I often hear people quote (or misquote) famous author’s writing advice. “Editing means minus ten percent.” “Writing is like driving in the dark. You can only see to the edges of the lights.” “Make a word count goal and stick to it every day.” And on and on.

If writing is a creative process, why do we follow and repeat this advice?

Because as writers, we live face to face with our doubt. We are always looking for a way to relieve the risk of translating the words from our head to our page and screens. Following the leader seems like the best way to make sure we’re on the right track.

If Stephen King does this, then I must be doing the right thing. If Janet Evanavich does that, then I’m bound to be successful. If Earnest Hemingway didn’t use adverbs/adjectives, I won’t either.

Writing is about finding and keeping to your own track.

Following someone else’s advice won’t relieve your doubt. It will only make you certain you’re doing it wrong. Doing it someone else’s way is doing it wrong.

Stop following the leaders.

Find your own track.

Listen to your own muse.

Edit in the way that makes sense to you.

Breathe.

“In the publishing space, the author’s brand is infinitely more important than the publisher’s brand. I’m going to read Charles Stross novels no matter who publishes them (and in fact Stross has a bibliography that spans multiple publishers). But the author’s brand is usually associated with story content. I buy Charles Stross novels because I like high-concept science fiction with an unflinching density of ideas and an unforgiving expectation from the reader. The Stross brand promises that and, so far, has unswervingly delivered. ” from Do I need the middle

When we’re first starting out, we’re indoctrinated with the idea that we need a publisher to be successful. If we’re ‘good’, we pretzel ourselves around to find an agent. With a little luck, the agent finds a publisher. Of course, our ego begs for which ever publisher we believe is best : Little Brown, Random House, Harper Collins, Putnam. We believe these brands to legitimize our efforts.

We are told, and believe, that the publisher’s brand will be the train that takes us to fame and fortune.

For a moment, if you will, think about your favorite author. Off the top of your head, can you name their publisher?

I can’t.

I remember the author’s name. I remember odd details about their lives:

• Janet Evanovich has been married forever;
• Stephen King credits his success to his long suffering wife and children. He’s also Maine;
• Sue Grafton is from California;
• Jasper Fforde is British;
• James Joyce worked all day then wrote at night, even though he could barely see the page;
• Earnest Hemingway didn’t use an adverb or adjective for a year;
• Ursula Le Guin tried to stop writing the EarthSea stories but the characters wouldn’t let her and so on…

Their publisher? Who cares?

I only care about the author and the work that opens doors for me. It comes down to the author’s brand.

If that’s the case, authors should get our personal brand going long before a publisher gives them a nod. In fact, many publishers prefer to hire authors who already have established brands.

How do you create a brand? There are some good ideas here in the #BookMarket transcript (#BookMarket on free Twitter chat, Thursdays 4 p.m. ET, co-hosted by me! )

What do you think? Is the author’s brand important to you? Or the publisher’s brand? Or both?

“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. ”
–Virginia Woolf

Something about this quote bounces around in my brain.

Maybe it’s the money thing. I don’t have loads of money, yet I’m able to write.

Maybe it’s the room of her own thing. I’ve never really had a room of my own.

As a child, I shared with my younger sister until my younger sister threw me out when I turned 13 years old. She had ‘grow out’ of sharing a room, so I was bumped into my oldest sister’s room. Even though my oldest sister was at college, I wasn’t allowed to change the decor for two years. Any time she returned to the house, I was out of the room. I slept on the floor of the living room, den or wherever I could fit a sleeping bag.  When she stopped coming to the house, favoring her Iranian boyfriend’s company to crazy family time,  my mother started using the room when she was sick of my father. So I’d be out on the living room floor again.

As an adult, I’ve had a variety of apartments. Some awful, some quaint and some really super awful. I loved the chance to have a space of my own. Of course, like any vacuum, my apartments and life became full of other people’s lives and problems.  Apartments turned to a 750 square foot Duplex in Denver which became the 1907 home we live in now.

I’ve written almost everywhere: the bathroom, the basement, the kitchen, at the kitchen table, the living room couch, in the backyard, under the apple tree, and anywhere I could hold a pencil or set my lap top. I once wrote a version of an Open Grove newsletter at a brew pub in Bayfield, Colorado while the husband was helping his parents. Probably the only place I haven’t written is in the beeyard.

Currently, I work in our front room. The room contains our books, financial information and anything that comes into the house. Rose has a chair to sit on as well as a bed to lay on. On the floor, if you look carefully, you can find renegade bits of Costco Lamb treats and Chicken breast treats.  Everything that comes in or out of the house spends some time in this room. I share the room with Rose and our entire life.

Is it a room of my own? I’m not sure. I’m also not sure I need a room of my own to write.

Where do you write? What kind of space do you need to write?

My friend Ian T Healy asked me to write a piece about serial fiction for his blog. I wanted to share it with you here.

>>>

What is serial fiction?

Let’s start with the basics. Serial fiction is literally the act of publishing fiction while it’s being written. For example, Denver Cereal chapters are often published within day of them being completed. This format was popularized on radio and then reinvented on television in some of the modern soap operas. Story arches come and go, but the main story continues on week after week with no real ending point. Readers have chance to meet a large cast of characters who live out their lives within the world of the serial fiction.

Why I write serial fiction

You’re probably wondering why anyone would take on such a mad endeavor. Here are a few reasons I write a serial fiction (and why you should too).

• I love serial fiction. I love the beautiful unfolding of character’s lives and experiences as they grow over time. There is no ‘happily ever after’ for serial fiction. These characters continue to live on week after week. The reader never has to say good-bye to a favorite character. The characters, like real people, continue to live out their lives in the serial.
• Practice your writing chops. Every week, a serial fiction chapter must have a beginning, middle and an end. Like writing a novel, you have to engage the reader in the first line of the chapter and leave them hanging with the last line of the chapter. This means that I will have fifty-two chances to practice hooking a reader. This is fabulous practice for novel writing.
• A chapter a week, that’s all it takes. No matter what’s going on in my life, I have written and posted a chapter a week of Denver Cereal for almost two years. Week after week, Denver Cereal keeps me writing.
• Author’s platform. “The best time to start promoting your book is three years before it comes out.” (Seth Godin in Advice for writers) Writing a serial fiction is an excellent way to develop an audience. By using the Internet to publish Denver Cereal, I’ve also had the luxury of getting immediate feedback from readers. Readers send me copy edits, comments on the action, and even a few wows. Through these interactions, I’m able to build a supportive audience. These same people write Amazon reviews, host me during blog tours, buy my books, and invite me to guest blog.
• Practice, practice, practice. Denver Cereal gives me the opportunity to practice every aspect of writing. From making time to write to where to put a quotation mark, every week I have the luxury of practicing my art. I never have the chance to forget to write or not make the time. I must have a chapter ready to the editor by Friday. These skills spill over into my novel writing. I know how to make the time, how to put my butt in the chair, and how to crank out at least a chapter. Editing is easier because I’m always abreast of grammar rules.

I can’t think of any reason to not write a serial fiction. With free blogging software and more readers than any time in history, there’s a world of people who want to read what you write.

Give it a chance. You won’t regret it!

>>>

What do you think? Are you ready to give serial fiction a try?

If you’re a writer, find the time (about 20 minutes) to watch this video. It’s not about writing. It’s creating a life where you are radiantly alive and you’re living the life you want.

How many of us wait until the moment when we’re able to write? How many of us play the “if/then” game? (If I get on the New York Times Bestseller’s list, then I’ll be happy.)

Life’s too short to be wasted.

Last week, I had an appointment with two local publicists to help me market the books to Denver. Because I know so little about book marketing, I begged asked my friend, Carol Corbett from a great little publishing house, Publishing Works, for help. Carol is the VP of marketing at Publishing Works. We met on Twitter. She had great ideas and is always willing to help out.

Overall, Carol gave me great ideas about book marketing. I had to share them here.

Marketing MUST HAVES:

Because online marketing seems so easy, Carol said that people forget the basics.  Carol believe every book campaign must have:

1. A great local campaign. Your local campaign is literally the foundation of your book sales. In Carol’s words: “If no one in your neighborhood knows you wrote a book, why would anyone else?”

2. A campaign focused on your market. “There is a market ready and waiting for your book,” Carol said.  What magazines, newspapers, or TV shows reach your specific market? Find your market then take a few steps back from it – Where do they shop? What do they do on a Saturday? Where do they get their news?

A few marketing DON’TS

1. Don’t get overly focused on being a bestseller. The word is very pliable. There are relatively easy ways to manipulate Amazon or even Barnes and Noble so that you look like a bestseller. But becoming a bestseller doesn’t mean you stay a bestseller. Without the basics, you will fall back to obscurity when your manipulation is done.

2. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you they will get you on Oprah. Chances are you won’t. Further unless you a solid author platform (aka an audience), your visit to Oprah won’t pay off. Your audience pulls you along the path to the NY Times best seller list, Oprah, etc.

3. Don’t give over the entire process to someone else. You must sit in the passenger seat of any book campaign.  Marketing is collaborative. For example, if your PR person gets  you a TV spot, you should tell the newspapers that you’re going to be on television.

4. Don’t believe the big name authors had it easy. “If you look under the flap of most big name authors, you’ll find that people struggled and suffered when they were starting out.”

A few general principles

1. It takes a lot of marketing, and a lot of dollars, to make a book career.

2. Think of each event – television, best sellers list, radio interviews, book sales – as one step on your journey, not your destination.

3. Look at the timing of your marketing efforts. If there’s something big going on in the media (ex. Obama election, Haiti earthquake), no one is going to pay attention to your event.

4. It’s easy to kiss a lot of money good-bye.

5. The old fashioned marketing techniques work really well because no one does them. (Ex.  Hand written thank you notes.)

6. Right now, it’s hard to get people out of their houses to buy books.

7. Don’t be afraid to say ‘no’ to your PR person, an interview request or whatever. It’s better to not go then to have a bad interview.

Good stuff, wouldn’t you say? I hope it helps you on your journey.

You cannot imagine how many times I’ve heard “publishers support authors so authors can just write.” Or…

“It used to be that publishers supported authors so authors could just write.” Or..

“I can’t wait until I’m published so I can just stay at home and write.” Or…

“I wish was (fill in the blank with bestselling author). Their publisher does everything for them so they can just write.”

These statements are fantasy at best. Let’s take a look at each of these statements.

“Publishers support authors so authors can just write.” Writing contracts include publicity and promotions requirements for authors. Further, since 2003, most publishing houses have gutted their publicity budgets. Even bestselling authors are funding their own press and publicity agents. When I worked in the Open Grove, I met many authors who funded their own travel and hotel expenses. One woman, with a bestselling book under her belt, couch surfed around the country in support of her book.

“It used to be that publishers supported authors so authors could just write.” When I hear this statement, I usually ask “WHEN was that?” Pick an era, authors have always had to promote and sell their own books. Walt Whitman went door to door with his book. When people didn’t like Dicken’s work, he and his large family didn’t eat. Mark Twain hated traveling away from home, but left his family for a speaking tour to sell his books and make up for his debts. Even in the recent past, Jennifer Louden traveled the country in her parent’s vehicle teaching Free Adult Ed classes to support Women’s Book of Comfort. To my knowledge, there’s never been a time that author’s could ‘just write.’

“I can’t wait until I’m published so I can just stay at home and write.” This statement reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the word “advance.” An advance is basically a loan against your future earnings. For easy math, let’s say you receive $50 in an advance. Of that $50, your agent takes $7.50 leaving you with $42.50. You need to save 1/3 for taxes ($12.75) and at least 1/3 for publicity or a press agent ($12.75) This means that you live off of $12.75. But that’s okay, right? You’ll get more. Most authors never see another penny from their books. In fact, outside of about 50 books a year, most books lose money for publishers. What if your book becomes a best seller? Doesn’t help because you make the deal for your book up front. When you signed, you would have signed for anything – and usually authors sign for less than anything. When your first, second or third book becomes a best seller, the publisher wins for the risk of their investment, not you. What about when the story sells to the movie people? David Morrell sold Rambo for $50,000. Total. Period. That’s it. He was delighted for the $50,000. But once it’s sold, it’s sold. The entire billion dollar franchise was started from the $50,000 investment.

“I wish was (fill in the blank with bestselling author). Their publisher does everything for them so they can just write.” When I hear this statement, I always ask “Who are you talking about?” Janet Evanovich in How I write, speaks of working eighty hours a week. Moreover, after writing for eight hours, she spends the afternoon and evening working on marketing efforts. Nora Roberts, one of the most prolific authors of our time, writes all the time, including when she’s on press junket. You can find her in the middle of book tours working on her laptop in the smoking room of airports.  She writes in the car, at the hotel and any moment she’s not interacting with someone else. Even after 159 published books, most of them bestsellers, she still doesn’t have the luxury of ‘just writing.’ Stephen King is in very much the same position. Stephen is constantly trying to find better ways to promote and publish his work. He writes at least 8 hours every day then spends the rest of the time trying to find a better way to do business.

The only authors who are able to “just write” do so because they have family money, are supported by a family member, or have other sources of income. No working author gets a free ride.

If you want to write, you will have to learn to promote your work. That’s how it was for Chaucer. It’s how it’s going to be for you.

You work for years. You send your project to your friends, family and finally shell out for a ‘real copy editor’ and a ‘real content editor.’

Then, if that’s the path you choose, you send it to your publisher’s editor. This editor slaves away to make your manuscript make sense. The two of you work your butts off to clarify the story, find all the typos, and make sure the grammar is correct. All the while the cover is being created.

Then your 120,000 word document goes through the process. A book block is created. The cover is approved. And a proof arrives.

You go through it another time – just one more look. And you find a typo or 700.

No problem. Easy to fix. Correct the book block and the book wanders off to be printed!

And the book is finally printed!!

You wait. One book sells, then two. When you look again, you’ve sold 50 copies, then 100. The book is selling! YES! Take that Mr. ‘you suck at writing’ English Teacher!

Now, you need to prepare yourself. Feedback is on it’s way. The Internet gives your readers immediate access to your email, voice mail and website.

Oh, don’t worry. People who hate your book won’t go out of their way to tell you (at least to your face).  You won’t hear specifically how much you suck or your book sucks or what a hack you are. No, only social media forums are the elementary play grounds of adulthood. As long as you avoid asking anyone in a social media forum about your book, you’re probably safe.

Most people will tell you how much they like your book.

Then they will tell you about the typos, copy edits, misplaced quotation marks or whatever else their forth grade grammar teacher told them was wrong. It never fails.

It doesn’t matter that there are major copy edit errors in every Harry Potter book, that in half of one of Patrick O’Brien’s Master and Commander books he calls a character by the wrong name, that any book on the shelf has copy errors or even that British grammar differs from US grammar.  Because Microsoft and Apple have a grammar checker on their word processing program, your copy is supposed to be perfect.

Most people are trying to be helpful. Truly. They just want to help.

And some people are just snipers. My most recent worst case was in a social media forum. (Yes, I should have written this post before I went there.) Someone shot a sniper round in my latest book release with an: “I see major spelling errors…um…”

She didn’t say WHAT she saw. She didn’t bother to say WHERE she saw it. She just said she saw it. No more follow up. I went into a complete meltdown panic. Finally a couple other friends said, “I see this word…”  (Luckily, one typo was in the bookstore and not on the book. One was a word in a quote .)

Another time, someone IMed me in a panic at 10:45 p.m. over a copy error in a sentence in the middle of the book. This is what I mean. Panic. Mayhem. The world is coming to an end. Your 120,0000 word book has a copy error in it!!! Oh. My. God.

Most people are trying to be helpful. And some people aren’t. We could postulate for hours as to why people snipe or say weird things or demoralize. But who cares? Really, why waste your time when other people are willing to help?

What do you focus on? I prefer to focus on the fact that most people are trying to be helpful. When people tell me about copy edits errors or typos or copy errors, I say “Thank you for pointing it out. I appreciate your support.”

Why do I say that? Because I truly appreciate people’s support. I wouldn’t have seen these copy errors if they hadn’t point them out. A few people have generously taken their time to help copy edit books for me or share their ideas to better the text. I am grateful. I need this kind of help. Every author needs this kind of help!

Since my books are published using print-on-demand technology (and really shouldn’t all books be published print on demand?), I keep a book and flag it with copy edits. Six or nine months after the book comes out, I’ll make the corrections and publish a second edition. Easy.

Here’s what David Pogue does with feedback. This is a very funny video worth watching but the part I’m referring to is at 19:21 – just skip ahead.

What will you do? What have you done?

In this video, British singer Robbie Williams has one of those miraculous moments – his dreams came true. Watch his face. See the surprise, gratitude and awe of the moment when dream meets reality.

Some day you’ll have the same experience. Your dreams will come true.

In the words of Winston Churchill, ““Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense”

I recently read a blog post giving 54 tips for writers and was surprised that my favorite bits of advice weren’t there.  I thought I might compile my own list. So here goes:

PROMOTION

1. “Think really hard before you spend a year trying to please one person in New York to get your book published by a ‘real’ publisher. You give up a lot of time. You give up a lot of the upside. You give up control over what your book reads like and feels like and how it’s promoted. Of course, a contract from Knopf and a seat on Jon Stewart’s couch are great things, but so is being the Queen of England. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen to you. Far more likely is that you discover how to efficiently publish (either electronically or using POD or a small run press) a brilliant book that spreads like wildfire among a select group of people.” (Seth Godin, Advice for Authors, Seth has published most of his own books)

2.  ”Don’t get taken in by the Get-Rick-Quick Myth. It takes Ten Years to Become an Overnight Success.” This section talks about the dismal financial reality of being an author. (July Delton, The 29 Most Common Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them)

3. I’ve linked to this article before. Corey Doctorow gives the best reasoning for giving away your work in this article.

4. “Play for anyone who will listen.” Mark Hoppus says this is one of the most important tools in becoming a successful band. But I think it’s very true for authors. You must get your work out in front of people. Hoarding your work stifles your own creativity and growth. Get your work in front of as many eyes as possible. You’ll be amazed at what you learn.

CRAFT OF WRITING

5. “Use small words. Best-selling novelist consistently use shorter words than non-best-sellers. It’s a main reason their writing reads at a faster pace than most mid-list books.” (James V Smith, Writer’s Little Helper)

6. I think this chart speaks for itself. If you want people to understand you, write short sentences.

(James V Smith, Writer’s Little Helper)

7. About the word said:

“The whole purpose of using ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ is to identify the speaker.

• Said is preferable to words like remarked, uttered, declared, articulated, murmured or chortled. Descriptive words such as these can stop the flow of a sentence.
• Don’t be concerned that there will be too many saids in your book. Readers will never notice it.”

(Janet Evanovich, How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author)

I heard this for more sources than I can count. You want a fast reading book? Don’t shift off the word ‘said.’ Anything else slows the reader down.

8 .  Some paraphrased advice:

• Your characters must be better than you. If you think you’ve hurt them enough, go back and hurt them some more. Really slay them. Seeing a character over come all odds makes for great fiction. (Daniel Maas, Writing the Breakout Novel)
• Adjectives and adverbs are only necessary when you have weak verbs and should be avoided at all cost. Imagine that you have to pay $10 for every adjective and adverb in your text. You’d think differently about using them at all. (Stephen King, Lawrence Block, Hemingway, and a host of others)
• Buy a great thesaurus and use it often. (Every author I can think of)
• Keep it simple – you’re stupid if you don’t.

DOING THE WORK

9. “Do one task at a time without distractions. This is one of the most important habits in ZTD. You must select a task (preferably one of your MITs) and focus on it to the exclusion of all else. First, eliminate all distractions. Shut off email, cell phone, Internet if possible (otherwise just close all unnecessary tabs), clutter on your desk . Then, set a timer if you like, or otherwise just focus on your task for as long as possible. Don’t let yourself get distracted from it. If you get interrupted, write down any request or incoming tasks/info on your notepad, and get back to your task. Don’t try to multi-task. See How NOT to Multi-Task for more.” I use the timer on my Google Sidebar when I’m writing. I set it for an hour and work until it rings. Check around my world, then start over again. It’s very effective. (Leo Babauta, Zen to Done)

10. “No one’s coming.” My book mentor. He says this to remind me that:

• No one is coming to make your career.
• No editor or beta reader or friend or expert will take your manuscript and make it the best possible.
• No one is going to market your book.
• No one is going to make you a best selling author.
• No one is going to give you the time to get the work done.
• Unless you’re already famous (think movie star), no one is going to give you a big advance.
• No one is going to make it easy for you.

Writing is a solo game. If you want to be successful, you need to start thinking today about what you can to do make it happen. If you can’t do it, no one will.

What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?