Just a quick update on how the sequel/story 2 of They're Dancing With Danger is coming along: It'll definitely be published on the 17th (next week) as I don't want to rush it up by this Friday as I believe in editing and polishing a story as much as I can, so it's up next week and will be worth waiting for.
Mila - the main character in my crime-thriller story - seeks revenge upon a politician and his evil daughter, but there are some psychological twists and turns in this sequel that I thought of when writing certain chapters. So, expect the unexpected and surprises, and it won't be predictable (grins).
I learn as much as I can, when not writing, as reading and learning are just as important than creating stories so, this is what I've learnt over the past two years:
1. If you publish a book at least once a month, it gains more exposure on Amazon as it's highlighted in the 'last thirty days' section; providing extra visibility of your book (and the opportunity of your other books being noticed by readers more) rather than your other work sliding down the charts as there are approximately two million or more so e-books on there. Publishing a new story at least once a month guarantees that your book will be noticed more, creating additional opportunities for further sales. Readers want to read new books regularly, so if you publish one once a month (even if it's a couple of short-stories, novelettes or novellas which in my opinion are brilliant as not everyone wants to write novels) - you'll keep your readers interested. It's possible to write a novel in a month; I did it in fifteen days, but I couldn't keep that up forever and I'm a fast writer (100wpm).
2. Never give up. Ever! Persistence does pay off, eventually. How disappointed in yourself would you feel if you stopped writing? I can't stop as it's ingrained within me and has been so since a child. If I gave up writing I'd become extremely depressed and would feel 'lost' to be honest.
3. Write down any details, no matter how minute, that you remember from dreams. It sounds silly, but the smallest fragment of information can provide inspiration and great ideas for a storyline.
4. Add as many keywords (not the title of your book as that's already searchable) as you possibly can before hitting that publish button on Amazon, and place your book in relevant, accurate categories.
5. At the end of your story, leave details of your: blog, website, hints of future book releases and ones published previously (as not everyone reads the author page which feature all of your books).
6. Get sufficient rest and sleep as a tired mind makes more mistakes. Try to stick to a routine; go to bed at the same time and write at the same time the following day because if something's a habit it's much easier to follow rather than doing it haphazardly.
Also, ensure you're hydrated enough because if you're dehydrated, brain function can deteriorate and can affect your concentration and ability to write a quality story as some of the symptoms of dehydration are: tiredness and lethargy, irritability, more mistakes made, you won't enjoy writing as much and it's so easy to procrastinate and to put it off until another day, whereas if you've had a glass of water (or coffee, tea, juice etc) about an hour before your begin writing, you'll be surprised how much more alert and focused you feel and will be more inclined to want to write every day if you feel great!
7. Keep a notepad nearby as it makes life so much easier. The last thing you want is to accidentally forget a character's (or several characters) details and then you have to scroll up the page on your computer screen to search for it/them through thousands of words; which not only interrupts your flow and pisses you off, you can lose your train of thought regarding the other section of the story you were writing in.
Also, imagine if you published your book and then noticed the error later... oerr not good as you have to take the book back down, insert the missing info, publish it again and in the meantime, someone could notice it and leave a stinking review. I've seen some errors in print books and the well-known author's sentence had a few words missing, which surprised me. Granted, none of us are perfect, we all make mistakes, I do, but it's always good to aim not to so, do as much editing as you can so that this doesn't occur as the last thing you want are bad reviews. (Some people leave bad reviews anyway, for whatever reason(s) so don't worry about it too much as books still sell with bad reviews. Sometimes, it can increase sales as readers may want to see why the book has so many bad reviews and it could be a very well-written book.
8. Save your work every half an hour. Why? Because...imagine if you had a power cut and had written thousands of words, you're going to lose the lot if you don't save your work regularly. I save each of my books on the computer, on a flash drive, on a memory card and also on a different computer; just in case, as I wouldn't fancy losing 70 thousand words or more of a novel, after writing for weeks. Would you?
9. Don't get obsessed with checking the charts on Amazon every day (I used to and it drove me nuts almost). Check it about once a month as the hour or so spent checking the charts could have been used productively, to write. I've been known to wade through all 400 pages of thousands of books to find mine, only to discover that it hadn't gone live all over the world yet and my eyes didn't half play up lol. I don't do it anymore. Just look at the month-to-date sales report - it's faster and more satisfying and will tell you what ranking your book(s) have, without you spending time searching for ages.
10. Be original. Write your own story. We do anyway, but what I mean is if it's about vampires or serial killers or a robot or a romantic character, create something different; write the story from an angle that hasn't been considered before by anyone else; something unusual or quirky or well, just different. Stand out! Readers notice and they like that.
11. Take regular breaks; at least once an hour. Why? Because if you don't, your ass goes numb, your knee joints hurt, you'll get eye strain and it's good to get some exercise, even if it's just walking to the kitchen to make another coffee, or walk upstairs to do some housework, anything that'll keep your circulation and body healthier.
There's tons more, but that's it for today. I hope anyone found the above useful and helpful.
Take care and have a great day! I'm off to watch a riveting film on TV and to curl up on the sofa with a hot coffee as I've run out of vodka, so I can't celebrate selling several books in a few days! Bugger, don't you just hate it when that happens! Never mind, I'll get some more on the weekend. ;-)
A
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