But\u2026<\/p>\n
Ah, you knew there\u2019d be a but, didn\u2019t you? There\u2019s always a catch. Well, it\u2019s not really a catch, so much as a couple of rules. Or maybe guidelines. Here they are:<\/p>\n
1) Write something that people want to read<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, duh! Talk about stating the obvious. Of course<\/em> you have to write something that people want to read. If you craft poetry in iambic pentameter, your audience is necessarily going to be limited. If you put forth your highly original genre-mashup, you may well find the world isn\u2019t quite ready for you yet. But how many readers are looking for another Harry Potter? Or Twilight? Or {insert bestseller here}? Must be millions, and that\u2019s exactly what the big publishers are looking for, too – something that will sell a lot<\/em>.<\/p>\n However, you\u2019d be surprised how often an author\u2019s first novel isn\u2019t aimed at any particular reader. It\u2019s the story that\u2019s been burning inside the author\u2019s brain for months or years, the one that has to be told, that won\u2019t let up until it\u2019s transcribed to paper for all eternity. It\u2019s the one the author most wants to read herself, probably because she can\u2019t find anything quite like it in bookstores. And that\u2019s absolutely fine. However unusual it is, there are bound to be a few readers out there waiting for something just like it to happen along.<\/p>\n Just not very many. Sometimes an author just happens to hit a home run at the first attempt even without aiming at Harry Potter fans, but it\u2019s extremely rare. As a rule of thumb, assume your magnum opus<\/em> isn\u2019t in this category.<\/p>\n So if you want to make money, whether it\u2019s a comfortable income so you can give up the day job, a little extra to pay for a new car, or just enough to cover your publishing costs, your readership has to be more focused, and you have to give them what they want to read. What a lot<\/em> of them want to read.<\/p>\n 2) Publish often<\/strong><\/p>\n This is where traditional publishing veers away from the indie brigade. With a trad deal, one book a year is the norm, and each book takes a year or two, maybe more, to reach the point of publication, even after the manuscript has been handed over. But that\u2019s fine, because a committed publisher will drum up loads of publicity for each new release, so an author doesn\u2019t have to worry about readers forgetting all about him.<\/p>\n But for indies, visibility is key, and one of the best ways to increase visibility is to release another book. And then another. If you could publish a book every month, you\u2019d always have one in that honeymoon new-release phase. Even for notoriously slow-release genres like epic fantasy, two or even three books a year is a good idea to keep the pot boiling.<\/p>\n But\u2026 but\u2026 but\u2026 I hear you saying. But I can\u2019t possibly do that! I have to polish every word until it\u2019s perfect. I have to give it a thorough editing. I have to plan and plot and outline and develop my characters and then there\u2019s all that world-building\u2026 If I write fast, it can\u2019t possibly be any good, can it?<\/p>\n Ah, the quality issue. Here\u2019s the thing. If you want to write exquisite prose, feel free to do that, even if it takes you ten years to produce something that satisfies you. But if you only aspire to prose that\u2019s good enough to carry the story without being breathtaking, you can do that in a lot less than ten years. And experience counts for a great deal; each book will be finished a little bit quicker than the previous one, as you hone your craft and perfect your methods.<\/p>\n The solution: writing to market, and writing fast<\/strong><\/p>\n For anyone who\u2019s serious about making significant money from self-publishing, there are techniques that will make that outcome more likely. There are no guarantees, of course, but if you write to market, and write fast, you greatly increase the odds of a good income from your books. Writing to market means analysing the bestseller lists in your genre and identifying the key tropes (or storytelling conventions) in them. Then you write a book that sticks very closely to those tropes, package it in a similar way to the bestsellers and send it on its way. And then repeat, since a series is more effective than stand-alones. Writing fast means exactly that: increase your productivity. The fastest authors can write 10,000 words a day or more, which means producing a novel a week. But even 1,000 words a day will result in a 60,000 word novel in two months – that\u2019s six books a year.<\/p>\n
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If you want all the detail of how to do this, author Chris Fox has published some books to help. 5,000 Words Per Hour<\/strong><\/em> will help increase writing speed, and Write To Market<\/strong><\/em> explains how to analyse the bestseller lists and target your book at a specific (but large!) audience. And Chris isn\u2019t just talking about it: he\u2019s currently committed to writing a novel in just 21 days, and documenting every step of it on video, starting today (Sunday 21st February 2016). You can follow along from Chris’s website