Writing and Publishing: My Writing Process

I am now living the dream as a published author.

Am I successful? Well, it depends on your point of view.

I am not making money from my books, but they are out there and that means I made it! It makes me feel like I have everything I needed.

Some people have actually read my books, how exciting is that?

In two weeks, my third book will be available for pre-order. That’s BIG people!

Since I published my first book (The Recruit), I have learned MANY things about writing, publishing and marketing. I have met many people, too. I have created an online presence bigger than I had ever dared and have big plans for the future.

I thought I would talk a little about what the Writing Process means to me.

IDEAS.
I have many ideas. They come to me in a dream, mostly. Then I create an entire story around it. My short story collection, A Few Drops of Fantasy, came from my personal experiences as I started to practice plot. Before, my stories had a beginning, middle, and no end. Short stories helped me overcome that. It was then possible to write The Recruit (which I originally called Genesis). 


The whole idea of the NAVSA series (that’s, North American Vampire Secret Agency) came to me in a dream. In my new book, Werewolf Phenomenon, there is a scene in a great hall, where the vampires confront some werewolves. That is the dream I had. In order to use this, I create the entire universe, needing The Recruit to tell the story of the characters before this moment.

I am never out of ideas. Most of them are written down already, and all I have to do is rewrite them with what I know now and make them available for the world to enjoy.

FIRST DRAFT.
The first draft is the best and easiest part of the writing cycle for me. I get to tell the story how I see it. It’s magical. Sure, I sometimes have road blocks, but I spend hours thinking about how to go around them to get my characters to do what I want them to do. I think it takes me about 6 months to create a first draft. It’s a long time, I know, but I also have a full time job (plus, being a mom and wife).

I have an excel spreadsheet with the chronological order of events and character stats which I update every time I write a story to continue the NAVSA universe.

I also have other universes. I have a dragon story in the works, an angel idea and bunch of stories that are too freaky to publish under my real name. I will have a special pen name for those.

COVER.
When I am done with my first draft, I like to see a cover. Right now, I have a reliable cover artist on Fiverr. I pay for the stockphoto she uses and the result has been great. I pay around $35 for it, including the Photoshop file. I know a bit about Photoshop so I am able to make any changes I feel I need. Seeing a cover inspires me to do the rest of the work, which is revising and proofreading.

REVISING.
I revise during my first draft all the time. I write a few thousand words on one day, for example, and when I sit down to write again I re-read what I wrote the day before. It not only helps me get into that world again, but I also look at it from a fresh perspective, which lets me catch a few mistakes or correct horrible sentences.

Once I’m done with the first draft I start over, reading the book with different eyes. I want the story to flow, and the language to be friendly and interesting. I take care of this during my revision of the story.

It takes me about 2 months to revise.

BETA-READERS.
My beta readers get the book after the first revision, this means the book will still have a lot of typos because I haven’t proofread it yet.

I have two beta readers and a possible third one who has been helping me with my third book, Werewolf Phenomenon. My first beta is my brother. He is also my number one fan. He likes what I write and gives me what I think is neutral feedback. If he doesn’t like something, he will tell me. If something doesn’t make sense for him, he will tell me. Lately, he’s also been helping me with typos, which I appreciate. I know it’s hard to enjoy a story if you need to stop for typos.

My second beta reader is my best friend. She loves to read books. I know she won’t bother with grammar or typos, but I don’t care. I care about her feedback and what she thought of the story and how other people will receive it… at least in her opinion.

Lately, I’ve been offered another beta read. I have a friend who is also an author. We support each other as much as we can. I know my genre is not her favorite. She prefers picture books or middle grade books. But, she has, of let, offered to read my book. Hopefully I would have gained another beta reader.

PROOFREADING.
The last edition comes when I read the book for a third time. This is the worst part of the process for me. I have to read my story trying to look for mistakes. There are a few revisions to some sentences when I do this, but they are minimal. Mostly, I’m looking for typos or small mistakes that I missed (and there are always many).

I use the free version of Grammarly first. I upload one scene at a time, I review the Grammarly corrections first. Then I read the scene looking for errors. In the end, I reload the scene to Grammarly and recheck it for anything I may have missed.

When I am able, I will hire an editor. Right now, I do the very best I can.

BLURB.
I am terrible at writing blurbs. I wrote the blurbs for my first two books and will follow a script for the following or pay someone to do it for me. I’m just that terrible.

PUBLISHING.
I use Draft2Digital for all my publishing needs right now. I have thought about using KDP and Draft2Digital for all the other distributors, but right now with working full time I think it’s best for me to do everything through D2D.

I also publish the paperback through CreateSpace, which has worked for me very well, so far.

I like doing a pre-order only because it makes me feel like a professional author. I publish one month later. This time, with D2D, I won’t be able to do the pre-order through Amazon because D2D doesn’t have that ability, but I will do for all others. At the end of the day, the important thing is to have the books out there and available.

MARKETING.
I don’t have a lot of time for marketing. I know it’s important, but I don’t want to stress myself with it. I write because I like it and I’m glad when someone reads my books. I have a twitter account and an author Facebook page and an Instagram page I don’t use that often. Apart from that I am in several author groups and one day, when I am able, I will pay for some marketing, just not now.

PRICING.
I have read many things about how to price my books. For all I’ve learned, I’ve decided to have my first book in the series FREE for as long as I can. My short stories are $1.99. I don’t get a lot of sales, but I believe in my work and its value. Part two of my series will be $2.99, with the plan of offering it on sale during different seasons of the year.

I hope this helps other new indie authors out there. I think it’s important that you know you are not alone. It helps me read from others because sometimes I freak out and get scared or nervous or feel worthless, but then I read about other authors and I calm down, regain my confidence and I keep doing what I love, which is writing.

I hope this blog post helps someone out there. I understand you. I really do. And I know I still have a lot left to learn, too.

cheers!