My wife and I were discussing some random writing stuff yesterday, and I’ve decided to pass it along because it’s good to put things in perspective.

Let me start off by saying this isn’t meant to discourage or dissuade in any way. Rather, it’s meant to make sure realistic expectations are set. I’ve met a fair amount of people who aspire to write and publish, much like myself, and of those there’s always a select portion that believes writing is a lucrative career or source of income.

It can be.

Pretty much as likely as it is for any musician to be able to live off their income (by releasing solo albums/tracks). It’s the exception and far from the norm.

Now to the perspective.

I’ll use Minimum Wage from where I live, as that’ll be the easiest baseline. Essentially, we’re comparing this to working at a grocery store or similar.

At $8.55/hour working full time (40 hrs/week), that equates to roughly $17,000/year. Here’s how many book sales that comes down to. At about $3 (royalty) per book on average, you’d need to sell:

~5,650 books per year
~475 books per month
~120 books per week
~17 books per day

That’s to make less (typically) than a McDonald’s employee. The median income for a single individual is usually about double the minimum wage, so double all of those numbers and you have a ‘livable’ wage. (Obviously you can live off of minimum wage, as many people do it, it’s just not very comfortable). That all doesn’t factor in the fact that you may end up spending anywhere from $0 – $3,000 per book to release it, which comes to be another 0 – 1,000 book sales to cover that cost.

Again, I don’t want to dissuade anyone from writing – ever. Just be aware that if your goal is to make a livable wage off of it, it’s extremely difficult. For most writers, the general time for an author to sort’ve ‘take off’ and be recognized is 5 – 7 books, from the little research I’ve done. There are always outliers, of course. Some are successful immediately, others have 15 books out there with a collective total of 30 sales. There’s dozens of factors at play to be considered.

This is why anytime someone asks me, I say I write for myself and as a passion/hobby. Because I don’t think I’ll ever make substantial income from my books no matter how much I’d like to. And I’m fine with that. It would take me a tremendous number of sales to be able to quit my day job for writing. So, I write on the side as I love doing it.

If money is truly your main goal, there are alternatives that still keep you in the same realm – though often at the cost of your own creativity/freedom.

Magazine submissions often pay more for a single article than most people make from a self-published novel in an entire year. However, because of this, the chance of being selected is very low due to the high competition.

Ghost-writing services is something I’ll honestly never understand, but people do pay for it. It’s an option, but you lose essentially all of your creative input to write a story someone else wants while you sit in the background without your existence ever being known.

Editing is a fairly lucrative career for those with the technical skills to do it, but it is highly competitive and is really unreliable. You’re often required to bid for jobs and lose most, forcing you to drive your prices down lower.

If you’re looking for strictly profit, but not a livable wage, then honestly releasing eBooks of short story or poem collections can be a great way for trickle income. Through Amazon, you can publish an eBook completely free. If you’re confident in editing your own work and designing the cover – or have someone who will do it for you with the skills – then you can publish anything without paying a dime. To put it simply, if you do that and make a single sale, you’re now more profitable than I am

As far as traditional publishing, the rules are different, so I can’t really speak to that with total conviction. From what I’ve been told by a few acquaintances who went traditional, the up-front is usually between $2,000 – $5,000, with a 10% royalty rate (of profit after print costs, meaning probably about $0.25 – 0.50 per book). The royalty is withheld until you’ve ‘paid back’ the up-front payment you received, meaning at a $5,000 initial payment and $0.50 per book, you won’t start getting $0.50 royalties until you’ve sold 10,000 copies and re-paid the $5,000 they gave you.

A lot of newly-published traditional authors don’t ever make up the sales (you’re not required to give back the payment if you don’t make enough sales, usually). Meaning in order for them to get an income equivalent to that McDonalds job (~$17,000 per year), they would need to essentially land 4-8 releases per year. Let me tell you, writing 4-8 full-length novels in 12 months is not an easy task. Doable, but not easy.

So, all in all, it’s important to keep your expectations realistic. Otherwise, if you’re expecting to strike gold on your first novel’s release, you’ll be severely discouraged and stop writing. This profession is meant to be one of passion and effort over a long period of time. The best fact about books is once it’s out there, it’s there for good. After releasing multiple books, you may find that your sales from the previous entries are entirely self-sufficient and just bring in steady income – even if in small amounts.

Keep writing. The best thing that you can do for your chance of increasing your income stream is to release more and more content. Every book you release is another that a reader may stumble upon. Stack the deck with your content!

This is one of new writers’ – particularly Indie/Self-Published – greatest fears. And for good reason.

Why is everyone afraid of getting bad reviews? It’s simple. When you’re just starting out, every review is crucial and negative reviews can break you.

That’s multi-faceted. There’s going to be little worse than releasing your work after spending hundreds of hours bleeding into the pages and being met with a low rating. People take it personally, and – sometimes – they’ll lash out against the reviewer. More on that later.

In addition to your own fears and doubts amplifying hundredfold, your sales prospects can fly out the window if you’re hit with low ratings within your first few reviews. Now, it’s important to note that many readers don’t base their decision on ratings or reviews, as they’re subjective and sometimes outright malicious toward the writer. Many will disregard the feedback that’s been acquired and take the risk to make their own decisions. To those people, you’re brave souls and your service in the shadows often goes unnoticed.

First, every writer needs to recognize one fact: Not everyone will like your work. There are many reasons why, ranging from your writing style, the content, the plot, etc. Really, there are hundreds of reasons why they may dislike it, but typically very few that will make them fall in love.

I’ve been lucky, so far, to avoid very many ratings that I would consider low (I’d consider 1-2 of 5 to be unfavorable). But, I remember my first 2-star rating on Goodreads and how it felt to get it. I was pretty distraught, I won’t lie.

Recently, I was talking to a new friend on Twitter (check out their witty blog!) and we discussed that exact review. I’m going to post it below, because there are some important things I want to bring up to other writers. (For example, a reviewer recently released a video where an author demanded they remove their unfavorable review)

First, I can’t begin to thank Max enough for his honest feedback. It helped me improve as a writer and I learned more from his 2-star review than I would have had he given me a higher rating. You learn best from negative experiences. He’s a writer as well, and my respect for him drastically improved by him taking the time to respond to me. You can check his site out here!

Here’s the most important tip for authors who receive bad reviews: Be professional and respectful. These people took the time to read your work and rated it honestly. Would it have been better for you if they had stifled their opinions? Sure. But that takes us into our next point.

NEVER ask someone to change or remove their review. You don’t have that right. This is something some new authors have such a hard time accepting. It goes back to the fact that not everyone will enjoy your work. But they took a risk and attempted to read it. They have the right to offer their genuine feedback, as they would want to see when considering purchasing another book in the future.

Reviews are a leading factor in getting your book picked up by new readers. Yes, a low rating can hurt your future sales. It’s up to you as a writer to take the negativity in stride and try to improve. Is it also important to realize that sometimes people will leave false negatives (such as the ever common ‘my book came with a crease on a page, 1 star)? Of course. But readers will often pick through those and disregard them.

Even more damaging than a single bad review on your work is how you respond to it. I’ve seen a small handful of writers who lash out against a bad review with no sense of respect or professionalism. And, let me tell you, those people have almost definitely come to regret that, I promise.

So, today’s lesson comes down to a single point: Show respect.

Bad reviews can be distressing, but try to focus on the learning opportunity. Reach out and see if they’ll provide details as to what they didn’t like about it – if they didn’t initially. Reaching out to Max to discuss his rating led me to being a better writer and I would’ve continued to make the same mistakes without his input.

I have a few book reviewers with my book on their TBR list that I’m looking forward to getting their feedback. They may give low ratings or they may give me the highly-cherished, glowing 5-star review. In either case, I’m grateful that they’re even willing to consider my work at all.

Best of luck to all my other fellow writers, and happy reading to those who prefer to lose themselves in the magical worlds we create.

This is probably one of the most common questions I get. The answer is a bit complicated in some regard, but can definitely be surprising to many aspiring writers.

First of all, here’s the truth: It can be FREE or Very Expensive!

As I said, it can be complicated. So let’s delve into it more. I’m not lying when I said you can publish your very own book for FREE. But there are limitations. One of the things a lot of people ask me for is a breakdown of costs, so they know what to expect.

Note: All of the information below is based on Publishing eBooks and Paperbacks through Amazon, and Hardcovers through Ingram Spark – both of which I recommend for many reasons. There are alternative options and the costs may vary for those.

In order to discuss cost, we first need to determine what is needed. What do I need in order to publish my book?

Good question! The list below is the bare essentials of what you NEED:

• A completed manuscript – Your book, of course!
• A Cover – It can be custom illustration, photo manipulation, or even a plain color
• A publisher – Such as Amazon or Ingram Spark, who you would publish your book through
• An ISBN – We’ll get into this in more detail later

Those are the minimum you’ll need. And the good news is that, depending on what you’re looking for, you can complete every one of those without spending a dime!

But what does that really mean? Let’s break each down to costs.

Cost Breakdown:

1. Your Completed Manuscript – ($0 – $10,000): Obviously, writing shouldn’t necessarily cost you much money, only time. However, editing costs are a massive factor. If you’re editing your novel yourself, or requesting the aid of beta readers, congratulations – you’ve just saved yourself thousands! Hiring an editor can range anywhere from $500 – $10,000, depending on their rates and the length of your book!
2. A Book Cover – ($0 – $3,000): As with pretty much every other aspect of publishing, you can get away with spending no money here. Or, you can shell out as much as you want for an illustration of your choosing. All that is needed is an image. You can open up Microsoft Paint or Photoshop or GIMP and create your own to save cash. It could honestly be a simple background with text on it and you’ve got your cover. If you’re looking to catch readers’ eyes as they scroll by, this approach will have some disappointments. For an eye-drawing cover, you’ll most likely want to spend some money on commissioning an artist. There are thousands all over. I commission artwork constantly and find artists explicitly through DeviantArt and ArtStation. If you’re looking for something in between – spending a bit of money, but not having to take out a second mortgage on your home – the most common practice is to pay for pre-made covers. There are usually libraries of hundreds of Photo Manipulation covers that are generic, yet slightly appealing. These typically cost around $50 – $200, so you’ll save a lot of money at the cost of appeal.
3. Publisher Fees ($0 – $50): Amazon allows you to publish your eBook and/or Paperback for FREE. However, at the moment they don’t offer Hardcover printing. For that, I go through Ingram Spark, which costs $50 to publish, which is reasonable considering what they give you in return.
4. An ISBN – ($0 – $300): Every format of your book (eBook, Paperback, and Hardcover – or Audiobook) needs to have a unique ISBN. These can be obtained from Bowker in the United States. Currently, it is $125 for one ISBN, $300 for ten, or more for higher packages. Additionally, if you choose to purchase a Barcode, they are $25 individually, or you can buy them in a package with the ISBN. While every book needs an ISBN, if you’re only releasing an eBook through Amazon, they actually offer to provide one for you – free of charge. However, there is one important note you need to be aware of. If you choose to take their provided ISBN, the book is considered to be Published by Amazon, not you. So, while you are technically Self-Publishing, legally it was done by Amazon.

So, with all those costs, how is it actually free?

Well, if you’re dead set on publishing your book without spending a dime, here’s the winning formula:

Publish an eBook through Amazon ($0) + Use their provided ISBN ($0) + Self Edit your Book or use Beta Readers ($0) + Create your own Cover ($0) = FREE

There you have it. Your book can hit the digital market completely free of charge to you. So, if you’re just trying to get your work out there and maybe trickle in some revenue, it’s a good option. You’ll technically be more profitable than probably 90% of the authors in the world after your first sale!

If you don’t mind spending some money, here’s a better summary of the costs:

Cover Art: $50 – $1,000
Editor: $500 – $5,000
ISBN: $300 (It’s best to just buy the 10-pack, as that’s 3-5 books worth)
– Overall, you’ll probably be spending an average of $1,000 per book without an editor and $3,000 per book with an editor.

Lastly, let’s talk about some ‘hidden costs‘. These aren’t necessarily hidden, but more that they sneak up on you and begin to add up pretty quickly.

1. Ordering Books – This one gets pricey pretty quickly. If you’re doing a Paperback or Hardcover, you’ll want to order samples in order to review the print. Otherwise you run the risk of launching your book only to find out later that the cover is offset by an inch, or the last sentence of every paragraph is cut-off. You only ever pay Print Cost as the author, but if you need to order 3 copies of each format over the course of your review, you’ve now spent probably around $50 you didn’t expect, plus shipping.
2. Shipping – This goes hand-in-hand with ordering. Every time you order a set of samples, you need to pay Shipping costs. In the above example, we ordered 3 samples of Paperback and 3 samples of Hardcover. If you ordered those individually, which will be common during review, the $50 you spent in print costs will need to be increased by another $50 – $100 for shipping. So now you’re out even more. Additionally, if you’re working with beta readers, or even Blogs that offer to review ARCs (Author Review Copies), you’ll need to ship them your book. You can’t change the address for sample copies, they must always ship directly to you to avoid this exact scenario. So, every book gets sent to you, then you have to ship it to every reader (Which can be as little as $4 or as much as $50 per book!)

Overall, it’s a safe bet to assume you’ll be spending between $100 – $300 on sample copies if you’re using Paperback and Hardcover formats. For those of you who are eBook only, you’re in luck!

Long story short, there are certainly ways you can publish your book for free, but if you aren’t going that route, be prepared to shell out a few hundred bucks to get your work out there with a quality you can be proud of.

This topic is one that rarely comes up. The reason I decided to discuss it a bit is because most people who want to write don’t actually know that there are options other than just a full-length novel.

First, let’s talk about the differences:

A Novel: This is what most everyone is familiar with. This is considered ‘full-length’ and usually sits around 70,000 – 150,000 words.

A Novella: Essentially, these types of books are just short novels. They range between 20,000 – 50,000 words on average.

A Novellete: These are rare, so it’s unlikely you’d see them on the shelf anywhere. But this is an even more condensed book, meant to be read in a single sitting with a word count between 7,500 – 15,000 on average.

A Short Story: It’s pretty obvious what a short story is, just a small piece of literature. These typically sit between 2,500 – 7,500 words.

In addition, there are also even smaller works that are often referred to as Flash Fictions (or a few other names). These are usually around 50 – 1,000 words.

So, now that we’ve defined the differences, what kind is right for me?

In order to answer that question, you need to look at the real reason these are different. In my personal opinion, it all comes down to two things: Motivation and Conciseness.

If you’ve ever made the decision to write a book before, I probably don’t need to talk to you about motivation. You’ll learn pretty quickly, first-hand, just how difficult it is to complete a novel. Sure, ideas come by the dozen. But putting those ideas into words over the course of hundreds of pages is no small feat. For many – and I mean MANY – the process ends up chewing you up and spitting you out. Trust me, it happened to me for years.

So what does that mean?

Well, your idea may be great and your interest high, but after you’ve put 20,000 words down you realized that you’re nearing the completion of your idea. Wait, what? Your book may end up reaching its resolution as a measly 27,000 words when you were aiming for 80,000. Wow, that’s frustrating.

What can you do from there? Well, there’s a few options. First, you can actually make the decision to classify your new book as something it fits better – such as a Novellete. Or, you can try to expand on it. Which brings me to conciseness.

Taking our last example, stretching your 27,000 word manuscript to 80,000 words just to be able to call it a novel is a huuuuuuge stretch. You managed to write the entire plot you had in mind in under 30,000 words and now you want to almost triple it? Where do you get the extra words from?

This is where people often get themselves into trouble. You really, really don’t want to just add FLUFF to increase your word count. No matter your story, you want it trimmed of all excess fat, meaning the final result is clean-cut, concise, and gets the story done without superfluous details.

Adding fluff is almost always a bad idea. Here’s the simple truth: Quality is ALWAYS better than Quantity!

Every reader would rather read 27,000 words of action-packed, fast-paced drama than 80,000 words that is 66% irrelevant text.

So, stick to your gut. But more importantly, try to plan out your story ahead of time. Once you start writing more, you’ll be able to get a rough idea of how long your completed novel will be just by your outline. You’ll learn to gauge how many words or chapters you’d need for each individual scene and can piece together an estimated total. If you lay out your entire plot and see you’ve got only three minor scenes and one major conflict resolution at the end, it’s time to make the decision on what kind of book you want it to be. If you’re set on a novel, head back to the drawing board and add more detail.

To re-iterate the message for today: Quality over Quantity. Be aware that there are other options for you. If you find you’re getting burnt out every time you try to sit down and formulate a plan for a novel, consider writing Novellas or even Novelletes.

Hey everyone! This is a question I’ve been asked a few times – and for good reason. Publishing consists of two options: Traditional Publishing and Self-Publishing. Each has their own obstacles, to be sure. Today, we’ll focus on Self Publishing.

Why should I Self-Publish?

This is the most important thing to decide first and foremost. While both Traditional and Self-Publishing have their own challenges, they also have unique benefits. Let’s take a look at some of them:

Benefits of Self-Publishing:

The biggest for me is that it is completely managed on your own. This is GREAT for those Control Freaks like me. You’re in charge of everything! That means writing (of course), editing – or selecting an editor to hire, creating or commissioning artwork for your book cover, publishing the book itself, and marketing. It is a LOT of work, so be prepared to invest time (and most likely money) in order to succeed. But the result is that no one else gets a say in your book, which is important to many.

Next, it’s on your schedule. This can also be a drawback, as the only person pushing you to succeed is yourself. It’s a whole lot easier to let yourself down than someone else, trust me. This means the chance you drop your project is much higher. However, if you can stay motivated, you choose when everything occurs, rather than a Publisher doing so for you. No need to query and face rejection over and over for years, your book can hit the virtual shelves in a matter of hours.

Drawbacks of Self-Publishing:

Let’s talk about the disadvantages. To be honest, there are quite a few. Namely, the one we’ve already mentioned; It’s on YOU! That means you need to make the time, cop the coin, and do the work all on your own. Need an editor? Be ready to shell out anywhere from $500 – $10,000 for a single pass of your novel. Need awesome Cover Art? Make sure you set aside anywhere from $50 – $2,000. Quality comes at a cost. Many hobbyists don’t have the resources to cough up a few thousand bucks to get their book out there, especially when it may take you 10 years before you make it back from sales.

In addition to you being the banker, author, sometimes editor, and even the artists in some rare cases, you also need to understand that one of the biggest things you’re sacrificing is the network. Traditional Publishers have been doing their job for decades. They’ve established relationships with the retailers of the world, so many of their books are sent right to every franchise. This then means that sales will probably occur. With Self-Publishing, you’re nearly entirely limited to virtual stock only. You can get put into stores, but it is much more difficult and rarely occurs. You’re limited to running your own marketing campaigns to drive interest, which cost a LOT of money.

So, with those in mind, you need to make the decision of whether Self-Publishing is right for you. For me, it was no question. I lack the patience of querying and am not willing to give up exclusive rights to my work, as many publishers will force new authors to do (meaning they can change your story as they see fit, unless negotiated otherwise).

Still set on Self-Publishing? Great! Let’s take the next step.

How do I Self-Publish my book?

Like most things, this is a process. And it honestly isn’t all that difficult or expensive at all.

The example I often use is that I can type the word “I LIKE PIGGIES” on a document and within 24 hours, I can publish that as a novel – entirely for free. And you can! This is what gives many readers the stigma that Self-Published books are often low quality, because there is no bar for discrimination. There are many hidden gems among the Self-Published novels that disprove that assumption. But that’s only because they spent the time (and often money) to stand out.

Here’s a quick summary of the process, start to finish:

• Write your book! – This is obvious, but you need to finish your book’s first draft before you can consider publishing.
• Review your manuscript – You need to edit your own work. But one thing to note is that not having an outside perspective can be a huge hindrance on the end result, as you won’t be reading it the same way as a new reader would. You already know all of the details, so you need a fresh look.
• Let someone else review it – This can be either a hired professional editor (which is extremely expensive and outside the scope of most amateur writers) or what is known as ‘Beta Readers’. These readers are meant to receive a free copy of the manuscript in exchange for their feedback. Now, this is a bit of a problem, as it is very difficult to find readers who will give quality feedback. You should consider all feedback, even if you disagree with it, then make a choice. Never simply ignore it, but you don’t need to take their advice.
• Format your novel – Depending on where and how you are publishing, formatting has rules. For example, publishing a Paperback through Amazon comes with a guideline you must adhere to, while publishing an eBook through Amazon has a different guideline. These also change depending on the trim size (i.e. 6″ x 9″, 5″ x 8″, etc.), so be aware of this so you don’t waste time. Typically, this process only takes a few hours, but it can be tedious.
• Obtain Cover Art – You can hire a professional, create your own, or really do anything you want. But you need a cover. Not only for publishing, but just for your book to stand out. If you’re looking to stay cheap, most authors do ‘Photo Manipulation’ covers, which are basically just realistic photos that are taken into an editing program for alterations. If you don’t mind pilfering the trove, hire an illustrator for a more custom piece.
• Purchase ISBNs – Every format of your novel needs it’s own ISBN number. One for eBook, one for Hardcover, one for Paperback, etc. These can be purchased from Bowker for United States writers. I believe I purchased a pack of 10 for around $300, which is about 3 novels worth (5 if you’re only doing eBook and Paperback). If you’re publishing an eBook through Amazon, you do have the option for them to provide you one for free, however, this will list them as the owner of that ISBN, not you. You still own the book, but Amazon will be listed as the publisher, not you. Overall, this doesn’t matter to most people who are trying to save cash, but for some it does.
• Upload your novel – This one changes based on where you’re publishing. The most common will be Amazon, which offers eBook and Paperback. Createspace used to be prominent for eBook, but it was merged with Amazon, so you can do both formats in a single place and it’s pretty easy. For Hardcover, you need to go elsewhere – at least for now. I personally go through Ingram Spark. It costs around $50 to publish a book through them, but you get access to their vast network of distribution automatically. What does that mean? Basically, once I published my Hardcover through them, within about 4-8 weeks, it automatically gets placed in the online purchasing database for many retailers, including: Amazon, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, etc. All without contacting them at all. Their formatting requirements are much more strict than Amazon, though, so be prepared for some frustration and a learning curve.
• Order Samples – Once your novel has been uploaded, you can order Sample Copies prior to launching the book. Trust me, you NEED to do this! Go through them and make sure the cover art is centered, the correct ISBN number is listed on the barcode and inside the book (where you put it), and all the text appears correctly. I made quite a few mistakes that were caught when I reviewed Sample Copies. Formatting issues, spacing issues, etc.
• Publish your novel! – If everything looks good, you can Publish your novel! This process takes a bit of lead time, usually 1-3 days, so be aware that it might not be immediate. I say this, because I announced I was publishing my first novel on November 15th, 2018 and thought I just needed to hit the ‘Publish’ button that morning to make it active. Nope! After Publishing, it took another 12-72 hours to be approved. Luckily, it showed up the night of the 15th, meaning I wasn’t wrong. But it was a bit of an embarrassment. My next novel is publishing on November 15th, 2019, and I’ll be hitting that Publish button around the 11th, just to make sure it’s available on the day I say it is. Better for it to be a day or two early than late.

So, your book is published. What’s next?

First of all, pat yourself on the back. You did it! Trust me, I know how good it feels when the project you’ve slaved over for hundreds of hours finally comes to fruition. But what comes next?

MARKETING

Now, the difficulty comes in. Writing your very own novel and publishing it have been a long, exhausting process and you’re so eager to be done. But the fun just starts. You need to get the word out. People won’t really just find your book on their own. To put this into perspective, when I launched my first novel, I discovered that in the Fantasy genre alone, over 36,000 books had been published within the last 30 days. That means your book needs to stand out against 36,000 just within its genre in the last 30 days. Talk about daunting. So, how do you stand out? Well, first let’s hope your cover art is attractive. But that aside, it comes down to Marketing and Networking.

You need to let the world know your book is out. Family and Friends, the internet, everybody. This is the part I hate most. No one likes having to play the starving artist card and ask for support. But until you’re ready to either spend a lot of money on ad campaigns (which is nearly necessary) or get comfortable asking people to buy your book, no one will.

It doesn’t matter how good your book may be if no one clicks on it. Ad Campaigns do a pretty great job of getting people to take a peek, but they’re expensive. Typically you’ll pay an average of $0.50 per click. So, just for 100 people to view your book will cost you $50 (give or take). On average, about 5% of people who view ads end up purchasing. Meaning of 100 clicks, you may get 5 sales. If you’re making $2 per book, you’ve made $10 for $50 worth of ads. So, what makes that ever worth it?

Reviews

You will almost always lose money on advertisements. So why bother? The reason is that you’re building the structure for the future. Most readers don’t leave reviews. But those are what you need in order to succeed (assuming they’re good). One of the biggest things that makes a reader pick up a book over another is how many good reviews it has or its overall rating.

Right now, at the time of writing this, my first novel has only 12 reviews (ironically, it had 11 until yesterday) and it’s been out for a year. Some books I’ve seen have over 100 reviews within the first 24 hours a book is released. How? Those are typically done in a few ways:

• Paid Reviews: This one is considered unethical, but a lot of the Traditional Publishers do this, thanks to their wide network. They have a group of people place reviews on the book the day it comes out because they know it’ll drive the book’s sales immensely. Think of how often you’re willing to buy something on Amazon or Ebay from a seller that has no reviews? Exactly.
• Agreed Upon Reviews: This one is more ethical, but the same practice. Basically, get anyone you can – beta readers, friends, family – to review your book when it comes out. Now, Amazon actually has quite a few limitations in place and will remove reviews frequently for many reasons. If they share the same last name as you, or the same address, or didn’t actually read the book (which they can tell from Kindle Unlimited/eBook customers), etc. Every single one of my family member’s reviews were removed by Amazon immediately, even though I write under a pseudonym, so the name didn’t match. Spooky. But, basically, if you gave your book to beta readers, ask them to simply leave you a review and hopefully they will.
• Natural Reviews: What’s the best way to get reviews? Have a good book. The worst possible thing that can happen is you spend years writing your very first book, and the first review you get is a low rating. That weight will drag down your book’s rating and prevent most future readers from taking the chance on it. And there’s no way to get rid of it. There is one extremely important consideration that I make sure I tell people: Do not act disrespectful anywhere. You are vulnerable to lash backs. And you know what hurts? Bad reviews. This is one of the reasons I recommend a pseudonym as well, so you can split your work from your personal life. Have an angry ex-girlfriend who wants to get back at you? Be ready for her and all of her friends to leave bad reviews on your book. Always be mindful of what you say and stay out of arguments at every opportunity.

So, this all seems very daunting. Trust me, I know. But don’t worry. It’s an extremely rewarding experience, even if not monetarily. And it isn’t as hard as people think it is, but it does take effort, time, and money (usually).

Today’s topic is Prologues – and why you should use them.

In my personal opinion, a Prologue is the most beneficial tool for a novel. We will talk about why. But, first, let’s be sure to define what a Prologue actually is.

Simplified, a Prologue is an introduction to a story, taking place before the first Chapter.

Because of its placement and many other benefits, Prologues serve as the single most beneficial and versatile way to hook a reader, especially in Fantasy.

Pros of Prologues:

• Disjointed – They do not need to flow into Chapter 1. They can be completely unrelated and is the only time such a practice is acceptable. This means you can have a completely unrelated event occur in the Prologue that will either make sense later or provide background detail to the reader without needing to info dump immediately in your story. Want to start your opening scene with a dragon falling from the sky to preface that your world’s magic was gifted by dragons and non-magical organizations are hunting them down? Boom. Your prologue can define all of that in a few simple paragraphs immediately to a) let the reader know about the world and your plot, b) hook them immediately with an intense scene where a godlike creature is struck down by average humans, and c) set up the setting all within one, action-packed scenario that you normally wouldn’t have been able to do until the end of your novel.
• The Hook – It is much easier to steal the interest of a reader if they are thrown into the fray. The most typical opener is some sort of high-stakes (or mysterious) scene that leaves them wanting more. That’s not to say slow-burners won’t get a reader’s interest piqued, it’ll just be harder to do so.
• Setting – One of the most common phrases you’ll hear as a writer is ‘Show, don’t tell!’ (No, really, you’ll hear it fifteen times a day) But the reason is because a lot of new writers will detail out the world they slaved over, trying to get as much information to the reader up front in a short period of time – info dumping. A Prologue is a great way to let the setting show itself while being strapped to a more intense scene. Chapters can do this as well, and certainly can do it well. But because Chapter 1 must lead into Chapter 2, it can be more difficult to get a wider view of the world, instead of just the local setting. On the other hand, a Prologue is nearly limitless in its potential.

Examples of the above: Want to start your opening scene with a dragon falling from the sky to preface that your world’s magic was gifted by dragons and non-magical organizations are hunting them down? Boom. Your prologue can define all of that in a few simple paragraphs immediately to a) let the reader know about the world and your plot, b) hook them immediately with an intense scene where a godlike creature is struck down by average humans, and c) set up the setting all within one, action-packed scenario that you normally wouldn’t have been able to do until the end of your novel.

Now, there are definitely times when a Prologue is not necessary. Let’s explore a few of those.

When not to use a Prologue:

You should not be using a Prologue unless it is relevant. In my opinion, in Fantasy, this is extremely rare. Contrarily, other genres such as non-fiction don’t need to rely on Prologues, because the reader either already knows the setting or there would be no benefit to it. You really don’t want to send the reader mixed signals by throwing them into a high-stakes Prologue, just to have Chapters 1 through 48 be sloooooooooow.

That brings us to the next point: Benefit. Prologues are basically a limitless source of creativity that you have access to. However, there are stories out there that really don’t need to have them and can start directly in Chapter 1. At that point, your Prologue is just unnecessary fluff.

Alternatives:

A Prologue is unique in its capabilities, but there are some similar options to open your story.

First, there are Excerpts or Quotes. They can either be from fiction created for the point of your story, such as a journal entry from your MC’s father, or even real-world quotes – many writers use more commonly known pieces, such as from Shakespeare or the Bible. Using existing pieces can have its own set of Pros and Cons, but we won’t get into that today.

Excerpts and Quotes serve similar benefits to Prologues in the sense that you can provide the reader with details about your world, characters, or plot up front. However, they’re also typically much shorter, which can be better or worse. Think of them like a taste test, where the reader can get a quick snippet of the story for immediate consideration.

Here’s an example:

17th Day of the Fourth Sun

Today it came again. The guards are terrified to stand vigilant at their posts and the maids have started to refuse their nightly duties. I can’t believe they arrived again so soon. It had only been three nights since last they entered the castle. They took another child, Ephraim’s boy, Huri. The poor man, I feel for him. Despite my need to show strength and confidence, even I have hidden my daughter away since the last night the demons came. What kind of ruler am I, to cower before these beasts while expecting my subjects to stand firm?

I know nor care naught, for what kingdom would I rule without my daughter?

This is much shorter than a full Prologue, but immediately lets the reader know a) demons are coming to a castle and stealing children, b) the king has a daughter – most likely the MC, and c) setting. This is everything a Prologue offered, but in a smaller and more refined dose.

So, there are a few alternatives that can work well. None of these, Prologues included, are blanket solutions, though. You need to see what works best with your story and gaining a reader’s interest.

That’s all for today’s Tip, folks. I was going to add in a section on Epilogues, but that’s a whole beast in itself and this post is already pretty long. Maybe next time!

So, you’ve just published your first novel (or are about to) and are wondering how to get the word out. I’ve been there – and still am there, technically. Here’s a few things I’ve learned along the way.

First and foremost, most adequate forms of advertisement/marketing costs money! That’s right, folks. The age-old words of wisdom is true. You have to spend money to make money!

Advertising comes in many forms. Here’s a few:
1. Internet Advertisement
2. Promotional Products
3. Word of Mouth / Agreements

Let’s start with Internet Advertisement. For Self Publishers, this is really where your widest audience sits. There are a lot of options to choose from, ranging from Amazon and Facebook’s internal Advertising services to finding other third-party services. I can tell you, I’ve done all three of those (though admittedly limited with the other services). In this Writing Tips entry, I’ll be discussing specifically Amazon’s advertising services. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.

Amazon: Advertising through Amazon is done primarily through Keywords to assist with making sure your book is noticed instead of the hundreds of thousands of those you are competing against. Each Keyword has a specific cost. The more generic and popular the Keyword, the higher the cost. I’ve included an example below.

As you can see, the Suggested Bid is the average value. The next column is what you choose to set as your Maximum Bid for that Keyword (it is rare you actually end up paying that much). The higher your Bid, the more likely it is that your result will show up above others who are bidding on the same Keyword. After all, there’s only 1-2 Sponsored Products at the top of the search results and you want to be there – so do they. These Bids are what YOU pay. More on that below!

Without paid ads, if you search ‘Orc’ in Amazon’s books, you probably would not even find Orcblood Legacy: Honor among the first page. There are hundreds of other orc books out there (mostly erotic homosexual novels, oddly enough). However, now, searching “Orc” returns my novel as the first result.

Now, this is a GREAT way to improve your book’s visibility. So, what’s the catch? Well, there are two.

First, depending on your Keywords (you can choose up to 200, I believe), not everyone will find your book. For example, I did not choose ‘Armor’. As a result, if a prospective reader searches for that word, my novel will not show up as a Sponsored link. This is where you get to try to increase or decrease your reach based on the words you select. You’re paying per click, so you don’t want to include Keywords that aren’t related to your story. If I had chosen ‘Princess’ as a Keyword, how likely is it that someone searching for ‘Princess’ would pick up my novel? It depends on how good Fangdarr looks in a dress, I suppose – but not very.

This leads me to the next catch. The cost. Amazon advertising charges you per click. No matter how many people see your ad, you only get charged when people click on it. This is where you want to filter your audience, as mentioned. Otherwise you’ll end up with a lot of arbitrary clicks that don’t result in sales. Every Keyword’s cost per click is different, as shown in my first image. It may not seem like a lot at $0.31 per click, but if 100 people click your ad, that’s now $3.10 just for them to take a look at the book. Theoretically, depending on your royalties, you may only need to sell 1 book to cover that cost. 1 out of 100 seems like a good chance, right? It can be. But you need to remember that almost all readers are just peeking around. They read your synopsis, check your reviews, the price, and maybe even your bio. And then they leave. Poof.

Now, that’s not to say you won’t have success with it. Success can be measured in different ways. When you’re first starting out, don’t worry too much about income. That’s a quick way to get disappointed. I know I was. Writing a book is a difficult task. Once you’re done, you think you’ll put it up for sale and it’ll start trickling in some nice income. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. You need to build your brand. Write more books, maintain your blog and website, and generate reader interest. Your ad may cost you $200 and you may get $25 in sales from it. Financially, that’s pretty terrible. But, you may have gotten 300 new people to click your link in interest. So, what did you gain if not money?

Visibility, obviously. Many of the world’s most famous (and now wealthy) authors did not get rich off their first novel. Far from it. You NEED your work to be seen. It’s much better if its read and loved, of course, but infinitely more important that your book gets seen compared to not. As you write more books – and promote them – your name will slowly gain recognition. It might be after five books or maybe even thirty before you start to reach the levels of notoriety and income you’re looking for, but that’s the game. Writing for income is a vastly different experience – and subsequently requires different tactics – than writing for enjoyment. I try to reach a happy medium, personally.

All in all, Amazon’s advertisement service can be a great way to get your book noticed. The cost does creep up pretty quickly, so you’ll need to plan for that. It costs as much or as little as you’re willing to spend and you can end it at any time. Right now, I keep up an ad 100% of the time for a few Keywords and then I’ll launch a separate campaign whenever I need to drive as much traffic as possible, such as for a launch or a free eBook event.

To give you some numbers, I spent $300 on ads (between Amazon and Facebook) when I made Orcblood Legacy: Honor free in February. Obviously, I made none of that back since the book was free for that time. However, in those five days, there were 4x as many downloads than I had sold since the book’s launched, drastically increasing my reader count (and therefore my reach). A large portion of those people probably didn’t read the book, or didn’t even like it, but that’s not the point. The purpose was to increase the number of readers and it did just that.

Next time I’ll discuss Facebook’s advertising services and the differences it has compared to Amazon. Subscribe to the website if you haven’t yet to check out these Writing Tips! Also, if you have any questions in particular, feel free to contact me at any time and I’d be glad to discuss it. Until next time!

Hello everyone! It’s been a really long time since I’ve posted any Writing Tips. I apologize for that, it’s just been crazy with working on Madness. I’m already about to start work on Book Three but really want to get back into doing these as often as I can – so no time like the present.

Yesterday, I was speaking with a friend regarding Names. Character names, your book title, anything, really. There’s a few things we discussed that are actually things most writers struggle with, and for good reason.

So, let’s think about the question we want to ask. What can I do to make my Book stand out? At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to. You need to make sure a prospective reader picks your book over another, and the names you choose can play a role.

When it comes to naming characters, there are actually quite a few obstacles people tend to overlook. Let’s take a look at some.

Theme: Generally, I try to keep a recurring theme within races. Here’s my personal preferences that I employ.
—– Orcs: Guttural and brutish, often have double-r ending
—– Dwarves: Strong names, typically two syllables
—– Elves: Feminine and elegant (even the males), most common letters being E, L, I, Th, and S
—– Trolls: Typically two syllables, always split by an apostrophe
—– Ogres: Typically one syllable, brutish
—– Humans: Basically old names but more fantastical (Jeff the Dragonslayer just doesn’t cut it for most)
—– Satyrs: All males end in Name’ul and females are Name’la

Uniqueness: Names are something that identify your book and its characters. As a result, you need to be sure that if a prospective reader searches for your Book Title or the Main Character they find your book within the top results.

When I first launched Orcblood Legacy: Honor, if you did a Google Search for either ‘Bernard Bertram’ or ‘Orcblood Legacy’, you wouldn’t find anything about my book until Page 4. Let’s be honest, no one looks past the first page of Google – and typically restricts that further to the first 3-5 results.

Now, if you search for either of those keywords, I pretty much flood the results. This is primarily due to three things. 1) Presence, 2) Uniqueness, and 3) Marketing. I’ll explain in more detail below.

Presence: For any who don’t know about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), presence is a huge driving factor in making sure you’re on the first page. You need to have constant influence on either your own website or your Social Media sites (or both) to essentially lay claim to that keyword over others. For example, there are obviously other people named ‘Bernard Bertram’ out there in the world. I had to fight for the right to be placed above them. It was a bloody battle, but we made it to the top thanks to putting out content on my website and Social Media every few days.

Uniqueness: This is majorly important, especially for your Book Title. Remember how I just said that you needed to fight for the top slot on search results? Well, imagine naming your book ‘Donald Trump’ right now. What chance do you think your book would have of being seen on the first results of Google right now? If you’re set on a broad term – like how I love making my Titles one word – consider alternatives that add uniqueness. For example, my Books are titled: Orcblood Legacy: Title, not just Title. I can definitely say that if my book was labeled Honor and not Orcblood Legacy: Honor, it certainly would have much less recognition.

The same goes for Character Names. Readers may come across your Main Character’s name – after all, they’re a large part of your brand – and search for them. I, personally, employ this practice myself. I don’t often look up ‘R. A. Salvatore’ when I’m looking for his books. I look up ‘Drizzt’, the dark elf character he is well known for. Fangdarr is now the proud champion of his arena and stands atop the pinnacle shouting his name.

Before I wrote Orcblood Legacy: Honor, if you searched for ‘Fangdarr’, the results you found were drastically different. We’ve now sealed a place in the Internet for our beloved, bloodthirsty orc.

Marketing: This one goes hand-in-hand with Presence as it has a direct relation. However, I leave them separate due to a key factor. Presence typically indicates the effort you put in to push out content in the name of your work. Websites, Social Media, Blogs, etc. All of that is your own efforts. Now, that isn’t to say that Marketing doesn’t take some work on your end as well. It’s a bit of a complex relationship. But, the biggest benefits you will receive from Marketing will come through 3rd Parties – and often not for free.

Amazon, Facebook, and even external sites that do reviews are all forms of Marketing, to name a few. Each of which typically have a much wider reach than you. But to piggyback off of their success often comes with a cost. In trade for payment, you can access their many customers to increase your presence drastically. More reach, more presence. It doesn’t matter if you make a new post every day if no one ever sees it. Sometimes you’ve got to spend money to make money, and these services can be huge to spread the word of your work.

I’ll go over more about the differences between Amazon and Facebook’s advertisement capabilities in the future! Be sure to subscribe to the site for updates on Writing Tips and other content. If you have any questions you’d like me to discuss in particular, feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to go over my personal opinions.

One of the most challenging – yet most fun – factors of writing Fantasy is Worldbuilding and Character building. Both of these require you to create entirely new, fictional entities from scratch. While this can be both challenging and fun, it comes with its own risks.

First, it’s important to take notes. Always, always, always. When I was writing Orcblood Legacy: Honor, I lost my notes along the way as I kept putting the book aside over the years. When I came back to it, I would try to recall what I wrote, or skim through the reading to get the necessary details. I’ll explain how well that worked below:

Crepusculus’ Lair Placement:

2012 (Start of Book): Eastern corner of the map
2013 (After dropping the book for a year): Western corner of the map
2014: Eastern corner of the map
2015: Eastern corner of the map (yay! still in the same spot)
2016: Center of map (What? Why?)
2017: Eastern corner of the map (This is getting a little old)
2018: Western corner of the map

After doing the diligent review, I realized that the Lair needed to be in the Western corner of the map. I had no idea how I managed to get it in the Center, let alone constantly returning it to the East (it made no logical sense to be East). 

This is where consistency comes into play. If I had not went through my review and followed the logic of where the Lair should be, it would have completely destroyed the whole story. I won’t go into details, but perhaps if you read the book you’ll understand what I mean. But, trust me, this book would have failed entirely if I had left the Lair in the East. You know how people constantly bring up plot holes on even famous works, such as Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter? Where they’ll let the extent of the internet and all its inhabitants know that the single fact they mentioned uproots the entire story? Yeah, this would have been that.

Needless to say, sticking to your facts and keeping them straight are important. This goes past Worldbuilding and is really prominent in characters as well. Often a character that has a certain trait or appearance will change in your mind, or as you write them. I’ll give a few examples of things I struggled with throughout writing the story:

Inconsistencies of Characters: 
1. Cormac originally had hair, but a clean-shaven face. Now, he’s bald with a beard (which I prefer). Additionally, his eye-patch had shifted eyes a few times (maybe that eye was just a little tired and wanted some shut-eye, pun intended).
2. Elethain had black hair, but it was changed to be a golden white. 
3. Blood Color. This was a big one. I actually had to make a list (after completing the book and while writing a portion of Book Two, then going back and making sure Orcblood Legacy: Honor was consistent – it was not) of all the different blood colors of the races and creatures in Orcblood Legacy. Black, blue, purple, red, blackened-red, etc. Sometimes I would wound an enemy that had black blood and say the crimson painted the grass – which would not be true.

Consistency is key. Obviously, that’s the point of this post. However, my goal is to show just how easy it is to overlook some of the minor details. I certainly made many mistakes that were found later (which is why it is important to review your work). One thing to keep in mind, is that while they are easy to miss while you’re writing, your readers will not. You are writing over a long period of time, mostly. It is a long road to complete a book – one that will be done piece by piece. Details will be forgotten as you wait until your next writing time, or even six months later when your character(s) finally encounter the same minute detail, such as the color of an ogre’s blood. However, your readers are going through the book much more quickly, so the details are fresh in their mind. 

All in all, as a writer, you WILL make mistakes. You will. And that is okay. It’s better to catch them before print, of course, and that’s where review comes into play. But any details you can keep consistent as your writing just decreases the risk of letting out that one minor detail that can send your book from a fantastic story to a logically-flawed catastrophe. 

Get yourself a notebook, a whiteboard, or even open up Notepad on your computer and start documenting (I do all of the above and still will miss minor details if I’m not paying attention or reviewing my notes constantly). Don’t let your months (or years) of effort bringing your vision to life be cast aside by a single line of text that readers will use to haunt you forever. 

Any aspiring author knows there are times where continuing with your story gets difficult. You make excuses. You lose interest. These are facts of the trade (and really any hobby/interest) that threaten accomplishing your goal. 

I will be the first to admit that Orcblood Legacy: Honor did not come without its struggles. I started writing it in the summer of 2012. The first 30,000 words were written in two weeks. My interest was insanely high, and there was no stopping me. Or so I thought.

After that intense, highly productive introductory period, everything died off from there. I made excuses. I lost interest. Though, I always hated not being able to push through. Always. 

Each subsequent year, I would randomly get the interest renewed to wish to finish the story. It was a lifelong dream to write a novel, and Fangdarr’s story was the one I knew I wanted to tell. Each year, when I picked up the abandoned husk that I had left, I reviewed all the previous work to get reacquainted. Unfortunately, by that point, I had managed to lose interest by the time I read through and lightly edited my progress–typically only adding another few pages once I had caught up.

Finally, in December of 2017, it was enough. You reach a point that you realize your mistakes and you buckle down. This time, I picked up the story again and told myself to continue. 

This time, I did. I pushed through. So, what changed? To be honest, nothing. And everything. I started the exact same way as I did before–reading through all of my previous work. This time, rather than a light edit, I went deep. Every line went through intense scrutiny that was not done in the previous six ‘edits’ that were performed over the years my story lay dormant. It was dreadful and tedious, I can’t lie. There’s a reason (many, rather) that I am an author and not an editor. Nevertheless, I found a vast amount of errors from picking apart my writing at a nearly molecular level.

Inconsistencies, plot holes, everything. Littered everywhere. I fixed dozens and dozens of issues and re-wrote any plot holes I found. If you are stuck on your In Progress novel and are having trouble staying motivated – start here. Go through the grueling task of rigorous self-editing. It sucks. It really, really does. But if you can trudge through the muck, I promise you’ll be better for it. Both your story and yourself.

So, where is my Writing Tip, Bernard? I know, I know, get to the point! All of this background is important to show that I know first-hand that motivation is a killer of novels. It doesn’t matter how beautiful your story may be if it never makes it onto the page. Ideas are endless, execution is where you make your name. 

In addition to doing a self-edit that made me realize my story wasn’t the shining pinnacle of beauty that I thought, I set myself on the path of success. Here’s the tip, the key to success. Habits. 

Writing is no different than practicing an instrument, working out, or even learning to draw. It takes practice. Ritualized, chore-like practice. Practice needs to be habitual. Build the habit and stick to it. Set a time that you can write, undisturbed, and stick to it. I write between 4:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m. three days a week, and that’s it. This is the only time I get while the family is still asleep. My shining window of opportunity. 

Let me tell you, the decision to get out of bed at 4:00 a.m. on my only days off of my day job can be difficult. Even this morning that I’m writing this post, my daughter woke my wife and I up twice with blood-curdling screams. Last night was just miserable. Yet, I woke up at 3:45 (15 minutes before my 4:00 a.m. alarm) and rolled out of bed. I started the coffee, gave the cats their weekly treats, checked my e-mails, then got to writing. I will do the same tomorrow on Saturday. I will do the same the next day. And then I will do it all over again starting the following Friday. Because this is my ritual. The habit I’ve formed that allows me to progress through the Orcblood Legacy series. I make good, steady progress every week that I look forward to throughout the week (even though I know it means waking up in the cold mornings and sitting alone in my kitchen to write). 

So, there it is. Build your habit and stick to it. Like anything else, you will see results as long as you continue. Set your schedule and designate a slot of time that suits you (I only slot six hours per week, where I actually end up writing about four). Stay on that schedule. It doesn’t matter when it is, as long as you can continue on the same time every day you schedule to write and you can do so without distractions.