I will publish the 4th book in my $7 memoir series in November. I’m currently working on the first edit of the rough draft.
Book 1: “Never a $7 Whore: My Journey from a Lady of the Night to the Lady of the Boardroom” (will be retitled and relaunched on Amazon as “It Doesn’t Matter Where You Started, My Journey from a Lady of the Night to the Lady of the Boardroom, Book 1” in October. The book will be immediately available in ebook and paperback formats.
Book 2: “Daytime Lives of the Ladies of the Night: My Journey from a Lady of the Night to the Lady of the Boardroom, A $7 Short Read, Book 2” is available now on Amazon as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook.
Book 3. “Bullets and Bosses Don’t Have Friends. How to Get Promoted NOW! My Journey from an Associate Engineer to Vice President of Operations.” Coming to Amazon as ebook, paperback, and audio in October. The workbook for “Bullets and Bosses Don’t Have Friends” will be released in ebook and paperback along with the main title. The books are in final proofreading.
Book 4. “Love Secrets of the Ladies of the Night. Keep Them Coming Back for More. My Journey to Understanding the Difference between Love and Sex. “Coming soon. This is the book I am currently working on.
There have been some surprising revelations along the way. The place where I thought I would be by my fourth book versus where I actually is stunning. Little is as I expected. Things have evolved entirely differently than I planned.
The three major surprises are:
- I am not a writing machine.
- Training is continuous.
- I’m still contracting lots of tasks to others.
I Am Not A Writing Machine
I believed that by the time I was writing my fourth book, I would be a writing machine. In my mind, by now, I would routinely and easily write twenty-five hundred words per day. Boom. Boom. Nope…not true.
There are days when the writing flows, words jump on to the page and life is beautiful. There are also days when I must remind myself that this is my new livelihood as I stare at the blank page and make myself write the needed words. There is no Boom Boom. It does not necessarily get easier the more you write.
My thought was that I would be sitting around my pool sipping coffee while words easily flowed out of my mind and onto the page. It does not work like that. Each and every day is a new and exciting writing challenge. Each day, you must organize your thinking to write the words for that day. Some days it is easy, others are not.
Training Is Continuous
To reach my goals requires a plethora of training. I am taking more training as a self-published author than I did as a design engineer. It’s because as a self-published author, I’m every resource. I’m the idea generator, author, editor, marketer, first proofreader, initial cover designer, financial advisor and the program manager for my book. Add to that I want to be great at my craft and I’m in training mode all the time.
Since June of this year I have:
*Successfully completed the Chandler Bolt Self-Publishing School “write a book in 90 days course”. This course has formed the foundation of my writing career. Years ago, I took writing in college. The self-publishing game obsoleted everything I learned back then.
*I published two books during the SPS 90-day schedule and graduated. The books were one full-length book and one short read: both part of my the “My Journey” series. The full-length book “Never a $7 Whore” was released in ebook and paperback format. The supplemental short read ” The Daytime Lives of the Ladies of the Night ” was released only as an ebook.
*Successfully completed the free Kindlepreneur AMS ads course. Badly needed this course to understand how the Amazon internal advertising system worked. The course made a significant difference in my success.
* Completed an Udemy course on how to start a blog
* Have two more weeks left in the Chandler Bolt, Self Publishing School “Sell More Books” course. I have found book marketing to be my weakest skill. In my professional life, I have successfully lead the marketing team for a $460M business. Book marketing, especially self-publishing book marketing, has so many potential pathways to success that deciding which route to take is a major decision.
*Currently enrolled in the Brian Cohen’s, Headlines, Hooks and Copy course. This is yet another learning activity based on marketing and how to grow your readers.
*Read Stephen King’s “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” and “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk. (Time named The Elements of Style in 2011 as one of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since 1923). Then I listened to them again as audiobooks.
*Taken two Udemy courses on Scrivener 3. Scrivener 3 is writing software that has made my writing much faster. I am more productive using the software. But I’m still learning how to use the software.
*Starting “Your First 10,000 Readers” Course by Nick Stephenson this week; another course on book marketing.
Nevertheless, despite all of the above, I am not yet the writer I want to be. There is so much still I don’t know that I am constantly looking for classes and guidance. Learning is never-ending.
I’m Still Contracting Tasks to Others
I assumed that by now I would not need many people to assist with my book writing and publishing. Wrong, again.
Books should sell just about themselves since I have a website, blog, newsletter group, and a cross-promoting author. Untrue!
* I need my editor now more than ever as I’m updating the existing books as my writing gets better. I’m still writing new books AS I am updating the existing books.
* I’m sending my books through three beta readers and two proofreaders.
* My information technology (IT) support has become supercritical, now that I have an email list, website, and blog. Each time I write a new book, change a description, send a newsletter, or write a blog, there is an opportunity for a technical screw-up.
It is sobering thinking about my future as a full-time author. I have sat down and written where I think I will be when I’m writing my tenth book. I suspect I will be as wrong about that guess as I am about this one. But that is a blog for another day.
Loved it. Keep writing and stay focused.