Free Lessons

1. Brain Boards
2. Templates
3. Person (The Five Ps of Premise Prep)
4. Pain
5. Prize
6. Pitfalls
7. Promise
8. Premise
9. Blurbs
10. Outlining
11. Breaks
12. Marketing
13. Writing
14. Self-Revisions
15. Alpha Readers
16. Critique Groups
17. Manuscript Evaluations
18. Developmental Editing
19. Research
20. Beta Readers
21. Copyediting
22. Illustrations
23. Book Design
24. Cover Design
25. Advertising
26. Proofreading
27. Publishing

Back to Planning Lessons | Onward to Editing Lessons

Lesson 11: Breaks

Taking breaks is essential when it comes to reviewing and revising your own work. Taking a break means stepping away from your manuscript for an extended period of time. Do anything that has nothing to do with your current WIP. 

This includes:

• Avoiding talking about your manuscript with anyone.
• Not looking at your project’s brain board or outline.
• Staying away from working on any sequels, prequels, variations (screenplay, audiobook script, etc.), or spin-offs.

The Importance of Taking Breaks

Luckily, you’re human and imperfect, so you don’t have to worry if you slip up from time to time during your break! The goal is to try to distance yourself from the world of your manuscript as much as possible. This allows you to gain more objectivity. It’s hard to be objective about your work at all, let alone enough to help enhance the piece. Taking breaks helps you look at your manuscript more like a stranger would and less like the person who wrote it would. It’s not possible to pretend that you never saw the manuscript, of course, but putting a little effort into distancing yourself from the piece can work wonders for you being able to notice problems within it.

Length of Breaks

Generally speaking, 7 days is on the shorter end of the break spectrum for a book manuscript (2 days for an outline). Some authors wait multiple months before revisiting their outline or manuscript. For newer writers, it may be problematic to try to wait that long. The issue lies in the fact that many new writers have only recently begun to prioritize their craft. So, if they step away from it for too long, it’s easy for the manuscript to be forgotten completely as they fall back into a routine without it, especially if they aren’t working on a different literary project.

Otherwise, taking a 30-day break (1 week for an outline) is the upper limit that most newbie writers seem to be able to stick to in my experience.

These tips can help:

• Create an event (“Re-read manuscript” or “Look at outline again”) on your digital calendar, or write it on your paper calendar for the date you want to revisit the piece.
• During the break time try (you may falter, but making an attempt and failing is better than not trying at all) not to look at or think about anything related to your project.
• Revisit the piece after the break has ended.

Sleeping is just as important as being awake and active. The same goes for diving into your manuscript versus stepping away from it. When you spend too much time looking at your work over and over again (read the last page on Friday and then start from the beginning on Saturday with no break, for example) it’s a lot easier to go “blind” to a lot of the problems within the piece that you are capable of catching. This is similar to being in a room with a foul odor. When you first walk in, the stink practically smacks you in the face. But if you have to sit in that room without leaving it for a while, your body will start to acclimate to the smell and it becomes easier to ignore.

When reviewing your outline or manuscript, being unable to see problems can hurt your piece, so taking a break is like walking out of the room for some fresh air for an hour or two. When you go back in, the smell is going to assault you, but you’ll also be better able to use your nose to sniff out the source of the problem (a dead mouse under a television stand, rotting fruit behind the couch, etc.).

The distance you put between yourself and your manuscript can help you create a stronger piece of literature in the long run because you’re better able to see it with fresh eyes.

Lesson 12: Marketing

You may be wondering why marketing is a step that is placed even before writing the first draft. That’s because marketing is a long game. One that a lot of writers hate (including me!), but that is necessary if you are planning on making literature your career. The information below will help you better understand what marketing is all about and how to plan it out. Just remember that plans aren’t set in stone and things change. But having a plan and then adjusting it to fit changing circumstances is much easier to deal with than not having a plan at all!

The Marketing Tree

Marketing to garner sales is kind of like growing a tree from a seed. This can take a long time to bear fruit and grow to the size that you prefer. But you can eventually get to that towering sycamore of word-of-mouth sales in the hundreds of thousands if you just plant that first seed and begin to nurture it appropriately. So be patient. Most artistic ventures are not “get rich quick” schemes by any stretch of the imagination. And even if they were, literature would be the slowest to turn a profit, most likely. I don’t say this to discourage you, just to make sure your expectations are realistic.

Wait. Aren’t Marketing and Promotion the Same?

Though used synonymously, they’re not really exactly the same. Promotion is a subset of marketing. Any marketing plan is going to include promotional strategies. But the term “marketing” encompasses all of the following (and then some):

• Content Research (finding out more about a fictional character’s occupation, studying the life of a biography subject, seeing what kind of poetry is selling best right now, etc.)
• Book Development (the planning, creation, editing, design, and publication of the book)
• Branding (logo style, site color schemes, social media content, etc.)
• Sales (pricing, warehousing, distribution, etc.)
• Promotion (advertising, author connections, reader outreach, etc.)

If you’re going to make writing your career, it’s helpful to have at least some idea of what all of these terms mean and how you can incorporate them into your own marketing strategy.

Content Research

This part isn’t as difficult or boring as it may seem. Technically, you’re already doing it. You came to Writerwerx University to research how to become an independent author. As it relates directly to writing books, an example would be wanting to write a romance series. Chances are, if you want to write one, you’ve read many. That’s your research! Because you are constantly feeding on examples of well-written, engaging, well-selling literature, you’re more likely to be able to create some for yourself. You’ve read enough of the genre to know what works for you and what doesn’t, so you already know what to avoid and what to incorporate into your own work. It’s that easy! Immerse yourself in whatever genre you want to write so that you get a good feel for what’s already out there, especially what’s selling well.

If you’re writing a nonfiction book, you may already have done research in the fact that you’re an expert in your topic. You’ve got years of experience or education in whatever you’re going to be writing about, so you’re off to a great start.

Memoirists have done most of the research they need simply because they have lived the life they will be writing about. There may be a desire to go back into genealogical records and pinpoint certain details like names, dates, and locations of certain ancestors or events, but other than that, your research is being done every day of your life!

Book Development

This is the process you’re following by using the lessons at Writerwerx University. You have to have a product to sell, but you can start selling it before it’s finished (or even started!), as noted below. Book development entails planning, writing, editing, and designing your book prior to publication. Essentially, that means following most or all of the steps on this site.

Branding

Branding is all about style. It’s how you present yourself and your ideas. The great thing about an indie author brand (versus a spokesperson, actor, model, or musician) is that our brand is really just ourselves! For instance, I chose the colors black and red for my author logo along with a decidedly gothic font for my first initial, ‘T.’ Because most of what I write is dark, suspenseful, or mysterious, this color scheme works for me and my work. As would colors like patina green or gray. This is another place where a bit of research can be helpful. Here are some steps for understanding your personal “brand.”

• Audience. You may know what genre of book you want to write, but who do you want to read it? It’s tempting to say “Everyone, of course!” but that’s not going to benefit you when it comes to focusing your marketing efforts. Describe your ideal reader (don’t hesitate to write this description down!). Where do they shop for books? How old are they? Do they prefer e-books, audiobooks, or paperbacks? Having a solid understanding of who you’re targeting will make later marketing decisions much easier.
• Book Comps. Who is your writing comparable to in the market? Check out the top ten best sellers in your genre (and for your audience) right now. What do they have in common? Take note of things like colors and fonts they use on their covers or the way they organize their book descriptions. You’ll likely notice a general pattern that you can use for your own projects.
• Author Comps. Who is your authorship comparable to in the market? Take a look at the websites and social media profiles of the authors of those best sellers you looked at. What social media sites are they on? What do they post about? How is their website laid out?

For example, a humor author’s page might focus more on comedy or improvisation. For a mystery writer, their profiles might be more focused on crimes or puzzles. That’s not to say you can’t share pictures of your latest culinary delight (I certainly do!), your pets, or your favorite vacation spots. Just try to find a balance that’s authentic to you. People want to know you as an author and a regular human being!

Sales

Selling your book to people starts as early as you want it to. And, in virtually all cases, the earlier you start, the better. If you wait until launch day to start telling people to go buy your book, you’re not likely to have much success. Sure, a few family members or friends might take you up on the offer, but that’s about it. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few hundred people eagerly awaiting midnight of your release day so they can go buy your book? Not only does that mean you have vested, engaged readers, but it’s essentially guaranteed sales whenever you release a new piece. But you can’t build that kind of relationship with someone overnight. Especially a stranger who might live on the other side of the country, or even the planet.

So, start today. That way, by the time your book does come out, you’re more likely to have a crowd waiting to devour it rather than a handful of people who are just trying to be superficially supportive.

Start at Home

That being said, it’s perfectly fine to start at home. Tell your family, friends, roommates, co-workers, bus driver, postal worker, coaches, doctors, barber, or anyone else you see on a regular basis and already have a relationship with. No need to badger them, but keep them up to date on your progress. When they ask how you’re doing, just weave the book into your response:

• “I’m really excited, actually. I just had this great idea for my (next) book and I’m getting started on developing the premise tonight.”
• “Feeling a little nervous. I’m behind on my weekly word count and not sure if I’ll be able to catch up by tomorrow. I’m gonna try my best though!”
• “I’m exasperated AF! My editor sent me a manuscript evaluation that essentially says my manuscript is a giant, flaming, possum turd. * sigh * But my job is to polish it, so that’s what I’ve got on tap for this weekend.”

Author Email

Setting up an author email helps me keep my author communication separate from my other contacts. My author email is just for people who want to hire, interview, or collaborate with me as a writer. Not my mortgage company or my dog walker or my lawyer. While my email is an @TeneshaLCurtis.com email, you don’t have to start there if you’re low on funds or still not very comfortable with how to create a custom domain email. You can create an author email on Google, Yahoo, or wherever else you like. Just be sure to keep the name simple and easy to remember. So, AuthorJayneDo@gmail.com would be much better than TheWriteR2Die4_1986@yahoo.com. Remember to keep your brand in mind. You don’t want an email address that looks like a middle schooler came up with it. Keep it relevant, simple, and professional. Don’t want to manage two email addresses? Set up email forwarding. This allows the forwarding of your author emails to your personal email address so that you always know what’s coming into your author mailbox. You’ll still have to log in to the author email to respond to an interviewer, editor, beta reader, or whoever. But, it will keep you from having to log into a separate account each day. Unfortunately, the steps to do this will be slightly different for each email provider. But, in general, the steps are:

• Open your email account.
• Click your gear icon or a link that says “Settings.”
• Click the ‘Forwarding’ option.
• Enter the email address you want all your messages forwarded to (your personal email address, in this case).
• Click the ‘Confirm’ (‘Submit,’ ‘Verify,’ etc.) option.
• Look for a confirmation email in your personal email account.
• If prompted, enter the verification code or click the verification link that was sent in the email.

Author Site

Using your author email, you can set up a basic, free website just about anywhere online. WordPress is a popular one and the one I use for this site, TeneshaLCurtis.com, and ReadLuv.com. Needless to say, it’s the way I’d recommend you go. However, there are many other options available, though I couldn’t vouch for their ease of use, cost, or customer service if you ever need help: Google Sites, Blogger, Wix, Squarespace, etc. In general, the process is:

• Go to the platform you want to use to start or host your site. I recommend WordPress via Bluehost.
• Choose the option to ‘Sign Up,’ ‘Create an Account,’ or ‘Build a Site.’
• Follow all prompts and answer all the questions asked. You may sometimes be asked if you’d like to purchase a domain name from your platform. These should be no more than $20 per year. It’s also helpful to keep the site name, like your email address, simple and easy to remember. KatieJones.com, CliffRandon.com, AkiaNova.com, and so on. If you have a relatively common name, just add a word like ‘author,’ ‘books,’ or ‘writes’ to help differentiate (AuthorKatieJones.com, CliffRandonBooks.com, AkiaNovaWrites.com).
• Select a theme, which is just the general style and layout of the website. You can play around with colors, plugins, logos, and photos later. Just pick something to start working with so you can move forward.
• Add some content. Generally, your name and a small bio of a few sentences is all you need to get started. If you’ve already got a stand-in cover for your book, feel free to add that and a picture of yourself if you’re ready. If you want to take a few minutes to create a preliminary author logo or grab some beautiful stock photos for your site, check out my secret weapon: Adobe Express! It’s like a version of Photoshop that a five-year-old could use. ♥♥♥
• Publish the site. Remember, it’s okay if you’re still working with an AkiaNova.wordpress.com starter site. You’ve got plenty of time to make changes later. But at least now you have somewhere to send people who want to keep up with your work as a writer.
• Create a post (optional). Some author websites are static. Others are dynamic. I have a static site. This means that I only update it when I have some new project that I’ve started or completed to notify my audience about. If I help someone design a book cover, I’ll add that to my portfolio. If I option a screenplay, I’ll put that up. But (so that I have less to manage) I don’t regularly maintain a blog on my author website. Someone with a dynamic site would have a blog or some other kind of regular (daily, weekly, etc.) updates to post. If you have the time and desire to maintain a dynamic site, go for it! If not, don’t worry about it. You’ll use your social media profiles anyway, so the regular interactions with your followers can still take place.
• Tell people! Let your social circle know about the site so they can start following you and telling other people about you!

Author Social Media Page

Now, use your author email to create a social media page for your authorship. This will be where people who like your books, or just know you as an author, can follow you. You can choose any social media platform you like. My recommendation is to start wherever you’re most comfortable. For example, if you spend most of your time on Instagram, create an Instagram author profile. If you spend most of your time on Facebook, create an author Facebook page. Starting the process of accumulating followers can be rough, so starting with a platform you’re already familiar with can be a big help. You may realize later on that the majority of your target audience can be found on another platform, such as Twitter or Tumblr. At that point, if you’re comfortable, branch over to that other site. The one thing I stress that you avoid doing is spreading yourself too thin. You don’t necessarily need ten different social media profiles. You may even see authors who seem like they have a profile on every social media site. But it’s helpful to remember that these are often more established, seasoned, commercially successful authors who can afford to hire a dedicated social media manager. If you have the money to hire someone in that role, go for it, since it won’t take any time away from your other author responsibilities. Otherwise, stick to between one and three social media profiles. Focus on quality, not quantity. It’s often more helpful to have 300 engaged followers on one social media platform than it is to have 30 on 10 different sites or even 3,000 followers who don’t actually pay any attention to you.

Add a link to your social media profile to your website and your email signature.

On your author website, add a link to your social media profile(s).

Payment Platforms

At the very least, have a PayPal account (using your author email) that people can use to pay you for books. I have set myself up to be able to receive deposits via CashApp, PayPal, Stripe, Venmo, Zelle, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and Facebook Pay. I don’t want not accepting a certain form of payment to be the reason I don’t make a sale. But that’s just me. Generally speaking, you could get accounts with CashApp, Venmo, and PayPal and you’ve covered the vast majority of people that you’ll ever come across in the world. If you wish, you can even get an EIN (discussed below) and go set up a dedicated bank account for your authorship expenses and earnings. This makes things easier come tax time and can help you manage your spending appropriately.

Open an author CashApp account.

Open an author Venmo account.

Open an author PayPal account.

Publishing Platforms

There are a lot of authors who only publish on Amazon. Since Amazon sells more than half of the nation’s printed books and about 75% of e-books, that’s not a bad idea. You’ll cover a lot of ground and you only have to manage a single account. Great! However, Amazon has some limitations when it comes to getting your book into physical bookstores (yes, they still exist!), libraries, and other sites like BarnesAndNoble.com. If you want this extended reach, or “expanded distribution,” Amazon does offer an option to do so. However, you can also add one or two more accounts and make more profit by directly selling on these non-Amazon sites.

A major secondary account to add would be IngramSpark. They offer a lot more sophisticated and better-looking books than Amazon in most cases. And their books are often purchased by bookstores, including Barnes & Noble. While there’s no guarantee that you will sell your book in bulk to these places, you’ll have a much better chance of doing so with Ingram than you will with Amazon only. But IngramSpark also allows you to sell your book on Amazon through their platform. Unfortunately, Ingram and Amazon don’t always play nice together. For example, Amazon regularly estimates crazy long (weeks, in some cases) shipping times for books they know are published through Ingram. To an extent, this makes sense. They don’t know if or when Ingram is going to ship your book to a customer once an order is received. But, this is just one reason why authors choose to publish their book on Ingram and Amazon separately instead of trying to integrate. But, you don’t have to worry about any of this just yet! You’re just going to pick one or two platforms where you’d like to publish and set the account up. You’ll be asked a series of questions to confirm your identity and tell them where you want your royalty payments to go.

The basic setup for a first-time author can be a KDP account only, in my opinion. If you feel more comfortable adding a couple more platforms to your list, I’d recommend Draft2Digital and IngramSpark.

Other Administrative Things

There are other administrative things you can get / set up now just to get it out of the way, though you don’t need to use them just yet. These aren’t steps you can’t publish without doing, but completing at least some of them can help make managing your authorship and selling books a little easier.

• Visit Bowker.com and set up a profile so that you can purchase ISBNs for your books when you’re ready to publish.
• Go to Copyright.gov and set up an account so you can submit your copyright when you get to that point.
• Go to the Library of Congress website to set up an account if you would like a free Library of Congress Control Number.
• Go to IRS.gov to request an Employer Identification Number for your authorship.
• Set up a profile with your local Secretary of State so you can complete whatever requirements they have related to running a business in your area.
• Another optional thing is to sign up for point-of-sale (POS) services to help you keep track of and process your sales when you’re at conferences or festivals. My favorite is Square because they are consistently updating their software and adding features. Being a well-established, popular, and trusted payment processer doesn’t hurt either! They own CashApp and give you a similar card that you can use to access funds immediately after receiving them. For example, if someone at a conference buys five books from you, you can instantly get access to those funds and go use your Square card at a food stand or the booth of a fellow author without having to wait hours or days to get access to your money. You also have the option of instantly sending the money to your bank account, just like you can with CashApp for a small fee. You can send the money to your bank the free way, but it will take a day or two to post to your bank account. This level of flexibility is a breath of fresh air when it comes to running a business!

Bring Your Audience With You

All throughout the process of developing your work, you can bring your audience along for the ride. Whenever you are starting or finishing a step along your process, post about it.

“First draft done! That was a HUGE effort. Time for a nice break!”

“Developmental editing is my least favorite part of creating a book. Glad I have @WriterwerxUniversity to help, though!”

“Cover artist: Hired! Theo Kazama is so talented. I can’t wait for you to see the finished product. EEEEK!”

And it doesn’t always have to be happy news. If you’re dissatisfied with an illustration job or your printing gets pushed back due to a power outage, let your audience know. Vent your frustrations to them. This kind of post serves multiple purposes.

First, it gives you a way to vent. This helps with your mental health and stress levels.

Second, it shows your human vulnerabilities which makes you more relatable to the average person, even if they aren’t a writer.

Third, it gives your followers information they need regarding when the book is coming out.

Promote Often

In the beginning, you may only make enough progress to promote a few times each month. That’s fine. Do what you can. As the snowball of progress picks up speed, you’ll have more and more milestones you can share with your audience more frequently.

• Every 5,000 words you write.
• Every self-revision pass you do.
• Every editing pass you have done for you.
• Cover options.
• When you open pre-orders for a book.
• When you hire your audiobook producer, illustrator, editor, etc.
• Comments from alpha readers or beta readers (be careful not to give any spoilers to your audience!).

Don’t overwhelm yourself. Regular posting doesn’t only have to be about the book. Posts also don’t have to be long. A couple of sentences and an image, GIF, or video are all that’s needed.

Hold Off on Shows

It’s tempting to jump straight into looking for fairs, shows, and conferences to sell your book at as soon as your first draft is completed. But, it’s usually best to hold off until you have at least finished your copy editing. And, even then, any show you have your eye on should be at least four months out. This gives you time to wrap up the design phase, prep your publication (ISBNs, platform accounts, etc.), get your proofreading done, order proof copies to review, and then order author copies to sell. Even after copy editing, all of these steps (sometimes more) still need to be completed. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Relax and take things one step at a time. Get a finished product first, then worry about where you’re going to sell that product in person (if you even want to do so).

Shows Aren’t Strictly Necessary

There are many authors who have never sold at any kind of physical event, yet they still make six figures each year selling their books. Again, for them, this is because they have thoroughly nurtured and grown their marketing trees. They didn’t rely on quick-fix gimmicks or “magic wand” tactics. They did the work and then reaped the benefits.

If you’re a staunch introvert, don’t do well with public speaking, or just don’t have the funds to pay hundreds of dollars to get a booth somewhere, don’t worry. That doesn’t have to stop you from using cost-effective methods to sell your books.

Set Up and Move Forward

Now that you’ve got your marketing planned (and understand it helps to be flexible with that plan as time goes on!), and your site / profile / page set up, you can move on with the rest of the book development process. Remember to post about your progress as you go.

Lesson 13: Writing

Now that you have finished planning what you’re going to write, it’s time to get down to business!

Writing Prioritization

Treat your writing the same way you treat other important things in your life such as showering, going to work, studying for classes, or spending time with friends. If you don’t commit to prioritizing your writing, it becomes a lot harder to do. Sure, it may be humanly possible to eventually finish a book that you plan on writing “whenever I have time.” But, for those that are serious about making a career out of literature, you’ve got to do a lot better than that. Here are some strategies to help you out.

• Make your writing time sacred. This means making sure that whatever time slot you’ve chosen in your schedule is blocked out on your work and personal calendars (both digital and paper, public and private) so that you can’t accidentally schedule something during that time. Whether it’s the fifteen minutes before you go to bed each night, a half hour during your 60-minute lunch break, or two hours every Sunday morning, reserve that time for writing. Even when you’ve finished the first draft, reserve that time for your other independent authorship tasks (blogging, querying, reading, setting up promotions, searching for literary events, etc.).
• Publicize your commitment. One reason it’s so easy for writing to fall by the wayside as an activity in life is because it’s done in secret. Writing doesn’t have to be some clandestine event that you hide from everyone but the cat. And making sure that other people know does a couple of useful things. First, it quells their curiosity. This means they won’t follow you or try to sneak up on (and disturb) you because they already know what you’re doing. Second, it helps them hold you accountable for doing your writing during the designated time. Third, they can help motivate you to get back on the wagon if you do falter in your writing schedule. Support and encouragement from the people you love can make all the difference in reaching your writing goals. Only hide it in situations where you (for whatever reason) are keeping mean-spirited people in your life who openly despise writers. No reason to invite negativity unnecessarily. Do your best to write whenever they aren’t around (sleeping, at work, out running errands, etc.) if it’s not feasible for you to remove them from your life at the moment (but please do that as soon as you’re able!).
• Start your online presence. By setting up a free, basic website or social media profile that is specifically for you as an author (not your personal one), you are broadening the publicizing of your commitment to get this thing done. That means all of the benefits of telling your family and friends can get expanded as well. You’ll likely only have a handful of family and friends follow or frequent your site or page in the beginning. That’s okay! You may even have zero followers to start. Feel free to reach out to me and I’ll be your first! Share with your budding audience that you’re scared, looking for resources, feeling excited, and so on. This helps them get to know you as a human being, which means they are more likely to be interested in what you have to offer as an author.
• Join writing groups. These can be accountability groups that get together periodically just to write in each other’s (digital or physical) presence, or these could be critique groups where you are able to submit sections of your work for feedback when you get to that point. Getting used to attending these groups, even before you’ve written word one, has multiple benefits. Because you are attending regularly without submitting anything to get feedback on, you are showing the other members that you are committed to the craft, not just your own selfish needs being fulfilled. This makes people feel more eager and willing to help you out when you do need it. Also, you’re going to hear a lot of different opinions about the various pieces that are presented at groups. This means that you will be learning what people like and don’t like, finding out how they interpret different styles of writing, and picking up on some tricks of the trade based on what other people are doing in their writing.
• Set, mark, and celebrate goals. Consider when you want to have your first draft done. If you want a novel-length book, you’ll be shooting for 40,000 words or more. Pick a time frame. Do you want to finish next week, next month, or next year? Six months from now or tomorrow? It’s up to you. You just need to do the math to figure out how much writing you need to complete each session so that you stay on track. Put these numbers on your calendars. For instance, if you want to write 500 words per day to reach your goal and you start on the 5th of the month, write “500” on the 5th, “1,000” on the 6th, “1,500” on the 7th, and so on. And when you meet your goals, be sure to post about that on social media: “Another 1,000 words down today! Bedtime!” or “That’s 10,000 words written for this writing session. At it again next week (after I soak my hands in some hot water!).” Bring your followers along on your journey. This helps make them more emotionally invested in you and the resulting book you produce.

Writing Tools

One of the great things about being a writer is that you can do your job pretty much anywhere, especially with the sophisticated cloud-based word-processing software that’s available today.

Cloud-Based Word Processors

Writing your book using a service like Google Docs or Dropbox is one of the fastest, easiest, most accessible, convenient ways to complete the early drafts of your work. Only when you get to the point of needing to concern yourself with typesetting (typefaces, margins, fonts, etc.) do you sometimes need to move to something a bit more robust like Word or InDesign. But the entire time you’re writing or re-writing, these cloud-based services are stellar.

Auto-Save

A priceless feature of any cloud-based service is the auto-save feature. Every few seconds, the software is automatically saving what you write. This means that having your phone or laptop stolen, your desktop destroyed, or your power go out mean absolutely nothing. No need for a panic or heart attack, no gnashing of teeth or tearing at clothes. You never lose your work! Worst-case scenario, you’ll be missing the last word or two that you typed, but you don’t lose hours or days of work, and certainly never your ENTIRE manuscript.

Cloud Storage

Because these services are cloud-based, everything is stored off site and accessible through the web. This means that you can write a few pages during your commute on your cell phone and pick up where you left off on your laptop once you get home. Or start writing a short story on your tablet during your lunch break, and finish writing it on a computer at the library where you meet up with your book club.

This level of flexibility means there’s very little room for excuses such as leaving your laptop at work or not being at home with your desktop. None of that matters because of the web-based storage. Anywhere you have internet access, you can open your document and get to work.

Analog Methods

None of these are recommended. There is too much risk of losing your work. Some people find it easier to produce copy using one of the methods below. But you are strongly encouraged to convert your physical writing to a digital platform on a daily basis so that you don’t lose what you’ve done to theft, fire, pests, spills, floods, and similar dangers.

Hard Drives and External/Flash Drives

Yes, technically, saving your work to your phone, laptop, tablet, flash drive, thumb drive, external drive, or desktop is a digital, not an analog, method. However, the level of risk is similar to that of the methods below. If your phone / laptop / flash drive / thumb drive / external drive is lost, stolen, or destroyed (virus, drop, spill, etc.) your work is gone. If your house burns down, floods, or is burgled, the work on your desktop can be lost. In some circumstances, recovery may be possible by a computer repair expert, but this can easily end up costing you hundreds of dollars. Since cloud-based services are free, why not prevent a catastrophe instead of trying to fix one?

Typewriters

Even worse than hard drives is putting something down on paper. Paper is vulnerable to getting wet, being used by insects and rodents as food or nesting material, being gnawed by teething or stressed pets, being attacked by mold, getting set on fire in extreme heat, and more. If a typewriter is the way you need to get your book content out of you, fine. But your text shouldn’t be kept in that state for longer than absolutely necessary. The moment you get the opportunity, put your words into a digital format, preferably on a cloud-based service. Do this after each writing session. Don’t wait weeks or months to do it. That’s exactly when the “unthinkable” could happen.

Pen(cil) and Paper

A classic method, to be sure, but just as high risk as a typewriter or, to some extent, hard drives. Again, if this is the only way you can produce your initial draft, do so. But constantly be backing up your work digitally.

Writing Misconceptions

There are a lot of writers who sabotage themselves in ways that have nothing to do with their writing methods or schedule. The mentality they bring to the writing process is what holds them back from working faster, having more fun, and producing better final products. If you can keep yourself from falling into the traps set by these misconceptions, you can save yourself a lot of time, money, and headache.

“Perfection exists.”

No. It doesn’t.

Have you ever seen a movie, read a book, viewed a piece of art, or listened to a song and thought “What the hell is this?”

Additionally, have you noticed that the supposed “masters” of writing “classics” get negative reviews as well? That not everyone who has read their work loves it? Take a look at books by people like Toni Morrison, Stephen King, Amy Tan, or W. E. B. DuBois at places like Amazon or Goodreads. None of them have 5-star ratings from every single person who left a review.

This is because there is no way to create something that everyone loves. Humans are simply too diverse. What one person thinks is the perfect amount of eroticism in a romance novel is way too much for someone else, and way too little for yet another reader.

Many new writers, because they believe perfection exists, spin their wheels (adding massive amounts of extra, wasted time to their writing efforts) trying to achieve something that isn’t possible, working themselves into a lather the whole time.

People read and love books by imperfect people. It’s okay. Books by all of the “great” writers have plot holes, character inconsistencies, logic errors, and grammatical issues. Yet, they still have a strong following of people who adore them and their work.

And you can, too.

But no one can read what you don’t publish, so getting through the writing process and on to the book development and publication processes—leaving perfection behind you—is the best route to take, in my humble opinion.

My first draft won’t look like [insert famous author’s name] wrote it, so why bother?

Celebrity authors don’t have first drafts that look anything like what you find from them on Amazon. Their pieces have been raked over by professional after professional to get it into shape and make it something you are ready and willing to pay your hard-earned money to read.

But it all starts with that first draft. You have to give those professionals something to work with. Your first draft is your worst draft, which is exactly how writing works!

Writing Math (blech!)

Getting a manuscript completed is a numbers game. A pretty simple one, at that. Here are the goals you might be shooting for with your writing.

• Short Story: 10,000 words or less.
• Novelette: 7,500 to 17,999 words.
• Novella: 18,000 words to 39,999 words.
• Novel: 40,000 to 109,999 words
• Epic: 110,000 words or more.

The lowest number of pages most publishing platforms will require to print a physical book is 24 pages. But, that could literally be a single word on each page for a total of 24 words. So, anything about 24 words could theoretically be printed and sold (though finding buyers would be quite a challenge!). With this understanding, try to relax when it comes to word count. If you feel like you need a number to shoot for just to keep you motivated and accountable, fair enough. Consider the word count you’d like and use it to do the math for your writing schedule.

A Warning About Word Count

Sometimes the story you’re thinking of or the information you want to provide doesn’t amount to as many words as you thought. And that’s okay! Most readers would much rather read a well-written, engaging book that’s shorter than try to read a piece where the author just stuffed in a bunch of extra content so the book would be “long enough.” Remember, you only “need” 24 words. Your manuscript is complete when you are done telling your story or giving the reader the information they want from you. The word count will change during the editing process, but there’s no need to try to stuff your manuscript with a bunch of useless filler for the sake of meeting an arbitrary word count.

Example Rates

So, what would finishing, say, a novella-length manuscript look like?

Novella minimum = 18,000 words

To write a novella in a year = 1,500 words (6 pages) per month / 50 words per day.

To write a novella in a month = 4,500 words (18 pages) per week / 600 words (3 pages) per day.

To write a novella in a week = 2,572 words (11 pages) per day.

To write a novella in a day = 1,200 words (5 pages) per hour / 20 words per minute (if you’re writing for 15 hours, excluding bathroom and meal breaks and sleep).

You can do the same math with any word count. Be sure to round up, never down, when you get a number with a decimal. For example, 598.9 words is 599 words. 123.3 words is 124 words. If there is any decimal at all, round up.

When figuring your writing goals for each day or week, you just need to consider:

• How much time you want to take to finish the manuscript (a week, a quarter, six months, etc.).
• Approximately how many words long you want the book to be (remember that this will change during the revision process, so don’t get too hung up on it, just pick something to use as a goal).

Then just divide the words by the days you want to take to finish and you’ll get your daily goal. Multiply it by seven for a weekly goal. Multiply it by 30 for a monthly goal.

For example, if you want to write a 60,000-word novel in 30 days, divide 60,000 by 30 to get a daily goal of 2,000 words and a weekly goal of 14,000 words.

When to Write

The writing process is difficult enough as it is, so thankfully, this really doesn’t matter. As long as it is at a time and in a way that works for you. If you’re a night owl, an hour before bed might be your best bet. If your nights and mornings are jam-packed, maybe mid-day sessions work best for you. If you’re using a cloud-based word processor, you can work on your manuscript from just about anywhere so long as you have your phone with you or have access to an internet-connected computer.

Many writers get hung up on trying to write the way [insert celebrity author name] writes. What they fail to realize is that those authors just started doing whatever works for them. And by catering to their personal needs, they found methods that helped them write stronger literature more quickly. If you do the same, you’ll find the rhythm, tools, and time that work best and crank out your manuscripts as quickly and easily as possible (and in a way that works for your lifestyle and budget).

Getting “Stuck”

If you have followed the tips provided on this site involving crafting your premise and blurb and creating an outline, it’s going to be pretty hard to think you’re having “writer’s block.” But, just in case, here is an excerpt from my book The 12-Month Manuscript that can help!

Chapter 5: Stay the Course

In this chapter:

• Three major ways manuscript progress gets derailed.
• Options for avoiding and coping with these issues.

There are a few common pitfalls that you’re likely to run into while you’re completing your manuscript. Here I have outlined what some of them are. I’ve also given you some options for keeping them from happening in the first place, as well as dealing with them once they take place. This chapter isn’t necessary for starting your manuscript-writing journey. But it will help you to give it a read so that you can prepare for what could befall you while you’re working on your project.

Missing a Writing Session

Prevention

To help decrease the chance that you are going to run into problems maintaining your writing progress:

► Review and clear your calendar. For example, if you plan on writing every Sunday morning from 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m., consider if there are any birthdays, holidays, vacations, or other events coming up during that time throughout the next year. If you find that there are some things that conflict with your writing schedule, cancel or move the event or shift your writing time to a later or earlier time that day or week.

► Let your family and friends know. Telling people when you’ve set aside your time to write will help them avoid scheduling things they want you to attend during that time (bridal showers, birthday parties, etc.). Knowing that you’re serious about finishing your manuscript can also help them be more forgiving when you excuse yourself early from, or arrive late to, a gathering because of your writing schedule. You may be surprised at how willing your loved ones are to shift events over by a half hour to accommodate you or that they don’t get quite so irritated with your tardiness at events since you told them about the scheduling issue ahead of time.

► Get an accountability partner or book coach. Sometimes getting off track isn’t a matter of scheduling. When you’re having a bad week, are recovering from an illness, or have gotten particularly busy (high-traffic season at work, for example), having someone to help push you to keep writing can be key. If you have someone in your life who is reliable and organized, ask them to check in with you at least once each month to make sure you’re staying on track with your writing goals (weekly might be even better). This could be as basic as an email asking what your current word count is. Presenting this role as something that won’t take a lot of time or effort on the part of the accountability partner can help them be more willing to assist you. If you don’t think there is anyone in your life willing to do that for you on a consistent basis, consider hiring a book coach.

Management

Regardless of how well we prepare for this literary journey, life happens!

► Relax. The first step is always to calm yourself down. When you feel anxious, it’s easy to abandon any task, including completing your manuscript. Don’t let this happen to you. Take a moment to clear your head by whatever healthy, legal means you prefer (taking a walk, deep breathing, taking a nap, etc.).

► Dive in to catching up. Your first and fastest option for getting back on track is to immediately go write the 110 (or whatever your goal is) words you missed before you go to sleep or shortly after you wake up the next day.

► Spread the problem thin. Your second, slower option is to divide the backlog of work across the coming seven days. So, instead of writing 110 words per day, write 126 words per day. After the week is up, everything goes back to the 110-word norm.

I recommend not prolonging the catch-up process by any more than one week. Whenever you fall short of your smaller goals, you want to get back on track as soon as possible so you can put the delay behind you. It’s easy for the work to pile up and overwhelm you into writing nothing at all, which is exactly what you’re trying to avoid.

If you are a cleaver who isn’t writing daily, you’ll have to tackle this issue a little differently. For example, let’s say you write for one hour every Saturday morning. If you have to miss this session, consider moving that hour to Saturday afternoon or night. You could also move it to Sunday if you won’t have time on weekdays. Another option is to do two hours of writing the following Saturday. Letting those missing words hover around longer than that single week can be problematic.

Getting Stuck

Prevention

Some people refer to feeling stuck as “writer’s block.” In my experience, people normally don’t have zero ideas about how to continue their plot. They often are being so picky about which ideas they’re going to write down, they become immobilized by indecision. This is because, as I mentioned in Chapter 1, they are trying to edit and write simultaneously. Often, if you find yourself getting ‘stuck,’ it’s because you’re focusing on things that have little, if any, relevance while writing your first draft. You shouldn’t be obsessing over the exact wording of dialogue, for example. Just write down the heart of what you want people to say. In the revisions that you do before you hand the piece off to an editor, you can focus on those kinds of finer details.

►Be open. Before you start writing, open your heart and mind. Be accepting of whatever ideas come to you. Condition your brain to believe that there is no such thing as a bad idea so you can get as many words written as possible. This is similar to dumping puzzle pieces out onto a table and then connecting the ones that go together. You don’t criticize or refuse to use a piece just because it landed on the table crooked, face-down, or on top of another piece. That initial chaos is what allows you to (through hard work and perseverance) end up with a beautiful image. But it all starts with dumping your pieces on the table / writing your words how they come to you.

► Create an outline. If you create an outline before you get hot and heavy into the writing process, it becomes much more difficult to get stuck or lost. You end up with a guidebook that tells you what scenes come after the ones you just wrote. Having a blueprint to refer back to can help keep you on track with your content creation.

Management

► Consult your outline. If you have created an outline, don’t forget about it just because you’ve been on a roll for a while. If you haven’t touched your outline since you started writing, refer back to it.

► Get more detailed. Have you described your world in such a way that the reader is fully immersed? Consider spending time describing the physical or psychological components of your characters, the visuals in the location of each scene (a bar, a bedroom, a lake, etc.), or critical aspects of the world itself (how people find and make food, what kinds of crimes are committed on a regular basis, how many moons are in the sky at night, etc.).

► Write out possibilities. You may have written a happy ending with all the loose strings tied up nice and neat. But what would a tragic ending look like? What about a cliffhanger that sets up a second book? After you finish your draft and are starting the editing process, you can spend time figuring out which ending you want to use and tightening up that particular section.

Remember: You’d rather have content and not need it than need content and not have it—ALWAYS! There’s no reason to stop your writing because you think you’re stuck.

Waiting for Magic

Prevention and Management

Waiting for magic is just a subset of getting stuck. Standing by until some enchanted inspiration strikes hurts the writing process.

► See sudden ideas as treats, not meals. There may be times when a specific plot twist, character phrase, or engaging scene may strike you seemingly out of the blue. That’s a great thing, and I encourage you to include the idea in your draft. However, waiting around for some fantastical surge of creativity to pop up means waiting—not writing—which is the opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish.

► Accept that writing is work, not happenstance. The ‘magic’ of writing is in the transformation of a mere idea into a concrete product that encompasses and expresses that idea so well that people all over the world can pick up a book and share in the experience. An example: If you want to grow a rose bush, you will need to buy seeds and make sure the plant gets the appropriate amount of nutrients, sunlight, shelter, and water. Turning a seed into a flourishing mass of flowers takes effort and time. If you just sit on your front porch waiting for a rose bush to miraculously appear, you’re gonna waste a lot of your life. The fact that writing is actually work escapes a lot of people. If you can come to terms with the idea that you’re going to have to “get your hands dirty,” you’ll find that you don’t waste time expecting handouts from the universe. If they come, let them be bonuses that ease your creative burden. But don’t treat inspiration as though it owes you something.

Onward to Editing Lessons.