollege.org/2012/01/17/50-sophisticated-words-you-should-start-using-instead/
http://www.spwickstrom.com/said/
http://blog.crew.co/5-weak-words-to-avoid/

I ignore the "beginning with -ing" error.

I try to keep a rational head when they tell me "You have started 3 or more sentences with 'I'".

And that is all I can remember at the moment. It's been a week since I pasted my text in WPA. Oh also, I paste my text when the whole book is finished. For me, if I try to edit when the story is not done, I lose momentum. Sorry but I can't seem to remember if I have gotten a transition error before :/

As for photos in your new niche, you can't go wrong with Angie -> fiverr.com/pro_ebookcovers
She does not charge the image and she is great at what she does. Only drawback she is so full with clients, she puts the occasional "On Vacations" sign and even if you order, you have to wait for 5-6 days. Still totally worth it.

Finally, if you have 47 dollars to spare, you can't go wrong with Pete's, @ped89 new course, called the Epic Launch. I know you have gotten his KW video and let me tell you they have even better material in the course. I am not 100% sure that it's focused on guys like me and you that want to just write tons of books. The majority of the users in the course want to become best selling authors so as to use it as a business card, or at least that's what I have gathered. Still it has a lot of applicable material in there and Pete's videos are top notch, totally worth the investment. Also note I am not somehow affiliated, I just joined and like what they have done at Epic Launch ^_^.

Thanks very much for the in-depth response!

Good point on the name thing! Might switch some hers and hes out for the names more often. Creating a nickname could be useful, He = Bob = Nickname. Then you can interchange them.

The vague words error I try to halve or remove if I can (some of them I can't). Example: pretty small. People say this all the time in real life, but what does "pretty small" mean? It doesn't make sense, pretty = beautiful, nice, attractive etc. Beautiful Small? That don't make sense, so I might change to something like "tiny", "minute", etc. or remove pretty and just leave "small". "There was a pretty small pond in the field" > "There was a small pond in the field".

I do the reading thing too, re-read and see if there is anything missing, anything that can be added. etc.
Same for the editing after the first draft is done too, other wise I spend all my time editing the 1000 words I've written, when I should be trying to add more to it while it's fresh in my head.

Think we're doing pretty much the same thing with the other stuff too, sticky sentences make little sense to me. "aim for stickiness factor below 40%", what? That part of the plugin is stickier than the sentences it highlights.

Thanks for the book cover link might give her a shot! But I meant for recipe books that I need to chose either stock photos for the inside (in-authentic), or take my own for each recipe (take longer to do, have to cook everything in the book).

OOPS: Forgot to say, thanks for those links too! Will give them a read. Have been chatting with Pete via PM too. Not sure if I want to take the course atm, but told Pete I'd keep it in mind for sure! It sounds great, but might be a distraction at this point.

 

[Omni]

My recommendation is to finish up 1 book and publish it first before moving onto writing more unpublished books. You'll learn a lot about the niche, your competition, your customers, your value add through publishing, more than you can by theorizing about what you think they want on the sidelines.

 

[LifeTransformer]

I've published 1 @Omni I did it to go through the process and see how it all works, etc.

This week I've mostly just been writing and trying out editing software. Sadly haven't finished a book this week but I've put some words down at least.

I've ended up in the procrastination phase a bit this week. Worrying more about my method/plan than actually finishing anything and publishing stuff.

There's still today and the weekend to change that though, so I might publish something else before Sunday yet.

At the moment, I'm trying out editing one of the finished books to see how long it takes.

 

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[Boozoon]

I think at some time, we aspiring self authors can have a Skype call or a small masterminds group where we can exchange some opinions and tips. We can perhaps do it in 6 months from now, given that we are still serious about this path. Finding mentors is almost impossible, so we can figure things out with collective knowledge.

 

[LifeTransformer]

I think at some time, we aspiring self authors can have a Skype call or a small masterminds group where we can exchange some opinions and tips. We can perhaps do it in 6 months from now, given that we are still serious about this path. Finding mentors is almost impossible, so we can figure things out with collective knowledge.

Like that idea! I'm not much of Skype guy though tbh, what about a chat room or something along them lines?

 

[Boozoon]

Like that idea! I'm not much of Skype guy though tbh, what about a chat room or something along them lines?

Even better, English are not my first language and the accent is really yuck. I think when I have releases 15-20 books I will be able to give quality feedback since I will laser focus on my niche, while trying things.

Will you be also focusing somewhere, say 1-3 topics or going wide?

 

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[LifeTransformer]

Even better, English are not my first language and the accent is really yuck. I think when I have releases 15-20 books I will be able to give quality feedback since I will laser focus on my niche, while trying things.

Will you be also focusing somewhere, say 1-3 topics or going wide?

Cool!

I'm focusing on 1 at the moment to build that pen name a bit of recognition. The other pen name I'm going to start soon is going to be food/drink related so different challenges entirely like I mentioned before (photos will be needed, but less typing probably).

Speaking of which, PWA and a food book is going to mean ignoring the "overused words" bit. "smell/taste" is one of the variables in that, and it's saying to remove 4 instances out of 8 in a 10,000 word book that has nothing to do with food. I'm sure a recipe/drink related book is going to be far higher than that.

Learning these things before I get going will be very useful though.

 

[Delmania]

Don't really want to bump this thread again today, but! I've found an app called Hemingway (hemingwayapp.com) that is meant to do a similar job to PWA, but it only cost $9.99.

So I'm going to give that a go to start with.

Take a look at Grammarly for functionality that's complimentary to Hemmingwayapp. As an amateur blogger, I used the free version of both apps to improve my writing. As a side node, Grammarly is interesting because they are running Lisp in production...

 

[LifeTransformer]

Take a look at Grammarly for functionality that's complimentary to Hemmingwayapp. As an amateur blogger, I used the free version of both apps to improve my writing. As a side node, Grammarly is interesting because they are running Lisp in production...

That's another good one for sure! You can get Grammarly as a Google Chrome extension too unless I'm mistaken.....

I'm really like Pro Writing Aid, doing their free trial at the moment and it's so in-depth. It could do with providing more solutions to the problems it brings up though perhaps. The main thing I'm liking about it is I can use it IN word, Hemingway is a little bit of back and fourth.

 

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[LifeTransformer]

I've spent all the time I could playing with PWA today.

Productive? No. Taught me anything? Yes, a lot!

I put a whole story (about 10,000 words) into it, and it threw 1400 errors at me. By the time I got it down to a reasonable level, it cemented into my head the areas where my writing needs work.

The next story I put into it should require less time editing. I guess that's part of the point to using this program. It will make you better over time as you learn from your mistakes.

If I get time tomorrow, I'm going to try and finish off a book that is almost done and get that published too.

 

[LifeTransformer]

One more thing I want to try before worrying about doing any more publishing is; take the same draft and run it through Hemingway.

This will show me the difference between the 2 programs and help me decide if I want to go for a full PWA license.

I also want to see what the difference between the two finished products looks like.

Is one more readable than the other? Did either program miss something? Etc.

 

[Bossybarbie]

Keep going! I've self published 3 books in about 2 months but I really need to have them edited. I have received 1 bad review concerning the errors already. If anyone here can refer a good editor that's affordable and quick please do!

 

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[LifeTransformer]

Hemingway Vs Pro Writing Aid. A brief review.

Hemingway

Pros:

• Cheap ($10!)
• Nice interface
• Easy to use
• Can export to word
• Enhances readability
• Highlights long and difficult sentences
• Quick to edit a big document
• Spots adverbs.
• Probably a few others, these are off the top of my head.

Cons:

• Doesn't highlight overused words
• Doesn't highlight repeat sentence starts (see what I did there?)
• Basically isn't as advanced as PWA.

Pro Writing Aid

Pros:

• Finds more improvements than Hemingway does. (this is an in-depth tool)
• There's more I could put here but I'm going to focus on the cons.

Cons:

• Cost, yearly subscription or $120 for a lifetime license. (I think it's worth it though).
• Some of the checks are dumb. Vague words for example says "down" is a vague word. Scroll down = vague apparently.
• Some of its readability enhancements offer no solution.
• Consistency check says straight double and single quotes are bad, but offers nothing to correct it.
• Grammar check seems to be missing certain things. Were for example seems to through an error (no program seems to catch that error I put there either, not even PWA).
• Sticky sentences is too hard to reach the 40% target, most writers hit up to 50% apparently.
• Clichés check can sometimes throw up things that aren't clichés.
• It doesn't like Acronyms. TV and AKA for example make it show an error.
• Combo check if turned on along with the 20 separate checks will double the number of errors. If you have 345 errors, having combo check on makes it show 790. Which can make it seem worse than it is. (My comment above about 1900 errors was in fact 950).

So, to summarize. Hemingway is great for editing a piece of text quickly and making it more readable, but it will not spot half the things PWA does.

The problems with PWA wouldn't be there if it wasn't so complex. I took a 10,000 word document with 950 errors and ended up with a 7500 word document with 210 (most of which are "vague" words. The finished text is far better than when I started.

Hemingway took a piece of average writing and made it better. Pro Writing Aid took an average piece of writing and made it superb (and a lot shorter).

Will I buy the full license? I'm undecided. I'm going to write a new story before the trial ends and see if my writing can now pass it without too many errors. If not, then yes I will be buying it.

I'm still not going for the full challenge of 52 books in 52 weeks until 2016. But that doesn't mean I will be stalling until then.
The past week has been more of a learning phase than an action phase, but it will make the action easier and more productive. So that's time well spent in my opinion.

More updates when I finish writing and/or publish anything new.

 

[LifeTransformer]

Quick/short update: Had some side activities/distractions to take care of, but have now designed about half of the covers.
Each book cover I make seems to get better.

Writing hasn't been very good word count wise. Mainly because I'm writing a short outline for each book (almost as many of those done as there are covers).

No new books published yet.

I have finished researching tools that can help me out. Pro Writing Aid, Hemingway, Writers Block and Scrivener are all going to be used to help with various aspects of the process. I could probably get away without these tools, but I want everything after writing to be as streamlined as possible.

What else I'm doing at the moment (because of designing the covers) is trying to find the best way to get stock photos. There's a lot of great free ones where I seem to be able to find something, but as far as paid goes; deposit photos seems to be the best VFM and selection of what I need (some of you find that helpful).

 

[Omni]

Pay someone on fiverr to do the cover, focus on the writing

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

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[LifeTransformer]

I'm back!

This challenge was not sustainable and I burnt out after finishing book 2. After reading "Mini-habits (check it it out, can't recommend it highly enough) " I can see why I failed.

I haven't given up on writing (2 new books are almost ready to be published).

I'm not earning much yet, but not worried. Got to start somewhere right?

"Wealth is a process, not an event".

This thread may be revived one day when I have a better plan to execute it (I thought I did by having a head start on titles, thought snippets etc) but no. Until then I'm still writing, and I'm getting there.

I've also begun writing articles for a new blog I'm going to launch, and have begun building another side hustle. All is not lost!

PS> I'll be posting a new thread on Monday offering something that anyone writing a book may/will be interested in. So please keep an eye out for that! (You might be able to guess what it is by the content of this thread).