Writing Process and How Writing Works… For me Now.

Happy Wednesday Scribblers, I hope you are having a pleasant week. Over the last several weeks, I’ve been working on several writing related projects. I’ve been doing auditions for my next audiobook. I’ve been listening to a current audiobook in production. I’ve been writing a couple of different articles that have been requested of me from some different online sites. I’ve been working with my author groups on planning some events for 2022. I’ve been finalizing some new promotional pieces. And the list goes on.

It’s an odd thing when you are working on unique items and see how your time splits between them, and it got me thinking about how things were at the start.

When I first started writing, I had the luxury of sitting back and working on a single story at a time. Once that one was finished, I would move on to the next one, while I put the first story through my writing group for critics and comments. That wasn’t quite how it always worked out. Sometimes I worked on a couple of manuscripts at once, but mostly, I worked on one story at a time. Now… that’s not how things work.

As an author, now with five books, two short-stories, three audiobooks, and two anthologies out, my writing time seems to drip away. Because you have to focus on addition writing related tasks. You have to work on editing. You have to work on marketing and PR. You have to work on getting your books turned into audiobooks (which I have four, five and six on the way). You have to engage with readers, plan reading events, work with other authors to grow your community. The list goes on. Everything I mentioned in one way or the other affects my writing process. Where I could once sit down and write a couple of chapters a week. I’m lucky if I get a chapter in a week. Sometimes it takes me a couple of weeks or even a month to get a chapter finished.

I’m not complaining and I love working on my author business and brand, but I miss the days of having characters come forward and say hello and start telling me their stories. It still happens, just not as much.

Additionally, and much to my dismay, I haven’t been adding general characters to my trunk of characters for future stories, which is a shame because I love that process. If you don’t understand what I mean. There was a time when I could sit down and write general characters bios and save them for later use. When I would need a character for a story, I could go to my ‘trunk’ and pull one out for use. It was a great way to have characters ready to go when I need them.

I still have characters packed away, but not near as many as I once had, and I haven’t added any in years.

These days, I have to schedule my writing times. I have to sit down with purpose and focus… okay, who am I kidding? I still get up in the middle of the night to write. Or I’ll get up early on the weekends and pump out a few thousand words. Then sometimes all I want to do is sit and work on my writing and my current story, letting everything else fall to side.

I love these days.

In the end. I still have novels coming out. I still manage to create and write whenever I have a free moment. And my characters still come and talk to me and tell me their tales. These characters of mine continue to even play nice when they aren’t getting the attention they deserve.

I think they understand better than I do. And they are a lot more forgiving than I am as well.

Overall, my writing process has both grown and changed over the years. Do I long for how simple things were at the start. Sure. That was a time of writing innocence for me. Now I’ve grown… dare I say matured, as has my writing and my author life. Perhaps someday, when I have a catalog of books out there as long as my arm, I’ll be able to pass on some of these more mundane tasks to an assistant or marketing professional and focus solely on my writing and creating new worlds for people to visit. That would be lovely. However, until that time, as I grow and move forward, so does my writing process and how it all works itself out. I guess it all a matter of juggling, where once it was only two balls, I seem to now have five or six. Who knew I could juggle?

Until next time, have a great week.

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What it’s like being an author in a small publishing house?

Happy Wednesday Scribblers, I hope you are all doing well, and for those of you here in the US I hope you are looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday and the mad dash to Christmas and the New Year. With the end of 2021 fast approaching, I’m looking back at my writing career to date. I have so much to be grateful for and I’ve learned so much over the past few years. I thought I would share my experience and thoughts as an author from a small publishing house.

I started my official writing career in May 2017 with my first contract from NineStar Press. Getting that first contract was such an exciting time. I couldn’t believe the news. Someone other than my family and friends believed enough in my writing to want to publish my work. I still feel that way every time I get a new contract.

At that time, I had zero knowledge about the publishing industry. So, everything that happened after that first signing started my new education. Since then I’ve signed seven more contracts, and I’ve not only worked with NineStar Press, but with ACX (for my audiobooks) and with an additional publisher for a new short story that has been picked up to be part of a new anthology (more details on the short story and anthology coming soon). Also, I’ve worked with two different author collectives to self-publish two more anthologies. With each new contract and with each new book release, I’ve learned more and more about publishing. I’ve also created a list of things I like and I don’t like about the industry.

Being part of a small publishing house, you are expected to do a lot of work, not only writing, but you have to market your books, promote your books, advertise your books, find opportunities for you to showcase your work, spend a lot of time and money to build your following…

All these new tasks are daunting.

Everyone thinks that once you sign on the dotted line with a publisher, you are set; you get to sit back, write, and collect royalties. You get to go to a few interviews, maybe a book tour, but most of your time from then on will be you doing what you love… writing. That may be the case for some authors, but not the vast majority, including myself. Yes, I suppose you could just sit back and write, but don’t expect to make any money, unless you are lucky and hit the right mix of story and audience. As a member of a small indie publishing house you have to put in the work in or your much dreamed of writing career won't go anywhere. Small houses like NineStar Press do not have the resources for huge marketing campaigns or getting you on the speaking circuit. They don’t have people who will enter you in book competitions, get you on TV, radio, YouTube, or podcasts. In order to get into any of these things, finding these opportunities is up to you. Now they might have sources and they might point you in the right direction, but all the legwork that comes from you. Some, like NineStar, may even have a contract source for a book marketing professional, but even these services can be limited.

As an example, I was looking into going to Saints and Sinners (Saints and Sinners is a LGBTQIA literary festival held in New Orleans each year). Several authors who I’ve spoken with have said is a wonderful event and worth going to if you can. Eric and I looked into going and for the three-day event we were looking at a cost of about $3,000, and there are no guarantees that I would see any kind of return on investment, other than making contacts and getting to know people (which isn’t a bad thing). Going to this event is on hold for this year.

Keep in mind that is one event, and there are many book events throughout the year. Currently, I’m looking for literary events closer to home.

Because NineStar is a small publishing house, there is no way they could cover these costs, not only for me, but for any of the authors in their catalog, nor would I expect them to. Still, it would be nice.

What’s a small publishing house to do?

The advice all authors get is to keep writing and reading, build up your backlog of books. That is the only way to get better royalties and with better royalties comes the opportunity to afford to go to literary festivals like Saints and Sinners. Another must get those reviews. Reviews equal exposure and the exposure turns into money. This is why you’ll see authors begging for readers to review their works (myself included). When it comes to reviews, remember the author is not the only one looking for reviews. There are thousands of authors out there and there are only a limited number of reviewers. Some publishers will have a list of reviewers they work with, which is helpful. NineStar is building out that list, which will be a great help. However, finding review sites and people willing to review your work is mostly up to the author.

I have a small list of reviewers that I’ve created and with whom I contact when I have a new book out. Still, those few reviews aren’t enough. You need hundreds of reviews to be a blip on anyone’s radar.

Another avenue for authors to build a following and sell books is to get their works in all the local bookstores and libraries, this again is something the author has to do on their own, yes, the publisher will ensure your books are available for bookstores and library to buy, but as for getting your books into a local bookstore, that is up to the author. I have a list of LGBTQIA book stores I email and let know when I have a new book coming out. Some have been responsive, which is wonderful. Also, I have a list of local book stores who I contact as well, in hopes they will carry my books, or better yet, let me come and do a reading.

I’ve heard in large publishing houses they have people who will do this, which is wonderful. But again, small publishing houses don’t have that kind of capacity, which is a shame.

Being part of a small publishing house is a lot of work and with each new book title, you continue to learn more and improve on what you have already learned. As a small house author, you have to build up your network of followers and build opportunities for yourselves, because no one, not even the big five publishers are going to give you a pass on selling your work. Sure, they have more resources to do more, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t involved. I’ve heard having a book agent can help (but they will take a cut of your royalties) in all areas of marketing, but getting an agent, let alone a good, well-connected agent is challenging. I know authors who are much farther down the path of their author career with several more books out than me, who still can’t find an agent. Which is a shame because these authors are amazing.

Additionally, part of my publishing journey has included the realization that I have to spend a lot of my money to hopefully accomplish my dream of becoming a well-known career author. To date, I’ve spent more than I’ve earned… that’s right… let that sink in… as of the writing of this article, I’ve yet to turn a profit. That was something I never thought would be the case. This lack of profit is also why I have my full-time job and am lucky if I can publish one to two books a year (with the pandemic it’s been more like one book a year) which I will admit is frustrating as I have books written, but they are in the queue with my publisher.

Ah, that is another thing. As a small house published author, you have to have a lot of patience because publishing has its own time schedule. You may have two, three, five, ten books ready to go, but your publisher decides when they will be edited, proofed, have cover art created, and finally when they will be released. All decisions that are out of your hands, so patience is key. Patience is also something I’ve had to learn quite a bit of and I can admit to you all that I’m not a big fan. NineStar has offered to translate my books into Spanish, which is wonderful, however; patience. I have to wait for my turn for my books to be translated. I don’t how long this will take and I can’t even be sure having my works translated will ever happen (unless I pay for the translations myself). My problem is I’m used to working in a world where deadlines are created and we live and die by them. There are no delays. The world doesn’t stop moving for one reason or another. Work still has to be done and there are still expectation and obligations that must be met. Yes, there is some of that within these small publishing houses, but their time lines and their sense of urgency differ completely from what I’m used to or, if I’m honest, had hoped for. This isn’t one publishing house, this is the industry, even the big five, from what I’ve heard.

I don’t want you to read this and think that I’m not happy with being part of a small publishing house, because I’m grateful to them for the opportunities they have given me. I’m also grateful for the education I’ve gotten when it comes to publishing. Publishing is not as easy or as glamorous as you see in movies or TV. Being a published author means you have a lot of work ahead of you and you have to learn a lot, and become a lot if you want to make writing your career.

Given all that I’ve learned and all that I continue to learn. And all the hardships (which there have been many) being an author in a small publishing house hasn’t been bad. I can say I’ve enjoyed most of it. I’ve met great people and learned a lot. I can’t wait to see where this all goes and what else I’m going to learn. What do you think being an author for a small publishing house was like? Did you think it would be like this? Or did you have some other vision? I’d love to hear what you think.

That’s all for now. Until next time, have a great week.

Book Editing; Overly Used Words, Filtering and Filler Words

Hello Scribblers. Another week has flow by. As several of you have probably noted, over the last several weeks I’ve been buried in the editing process.  In fact, I just finished and sent off the first round (or pre-edits) to my upcoming novel the sequel to my duology of The Calling, titled The Called. The book should be coming out March 2021.

This particular around of editing has been long and arduous, not because it’s hard, but because this round of editing involves getting rid of overly used words, filtering words, filler words, etc. And I want to know what you think? What are you looking for in a properly edited book? Do you even care? Let me explain what these all mean and you can tell me your thoughts.

Now what are these Overly Used Words I mentioned? Some of them are:

Really

Actually

Very

Just

Shrug

Because

There are more of course (a lot more) basically overly used words are common words everyone uses all the time. So, when we write we tend to use them too much and have to go back into our works and remove them. Authors have to figure out ways to rework sentences to either eliminate or replace these words and phrases. Sometimes the change makes sense, other times the change doesn’t. Still the process takes times. One chapter can take several hours to edit. The outcome of these edits can make the story much better.

There are times when word choice is made for dialect reasons or to remind readers you are in a certain character’s point of view and the author is showing you their mind set.

Think about the words or phases you use all the time. For me I use “just” and “really” all the time, even when I’m thinking. If suddenly, those words were gone would I still sound like me?

Recrafting chapters and sentence structure to address specific words can be a slippery slope and needs to always be done with caution and for good reason.

Overused words aren’t the only item that needs to be addressed during editing. Filtering Words or Phases is something that all authors are asked to address in their writing. Filtering words include:

Saw

Heard

Thought

Could

Watched

And many more. These words, like the overused words, can slip up readers, or separate the reader from the story. Instead of saying; “Marc heard a loud bang off to his left.” The sentence may read better as; “Marc startled at the crash off to his left as his stomach flipped and his palms became damp.” With this change you have a greater sense of what Marc is feeling you are more in his point of view and the phasing is much richer and interesting.

Making these adjustments to one’s story tends to help the stories flow, however like with all editing, making these changes takes times and can dramatically change the story the author is looking to share with the world. In some cases, despite these changes making the story more richly worded, they can also increase the word count making the story longer than it may need to be.

Filler Words such as: was, that, and it always need to be addressed and edited out whenever and wherever possible. These changes will allow for a more descriptive story.

One of the big writing no-no’s is adverbs, basically anything ending with ‘ly’ nothing will spin an Editors head faster than an adverb, luckily for this round of ending I didn’t have anything that got dinged.  However, there are still a few more rounds of editing to go.

So, when you are reading a book and you stop because you are hung up by some crazy turn of phase and wonder why the author didn’t write. “Said” instead of this long description about how the character reacted, you can rest assured that at some point the author did write ‘said’ but was asked to reconsider the words use and create something that offers the reader more description and detail. Or, to be fair, the author may have changed in on their own…we do that too.

Now that I explained these editing/writing ‘rules’ with you. What do you think? Do you care? Well, why you should care is because, as I said at the start of this blog post, this round of editing took me close to four weeks. This is the first round; their will be at least two more rounds of editing. Which leads me to the point that books take time to write and time to be properly edited, so keep that in mind when you wonder why a good author only publishes one or two books a year.

Want to learn more about the writing process? Interested in finding out more about the writing journey check out these posts:

Mother of Words – By Claire Buss Check it out here.

On Reading – by Joyce Hertzoff Check it out here.

Why I Write and How the Stories Come to me? Check it out here.

What are your thoughts on all this? What do you think about the editing process? Would you rather an author pump out a new book every month, to hell with the quality of the writing? Or, do you want to read a novel that is accurately edited and know that every effort to make the story its best possible self has been made? I would love to hear what you all think. Do filter words bother you when you read? What about overused words, do you notice them? What are your thoughts on adverbs? Please remember to drop me a heart/like letting me know you stopped by. If you want to help support me and my writing efforts please consider sharing this post on your social media platforms to help keep the conversation going. Until next time I hope you stay safe and have a great week.

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