What I'm Learning

I'm an amateur. No need to hide it. However, amateur as I may be, I'm an amateur with dreams, willpower, and two books already up on Amazon (which aren't really doing anything, but still).

I just published a month ago and the thought that someone out there actually bought my book, with or without the intention of reading it, was so exciting! It made me want to try much harder to get the third book out, and then another, and I'm even thinking about doing some short stories for experiment. I've begun doing reviews on goodreads, and have contacted some book bloggers, few of which said they'd be happy to review my book. So awesome. I worship those people, even if they take forever to do it, because if it's one thing I learned from research is that Reviews account for a helluva lot.

People like Joanna Penn, Stephen Lewis and JA Konrath are all bloggers who've become Kindle authors and give excellent information on those striving to be successful.

All have fantastic information, and a lot of them give the same kinds of advice for indie authors. I've compiled a mental list myself.

1. Edit. I edited my first book Dragons of Witchcraft 11 times and am still finding mistakes. Crazy and distressing.

2. Have lots of books. Right now I only have two completed ones and a bunch of untapped ideas, first drafts, and samples that will never see the light of day.

3. Get reviews. Book bloggers, lists, and making use of your e-book to ask for them.

4. Experiment with pricing. Since no one knows my books exist, there's really not much of a point, but as most authors do, I set the first one to $.99 and the second to $2.99. Both have had a least a few sales. I don't consider myself capable of moving into the Trump Hotel anytime soon, but I'm crossing my fingers as hard has I can. (ha ha ha)

These are just a short few, but so many more tips exist that I simply suggest checking out the original sources.

Editing

Editing is long, but believe it or not I like the hard work. I've gone through the entire text twice now, and found new mistakes every time. You can never edit enough, so I plan to go through the entire thing a third time. I'm in a serious writing mode now and all I really do is eat and sleep. Weight loss has not been forgotten, however. Every morning, early as hell, I go for a 2 mile walk/jog and then come home to sleep. I wake right up and start writing. I write for about six hours, take my second nap, and then wake up to have dinner and write again. This is the kind of hard work I always imagined doing, and I absolutely love it.

Also I've been checking out blog posts by Amanda Hocking, Stephen Lewis, and Joanna Penn for information and inspiration. When I'm not writing I'm studying, and when I'm not doing that, I'm researching. The first book is finally done and I'm already planning the next one. Hopefully it will turn out well so that the second one will be relevant.