Book writers of PH

[Roy Lime]

How many of us have, at some point, written a book that we've tried to get published?

I'm sure we'd all like to draw attention to our work, but let's remember the advertising rules.

Pop your username below but please don't mention the name of - or provide a link to - your book.

If there's enough of us, maybe we can ask for a sticky where we are allowed to promote our UNPUBLISHED work.

Anyone interested?

Edited by Roy Lime on Wednesday 17th July 09:40

[LeftmostAardvark]

Yes, I'm interested. As per other threads, I'm currently hammering away at the sequel to my first book which has done rather well in the last couple of months but since tailed off.

[andyroo]

Me too. There's not a publisher out there interested in new, unproven sci-fi authors so I've got to go it alone!

[Halb]

LeftmostAardvark said:

Yes, I'm interested. As per other threads, I'm currently hammering away at the sequel to my first book which has done rather well in the last couple of months but since tailed off.

How many words was it?

[LeftmostAardvark]

Halb said:

How many words was it?

97,000

First one was 94,000

[Voguely]

I've written one book and went down the self-publishing route using CreateSpace and KDP. Doing ok, particularly on Kindle format which can be sold much cheaper.

Thinking of writing something else at some point. I like the idea of having half a dozen books which give me a passive income on top of my wage. Think I'll stick to non-fiction though, haven't got the imagination for fiction (or the literary ability!)

I agree a single sticky thread for this could be good. No reason why authors couldn't link their published work in there too, no different to the other sections of this site listing members businesses.

[Halb]

LeftmostAardvark said:

97,000

First one was 94,000

That's good. Currently got 60,000 under the belt for a YA novel. About halfway done I reckon.

[LSsupercar]

Starting writing from an idea for one chapter, it's not expanding and going very well so far. Hoping to get it published.

[Roy Lime]

LSsupercar said:

Starting writing from an idea for one chapter, it's not expanding and going very well so far. Hoping to get it published.

Don't quite understand this. What do you mean?

[SV8Predator]

Roy Lime said:

Don't quite understand this. What do you mean?

It means that he's not a writer, had an idea which quickly ran out of steam, now has writer's block which means that it will unlikely to progress further.

But he still expects to get it published.

[ESOG]

I'd be interested in this as well.

[Xaero]

I started writing my first novel. Done 34,000 words until I figured out how the plot was going to go and finish. But as soon as I worked out the ending, I lost a bit of interest in writing it. It should be around 90k words once done.

Has anyone else been in that situation? I found it a lot of fun and easy to do when I didn't know what was going to happen next, but lost some steam after that.

[andyroo]

Xaero said:

I started writing my first novel. Done 34,000 words until I figured out how the plot was going to go and finish. But as soon as I worked out the ending, I lost a bit of interest in writing it. It should be around 90k words once done.

Has anyone else been in that situation? I found it a lot of fun and easy to do when I didn't know what was going to happen next, but lost some steam after that.

Summarise your ideas for an ending on paper as notes, then plump up those notes into chapter plans. That way you can continue writing without your mind being clogged up by wondering what's going to happen next. If you're really stuck, start something else and the answers will come when your mind has a chance to rest from thinking about it.

[Rumple]

Id be interested, I'm trying to write a book but struggling at the moment.

[Xaero]

andyroo said:

Summarise your ideas for an ending on paper as notes, then plump up those notes into chapter plans. That way you can continue writing without your mind being clogged up by wondering what's going to happen next. If you're really stuck, start something else and the answers will come when your mind has a chance to rest from thinking about it.

I sort of did that. I use software designed for writing novels, and I've already divided up the correct number of chapters and put a brief chapter summary so I know what should happen in each one. The problem is I am no longer wandering around surprising myself at what comes next, but already know and hence bored myself into not writing it.

I feel like I should write my next book without much thinking ahead and just bodge an ending rather than pre-plan it, as at least I'll get to the end out of interest

ETA: Has anyone come up with a strategy for getting a book published? I've briefly looked into this (although keep telling myself I should finish the book first). I thought of a great title, but the .com address is taken (although not being used) and I'd like bookname.com to help push sales and give a brief intro about the book.

Edited by Xaero on Monday 2nd September 05:46

[andyroo]

Xaero said:

I sort of did that. I use software designed for writing novels, and I've already divided up the correct number of chapters and put a brief chapter summary so I know what should happen in each one. The problem is I am no longer wandering around surprising myself at what comes next, but already know and hence bored myself into not writing it.

I feel like I should write my next book without much thinking ahead and just bodge an ending rather than pre-plan it, as at least I'll get to the end out of interest

ETA: Has anyone come up with a strategy for getting a book published? I've briefly looked into this (although keep telling myself I should finish the book first). I thought of a great title, but the .com address is taken (although not being used) and I'd like bookname.com to help push sales and give a brief intro about the book.

Edited by Xaero on Monday 2nd September 05:46

Sounds like you should jump on something new. Try making it up as you go along - that might work for you. A book rarely follows a plan anyway, but for me it's nice to have.

Getting a book published by a big publisher is a mix of hard work and luck. If you're writing something outside the most popular genres, it's even harder. Most publishers won't talk to you without an agent, and most agents only accept a couple of manuscripts each year from slush piles of thousands.

My strategy is what a lot of new sci-fi authors are doing these days - I'm writing my books, popping them up for sale as a kindle ebook, and proving that I have a saleable story. 20,000 sales seems to be the amount people need to sell to attract the attention of a publisher.

[Roy Lime]

Xaero said:

ETA: Has anyone come up with a strategy for getting a book published? I've briefly looked into this (although keep telling myself I should finish the book first). I thought of a great title, but the .com address is taken (although not being used) and I'd like bookname.com to help push sales and give a brief intro about the book.

Edited by Xaero on Monday 2nd September 05:46

I've done something very similar to this. It hasn't worked at all.

[LSsupercar]

SV8Predator said:

Roy Lime said:

Don't quite understand this. What do you mean?

It means that he's not a writer, had an idea which quickly ran out of steam, now has writer's block which means that it will unlikely to progress further.

But he still expects to get it published.

No, it means I'm an idiot and put 'not' in where I did not mean to! It's not ran out of steam at all, it's going very well in fact!

[Nom de ploom]

I've not looked at mine for a while but will pick it up again soon I think.

I have an ending but whilst writing I'm torn between taking too long over dialogue scenes to develop character and using the dialogue to drive the plot along... I want to tell a story but I'm worried the reader will get bored or that I will leave gaps that might make the reader think - how did we get here, for sake of brevity....

all in the challenge I guess...

[andyroo]

Nom de ploom said:

I've not looked at mine for a while but will pick it up again soon I think.

I have an ending but whilst writing I'm torn between taking too long over dialogue scenes to develop character and using the dialogue to drive the plot along... I want to tell a story but I'm worried the reader will get bored or that I will leave gaps that might make the reader think - how did we get here, for sake of brevity....

all in the challenge I guess...

Get it written, then worry about trimming it down or padding it out afterwards. Once you've written it, stick it in a drawer for a few months, then when you read it, anything that needs changing will be obvious because you'll be reading it fresh. A good editor will make your life a lot easier at that point.