Long Tail Writing

Booksprout is a website that helps manage advanced reader copies (arcs). The main advantage of this website is the community it brings along with it. That drives an important discussion that will be highlighted in this article. That conversation is what is the size of the community and how effective is it? We’ll break this down into four main sections: What is Booksprout How big is this pool How many readers turn into Amazon book reviews Can it be super-charged Before we begin, I’ve used 7 books with the free version of this service. Most of my books have been complete short story (10k words) in the fantasy genre, that use Fiverr to help with cover design. Many things may factor in your mileage: genre, book length, cover, and more. What is Booksprout? Booksprout is one of many services that helps provide stories to readers before they are published. You start by uploading the cover, some category information, the book description, and the complete book in the three major f

When the clock strikes twelve on a new year, its easy to estimate how many words you’ll accomplish for the future. After all, you’re given a full year to accomplish them. However, as days turn into weeks, and weeks into months… the truth slowly becomes obvious. Word count goals are difficult. This last year, 2020, I only barely achieved my word count goal of 400k words. Even so, that was because I added in my regular ranting on top of my produced work. My produced work was actually somewhere in the ballpark of 150k. That can leave an author feeling quite bummed about what was created. If you add into that all the promotions and upkeep you have to accomplish as an author… and it really is a difficult career. What I’ve learned through New Years resolutions is that you have to strike that balance between ambitious and achievable, with a bit of wiggle room added in. All the while, making the goal something that can be measured. That’s a very tricky balance. The first step to completing tha

One common phrase that is often said to authors is “write to market”. The idea behind this is to do research into a genre, figure out the tropes, figure out a little bit of a spin, get the work completed and edited quickly, and put a professional cover on it. Then go ahead and post it on the marketing websites and things will take off! However, that’s not always the case. In addition, it may feel difficult or boring to try and write to a genre you don’t care about. So authors may take a more fulfilling route: Writing what their heart desires. In this route, you may not be able to make your investment back. This can lead to a frustrating cycle of pouring in lots of money into a pit. That’s correct, authors can dig themselves money pits. When confronted with such a pit, authors are told to simply: write more. If you keep trying and keep paddling, eventually you may make it to shore. The problem I’ve found is that when one effort doesn’t work, a person isn’t motivated to try it again. Tha

I know the point of NaNoWriMo is to not only build a daily writing habit, but to built a book. The hope is that after 30 days of trying to write quickly that you’ll have something. I am trying it again, because I just can’t seem to get into a regular routine with writing. It’s been a quick thing to get out of the way and I don’t want that. I want the writing habit to be more of a vacation, if that makes sense. I think part of the problem is that I don’t have a great way to get started on all this. If I knew I was going to work through a particular chapter per day, that would be helpful, but right now, it feels like I need to take a lot of time to get to that place. It’s the cold water problem, and I wonder if I am going to suffer from it my entire life. The cold water problem being you don’t want to dive in, because the water is cold. Once you swim a little, you get used to the water temperature and have fun. I think the very first thing I need to do is to setup a regular timing. I the

Let’s start this blog post with a definition. Opportunity cost is the loss of potential gain, because you chose a different route. This is similar in concept to technical debt. Technical debt is what is required to re-work an existing quick solution to make it solid. How are these two concepts related? Opportunity cost is often, when truly boiled down, “we took the easy/logical route” when you shouldn’t have. So what happens when you realize that you have regrets over picking one route instead of another? Picking an easy/logical route that didn’t work as well as “the greener grass on the other side”? I am going to take a moment and simplify the verbiage so that we can gain perspective. When we look at the word “opportunity” that really seems to drill down to “non-action” or areas where action could be taken. When we look at the word “cost” we can make it modified to be “lack of” or “removal of” future gain. So, taking this new context into play, opportunity cost could really be “throug

Back in June I discussed finding a pre-made cover. The hope was to upgrade from the Fiverr, Deposit Photo, GIMP solution that I’ve used in the past. The truth of this past cover is that I am really paying fiver for topography. I am asking what style/color of text works best for an image. That’s not a bad value, because it really is valuable. Each Deposit Photo would cost me about $5 and then there would be identifying text fonts from similar books. I would then need to boil down the top three colors of a cover and use a color wheel to find the right text color. I would then need to combine it all. At very least, that would take me about 30 min to 45 min. I pay $7 to save that time ($12-$5). The only problem with this value is that I can’t expect them to do much work for that $7. The truth of it is I would expect them to have it boiled down to a 10 minute procedure; with a bunch of up sells that are the real money makers. So I am looking towards the next step up. I also looked at the st

I’ve worked hard and saved up a little bit of money from royalties. I was doing this to build audio books from my longer stories. The problem is that my schedule isn’t really helping with a routine. I am working on building the routine needed for a daily writing habit, and I’ve done well on building that. However, this money is burning a hole in my pocket, especially when it could be used to build more stories. So what I’ve settled on doing is working with a ghost writer to help knock out some work for me. My idea is to work together to produce stories up to the correct quality. I want to build stories quickly, and this would help me with some of the more prolific problems I am having. The hope is that I can learn to be more prolific, and that when combined with their talents, I can build a lot more stories. I am going to be working through these stories with the same fine tooth comb that I put my own work through. I know that may show that this road will not work. However, if there is

I am far from a popular author. Truthfully, I am not sure even my closest friends and family read what I write. There is a certain amount of sadness in that, but at the same time, there is a certain amount of freedom as well. I can write down anything and everything that comes to my mind. I’ve learned to write not for anyone beyond myself. Everything I create, I create because it pleases me. I know that nearly every word will be cast into the void, not to be picked up by others. That’s okay, because writing is an introspective art. Subjective opinion on an introspective process is not required. The only problem that I’ve really had, with writing into the void, is the lack of path. There is not a strong urge to write a specific tale or scene. There is the worry that I’ll spend my time crafting a scene that won’t work, or will be boring, or will no longer carry my desire. I am worried that I’ll waste years working on a story that no longer interests me. I think what I need to do, to comb

Writing is a subjective art that blurs the line between bliss and torture. One moment, every word is a golden gift handed from the muses on high. The next moment, you’re being laughed at for practically writing in crayons. Art is the practice of constant doubt and frustration. So what are some qualities that can be cultivated to make a person a better writer? 1.) Routine over inspiration In this quality, a daily habit is more important than waiting for inspiration to hit. The truth about writing is that inspiration hits the most when you’ve already started. That means your best inspiration usually happens when you’ve already been working for a bit. 2.) Determine if “this” works and why. A good feature to cultivate in your writing practice is constant observation. This can be observing the details of others around you or in looking at other stories. Does a scene in a movie or TV show work well for you? Why does it work well for you? Start breaking down what works for you and start looki

I recently am trying out an idea where I get as much feedback as possible as quick as possible. The idea is to test my novel ideas before I get too far into the weeds (technical details or in this case, too many chapters in). The hope is to build a book that is not only interesting, but works for the most people possible. However, I’ve recently discovered that more feedback is not always better. Here are a few reasons why: Reason #1: Feedback comes in so many flavors Taking a step back from the purely subjective nature of feedback, there are many types of feedback. The truth is that there are multiple types of edits that can occur. Developmental feedback can help with big picture feedback. That’s really what I was hoping for in this early stage of writing. I would even enjoy structural feedback, which tells me how to take the picture I have and make it clearer. That being said, part of the feedback I got was spelling, grammar, and word usage. That’s not very helpful and actually does t

I have read a lot of articles online and taken a number of video courses. I am far from an accomplished expert, but I have spent a lot of time looking into what process works for me. I think that this can be broken down, for me, into a number of areas. In addition, this process is just at its start. I hope to continue to tweak and perfect what I’ve learned, which is exciting to me. Let’s dig into this 5 stage process. Stage 1: Build Something Horrible I think this is the stage that is potentially the hardest in some ways. People don’t want to be horrible at something they’ve worked really hard at. In addition, it is really troubling to start the process knowing you’re going to be horrible. However, there is a topic that I find absolutely fascinating in this stage. For the first time ever, you get to hear your voice. When I say voice, I don’t mean your actual throat voice. What I mean is your literary voice. When you write a book, you write it in a unique way, in a unique style. When yo

Many of my stories are short stories that don’t require an expensive cover. (Please note, none of these are affiliate links.) I’ve had luck so far spending money on this fiverr gig , then using GIMP to modify the end result. The idea is to get an image and font that work well for the cover. I then modify the image manually, along with the text, to get an okay cover. However, I don’t think I will be able to continue doing that as I write longer and more complex tales. My next step in this process is to pay for pre-made covers. Why is this the next step? Because the Fiverr gig only takes one image from DepositPhotos to be used for the cover. A custom cover takes a number of images and blends them together. The end result is a cover that could pass for a 100% custom design. This is the next step up from pre-made covers, though it is the longest time-wise and most expensive. So, how do I find pre-made covers? First I lookup what others have recommended and commented on. For that, I sear

 As you can see I am building a new website. I am hoping to make this website feature rich, while also making it fast and secure. The goal with this effort is to own another potential marketing channel. I believe in the importance of owning versus renting. If a person uses an exclusive website to publish their book and uses that platform’s tools to market the book, they don’t really own the book. They own one product in one rented instance. That means that the rent can go up, the platform could change its rules, and many more things. This has already happened to me several times and I am tired of building on shaky ground. My hope is to build up my own website, my own mailing list, my own promotions, so that I can truly own my destiny. I believe that fully owning your sales chain, from production to repeat sales, is a stronger strategy for the long term.  There is short term risk with this move though. The main book platform, which requires exclusivity, has the majority of the market. T

There are a few things I've done lately to help build a writing practice. I started out finding a way to take in new information. After I got kinda "full up" on information I had to figure out another method. This article speaks about the "loading/dumping" of information that I hope will lead to a better craft. Step 1: Loading up on information. In this step, it's pretty obvious what happens. I got to a variety of sources and I learn about how to write. My current favorite right now is masterclass, just because it has so many topics by people that are really at the top of their game. I like the idea of learning new things from top teachers. I think that's what really sets Masterclass apart from other sources. Yes, you can get wonderful information, from top teachers, at other locations. However, you need to know which teachers are at the top of their game at first. Once you figure out a handful of top teachers, you then have a very limited amount

I am having some difficulty getting back into the swing of writing daily now that we are having a pandemic. That being said, I have introduced some wonderful new things to help my writing practice. I did sign up for MasterClass, which is giving me access to not only wonderful writers, but creators of all sorts. I was also able to hook up a family member with these same courses, so hopefully that will help them create. I know that there is merit in working on your method, but I am finding that it’s diminishing returns if you don’t go and put the work back into practice. It’s my hope to build the mix between process and results. I’ve got a new focus now; working to make connections with readers. That’s a better focus than what I’ve had in the past, which were mostly based on fear. In the past, I looked at royalties as proof that what I built had value - because I feared that it had no value. I now realize that honest connections with people are the way to build towards the futu

When they say you got to get the fundamentals right, they don’t really tell you how far the fundamentals go. Becoming an author is not simply about writing a wonderful book. A wonderful book is not an easy fundamental to deliver on. It takes a team to make that work. However, a wonderful book also takes practice. So after you’ve done enough writing and worked with the team and you have a wonderful book… that’s only the beginning. In today’s world, that’s just the first step. You also need to be able to sell that book. The first sale is easy: you get your wallet out and you buy. Getting a complete stranger to buy is magnitudes harder. After that, you have an even larger gap to figure out: getting a regular stream of complete strangers to buy your work. Even those can be fast tracked if you just throw enough money at it. The difficult part is getting them to buy without throwing buckets of money at the problem. Some people think that if they throw buckets of money at the problem, it

One of the key tricks to building a daily writing habit is to build a productive work environment. If you have a place you want to go to write, it will allow you to build a better word count. A daily writing habit can mean the difference between a professional and wannabe writer. So here is a first step to getting towards the professional realm of writing. Stimulating but not Cluttered You want to build your writing environment in a way that inspires you. That may include inspirational quotes, Funko Pops from your favorite shows, posters, or any number of things. The point is to surround yourself with inspirational items. However, no one wants to work in a mess. That is why you must strike the balance between being cluttered and being inspirational. Sometimes the best way to strike this balance is to organize the inspiration. This may include a shelf that has nothing but figurines on it. Maybe your posters are in professional framing. Another idea is to keep certain areas of the w

Lately I have been having difficulty finding time to write. I want to write, but there have simply been too many higher priorities. This had me wondering how I should find time to write. Here are three different ways to do just that. Method number one: Edges One of the best ways to find time to write is to look at the edges of your day. That means your morning or night. If you can wake up an hour early or go to bed an hour late; that will give you time to write. This will make a big difference in your writing. My suggestion is to look hard at your morning. It is better to wake up fresh and write then to be tired from your day job and write. Method number  two: Commute Another great method to find time to write is to look at your commute. Sometimes you can take public transportation or carpool and write during that time. Another method would be to use a recorder device while driving, though that can be difficult especially if it becomes a distraction. Distraction free driving is the

What we do without thinking, via habit, helps define most of our life. Some speculate that it is what our lives are built upon. We simply go from one ingrained procedure, like a computer, to the next. This is why writing every day is so important. Writing daily helps your thought structure and makes it much greater than you would normally would have access to. They call this better word structure a writing practice. This is the true power of writing every day. A writing structure can include three components. There may be more components than these, but these three are the ones I can think of easily. Structure one: Goals When you have writing goals, it helps alleviate a very common problem. That problem is what to write. By taking away that extra consideration, you spend less time preparing, and more time writing. Structure two: Revision My least favorite topic is editing. I hate it. I think I hate editing so much because I need to rely on software to help me with grammar. I also hat

Lately I've been working on building a new writing style. It all started when I read about the snowflake method. In this idea, you take one part and expand it. For example, a character starts with a few lines, and turns into a paragraph, then a page. The idea is that you continually expand your story structure. In addition to all that snowflake method, I have also been reading about what kind of questions a person should ask when developing a story. All of these new ideas have me thinking about developing a new writing method. Here are three ways that I'm doing just that. Method 1: Dictation Right now I'm finding that writing is taking too much time. Writing is important to me, but I have my day job. Writing is important to me, but I still need to make sure to take out the trash. Writing is important to me, but I still need to make sure to spend time with family. There are all these different things getting in the way of writing. In order to get these done, I'm now t

There are many things to write, but never enough time to express them correctly. Today I will look into five reasons I love to write. 1. To become my own favorite author. This reason is fairly direct. Anytime I find something cool that another author has done, I want to make it my own and better. The hope is that I can build writing that is amazing. It’s also amazing to think I could have my favorite author write as much as I desire. 2. To surprise and make someone happy; and to break away from their routine. It’s easy to look at fantasy or fiction stories and assume they are a waste of time. It’s not like you gain marketable skills after each epic book series. Instead, writing allows us to relax in our day-to-day lives. We can unwind and let ourselves be entertained with the various stories. We don’t always need to gain something for it to be worthwhile. 3. To own things that will generate money far into the future. I’ve always been attracted to the idea of automated work. I lik

I think one of the problems I’ve faced recently is my own ambition. It’s easy to desire the creation of many things, but it is more difficult to find the time to complete it all. The routines that help us keep the world spinning are not always in the same rotation towards our goals. This means that you need to sneak in creation wherever you can. That can be tricky as you may not be able to start quickly on your topics. That means that you’re “rev-up” time makes a lot of time slots non-workable. If you keep refusing these time slots and are not able to get work done, then guilt can set in. Once that happens, you might start making compromises on your goals. The more you do that, the more you feel worse about yourself. This can continue downwards until you are extremely angry with yourself or you become depressed. Here are some tricks I’ve found to help with this: Make some 0-Rev activities towards your goals G o through a quick “why” drill Meditate in a way that rest

‘Measure twice, cut once’ is an adept expression for all of life.   New Years resolutions are easy to build for a lot of people, though more and more are turning away from the idea. I think it’s an interesting paradox myself. People try to fix their indulgences at the start of a year, promising this is going to be ‘their year’. They cut out coffee or desserts to get into better health. I am not above this practice, though I usually do the ‘cut out an indulgence’ at the start of lent. What makes this interesting to me is that people don’t appear to take a holistic view of their entire life. Instead, they focus on the micro area that is bugging them. If they can just fix that one tiny area, they should be able to tackle all of it, right? However, that one tiny area may not be the area with the most need for improvement. Furthermore, it might not yield the best results. For example, cutting out coffee may help reduce calories from cream/sugar… but what about those donuts you