I am a writer. I have always wanted to be a writer. I’d like to think that I am fairly good at it. Unfortunately, I’ve learned that writing is one of those tricky things to start up. The future earnings potential is huge. The starting pay scale… no so much. They call it a starving artist for a reason.
There is a misconception that writing a novel is free. Well, one part of it is. It is free to pound your finger against a keyboard, layering words like bricks, until you have a finished first draft. The sticky bit is that you need to put food in your belly while you lay those font bricks. This is further complicated by the fact that a finished first draft is different than a novel which is fit for the world to consume–let alone pay for.
First, the draft must be edited. This can be done two ways. One, this can be done by professionals who know what they are doing. Unfortunately, they seldom work for free (nor should they). Two, one can figure out how to do it by oneself. The upside is that it is free. You can afford a cracker or two for that rumble in your tumble. The downside is that you won’t be very good at it, and it will take a long time. Possibly a very long time. And, this whole time your tumble will want to be filled at regular intervals. Darn, tumbles. So demanding.
So, you have a finished, edited novel. Are you done? No, you need a blurb. You need an item description. You need a title. You need cover art. You may be able to do 3 out of the 4 yourself. You shouldn’t attempt the cover design yourself.
I heard of a cool site called PageFight that lets you A/B test your different novel components (blurb/title/cover/etc.). This sounds like a very cool idea. I don’t yet have those things, but when I do, I plan on testing out which one works the best.
So you’re new to this site. I’m fairly new to writing. I mean, I’ve been writing for awhile, but I haven’t been taking it seriously for awhile. Now I am. As I go on this journey, I will be documenting some do’s and don’ts (as I understand them). Join our mailing list!