Quick "How To" Guide for first time authors

****PLEASE NOTE: This is an old post. I no longer post on this blog. For more information, to visit my new blog, or to contact me, visit HERE****


Greetings, fellow indie authors!

I post resources every so often for first-time indie authors that I hope are helpful to them in their writing process. I love to share what little knowledge I have because I learned most of what I know either from trial and error or someone passing said information on to me. So, spread the wealth, right?

This time around, since I'm in the throes of publishing book two in my new adult series, Nothing But Trouble, I figured I'd give those of you considering novel publication a brief outline of what goes into publishing--how long it generally takes to get ideas - to paper - to print and the steps I take along the way. Please see my Author Resources post for links to tools that might come in handy. I haven't updated it in a while, so my apologies, but the bones are there.

How long does it take to write a book?
Well, how much time do you have to write and how series are you about finishing it? For some authors, it only takes 2 months. For me, well, I work a day job and write simultaneously, so it takes me closer to 6 months, and that's writing an average of two days a week. Everyone's process is different. This is mine:

Step One: Outlining, Brainstorming, and creating a Production Timeline.
The length of time it takes you to do this will vary based on how your mind works and the amount of time you're willing to put into these initial steps. It depends if you're a plotter or pantser. For me, I'm a little bit of both. It takes a couple weeks to really get my ideas out of my head and organized and I use a variety of techniques to organize my thoughts, including sticky notes for major scenes or themes that need to show up in my story, and then I move them to more cohesive thoughts in Scrivener. I look up character photos, create storyboards for visual references, do some research on topics I'm unfamiliar with but need to write about and so on. It generally looks something like this:

For a timeline, I generally pick a "release date" and plan backward.

Here's an example:

Step Two: Start writing your first draft! Even if it's just the dedication page or one particular scene you just can't get out of your head. START. You have to get into a groove and the only way to do that is by actually starting. It sounds easy, but trust me, it's not always, especially if you're not already in a writing routine. I generally use National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) to get the skeleton of my story down, chapter by chapter. I can go in and flesh each chapter out later, but the main scenes are pivotal in getting to know your characters more. First Draft time Lapse: Depending on length, 1-2 months.


Step Three: When you're finished with your first draft, take a break! This should be at least a couple weeks. I use this time to do some of the following:

• work on marketing
• read for fun
• relax and take a complete step away from book stuff
• start brainstorming new projects

Notebook for a different project

Step Four: Go back through, edit and revise, then send your manuscript to beta readers. Provide them questions you want answers to, then give them sufficient time to read, take notes, and really delve into the story so that you get the best feedback possible. While it's out, you'll have 3-4 weeks to work on the following in preparation for publication:

• book cover
• book description
• you can start thinking about promotions

Step Five: After getting the manuscript back from Beta readers, make the edits you want and read through it again. If you want to, you can even send it to a second group of betas that focus on proofreading and grammar more than content. Time Lapse: Anywhere from a couple weeks to another month depending on if you send it out again or not.

Step Six: Format. Send it to the editor. While your manuscript is out of your hands yet again, you can start:

• brainstorming or outlining another project
• work on promotional materials

Time Lapse: 1 month

Step Seven: Revise based on editor's feedback and do a final read-through. This is more of a proofread and essentially your last chance to clean it up and/or make any changes. I would ask someone else to proofread it for you before you publish, to catch the extra spaces, the missing words, etc. that your mind won't notice given its familiarity with the work.  Time Lapse:2-3 weeks

Step Eight: Publish! These steps depend on where you want to sell your book. Here are some of the platforms to check out:

CreateSpace (paperback)
Amazon (KDP)
Draft2Digital: Kobo, Barnes & Noble, iTunes
Wattpad
Lulu

That's the gist of it! I'm sure there are things I forgot to mention, but this is a great way to get yourself on track to publishing that book you've always wanted to, no matter the drive behind it.

GOOD LUCK!

Linds
xox

p.s. remember, this blog isn't going to be in use after this month, so make sure you check out my new blog on my website.

Twitter: @LindseyRPogue

Facebook: Author Lindsey Pogue

Website: LindseyPogue.com

Pinterest: Lindsey Pogue, Author

Instagram: authorlindseypogue

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And so it begins... Chapter One.

As most of you know, my life has been a bit of a whirlwind--a wonderfully epic whirlwind, but a whirlwind nonetheless--these past six months. From releasing the final Ending Series book, Before The Dawn, in November, followed by the holidays and the release of book one, Whatever It Takes, in my new series, to getting married and travelling from February through April, it's been a crazy-ass ride. But now, it's time to get down and dirty and finally start writing book two, Nothing But Trouble.

The goal is to get this book out before Christmas, and I've picked an unofficial date in December, which I'll reveal once I've made more progress on the manuscript. For now, let the creativity flow, the voices speak, and the endless nights and nail-biting days begin.

Here I go....

Book Two, Nothing But Trouble

An interview with dystopian romance author, Tracey Ward

Greetings, avid readers! 

One of my favorite authors, Tracey Ward, is soon to release her much-anticipated dystopian, The Seventh Hour, and I could NOT be more ecstatic! Not only do I love her stories, but her writing is always eloquent and beautiful. I can't wait to see where she takes us on this new adventure of hers set in a world where nothing is simple and everything is unknown.

As a favor, Tracey gave me the inside scoop and look into the writing process behind this new jewel. I can already tell you that if you love dystopian, you're going to love this story! Don't forget to add it to your Goodreads bookshelf and happy reading! (There's a Rafflecopter giveaway link below)

**************************************************************************************

How long did it take to write this story?

Over a year, which is a really long time for me. Most of my stories take closer to six months from when I come up with the idea to when I send it off to editing. The Seventh Hour has been tricky, though. It's gone through a lot of changes to become what it is now, changes that took months to work through.

How did you come up with the idea for it? Has it been kicking around in your mind for awhile?

I thought of the idea when I was finishing up the Survival Series. I love survival stories, but I wanted to try something new. Something without zombies. I got to thinking about other natural disasters that would change the way we all live, and the slowing of the Earth's rotation really got my attention. I found a really interesting documentary on what it would be like to live in that world and it sounded like a nightmare. That's when I knew I had to write that story. A year later and I'm finally doing it!

Is this book a standalone or will there be a series?

This is a standalone. The main focus of the story is the development of Liv and Gray as people while they figure out who they are versus who they're expected to be. They both have a lot of preconceptions to contend with, about each other and about themselves. If I tried to take that story farther than one book I'm pretty sure everyone would hate them by the end of it. We'd all be screaming at them to get it together already. 

What was your favorite part about writing this story?

Finishing it. Finally finishing it is the best feeling in the world because this story has been with me longer than any of them ever has before. It's sort of a relief to be done with it, but it's also just really exciting to see what people think of it. I'm really hoping it's something different that people can get lost in. 

What fun fact would you like to share about this story? Anything?

The number 7 is everywhere. People count to it, other numbers add up to it. It has no special meaning other than being tied to the title, but I included it whenever I could just for fun.

Interested in learning more about the series? In learning more about Tracey and the amazingly beautiful stories she tells? Enter a Rafflecopter giveaway to win an Amazon gift card! Add it to your Goodreads list of books to read!

Purchase: B&N  and Amazon

The Seventh Hour by Tracey Ward 

Publication date: January 6th 2016
Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult

Synopsis:

When the Earth’s rotation slowed to a crawl mankind was plunged into a harsh world of burning hot days and endless, arctic nights. Some fled to the mountains for shelter. Others took to the seas, sailing forever in the perfect gold between the night and the day; a place known as the Seventh Hour.

Liv was raised aboard a ship chasing the Seventh. She’s never seen the night, never known true cold, and when a storm destroys her home she’s on land for the first time in her life. She’s alone, surrounded by strangers and perils she couldn’t have imagined in her worst nightmares. Her only chance at survival is Grayson.

He saved her. He’ll protect her. He hates her.
Old grudges run deeper than the sea, and Liv and Gray will have to overcome them together to make it to morning.  To survive the longest night.

Excerpt:

     “How long have I been here?” I ask the ceiling.

     Grayson’s cot creaks in protest. He must be moving. He’s always moving, always adjusting and grunting, waking up in the middle of the night to stand and stretch. He’s hurt in some way but he won’t tell me how.

     “Um,” he groans thoughtfully, “three full days. I think.”

     “What time is it? Which hour?”

     “We’re in the Eighth.”

     I laugh shortly, but there’s no joy in it. Only disbelief. I’ve never been out of the Seventh hour before. I shudder to think what the world looks like outside. “Is it dark?”

     “It should be getting there.”

     “Cold?”

     “Yep,” he answers on a yawn.

     “Have you ever been outside this late?”

     “Normally, yeah. We don’t always have to close the doors this early, but the storms are bad this year.”

     “What’s it like?”

     “Dark. Cold.”

     He’s being glib. He does that a lot.

     “Do you want to elaborate on that?” I insist.

     He doesn’t answer right away. Maybe he’s deciding how to shut my questions down, maybe he’s actually formulating an answer, but what I know he’s not doing is ignoring me.     As aloof as he is, he’s never snubbed me.

     “What do you want to know?” he finally asks reluctantly.

     I shrug even though he can’t see it from across the room. “I don’t know.”

     “Then I don’t know what to tell you.”

     “Have you ever seen the stars?”

     “Yeah, of course.”

     “What are they like?”

     “Lights in the sky,” he explains dryly.

     “That’s it?”

     “That’s it. A lot of them are planets that are already burned out but their last light is still traveling. They’ll all burn out for good someday.”

     I frown. “That’s sad.”

     “That’s science.”

      I think I prefer poetry.

     “When you step outside in the Eighth hour, what’s the first thing you think?” I press, hoping to get a real answer. One that doesn’t end with the slow, gasping death of the entire universe.

     “I think it’s dark. And cold.”

     “Oh, forget it,” I moan, rolling over. Turning my back on him.

     Minutes go by. Long minutes. Ten minutes. Twenty. Nearly thirty. I think we’re done, that the discussion is over and he’s gotten his way, nettling me into silence, but then he speaks and it’s more of a surprise than I’m ready for.

     “I think about how I’m going to miss it,” he says, his voice filling the room low from the floor up to the ceiling, warm and pensive. “I step outside in the Eighth when the sun is gone and it’s getting too cold to stand, and I think how long the next six months are going to be.”

     I swallow hard, his honesty leaving a strange taste on my tongue. “Does everyone feel that way?”

     “I don’t know. I haven’t asked everyone.”

     “What is it that you know you’re going to miss?”

     “The sky,” he answers immediately. “The air. The way it smells.”

     “It smells like the ocean here.”

     “Imagine that.”

     I roll my eyes. “I mean it smells familiar. When we went outside to before, it smelled like home. It was nice. For a second.”

     He shifts on his cot, grunting painfully. “It’s going to be a long year for you.”

     “Who are you kidding, Grayson?” I ask sadly. “It’s going to be a long year for all of us.”

Tracey's Bio

"I don't write romances, I write relationships. One is pretty and perfect and all consuming. The other is real."

I was born in Eugene, Oregon and studied English Literature at the University of Oregon (Go Ducks!) I love writing all kinds of genres from YA Dystopian to New Adult Romance, the common themes between them all being strong character development and a good dose of humor.

My husband, son, and snuggly pitbull are my world.

Don't miss this chance to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway to win an Amazon gift card! 
Goodreads

Author links:

http://www.traceywardauthor.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tracey-Ward/455626471211663

https://twitter.com/TraceyAW11

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7172819.Tracey_Ward

Embracing the dratted "Author Platform" : Being a newer author Part One

As some of you may know, being a new, newer and/or newish author comes with many "To Dos" if you want to become a successful author. What is success? That's for you to decide, but for me, it's finding an audience that can relate to what I write, who makes the stories in my head and heart worth putting down on paper. It's an intense process, so I don't take writing lightly. But I can't find success for myself if my audience doesn't know who I am. Helping them find me is not only a big deal, but a big job.

                    Credit: Syda Productions/Shutterstock.com

Who's Lindsey Pogue?
Well, I'm a lover of animals and nature, of wine and Mexican food, and of baring my soul through writing. I'm compassionate and fiercely protective, and fascinated by the world around me on so many different levels. But who knows this about me? Not many people, at least not aside from my close family and friends.

Since the first Ending Series book was published in 2013, After The Ending, my co-author and I have spent endless hours focused on the success of the series as a whole--seeking out promotions and mingling with fans and building The Ending Series brand, and so on. But one important question I never took the time to consider was...what happens after The Ending Series has come to a close? We both always knew we wanted to take on our own projects once we had time to focus on them. But Lindsey Pogue is Lindsey Pogue. She isn't Team Lindsey. There won't always be a Team Lindsey. So that's why I need to focus on little, ol' me.

An author platform for yours truly is something I should have been building from day one.
Who am I?
What do I like to write? Why?
Who cares?
The list of questions goes on and on, and they are very important questions, because who I am distinguishes me from all other authors, keeps me connected and relevant in the writing world and to the audience that enjoys what I write, just like establishing an author platform will do for you.

Now what?
I'm finally taking the time to make my individuality a priority.
I read a lot...marketing books, books about the craft of writing, magazines, blogs...but last year I decided that I miss reading for fun. Since then I've re-evaluated how to best use my time as work toward building my own author brand, all while I continue to enjoy reading for fun and stay engaged and inspired in the ever-changing indie world of publishing. Here's what I know:

• Webinars help me stay focused. I'm a visual person, and I lose interest in the daily flood of emails easily, the newsletters, the manuals and books, the magazines and websites. That's why I've decided webinars are generally the best way for me to learn, stay inspired, in the ever-changing loop of book marketing, as well as stay involved in the writing community. *There are some really great FREE webinars out there that you should take the time search out and attend. What can it hurt? Figure out who you like, who you don't, what you really want help with and what your focus should be. Don't get me wrong, paying $135 or $300 for a webinar isn't a bad thing, but why jump into something you're not sure you'll appreciate? As an author on a budget, I just think it's smart to be cautious before throwing money around. Overall, webinars are AMAZING tools all newbies to the publishing field should take advantage of whenever possible. The more experts you follow online (sign up for their newsletters or follow their blogs), the more "in the loop" you'll be with the services that are out there, available and waiting for you to take advantage of.

• Podcasts are great. Constant updates in the writing world keep you up to speed on advancements and downfalls within the indie pub world. Hearing one author's successes and missteps in the book world, say with something like a book launch or audiobook production, can help you navigate with more ease when you decide to take such a task on yourself. All-in-all, podcasts provide us with a steady stream of reliable information, which is invaluable. I can listen while I driving in the car, doing yard work, perusing Facebook...

My favorite marketing experts:

1. Tim Grahl - Out Think Marketing - has a great step-by-step program about how to build you author platform. I'm not sure why, but there's something about Tim that I love...I get the feeling he's just a really decent guy. Anyway, after listening to him, I was inspired to create my own action plan and timeline for my author brand. 
2. Danny Iny at Firepole Marketing - Here are some free tools you can access. 
3. Joanna Penn's The Creative Penn
4. Author Marketing Experts Book Marketing Experts - I really enjoy their marketing emails
5. Nick Stephenson's Your First 10,000 Readers - I haven't personally attending any of his webinars or enrolled in any of his programs.

Favorite Podcasts:

1. Simon Whistlers, Rocking Self Publishing
2. Bryan Cohen and Jim Kukral, Sell More Books Show

That's if for this week! Stay tuned for more newbie author insight next week! In the meantime, you can find me here:

Twitter: @LindseyRPogue

Facebook: Lindsey Pogue, Author

Website: LindseyPogue.com

Pinterest: Lindsey Pogue, Author

Writer or Author? My advice to newbie authors: Introduction...

Courtesy of Pixabay

Are you a writer or an author? Are they different? They are for me.

First and foremost, I'm a writer. I love writing and telling stories; they've been bouncing around in my head my entire life, pleading to get down on paper. God knows I have boxes and binders enough to prove it. But when I wrote research articles for the historical society, was engrossed in my master's thesis, or jotted down opening chapters to stories that would never see the light of day, I never once introduced myself to someone as a "writer". It was a hobby, a passion, a past time.

Things have changed. This whole authorship-ism-ology situation I find myself in as of late is a lifestyle I've adopted, though still very foreign to me. I'm no expert when it comes to being an author. For me, being a writer by nature and becoming an author are very different. Now when I'm in public and someone asks me what I do for living, I say "I'm an author". It's been ingrained in me from the moment I wanted writing to be "a thing" that I need to get my name out there, to build a platform, and spread the word about who I am and what I do at every possible opportunity. It's only taken me four years to feel comfortable talking about myself and what I do for a living. People taking interest in you and what you do as an author is inevitable.

By veering away from writing as a past time and taking the authorship road, you're committing to a different lifestyle. For me, writing has changed, has become more--it's a science. You have to get the structure just right, watch your grammar, have a marketing plan, build a platform, all of which are very critical to your success. What? I used that word in the last chapter, crap, I'll think of something else. Wait which one is the inciting incident? I can't tell, better flesh that scene out again. Details and strategies matter.

Courtesy F.C. Malby

That's why I've decided to publish the upcoming string of posts for newbie and aspiring authors. These posts will outline my experience in the author world--my transition, what's worked and what hasn't, I'll name some great programs I love to use, provide insight into how to get going and stay focused for beginning authors to reference as they sail into the uncharted waters of authorship. They can learn what I have--no advertising or soliciting or preaching, but the plain and simple truth about what's worked for me along the way.

These are the 6ish topics I'll be covering over the next couple months (but perhaps not in this order):

1. Webinars, Podcasts, and Social Media Tips - some experts in the field I've found helpful
2. Helpful Writing Programs - to help keep you organized
3. Genres And Finding Your Niche - my thoughts and struggles around this
4. Book Covers - everyone's always going to have an opinion
5. Co-Authoring - pros and cons
6. Great Resources for Indie Authors

Keep in mind that these are my opinions and experiences, and they may not be for everyone. I like to share with people, so they can see the good and the bad, what's worked and what hasn't.

Each week, I'll be posting one of these topics, so all you new authors, stay tuned!