JK Rowling, self-publisher

If self-publishing wasn't getting respect before, it should now. JK Rowling will self-publish her Harry Potter books in eBook format. Rowling will initially sell the eBooks on her new site, Pottermore, instead of using e-tailers like Amazon.com.

I visited the Pottermore website (which doesn't officially open until October) and watched JK Rowling's video. It sounds like her eBooks will be more than just digital reproductions of the printed books. There will be some level of interactivity with the readers. This could open up new possibilities for other authors and platforms to consider if it proves successful for Rowling.

John Locke sells over 1 million Kindle eBooks

Amazon announced that John Locke has become the first indie author to sell one million Kindle eBooks. Although I've never read any of his books, I've read a lot about John Locke because of his success. What is notable about him, aside from his books constantly being on the bestseller lists in the Kindle bookstore, is that his novels are priced at 99 cents. All of them. All the time. Some say that he's leaving a lot of money on the table because of the price, and they may be right, but as I understand it, Locke is more interested in having people read his books than to get rich off of publishing them. Either way, I can't complain -- he has a lot more credibility than I do. I'd be ecstatic to sell one million books, even at 99 cents.

How I Write

I read an interesting article on Karen McQuestion's blog about her writing process. Before commenting on her blog post, let me describe the process I'm following for the book I'm currently working on:

1. Outline the story - done

2. Determine from the outline what the chapters will be an write a synopsis of each chapter - done

3. Write a first draft - in process

4. Edit, fix, and improve

5. Repeat step 4 until satisfied

6. Done

For some (OK, for many), this sounds like overkill. In retrospect, it probably was, but that was how I thought writing was supposed to happen. After reading Karen McQuestion's blog, in which she experimented with writing quickly, I find that process to be appealing. I do it now with short stories. I don't outline or over-plan the short stories I write. Perhaps I shouldn't do so with a novel either.

I'm going to finish my first novel by following my original plan, but I'm going to try writing more quickly with my second novel. I don't think I can skip the outlining phase entirely, because I need to figure out in advance where the story should go, but I want to try letting the story lead me along more than I allow it to now. It was comforting to know that when Karen McQuestion wrote quickly without all the self-analysis, only 10% of the book needed to be re-written.That sounds like a more natural and faster way to write, and maybe the story will turn out better too.

Is it taking me too long to write?

Since I published Number Plus Four in the Amazon Kindle store, I've been participating in the Kindle Forums. For authors (and Kindle readers) out there who don't know about the forums, I recommend stopping by. There's a lot of good information and discussion going on. One topic that caught my eye was "How Long Does It Take You To Write A Book?" As expected, numbers range across the spectrum, from weeks to years. Most fall into the three months to one year timeframe, although it's unclear whether that involves just writing the first draft or whether it's from start to finish. I shouldn't feel too bad taking a year to write my book then. I'm still expecting to finish my first draft by August and publish it by December.

Why I Won't Succeed

One of my inspirations to self-publish is Joe Konrath. If it wasn't for his blog, the thought probably would've never come to me. Joe's most recent blog post is titled "Why You Won't Succeed". I need to keep these points in mind in the years ahead, which is how long I hope my new writing "career" will last. I think I am already addressing #2 ("You expect instant success") and #10 ("You haven't written enough").

Since publishing my collection of short stories, Numbers Plus Four, in February, the number of copies I've sold is in the double digits. I've read of new authors who've sold ten times or a hundred times that in their first three months. Am I disappointed? Sure, I would love to have sold more copies. Am I disillusioned and giving up? Heck no! I've just started! I'm still working on my first novel. This is still the top of the first inning.

Back to Joe's blog post. The points that I'm most worried about are #4 ("Your book sucks") and #8 ("Your cover sucks"). Joe suggests reading your reviews as an indication of what sucks about your books. My problem right now is that I don't have enough sales and reviews to tell me what's wrong with my writing, if any. Everything about my books will be done by myself and my friends (who are naturally biased), which also leads to point #8. Joe suggests hiring a professional artist to design your cover and edit your book. Right now, I don't have the cash to pay for those services. Maybe that's a bad approach because I should invest for the future. Maybe this will be my downfall. But I've also read that authors who paid for professionals also don't wind up selling many copies. I'm willing to wait and see how my homegrown approach does before paying for a professional book cover and editing. I can always change covers in the future.

It's still the beginning for me. There's plenty of time to make mistakes and learn from them.

Halfway Through

When I first started writing my novel at the beginning of the year, my goal was to be halfway done with the first draft by the end of April. I'm glad to say that I reached my goal! If things go as well with the second half of the book, I'm still on track to finish the first draft by the end of August.I honestly didn't know if I would be able to stay on schedule when I started the endeavor, but now it seems like the goals I set in January are in reach.

Traditional publishers don't get eBook pricing

Most indie authors price their books between 99 cents and $2.99. Some go as high as $4.99. The reason isn't because these authors think their works are inferior to the books written by traditionally published authors. On the contrary, I believe it's because indie authors are more in tune with readers' expectations and have the freedom to price their books accordingly.

Readers have spoken loud and clear that outrageously high eBook prices are not tolerable. For example, there was a recent article on CNET titled "Kindle and Nook readers bash high e-book pricing with angry one-star reviews". Giving one-star reviews for high-priced eBooks is one option, but readers can better express their displeasure by not buying the books at all. Traditionally publishers won't lower their eBook prices until they find it economically unviable for them to maintain the high prices they charge, either because readers stop buying them, or because competition from lower-priced indie books squeezes their profits (because readers stop buying the more expensive eBooks from traditional publishers).