Writing faster ... but better?

[Steve]

I'm not sure if I'm writing any better. That's for my readers to decide. But I'm writing faster; that's for sure. My first novel, Find Daddy's Girl, was written over a 10-year period back in the 1980s. My second, Walking In The Light, took five years in the late 1990s. My third, Death To The Fat Cats, took six months beginning in September 2016. My fourth, Ruth's Last Adventure, took three months beginning in June 2017. My fifth, Jonah, took one month, October 2017. What happened? Deadline. Everybody writes faster on deadline. What deadline am I talking about? The ultimate deadline. Life just looks a little different when you hit 60. You realize there isn't as much road left as there once was. And that if you want to get something done you might better get it done or it just might not ever get done at all. Well, here's to deadlines, something those of us with newspaper backgrounds know a little bit about. All of my other books were written in an average of about three months. Get Jonah, my fastest book, here: www.amazon.com/dp/B07887XL2N

[Helen]

I've published several books and am working on my next two. The first book was a novel and took 40 years, thanks to having to work for a living! I also had to wait till the tools for self-publishing we now have became available. But I'm not convinced that you can write faster and still retain the quality of writing. Editing is also something you can't do in five minutes! I guess it also has something to do with the way you write, and how much you include in the first draft. I'm pretty sure all writers consider this problem at some point. Hope this helps. <3

[[deleted user]]

I have by now written 36 novels in ebook form in ten years and am presently writing the 37th one. I publish online my books for free, as I write solely as a hobby and not for money and never made a cent out of them, despite having readers downloaded them a total of over 150,000 copies. I am 67 years old and fully retired, so that gives me plenty of time to write my novels. I also have a very fertile imagination, which helps a lot in writing sci-fi and historical fiction stories. My first ebooks were big ones (500-900 pages) but are now more usually in the 150-250 pages range. I write on average three stories per year, mostly as part of a number of series. Since my World building is mostly done (but by no means frozen), I now put much of the emphasis on my characters' building and evolution, which I believe should be the most important point in a fiction novel. As the saying rightly goes: practice makes perfect!

[Jim]

It took me 14 months of writing, re-writing, proofreading, and having others proofread and critique my one and only novel to produce what I believed to be a polished manuscript ready for publishing.

The polite yet frank comments from a publisher that actually responded to my query letter and submission brought me to the realization that my manuscript was not yet polished or ready for publishing..

I spent the next 11 months learning from and working with a copy editor, conceptual editor, layout design aritst, and graphic design artist to finally produce a manuscript deemed polished and ready for publishing.

My one and only novel was not a commercial success; however, during its 5 1/2 years of availability (Aug. 9, 2011 - Dec. 31, 2016) 1,029 units were sold (485 paperbacks - 480 e-books - 36 audio books on CD -28 audio downloads). Knowing that more than 1.000 people spent their hard-earned money and, hopefully, enjoyed my work made the time, effort, and resources expended on the project well worthwhile and personally satisfying.

[Steve]

Helen, congratulations on finishing the one that took so long. How long does it take you to write one now?

Michel, you have certainly been busy. Why do you not sell your books? Have you had positive feedback? Do you think people are reading them or simply downloading them to grab a freebie?

[Steve]

Jim, sounds great. Why end sales in 2016?

[Jim]

Steve wrote: "Jim, sounds great. Why end sales in 2016?"

Steve,

The publisher declared bankruptcy and went out of business - possibly due to taking on too many authors like myself.

Jim

[Steve]

Jim, so what's next? Any future plans for your book? Have you considered self-publishing?

[[deleted user]]

Steve wrote: "Helen, congratulations on finishing the one that took so long. How long does it take you to write one now?

Michel, you have certainly been busy. Why do you not sell your books? Have you had positi..."

Steve, I write purely as a hobby, because I love writing. I was never interested in trying to sell my books and, while my means are modest (to say the least), money is not a primary goal for me: my pleasure at writing and the fact that I can entertain others with my stories is paramount to me. Please note that my first language is French and that, when I started putting my stories online ten years ago, my written English grammar was far from perfect. However, I have worked to progressively improve my written English, to the point that now many anglophone readers compliment me on my English. As for positive feedback for my books, I got plenty of it. I published online on GR (but not all my ebooks are shown there, due to restrictive rules by Amazon, which now owns GR) and on Free-Ebooks.net (the most important site I use to publish online), and got plenty of ratings, reviews and comments. On GR, the 33 ebooks I advertised there got an average rating of 4.09 out of 100 ratings on 300+ downloads and I also got plenty of comments from readers, the majority positive. On Free-Ebooks.net, my ebooks have accummulated in ten years a total of 150,000+ downloads and over 600 ratings (with average of over 4.3). On that site, one of my novels is rated as most popular sci-fi story in current year, with another in sixth position. I was also rated in 2016 as fifth most popular fiction writer on Free-Ebooks.net. They have not made an update to that list since but I am confident that my position has only improved by now. This is not to brag or attract new readers, but is only to answer your question at the end of message #5.

[Steve]

Michel, OK, thanks for your comments and best wishes to you in your endeavors. I love writing also, but I must admit I want to make money with it also.

[Mellie]

Steve wrote: "Jim, sounds great. Why end sales in 2016?"

Jim paid an outfit called Tate to publish his book. Tate were a notorious vanity press who scammed writers so bad, the owners were jailed for fraud. Which is then why it then went bankrupt. It’s a cautionary tale about doing your research as these vanity presses prey on writers who don’t understand how traditional publishing works.

[Mellie]

Steve wrote: "Michel, you have certainly been busy. Why do you not sell your books?"

Because Michel can’t sell his books due to dubious content (under age girls and sexually explicit) and terrible quality. Instead he pays a scam site to “give them away for free”. They will infect your device with all sorts of malware and viruses (I got all sorts of warning messages when I made the mistake of looking at his books).

[Steve]

Mollie, OK, thanks for your remarks. As with any author, it would be best if people read the reviews first.

[Steve]

Pardon the spelling, Mellie. Autocorrect got me.

[[deleted user]]

Mellie wrote: "Steve wrote: "Michel, you have certainly been busy. Why do you not sell your books?"

Because Michel can’t sell his books due to dubious content (under age girls and sexually explicit) and terrible..."

Mellie, you have gone way too far this time with your lies and accusations. I consider this as defamation and will treat it as such.

[[deleted user]]

Steve wrote: "Mollie, OK, thanks for your remarks. As with any author, it would be best if people read the reviews first."

Which is what this 'Mellie' obviously didn't do, despite contrary claims. I have over 900 ratings and close to 300 reviews that will attest to the actual quality of my ebooks. Of course, this Mellie will claim that all those reviews and ratings are fake, an easy accusation to make from a profile set to 'private'.

[Jim]

Steve wrote: "Jim, so what's next? Any future plans for your book? Have you considered self-publishing?"

Steve,

The storyline for my novel evolved from an idea that had been fermenting inside my head for years. Until I retired I did not have the time to actually do anything about it.

Mellie is correct about me obtaining the services of Tate Publishing, a vanity press. (message 11).

I paid a fee of $3,682 to Tate Publishing and signed a contract. In return I obtained the services of a copy editor, conceptual editor, layout design artist, graphic design artist, professional narrator, recording technician, production of the novel in 4 formats (paperback - e-book - audio book on CD - audio download), and international promotion, marketing and distribution).

A total of 1,029 units were sold (485 paperbacks - 480- e-books - 36 audio books on CD - 28 audio downloads.). I was paid a total of $2,358.34 in royalties during the 5 1/2 years the novel was commercially available.

I believe that the $3,682 fee paid to the publisher was well worth the services received. I consider a net loss of $1,323.66 well worth the experience and personal satisfaction.

I do not plan to write another book. There are just too many other things to do, places to visit, people to meet, and so little time.

[Steve]

All right, happy reading to all of you. And if you're writing something, may the words flow in ways that only writers know.