Another update: Have regained my sanity and decided not to do a second novel this month. The first will be finished by tomorrow, Sunday at the latest.
The reason for my change of heart is something I became aware of during my local chapter meeting of Romance Writers of America. I was an entrepreneur before I was a writer, so why it never occurred to me that I should have a business plan escapes me. I guess I thought that because I had a plan of sorts in my head, it was sufficient. That meeting was all about business plans for writers, a rather more elusive target than plans for other types of business. The presenter had written a book about it. Nerd that I am, I got very excited about doing that.
What it showed me is that I need the rest of this month to prepare for a strong business launch in January. I have one book published in first draft shape in my new pen name. That needs to be pulled, revised, re-covered to reflect the different category I've now chosen and republished. After tomorrow, I'll have two novels that need revision before publishing, and oops! I set aside the revision of the first to write the second during NaNoWriMo. So this is a fall back and re-group decision.
I don't need to prove anything, to myself or anyone else, about how productive I can be. The proof is already out there...over 850,000 words this year. Nine full-length novels published and two more written. I can absolutely write another one before the end of the month, if I want to. But, it doesn't make good business sense. So, I'm not going to do it.
Next year, I'll be working smarter, not harder. I'll be writing an average of 3k words per day, which, when I account for weekends off, a couple of week-long vacations and various long weekends, will result in somewhat fewer words than this year. Maybe around 700k-750k. At the end of the year, I'll have eight new books out, for a total of 17. There's a lady who has been polling indie writers for earnings and publishing the results (with names deleted) for several years now. At the average per book, which falls right in line with what my thrillers are earning already, it gives me a 6-figure income for the year. I can live on that, quite well in fact. Therefore, the decision to kick back and take it relatively easy feels like a good one.
I tell you this in support of what I'm going to say next. If you're counting on writing as your fast lane (I maintain that it isn't, but that's another discussion, that I've posted in this thread before), you need a business plan. If you don't believe me, ask @MJ DeMarco. I'm going to recommend a book to get you started, and in that book, the author recommends another for extremely right-brained or creative people who hate the idea of charts and graphs. The book is called The Coffee Break Guide to Business Plans for Writers, by Amy Denim. Here's a link that will pay my daughter about half a cent if you use it: http://amzn.to/116y1Uy. While you're on Amazon, pick up Amy's other book about social media for writers, another amazingly simple guide to doing your social media marketing and still having time to write.
The reason for my change of heart is something I became aware of during my local chapter meeting of Romance Writers of America. I was an entrepreneur before I was a writer, so why it never occurred to me that I should have a business plan escapes me. I guess I thought that because I had a plan of sorts in my head, it was sufficient. That meeting was all about business plans for writers, a rather more elusive target than plans for other types of business. The presenter had written a book about it. Nerd that I am, I got very excited about doing that.
What it showed me is that I need the rest of this month to prepare for a strong business launch in January. I have one book published in first draft shape in my new pen name. That needs to be pulled, revised, re-covered to reflect the different category I've now chosen and republished. After tomorrow, I'll have two novels that need revision before publishing, and oops! I set aside the revision of the first to write the second during NaNoWriMo. So this is a fall back and re-group decision.
I don't need to prove anything, to myself or anyone else, about how productive I can be. The proof is already out there...over 850,000 words this year. Nine full-length novels published and two more written. I can absolutely write another one before the end of the month, if I want to. But, it doesn't make good business sense. So, I'm not going to do it.
Next year, I'll be working smarter, not harder. I'll be writing an average of 3k words per day, which, when I account for weekends off, a couple of week-long vacations and various long weekends, will result in somewhat fewer words than this year. Maybe around 700k-750k. At the end of the year, I'll have eight new books out, for a total of 17. There's a lady who has been polling indie writers for earnings and publishing the results (with names deleted) for several years now. At the average per book, which falls right in line with what my thrillers are earning already, it gives me a 6-figure income for the year. I can live on that, quite well in fact. Therefore, the decision to kick back and take it relatively easy feels like a good one.
I tell you this in support of what I'm going to say next. If you're counting on writing as your fast lane (I maintain that it isn't, but that's another discussion, that I've posted in this thread before), you need a business plan. If you don't believe me, ask @MJ DeMarco. I'm going to recommend a book to get you started, and in that book, the author recommends another for extremely right-brained or creative people who hate the idea of charts and graphs. The book is called The Coffee Break Guide to Business Plans for Writers, by Amy Denim. Here's a link that will pay my daughter about half a cent if you use it: http://amzn.to/116y1Uy. While you're on Amazon, pick up Amy's other book about social media for writers, another amazingly simple guide to doing your social media marketing and still having time to write.
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