Self-publishing authors motivational writing group

Hi everyone 👋

As I say in my bio, I'm writing a book based on my time as a venture capitalist. So far I've written roughly a chapter.

I don't make regular progress, I've been tweaking this first chapter for months and not setting aside the time to really work on it. A full time job and trying to keep fit by exercising before the working day starts doesn't help.

However, if I do force myself to sit down to write I really enjoy it and normally get into the flow and find it gives me energy - so I really need to just get on with it.

How are the rest of you doing with your books?

Hi! :) 

I am (theoretically) working on my second fiction novel...but covid and general ennui have conspired to make sitting down and being productive somewhat elusive. Hopefully checking in here will give me some inspiration! 

Well good morning to you both.

I found my self awake a little earlier than usual, and, mainly to have something to write here(!), I forced myself to open my Google Doc and get going.

I'm pleased I did! I still didn't add anything substantially new, but I found a paragraph in my first chapter that had a concept in it that I could explain with more clarity. So I simplified the initial paragraph and added an additional one with an easier to follow explanation.

I'm also happy that I got in touch with my book again. I find that it's much easier to make progress when I'm familiar with the text, but if I don't look at it for a while, I always have to spend so much time rereading to get back into the flow of the book. I'm hoping that if I can regularly work on it, I can spend less time rereading, and more time writing.

Do you guys work from an outline? I suppose with non-fiction you sort of have to?? 

What about writing goals? Any timeline that you're trying to follow?

A long time ago I made a presentation to explain how venture capital works to a friend of mine. Just like the book I want to write, it started from with simple concepts and built on them. But I've found that for the book I actually have to start in a much simpler place, and build at a slower pace. So that's been a challenge to stop me from converting it into a book so quickly.

I don't have any goals (in any of my life lol). Do you?

Also, how was writing your first book? (Feel free to link to it!)

Do you have a publishing plan for when you get your book finished?

My writing goals are to try and knuckle down to get book 2 of the series I've started done by the fall. I'm not sure how realistic that is based on my recent output...but we'll see! :)

I have a fairly complete plot outline already so in theory it's just a matter of keeping my butt in the chair in front of my laptop and not ending up playing Angry Birds.

I have a website that I also need to update a bit (ktcroft.com) and as I'm not very skilled with techy stuff that can be a time suck.

My first book...so that was an interesting journey. Basically, the short version is that I started off writing (posting/commenting) in some of the sort of 'lost girl self-help' kind of subs on Reddit. Over time (years) the posts/comments that got the big responses from others were of the personal hijinx variety. (Apparently, I have a small gift for making embarrassing revelations entertaining). That led to me oversharing my short catalog of true events...and after that, I started trying fictional short stories. THAT led to the idea of merging mysteries (which is my favour genre to read) and the sort of steamy shorts that I was familiar with writing together. And 'Katie Undercovers' was born! The first novel isn't going to make anyone's fine literature of the year list. But I hope it's a fun and page-turning romp for those who are into that sort of thing! :) 

It's on Amazon http://mybook.to/TheNightSwimmers and is free to read (if you have Kindle Unlimited). 

That's really impressive, and a nice organic way to get into writing.

Congratulations on the five star reviews by the way. What is it like having a self published (well reviewed) book on Amazon? Do you get any purchases?

Also nice to meet you Mippipops. How is your rom-com writing going?

Hi Mippipops! 

I used pomodoro quite a bit at one point a few years ago. It was a useful tool! I guess I found once I'd reached a certain word count, and I was fully into my story, that I didn't need it as the momentum I'd built up was enough to keep things going along. But now that I'm starting off on a new project it might well be exactly what I need to try and build momentum again. Thanks for the reminder - I should probably try it again now as I'm struggling.

Joshua - The 5-star reviews were definitely a 'boost'. Though the folks over at goodreads.com have been far less generous. Some of that was deserved...the first version published had some grammar and spelling issues that my diligent beta readers didn't catch, and I think I also managed to upload an earlier copy. But the current ebook version should be (fingers crossed) essentially error-free.  

And the 5-star reviews were mostly from Reddit friends who had followed my online writing career for years previously so they were all heavily biased in their support. 

It's been published on Amazon for about a year now. I had two weeks of free give-aways of the kindle version so the total number of sales/downloads is 384 (3 paperbacks, the rest ebooks) which made me around $121 (US) in total sales. But in the fiction world these days it's apparently all about cranking out more books. The more you have...the more you sell. People are more inclined to purchase when they see a whole catalogue of work as that means two thing: 1) If the author is prolific that tends to mean they have figured out how to write an entertaining story so there is some sense of security in the making the purchase and, 2) If the reader likes the style then they are happy because there is 'more where that came from' just waiting for them.

Hey! I did both. I used prowritingaid for the recent edit (SO much better than grammarly), and I exchanged cover design services for editing from another author who does editing on the side.  I had previously just used grammarly (free edition) and the trust of my few beta readers (most of whom I know only from Reddit and for most of them English is their second language...so!! Ya.)

I'd be interested in hearing about the editor you found! How affordable is 'affordable'? Haha. And I'm certainly up for some beta reading exchange with you if that is of interest? 

As for cover design - my (future) sister-in-law did my covers and is interested in building a portfolio as she has fun with it as a side gig. So she'll probably work cheap - without committment if you (or anyone else) is interested. Just let me know! :)

Awesome!! Mine is many months away from being ready for that. How's your progress on your latest at this point??  

Ya, you get what you pay for when it comes to editors, designers, or anything else I suppose. :) 

I think I'll go with that approach that you mentioned...self/beta editing for book 2 (with prowritingaid for sure). And then hopefully if Book 2 sales perform well, and I make it on to Book 3 THEN I will splurge for a pro editor. That's my plan at the moment anyway. :) 

A mystery subplot you say!!?? I'm definitely in! :)

No, my betas have varied wildly in their feedback and the most useful was the editor/author who did the last pass. But she just copy and pasted offending sections into one document ad hoc and it was up to me to then search for where they came from the manuscript. Not ideal...but I suppose it worked well enough. In-line commentary sounds much better! (I would need some hand-holding to figure out how to do that to give feedback myself).

Is that in-line commentary done in word? Or google docs? Or something like that? I do all my actual writing in Scrivener and then I have exported from there depending on who is reading and what they want to use (.epub, .pdf, .doc, etc) but I don't know about in-line commentary for any of those (but I gather word doc files are easy that way if you know how).

Hey guys, I'm off to America for a road trip for a week, so will not be writing or replying here for that time (just so you know if I suddenly go quiet).

That reading-swap sounds cool! I will send you both DMs on Reddit so you have each other's details and don't have to share them publicly. (But please keep talking here too 🙏 - I'm enjoying learning from you both and being part of the group!)

Actually, for the moment I can't share your details as I'm not sure who you are on Reddit Mippipops! If you want, send me another DM on Reddit so I know who you are.

Scrivener is pretty great! I've used it for a number of years now and there is much about it that I like. The two main features that I love: 

1) that it is so much more than just a text editing program, as it gives you a framework and space for you to organize all sorts of different background elements to your story (and include all sorts of things like character photos you find on the web, links to things, lists of characteristics, and plot notes etc. etc.).

2) You can write in whatever font and size you like and then save it out ('compile') the manuscript super easily into whatever format you want (there are tons of options)- using whatever font parameters you want without changing anything of the manuscript in the process.  

All that said I know maybe 10% of what scrivener can do. I have it set up in a way that I'm used to now, but I get the sense it's a Ferrari that I just use for making trips to the laundromat - kind of thing. 

And thanks for the comment link! I'm guessing though that it would work great for me to make my own comments but any Beta readers would need scrivener themselves (and all my source files presumably) to be able to use that to make comments back that I could use. I'm pretty sure that scrivener can export to word doc files super easily so if that's what most people use that might be best(?)

Have a great road trip Joshua!

How’d the 1000 words go!?? 

I managed….exactly zero today. Haha. Sigh. 

Anyway I do feel like I’ve taken over the thread of conversation here…probably the scrivener etc convo isn’t of interest to everyone else - feel free to DM me on Reddit. I have a few accounts but u/vibratorator (don’t ask…sigh) is one I use often. :)

How has everyone's writing been going?

That's great re the feedback and 2k a day is huge. How has that been going?

I didn't do any writing when I was away. I didn't bring a computer with me to minimise my time with a screen.

Super slow writing progress for me last week. But I'm hoping to get some good numbers up over the next few days. (I suppose we'll see).

I had a great time looking at Maria's amazing plot outline and I'm super glad that she might have found any of my rambling ideas potentially useful! :)