Bisky's Twitterling's Scribbles! discussion

I'm curious about how many books you write/publish a year. I can't imagine being able to finish more than 2-3 in a year but I know people who published twice that many in 2013. They were good books so this is not bashing their writing as forced or being put out too quickly.

This is an interesting one, I think a lot of it has to do with resources. If I could afford an editor I think I could write one book every two months. Most of my time with A Dance With Fury has been taken up by me trying to spot mistakes as another person would.

Whether people think my writing is any good remains to be seen :P

Good point about the editor. That is probably the longest part of the process.

Aye, its really an issue for me :| The ulitmate dream is that A Dance With Fury funds the editing for the next one :D

I hope it works out for you that way. I will be beyond envious of you with your editor. I will admit that I didn't have as much to edit with my second book. Well, at least I can do that part with my children in the room.

Ah I was hoping to be able to do just that too. Have my first book sales pay for my sequel's editing.

Anyone wants to edit a book for $4.71?

Hmm didn't think so... :P

I'm not sure how many books I could write in a year, because I just started writing seriously. It takes me about three months to write a book, but it's taking forever to get it edited. I'm hoping once I get the hang of things it will go faster.

Wait GG! You made money on your first book? Now, I'm really jealous. I broke even so I'm not really complaining but I still can't afford an editor. My husband does some editing for me, but then I have to spend weeks with him suggesting changes to my book. He feels that my vampires are not quite manly enough.

Our goal is one book every six months. Considering it took us four years of sporadic writing to get the first one out, that's ambitious. But if we want to make a go of having any real success with this, I think two per year is the minimum of what we need to produce.

I am still struggling with promotion for my first book - spending FAR MORE time than I'd like - much more than actually writing. I also am trying to stay updated on my blog (part of the promotion process), delving into writing short stories to "get something out there quicker," so it's impossible to say how many. In the meantime, I'm working on my second novel. All I can say is I'm glad I'm retired or I'd get almost nothing done! Ideally, though, when the dust is cleared,3 would be nice, but 2 is probably more realistic.

@Cassandra Well... nope... that money is just what Amazon and Smashwords owe me for sales, not what's left after paying for the cover (sure my son made it but he needs the money so I paid him as I would have paid any other stranger), or the money I paid for an editor that I had to cancel because to stay polite I will just say 'not what I expected'. So I should be jealous of you for breaking even. ;)

The sales are not going great at all. I must be the worst promoter in the world, so there isn't a need to be jealous, believe me.

However, I'm jealous of your husband! Mine did a few corrections at the beginning but he's too busy with real work. (Promotions are not always a good thing.) Yesterday we had a stupid argument about a synopsis. I mentioned Earth and her people. He suggested I put 'the' people instead. And then he told me that nowadays, using 'her' would be seen as sexist... All I said was, "Isn't SHE called Mother Earth sometimes? If so, how can I put Earth and his people? (Or maybe I should put Earth and its people?)

I just wished he would argue for something a little more meaningful, such as character's believability or something.

@Cassandra I can't answer your original question. For me it would be more like "How many years does it take you to write one book?" :P

I've written two so far in about 3 years. The second is not published yet. I could probably write more if I would not read so much (books, blog, goodreads, Facebook, Internet/research etc.) and if I would stay out of 'Rift', a MMORPG game I play with the hubby.

@Jack, Promoting sucks! I'm trying to actually do that with my second book, but then I get distracted writing, or baking. If I gain 50 pounds from eating cookies, I'm blaming the process of promoting my book.

#GG, Like I said to Jack, promoting books sucks. Have you considered making it available in more regions on Amazon? It's not available here. I get mos to of my sales from the U.S. If you make it available here. I'll put it on my TBR list. If I enjoy it, I'll review it/recommend it on my blog. It sounds like something I would read. I'm not asking for favors in return. I like reading self-pub and indie authors.

@Cassandra My book is supposed to be available through out all stores from amazon. It is definitely available in the US as it is the only place I ever sold books.
The page on Goodreads with my book show the link to smashwords. I tried to switch it so the one that would come up first would be Amazon but it doesn't work. So to get the link to amazon, people have to switch pictures. :(

You'd be nice enough to give it a try? I don't know how to thank you. I can provide you a free copy if you'd like.

Edited: The hubby is waiting after me and I hit enter too fast. Men... :P

@GG, I got it! My search has been tweaky in Amazon today.I should be able to read and review it by the middle of next week. I'm in the middle of 2 books right now.

I published my first book in May this year, and my second one just came out 2 days ago. I'm already writing a third which I hope to get done by early next year, so if I'm disciplined enough, that will make three my first year!
Breaking even? My goodness, I wish I was so lucky. And the sales I've had so far haven't even been enough for Amazon or CreateSpace to release the funds owed to me - lol.
Still, writing is my passion.
I agree totally with all the comments about promotion - it totally sucks. The writing is by far the easiest bit for me :)

Thank you Cassandra.
You didn't have to buy it though I could have provided it to you for free.
(view spoiler)[Don't tell anyone though, you're my first sale this month :P (hide spoiler)]
I noticed your first book was free on Amazon. I couldn't resist it so I got it along with the sequel. I have absolutely no idea of when I'll get to them though. Probably not before January or so at the rate I'm reading right now. :(

I know you said you didn't expect anything in return but the synopsis from the sequel really caught my attention. I would have probably bought it at some point anyway so... :)
I also love to read Indies and that's about all I read for the last 6 months or so aside from the latest Terry Goodkind, and between us, most of the indies I read were much better than his latest. I think he's just milking Richard and Kahlan. :/

I think I can get out 3 a year, MAYYYYYBE 4...but that would be pushing it. Beyond that we're talking about writing a book a month and there's no way I could do that.

For one thing, the faster I write, the longer it takes to edit. I'm already looking back on my NaNoWriMo project and seeing all the major rewrites I'm going to have to do in 2nd draft to get my character arcs where I want them to be. The slower I write, the faster I edit, if I take 4 months to write a book, I can get it edited and out the door in 2 weeks. So there's no magic "I can now have a novel completed in 2 days" formula for me...it's a trade off.

I am going to aim for 4 books published next year, we'll see how it goes!

@GG, Thank you. You really didn't have to, but I appreciate it. Any reviews are always nice to have and there's no hurry. I don't mind buying books that I'm genuinely interested in reading. I usually do unless the person is pretty successful at writing and can afford to lose a sale. I know most of us give enough books away to blogs and such.

@Harmony, I think that's what's important is that we enjoy it. Your new book sounds interesting. I added it to my list of books I want to read and review.

@J, Good luck with the 4 books. I don't think I could do it unless someone else took care of my children and household.

Cassandra .. thank you :) I have downloaded the first of your vampire's, and knowing me I shall be moving swiftly onto the 2nd one in the series :)
@J ... good luck withe the goal of 4 :)

@Cassandra & @Harmony: Thanks, I have a feeling I'll need it. lol

@Harmony, Thank you. I appreciate it.

The spine size is based on how pages there are in a book. So I thought it made sense to wait until I was completely finished with editing to begin working with a cover designer. Next time around I will definitely start the design process earlier.

I think a book every 6 months is a good goal for me. There are so many things I figured out first time around that will save me time on book #2.

I wrote a book in a month for NaNoWriMo, but the following three drafts took a further year! I can write like a demon on the first draft, but shaping it up into the best book that it can be is proper hard work for me and seems never ending. And even after three drafts I'm still sending it off for proofreading.

Current plan is to aim for one book a year and a couple of short story collections. I think that's realistic for me, with all the commitments I have to other things. I wish I could dedicate more time to writing. One day...

Eric wrote: "The spine size is based on how pages there are in a book. So I thought it made sense to wait until I was completely finished with editing to begin working with a cover designer. Next time around I ..."

@Eric, I know what you mean, there is a definite learning curve to self-publishing, I am still figuring things out that I did wrong after a year and three books lol...But with every release (I hope) I am getting better at this.

@J For sure. I spent 1 month finding the right cover artist. Two weeks picking the inside font. Two weeks dilly dallying with the margins. Two weeks figuring out what the heck about ISBN's. Four weeks pouring over possible quotes/reviews to use for back cover. ETC.

As you said, we can only get better at this. (Hopefully)

I wrote two full length novels and two novellas in a year. I would have had the third full length novel done, but I've had too many "issues" going on to allow me the time to concentrate on finishing the final novel in my Rock Series. I did my own covers, but I have a background in TV Production, so I have a little background in working with graphics programs. I paid some high dollars for editing the first four books and even with some good sales it's going to take an eternity to make up those costs, so I'm rethinking how I'm going to do that for the fifth book. Like everyone else i find myself falling into the vacuum of self-promotion which can take huge chunks of a day to do, but it's as necessary as writing a good book, because you can be the best author in the world, but if no one finds you, then it won't do you a lot of good.