LLEONE's Self-Publishing Fiction/Non-fiction Ebook Journey

[lleone]

Due to the amazing inspiration and suggestions I've received from Chickenhawk's great post, I'm starting my own progress thread here.

My objective in this thread is to really share everything I find out (through researching or otherwise) as I go through the entire process from start to finish. I'm hoping my path will be different than some of the other threads, so everyone can get some real value from it.

Here is a bit of background and where I am now:

MY OVERALL GOAL: To generate significant Fastlane income from self-publishing.

MY IMMEDIATE GOAL: To publish a minimum of 5 books this year. I'm hoping I will get faster as I get the process down.

WHERE I AM NOW: I have completed my first fiction novel (or novella depending on how you look at it - it's 43K words) and I am finishing up the editing. I am also about 25% through a non-fiction Ebook that I am targeting to get out by the end of this month. My next step is to investigate the most effective way to get the novel on Kindle (and eventually use Createspace for a paperback version) and continue writing the non-fiction book. Since I don't want to overwhelm this initial post, I'll write a separate post on what I've learned from the writing process itself that got me to this point and how best to approach it (although I'm sure it varies from person to person).

MY JOURNEY TO THIS POINT: This is my first attempt at writing a book and I have never tried anything like this before. Last October I was at a Crossfit gym and they had this plaque that said "Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone". When I got home, I read about National Novel Writing Month that happens every November, remembered the plaque and decided to do it. The contest is free and the goal is to write 50K words in a month. Just to give you an idea, 310,000 committed to it and a little over 13% completed it. The previous year under 5% completed it. Just like any venture, persistence is half the game. I clocked in at a little under 52K words. I have since edited it down to slightly under 44K words (will touch on the editing process itself in a separate post). I don't expect a lot from this first book since it seems like you need to get out around 6 or 7 before you start to get traction. What I'm hoping to do is learn as much as possible so I can streamline my approach (and maximize my sales) for future releases.

Here we go!

 

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[Rainy_TX]

I read about National Novel Writing Month that happens every November, remembered the plaque and decided to do it. The contest is free and the goal is to write 50K words in a month. Just to give you an idea, 310,000 committed to it and a little over 13% completed it.

You must be talking about NaNoWriMo. Good job on tackling that with 52k! What genre is your fiction? I know that some folks are shy about sharing, so if you just want to say the general genre (erotica, romance, sci-fi) that's cool.

Looking forward to reading more of your story and growth!

 

[lleone]

Thanks Rainy....yes that's it....NanoWriMo...I should have put that in parenthesis....for those who are interested when it comes around again, it's www.nanowrimo.org. My genre is mystery/thriller. I thought about what genre I should write in and since it was my first novel attempt someone suggested I should write in a genre that I read a lot. It was kinda of a "duh" moment for me, so I started there.

 

[ChickenHawk]

The contest is free and the goal is to write 50K words in a month. Just to give you an idea, 310,000 committed to it and a little over 13% completed it. The previous year under 5% completed it.

Those percentages are interesting, aren't they? My husband (who's not a writer and has no interest in becoming one) made an astute observation. A lot of people think, "Hey, I'll write a book. Anyone can do it, right?" Then, they get their computer set up, their coffee poured, and sit there...and sit there...and sit there...

Surprise, surprise, no book cometh. Almost anyone COULD do it, but most people won't, because it's a ton of work. Several posters on this forum have made the excellent point that it's all a matter of writing words that turn into sentences that turn into paragraphs that turn into chapters that turn into books. It looks easy, but it IS a grind, as M.J. has on his icon these days. And, to quote that icon, you can't cheat the grind.

Congrats on your progress so far! Already, you've pulled away from the pack, just by completing your book. I can't wait to follow the rest of your journey!

 

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[lleone]

Almost anyone COULD do it, but most people won't, because it's a ton of work

Thanks Chickenhawk (my current idol). You are so right. I wish I knew how many people went on to write a second book or third, etc. I'm sure the percentages drop even more dramatically.

 

[COSenior]

Thanks Chickenhawk (my current idol). You are so right. I wish I knew how many people went on to write a second book or third, etc. I'm sure the percentages drop even more dramatically.

You can just about bet that they do. Poor sales on a first book is discouraging. Poor sales on a fifth or sixth or tenth book is very discouraging. But everyone I listen to, successful writers all, says just keep writing (my motto by the way) and at some point, you reach critical mass. What separates the successful from the unsuccessful is persistence.

Congratulations on making a plan, taking action, and putting it out there. You've joined a great group of people here.

 

[lleone]

After doing quite a bit of research on cover design, it seems the key is to make the cover easy to read when it's in the small thumbnail version that appears under the "Customers Who Bought This Item" section since a good number of sales can occur here. If you can get an emotional response to the cover all the better. I reviewed a lot of the covers in the best selling list to try to get an idea of what resonates. I remember back when MJ was putting out a new cover of his updated edition and now understand what he was going through.

 

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[lleone]

Feb 10th Update

Okay, so last night I put out my book cover request to designers on Fiverr. I decided for $5 each I'll give two people a try and see which cover I like better. I'll post the two choices once I get them. My goal with the cover is to really try to make it appealing enough that someone will click the "Look Inside" icon. I also purchased 10 ISBNs from Bowker since I like the fact that I would own the ISBNs rather than Createspace, etc..

I need to continue writing the non-fiction book so I can have that ready as well. At this point, I am going to try to release both of them at the same time. It should be interesting to see how the sales (or lack of sales) stack up between the fiction book and the non-fiction one. I will detail whatever marketing, promotion I do as the time comes.

 

[Erock87]

Great progress thus far, lleone!

50k words a month, just over 1,500 per day, consistently. That is a fantastic number, and I am excited to watch your progress. Stick with it - I'm part of that crew that has 5-6 short stories (13-20k words each) with no traction yet, but I just keep moving forward.

 

[lleone]

Thanks Erock....I've been following your thread and am sure you will be getting some traction soon. I can't wait to get my stuff out there, but it won't be before another 2 weeks. Hope to get faster at this as time goes on.

 

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[lleone]

Feb 11th Update

The first thing I did today was sign-up for MailCheat(Chimp) based on Rainy_TX's advice. It was super easy and free for up to 2000 subscribers. Now I have a link to use at the end of my book so I can build an e-mail list. I've also been brainstorming ideas for the second book in the fiction series. Still waiting on the covers for the first book. As soon as I get them, I will share them to get input. I'm a little behind on my non-fiction book, but I'm hoping to catch up by the end of the week. I also want to write the blurb for the first fiction book. I will share that as well. Seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day.

 

[Enki]

Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone

It's true

I've also been brainstorming ideas for the second book in the fiction series. Still waiting on the covers for the first book

I've got a three 15k novella series written. The first one was just a freestyle. the 2nd and the 3rd came to me suprisingly simple. I just wrote on a sheet of paper.

What if this?
what if that?

I did this until I had a full page front in back. After the first 10 what ifs I was getting "uncomfortable". I kept thinking this is useless. I trucked through it and then wedded the three best what ifs.

My beta readers gave me raving reviews for the 2nd and 3rd of the series. The first one was "ok"

Another thing that might really help with your idea creation paying close attention to your surroundings while your out and about. people watch and try to pretend you know whats going on in their heads.

I did this last night while I was sitting in the lobby of a hotel. What I did was pretend they where characters in a story I was already writing. It worked, today I got in 2.5k words in what seemed like a flash.

 

[lleone]

What if this?
what if that?
I did this until I had a full page front in back. After the first 10 what ifs I was getting "uncomfortable". I kept thinking this is useless. I trucked through it and then wedded the three best what ifs.

Wow...what an awesome idea. I will totally try this. I think if I just sit there and force answering those questions, I should get a bunch of ideas.

I did this last night while I was sitting in the lobby of a hotel.

No reason why I can't combine your two great ideas....tomorrow, I'm going to a hotel lobby, ordering some coffee and going to brainstorm your two questions while observing those around me!

 

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[Enki]

Wow...what an awesome idea. I will totally try this. I think if I just sit there and force answering those questions, I should get a bunch of ideas.



No reason why I can't combine your two great ideas....tomorrow, I'm going to a hotel lobby, ordering some coffee and going to brainstorm your two questions while observing those around me!

Imagine a girl (or even a guy for that matter) runs past you crying, You know how many ideas run through your head in one second? Don't expect something like that to happen. But when it does cherish it. look for the story in every little uninteresting detail. essentially that is what writing fiction is all about, taking the mundane and twisting it into entertainment for people.

 

[AroundTheWorld]

A lot of people think, "Hey, I'll write a book. Anyone can do it, right?" Then, they get their computer set up, their coffee poured, and sit there...and sit there...and sit there...

Or... they go on facebook, and fastlane, and pinterest, and, netflix... (guilty as charged!! )

Thanks Chickenhawk (my current idol). You are so right. I wish I knew how many people went on to write a second book or third, etc. I'm sure the percentages drop even more dramatically.

I guess that would depend on what was holding them up in the first place, right? The daunting task of completing the book, or the fear of rejection.

 

[lleone]

Feb 12th Update

Okay, so this morning I received the first cover design and I'll reserve my opinion on it until I get the second cover. Hopefully it should be done in the next day or two. I'll post both of them and hope for some input on which people like better.

I also worked on my Kindle description. I took advice from several sources and looked at a lot of the best seller descriptions. I tried to ignore the ones that were from famous authors since they have name recognition so it's hard to know how much their description was responsible for people buying the book. I mostly focused on first time authors who were in the best seller list. In any case, here it is. Please feel free to comment (I can take it!):

-----

The debut of an exciting new voice in fiction - a fast moving action packed mystery thriller

David, Kevin and Alicia are enjoying their senior year at prestigious Polyis Prep High School located in a sleepy, New England town when disturbing accidents start to make them suspicious. It seems all the students involved may be candidates for early decision to the most prestigious university in the country. Only one of them will be admitted, but with the pool of students dwindling, the stakes are getting higher.

Is it coincidence or is something diabolical going on? Will the three friends figure it out or will they become the next victims?

˃˃˃ Fast-moving and engaging, Early Decision is a story that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Scroll up and grab a copy today.

-----

Thanks!

 

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[ChickenHawk]

Nice! I think you're off to a great start with the description, but I'd like to throw in a few suggestions. One thing I've heard is that readers are notoriously afraid to try an author's first book, because they assume it's probably not that great. Once it becomes a hit, however, the fact that it's a "debut" book can be a huge selling point. A total contradiction, but there you have it!

So, I might leave off words like "debut" and "exciting new voice." And in fact, I might use that all important headline space to focus more on the characters or conflict instead of mentioning anything at all about the author, unless it's relevant to the story, meaning you're a veteran homicide detective writing a murder mystery.

I'm not suggesting this as a headline alternative, but as a brainstorm to start, maybe something along the lines of "Something Diabolical Is Going On at Polyis Prep School, Will Three of Its Brightest Students Survive?" (Obviously, that's too long and wordy, but I thought it might help to show what I'm talking about.) I read somewhere that the best descriptions provide only hints of information, and pose questions, which makes the reader hungry for more. I think you've done a great job of that in there, so bravo! If there's any way you could ratchet this up a notch, it might be even more powerful of a marketing tool.

A side note...I might delete "scroll up and grab a copy." In writing my description, I tried as hard as I could to emulate the style of traditionally published books. And I don't recall any of them saying things like "scroll up..." Or "Enjoy!" (I know you didn't say "Enjoy!" But I see that on a lot of self-published stuff, which is really nice, but I guess I want my books to look like they came from one of the biggies. Apparently, the biggies never encourage you to enjoy anything. The nerve!)

Anyway, dang, this was a long answer. I'd love for anyone else to chime in, even if they see things differently!

 

[lleone]

Thanks ChickenHawk for the suggestions. After thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense. I guess "new author" = "higher risk" = "possible waste of money". I will play around and change it to something more story related. Also agree on "Scroll up and grab a copy"....I read that as a suggestion somewhere to use an "action" type write-up there. I'll try to think of a less hokey one!

 

[ChickenHawk]

"Scroll up and grab a copy"

Actually, if you decide to use the call to action, I think the one you have is great. I only mentioned it because none (at least none that I noticed) of the traditional publishers do this. And when I wrote my description, my goal was to make it look like a traditionally published book, so it would seem less risky to the reader. But I can definitely see the merits of a call to action. I know in most things (maybe even this), a call to action is all-important. It's definitely worth considering though, so if you decide to go for it, I could totally see why and love the wording you have. The great thing about self-publishing is you can experiment along the way, and change things on the fly if you decide to go another route. It'll be so interesting to see your results!

 

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[lleone]

Actually, if you decide to use the call to action, I think the one you have is great. I only mentioned it because none (at least none that I noticed) of the traditional publishers do this. And when I wrote my description, my goal was to make it look like a traditionally published book, so it would seem less risky to the reader. But I can definitely see the merits of a call to action. I know in most things (maybe even this), a call to action is all-important. It's definitely worth considering though, so if you decide to go for it, I could totally see why and love the wording you have. The great thing about self-publishing is you can experiment along the way, and change things on the fly if you decide to go another route. It'll be so interesting to see your results!

Thanks....I am going to brainstorm on the call of action a little more. If I don't think of anything better, I'll try it for a couple weeks and then try something else to see if it helps. I think you're right about testing. I'll keep at it to see what makes a difference.

 

[lleone]

Feb 13th Update
[1100 Words]

So today I formatted and downloaded the fiction book for Kindle to give to some beta readers. I'm still waiting on the 2nd cover and I still need to brainstorm the 2nd book in the fiction series per @Cleveland's suggestion. I was able to write about 1100 words on the non-fiction book. It's not much, but better than nothing. I've decided to start including how many words I write a day. The biggest challenge I have is to write a decent amount ever day. I'm hoping committing to writing it down will motivate me to do more.

Lastly, I started working with a local writer's group (tonight was my first meeting). Every two weeks everyone edits and critique's one member's submission. Tonight there were 15 people critiquing one person's work. They got a lot out of it, but kinda brutal.
I go in two weeks. I'll report back how tough they are on me. I'm hoping it will improve my writing and make me faster and better at editing. We'll see.

 

[Rawr]

http://valeriedouglasbooks.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-to-write-killer-blurb.html


Channeling HM Ward:

Blurb needs to grab the reader's face, and not let go.


From own experience - specifics are good. Not "something happened" but - WHAT happened? Not "falls in love" - but "HOW is this experienced?"

I put two questions at the end, FWIW.

 

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[lleone]

http://valeriedouglasbooks.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-to-write-killer-blurb.html


Channeling HM Ward:

Blurb needs to grab the reader's face, and not let go.


From own experience - specifics are good. Not "something happened" but - WHAT happened? Not "falls in love" - but "HOW is this experienced?"

I put two questions at the end, FWIW.

Thanks...really liked the article you included. You make some excellent points....guess I'm going to take another stab at this. Will post it when done...try to make it better.

 

[Hicks]

Just read this; great thread.
Re: people being being able to and actually writing a book, I think that it takes a certain type of insanity to sit alone for 100's of hours 'making stuff up'. Then you have to turn around and do it all again..and again! I was telling someone a few months ago that I'd finally got to the stage where my books were earning around £10 a a day (in total), the look on their face was priceless! It was like "ONLY £10...why bother?". But people don't understand that it's accumulative, I still earn that £10 plus a bit more now, and hopefully it will continue to grow.

Re: Your book blurb, shall I pm you with some really pedantic 'take it or leave it' pointers?

Good luck

 

[lleone]

Just read this; great thread.
Re: people being being able to and actually writing a book, I think that it takes a certain type of insanity to sit alone for 100's of hours 'making stuff up'. Then you have to turn around and do it all again..and again! I was telling someone a few months ago that I'd finally got to the stage where my books were earning around £10 a a day (in total), the look on their face was priceless! It was like "ONLY £10...why bother?". But people don't understand that it's accumulative, I still earn that £10 plus a bit more now, and hopefully it will continue to grow.

Re: Your book blurb, shall I pm you with some really pedantic 'take it or leave it' pointers?

Good luck

Great to hear from someone further along ... definitely PM the pointers....can use all the help I can get...

 

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[lleone]

Feb 15th Update
[700 Words - yeah, I know pathetic]

So I'm been reading some of the great advice from @Held for Ransom , @COSenior , @ChickenHawk, @Cleveland and many others and I'm in a bit of a tailspin at this point. The fact of the matter is that if this is going to be a business, it needs to really be a business. That means I really need to breakdown what's selling, how to deconstruct it to compete and put out a lot of books that are appealing to readers (i.e. readers who will pay to buy books). To make this fast lane it has to go even further and I need to find a way to scale and/or leverage my time to improve throughput.

I'm kinda mad at myself for not seeing this earlier. I mean what other business do you ignore the customer and just do (in this case "write") what you feel like. I'm not saying it's not fine to write what you want, but if that's the case, don't look at it as a real business, but more of a hobby. I want this to get to a fast lane business. I know it will take time, but committing to the approach is my first step.

I am going to get my current mystery/thriller out since it's already done. I will most likely take several days and finish the non-fiction book since it's close enough to being done, that it would make sense to do that. In the meantime, I am going to research the genre's I will target and dissect the books in that genre. I will update along the way.

In the meantime, here are the two cover options for the mystery/thriller (blurb in Feb 12th update - although blurb is going to change based on some excellent comments I received). In any case, feel free to let me know which you like better. In the meantime, I think I'll finish the bottle of wine I started....

 

[Rainy_TX]

n the meantime, here are the two cover options for the mystery/thriller (blurb in Feb 12th update - although blurb is going to change based on some excellent comments I received). In any case, feel free to let me know which you like better.

I like the one with the vines, but that just me. Looks like a book that could be on the best seller's list.

When you have it all done and published, post a link!

<edit> Also, be sure to put a link to grab subscribers at the end of your book!

 

[InnerVeritas]

Due to the amazing inspiration and suggestions I've received from Chickenhawk's great post, I'm starting my own progress thread here.

My objective in this thread is to really share everything I find out (through researching or otherwise) as I go through the entire process from start to finish. I'm hoping my path will be different than some of the other threads, so everyone can get some real value from it.

Here is a bit of background and where I am now:

MY OVERALL GOAL: To generate significant Fastlane income from self-publishing.

MY IMMEDIATE GOAL: To publish a minimum of 5 books this year. I'm hoping I will get faster as I get the process down.

WHERE I AM NOW: I have completed my first fiction novel (or novella depending on how you look at it - it's 43K words) and I am finishing up the editing. I am also about 25% through a non-fiction Ebook that I am targeting to get out by the end of this month. My next step is to investigate the most effective way to get the novel on Kindle (and eventually use Createspace for a paperback version) and continue writing the non-fiction book. Since I don't want to overwhelm this initial post, I'll write a separate post on what I've learned from the writing process itself that got me to this point and how best to approach it (although I'm sure it varies from person to person).

MY JOURNEY TO THIS POINT: This is my first attempt at writing a book and I have never tried anything like this before. Last October I was at a Crossfit gym and they had this plaque that said "Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone". When I got home, I read about National Novel Writing Month that happens every November, remembered the plaque and decided to do it. The contest is free and the goal is to write 50K words in a month. Just to give you an idea, 310,000 committed to it and a little over 13% completed it. The previous year under 5% completed it. Just like any venture, persistence is half the game. I clocked in at a little under 52K words. I have since edited it down to slightly under 44K words (will touch on the editing process itself in a separate post). I don't expect a lot from this first book since it seems like you need to get out around 6 or 7 before you start to get traction. What I'm hoping to do is learn as much as possible so I can streamline my approach (and maximize my sales) for future releases.

Here we go!

Way to go Ileone, yes, it is scary but from personal experience, I can attest that if this is what your passion is, there is nothing that can stop you.. and in case for some reason you stop having the passion for it.. well, you know it was not your passion hahah :=-)

Smile all the way and have fun.. that will get you ahead of the game..that si what I do and it is working well.

Thanks for sharing your goals..
_nickc

 

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[COSenior]

In the meantime, here are the two cover options for the mystery/thriller (blurb in Feb 12th update - although blurb is going to change based on some excellent comments I received). In any case, feel free to let me know which you like better. In the meantime, I think I'll finish the bottle of wine I started....

The one with the silhouettes caught my eye first, but after reading the blurb I like the other one better. So you probably could choose either one with success. But there are a couple or three people who post on this sub-forum fairly regularly that are graphic artists, so their opinions would probably be even more valuable. @joanna is one, and you already have @Rainy_TX 's opinion.

 

[Rawr]

This helped me

,