Writing Fiction Is A Journey
November 26, 2024 by Harvey
In Today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* A Good Question
* Writing Fiction Is A Journey
* The Writing
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that’s no reason not to give it.” Agatha Christie
I agree. Give what you have to give as often and as long as you can and let others decide whether to use it.
A Good Question
I had a good question from a subscriber and writer. Excerpted and partially paraphrased, the question was,
“So I have stories, and probably a book or two. However, I haven’t actually published anything, so no one knows that my material exists.
“What are the details of how to take the next steps and send the writing out into the world? Where do I even start?
“Even if I put it on Amazon, how do I get people to notice and discover it? I know that each of these steps is an entire topic and world unto itself.”
Yes, each is “an entire topic and world unto itself.” I’ve written on those topics several times in the Journal. Sometimes I forget that not all TNDJ subscribers have been around for the past ten years. My thanks to subscriber HG for reminding me.
So if this is your situation too, here’s my advice:
The short answer is don’t worry about discoverability until you’ve published the work. Until you’ve put your work out there, readers have nothing to discover.
To take that first step, open two accounts:
1. open an account at https://Draft2Digital.com (D2D), and
2. open a KDP publishing account at Amazon. This link https://kdp.amazon.com/ is probably the right place to start for Amazon.
3. Then follow the instructions at each and upload (publish) your stories and books.
Note: For ebooks or paper books (yes, you can do both at both), you will need to have your front cover finished. You will upload the cover separately but at the same time you’re uploading your manuscript.
I also strongly recommend you click https://stonethreadpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/DPubV2X.pdf to download a free copy of The Essentials of Digital Publishing (a $10 value).
Feel free to print out pertinent chapters or passages to use for reference.
But note that TEDP was published in 2012.
Therefore, it does not include specific directions for publishing to D2D.
However, it provides step-by-step instructions for uploading (publishing) to Amazon, and D2D’s process is very similar. I actually find publishing to D2D easier.
Finally, if you believe an “old” edition of a book can’t possibly contain valuable information, I suggest you toss out your Bible, Torah, Qur’an, or other religious text as well.
I do plan a second edition of TEDP in which I will add specific information on publishing your work to D2D. I probably will also delete the information on Smashwords. Smashwords is part of D2D now.
Please note also that I strongly recommend publishing to both Amazon and D2D.
Not publishing to Amazon because you don’t personally like Bezos or his company is like not publishing ebooks because you personally prefer to read on paper or listen to audiobooks.
If that is your policy, you’re cutting your own throat as a working fiction writer and publisher.
Amazon is a store as well as a distributor to dozens of other stores (plus their affiliates) around the world. Amazon gets roughly a billion times more traffic than independent book stores or your own sales outlet.
D2D is NOT a store. D2D distributes to stores like Kobo, B&N, Apple and others who further distribute to other stores and affiliates around the world.
For any other questions about Draft2Digital (D2D) or Amazon, I recommend downloading the free Journal Archives and searching them. To start, visit this page.
Each archive link on that page will enable you to download a free, fully searchable, PDF archive for that year.
If you still have questions after that, please feel free to email me.
Writing Fiction Is A Journey
Writing fiction is a journey, not a destination.
That’s why I so often say what’s important is THAT you write, not WHAT you write.
Above, subscriber HG asked a question about discoverability. I said not to worry about it. Why worry about discoverability when you have nothing out there to be discovered?
Common wisdom in the fiction-writing community says you must have at least several published novels or short story collections or several dozen published short stories before discoverability will even begin to kick in.
In a recent guest post, Vin Zandri talked about Hybrid Publishing. In it, he addresses discoverability via reviews, etc. If you missed it, you might want to check that out.
Of course, if you were a marketing major in college or the president (CEO, whatever) of an advertising agency like J. Walter Thompson (“Coke adds life,” “The Marine Corps Builds Men,” et al ad nauseam) your results might vary.
Similar to HG’s questions in the previous segment, writers who are newer to the craft (and some who are myth-bound even though they have been around awhile) often say they’re frightened of publishing a “bad” story or novel. They express that fear with some version of, “After all, what will that do to my career?”
I say up front, I can’t help the myth-bound writers. I’ve wasted a lot of valuable rope trying to pull them out of that acid-ridden cesspool of a river.
But my response to the newbies, every time, is “What career?”
If you want a career as a fiction writer, and if you want to thoroughly enjoy that career and discoverability—vs. constantly b*tching about what sheer drudgery writing is just to hear your own voice—you must publish often.
And to publish often—and here I’m talking about your own original work, not some AI-generated or otherwise purloined work—you have to write as much quality fiction as you can as “fast” as you can.
Finally, the best way to learn to write quality fiction is to write a LOT of fiction as “fast” as you can. (Here you may cue the grand entrance of Heinlein’s Rules and Writing Into the Dark. Of course, you don’t ‘have’ to follow either of those. See the Quote of the Day above.)
In other words, you have to PRACTICE.
Writers practice just as doctors practice. Practice, not hovering over one story or one sucking chest wound, begets quality. (More on this in a guest post tomorrow.)
Then
publish each story or novel as you finish it,
forget it, and
move on to write the next story or novel.
That is the best way forward if you want to build a career and enter into the realm of discoverability.
But that word “fast” (I used it twice above) is a horribly misleading adjective.
To be a professional fiction writer, you don’t have to put more words on the page in a given hour than other fiction writers do.
To be a professional fiction writer, you only have to
adjust your priorities to move fiction writing higher on the list,
be more devoted to practicing the craft, and
spend more time in the chair.
There is no more valuable way forward.
Of course, if you are strictly a hobbyist or if you are writing a story or novel just to strike writing it off your bucket list, none of the above pertains to you.
The Writing
The novel wrapped yesterday with a little over 3100 words, barring a few words here and there after I spell check it (later today) and get it back from my first reader.
I also managed to add a little over 2100 words to the novella. That should wrap in a couple more days too.
Today I also surpassed 1,100,000 consumable words (fiction and nonfiction) on the year. If you ascribe to DWS’ “Pulp Speed” stuff, I believe that’s Pulp Speed 2. Still chasing only Pulp Speed for fiction alone though.
Talk with you again soon.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 740
Writing of Blackwell Ops 31: Jack Temple
Day 1…… 1620 words. To date……. 1620
Day 2…… 5016 words. To date……. 6636
Day 3…… 3466 words. To date……. 10102
Day 4…… 1235 words. To date……. 11337
Day 5…… 3188 words. To date……. 14525
Day 6…… 3933 words. To date……. 18458
Day 7…… 3187 words. To date……. 21645
Day 8…… 4081 words. To date……. 25726
Day 9…… 2198 words. To date……. 27924
Day 10…. 2621 words. To date……. 30545
Day 11…. 3315 words. To date……. 33860
Day 12…. 3172 words. To date……. 37032 done
Writing of “The Imp” (Erotic Fantasy)
Words brought forward…………….. 3832
Day 1…… 4946 words. To date…… 8468
Day 2…… 3409 words. To date…… 11877
Day 3…… 2188 words. To date…… 14375
Fiction for November………………… 83164
Fiction for 2024………………………. 920296
Nonfiction for November…………….. 23630
Nonfiction for 2024…………………… 358050
2024 consumable words…………….. 1,102,385
Average Fiction WPD (November)…. 3327
2024 Novels to Date…………………….. 16
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 1
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 18
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..… 98
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 255
Short story collections……………………. 29
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>>> frightened of publishing a “bad” story or novel. They express that fear with some version of, “After all, what will that do to my career?
As Harvey says, what career? The only "career" you have are the people you tell you're a writer, yet have written nothing. That's your "writing career" right there in a nutshell. Nada. Nothing.
Stop telling people you're a writer and go write something. Then you can brag about being a writer - of sorts.
Oh, yes, it's totally me. I didn't publish for a long time because what if people would see that I'm not talented? I still have short stories not out there, but the novels I finished I published.
Of course, I'm not talented. But I write and I get better.
Now I write and publish. I even did a paperback edition to my latest novel. Next is on the way.
People think - even me - that with only one well written story we can be famous and rich. Sometimes it happens, but it is not a pattern. There is no sure way to fame and wealth. If there would be a way, everyone could reach it. And eventually there was no way for new writers to start a career. Those who would know the recipe would treasure it...
But fortunately, there is a recipe to a writing career. And those who know it doesn't hold it as a secret. Because writing is that what makes a writer. If you want to be a writer, write.
Write, Publish, Repeat.
And have fun.