Sometimes, you just need to set yourself a stupidly audacious goal. This is the chronicle of one brand new self-published author (that’s me) and his attempts at achieving an outrageous and arbitrarily-defined definition of success.
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Tips for more effective self-editing
We were talking on the #PulpRev Discord recently about the problems that authors face with editing:
Writing and editing are two separate skills. Writers may also be good editors, but it’s not guaranteed. It’s a big ask to solicit free editing advice from friends and acquaintances. Editing is long, hard, tedious work, and editing a friend’s manuscript risks burning the relationship. Professional editors are expensive. Self-editing is difficult even for an accomplished editor because of the author’s familiarity with the manuscript.
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Writing fun stories for normal people
Did your writing teachers set you up for failure?
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately on how we’re taught to write in school.
I took every creative writing courses that was offered in the schools I attended. I learned a ton, and got a lot of good practice in.
But I also learned a lot of things that I ended up having to unlearn later.
The Creative Writing track in most schools is a funnel to MFA degree programs, where students and professors write stories to try and impress each other.
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Write a Salable Story Today
Would you believe you could write a salable short story today?
Ad links! (Learn more) You could have five or more in a week, if you put your mind to it.
You don’t have to be a good writer, you just need a little guidance. With a solid plan, it will only take you a few hours to write a short story. Once you’ve written it, you can edit and revise it, polish it until it shines.
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The Best Little Timer Money Can Buy
Do you write?
Do you do timed writes?
You should. I’ll tell you how.
But first let me tell you my story.
I recently determined to develop a rock-solid foundational writing habit for myself.
Every morning, I write for at least five minutes. I don’t have to write any longer than that, but I have to put in those five minutes. It’s non-negotiable.
I started out using a timer app. Depending on my volume settings, the alarm would startle me, or I couldn’t hear it at all.
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How to Write Fast: A Review
Ad links! (Learn more) I just finished reading “How to Write Fast” by Sean Platt and Neeve Silver, from the Sterling & Stone writing studio.
This was a slim yet inspiring book. It reads quickly and delivers an effective payload. I’ve struggled with writing consistently, and when I do write, it feels so slow! This was the right book at the right time for me.
One note on “writing fast”: the authors make it clear that they don’t feel any need to sacrifice quality for speed, yet their claimed rates are mind-boggling: 1 million words per year, or more!
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Advice to a New Author
A friend of mine is looking to get into creative writing, and asked me today to recommend some books. By the time I’d finished collecting thoughts and links, I realized I had the makings of a great blog post. My email to him follows:
The first and most important thing I would recommend is to write. Use what follows to guide your writing, but you can only learn to write by writing.
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Indie publishing is not independent
A funny thing happened on the way to the indie publishing revolution. We stormed the Bastille and threw off the oppressive aristocracy of Traditional Publishing. We mastered EPUB and MOBI. But somehow, we found ourselves saddled by a self-crowned Emperor Amazon.
Under the Emperor, we’ve won a lot of battles, it’s true, and it has been glorious. We all laugh at those silly aristocrats complaining that their $15.99 ebooks don’t sell.
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The Long Slow Ramp of Death
It’s been about two weeks since I announced that I was taking my first step on my journey to $10k of revenue per month as a self-published author.
It’s been four weeks since I released the first episode of my epic galactic empire space opera serial, Salvage of Empire.
My fiction mailing list has grown by 100%, my Road to $10k list by 200%. Impressive, no?
Are you still impressed when I say each list started with one subscriber (myself), and I now have two and three subscribers, respectively?
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The Road to $10k: An Author's Journey
As a completely unknown author with no big connections and no following (and no income), the problem of becoming a known author with connections and a following (not to mention a steady income) looms over me. So many of the success stories out there seem to boil down to just-so, “and then I got lucky” stories.
Well, I’ve come to understand that luck is mostly a matter of managing you opportunities well.