New Project

This is probably a good point to blog; I am starting a new novel so you can go on the journey with me.

I finished the fourth draft of Exit Plan (the first draft was completed over Nanowrimo 2015 and you may have heard me on BBC Radio 4 talking about it). I have been 'in between books'. What have I learnt from this? I'm pretty grumpy if I don't have something to work on! It's taken a while, but I now have an idea I am enthusiastic about writing.

This is how the idea came into being:

There's a character in history who is largely forgotten and it struck me that he would make a good character in a time travel novel. I wasn't sure what else was going to happen, but I knew the main character would be his 'love interest'. Because of the character's age at this specific period in history the characters are sixteen/seventeen so this lends itself to a Young Adult novel.

I didn't know anything else. So, two characters and two time periods...

When I get stuck for ideas I sometimes look at premade book covers and seek inspiration that way. Pre-made covers are cheaper, because they aren't being made to your specifications, so you have to shop around. Luckily there are some really good designers out there. I found one I liked the look of and contacted the designer who I have used before.

Then I needed a title to put on the book cover. I am really fussy about titles, they have to be right. I chatted on Facebook to my friend Ellie and threw titles her way. Then I stumbled on one I liked: Cracked Glass. It resonated with a poem I once wrote as a teenager and have slightly misremembered: shattered glass always holds the most light. Shattered Glass is going to be the title of book two in the series and if it goes into a trilogy the third will be called House of Glass.

Characters - check
Era - check
Genre - check
Cover - check
Title - check

Now time to get writing. Like the rest of you, I find real life gets in the way. I contemplated two ways of motivating myself to write Cracked Glass: publishing a chapter at a time on line or swapping work with a friend. I have tried the former in the past and did not find it successful. Luckily, a friend and I had just agreed to swap 500 words of something a week so Cracked Glass has become that work in progress.

A couple of days in and I have a short 600 word prologue and almost 2 000 words of chapter one. I aim to make each chapter about 4 000 words and loosely follow 'The Hero's Journey' as a template.

I have an outline for chapter two and I know vaguely one of the big events that will happen either in this book, or book two. I prefer not to know the rest as I like seeing where the characters take me.

The adventure begins!

E Publishing

You may have noticed there are more books than ever available to buy electronically. This is because e publishing has exploded over the last few years, enabling anyone who has finished a book to publish it. If you are interested in e publishing these are a few ideas to help you on your journey.

Platforms:
If you want to e publish you need to get your book on both Amazon KDP and Smashwords. Between them they pretty much cover the whole range of book sellers. (The Amazon KDP Select program I haven't heard of being worthwhile for anyone so I'd recommend skipping that as it means you can't sell elsewhere whilst your book is on it).

Covers:
You need a really good cover, it is worth paying a professional. The cheapest way is to buy a premade but that means you can't be specific about what you want - just get the 'best fit'. Google ebook covers premade and a large selection will come up. If you do want a custom made, have a look at the others the creator has made - does their style fit with you? Are they flexible, working with you until you achieve what you want? Also, listen to their advice - they know what colours work for different genres and what sizes work for different e publishers. Make sure you tell them if you want a print version as well (this might cost you more but is worth it) as the specifics are different again.

Editing:
You also need to be a really good self editor as readers hate typos. An editor can be expensive and risky (you need a recommendation) so editing is something I try to do myself (but there's always a typo that gets through). Editing is one thing that really separates the best e books from the glut of tripe that anyone can upload (I'm sure you know what I mean, we've all downloaded one of these books). If you can afford it and have a recommendation - get a professional. But tell them exactly what you want - do you want someone to go through grammar and spellings or do you want someone who will advise you on the story? Again, be warned not all editors will be able to do this as some of their experience will be very specific and may not relate to fiction so be very careful with this.

Formatting:
You need to read the formatting guidelines and follow them (what you do for Smashwords is then fine for Amazon though, so you don't need to do it twice). Get it wrong and your book won't be accepted. It's worth spending the time getting it right the first time.

Traditional Publishing:

E publishing doesn't mean you can't then seek traditional publishing, you just need to mention it on your submissions and say you retain all rights (make sure you tick this box when uploading to the e book sites). It may help in the end as traditional publishers do keep an eye out for anything causing a ripple in the water (Shades of Grey, anyone?).

Marketing:
There is no marketing or publicity with e publishing, so Facebook, Twitter etc will be your best friends. Create a Facebook page and link it to Twitter so you only have to post once (FB posts will then appear as Tweets). Update your page daily if you can, a couple of times a week at least. My page is here if you want to look at the kind of thing I post: https://www.facebook.com/EHWalter/ 

Print copies:

If you want people to be able to buy print copies of your book there are ways that won't cost a fortune. Print on demand has become very accessible and keeps costs down. I use Lulu as it literally costs me a proof copy and postage (other print on demand publishers are available). You can set your own price and you can also select to have them available on Amazon with your kindle formatted book. This is where your print copy cover comes into it's own as your e book cover won't be good enough for print. You need to format the inside of the book differently (and page break will become your friend, remember that now to save yourself a lot of hassle) and read the guidelines specific to print books (I've always found CreateSpace's guidelines the easiest to follow).

Tax:

Anything you legitimately spend on writing and publishing (covers, fees etc) is tax deductible but you do need to register as self employed (those couple of dollars a month from Amazon need accounting for). At entry level e publishing you won't make enough to pay tax, but you still need to do the right thing by HMRC, the IRS or your own country's tax office. You are going to become a bit of a tax expert I'm afraid and Google will be your friend. UK/US residents - our countries have an agreement whereby you only need to pay tax in one country. This does mean lots of form filling though and I did have to go to the IRS department at the US Embassy to get a form stamped (they were very helpful but being a Brit I was utterly confused by the lack of a queue - how do you people work without queues?). Once all done, however, it's done and you can just carry on writing until it's tax return time of year.

And good luck! You won't make much money from e publishing (but do remember those tax returns need filing!) but you will gain readers who will let you know what they think about your work. Nothing beats having a book out there that people enjoy reading.