Planning a Series to Launch – Indie Self Publishing – One Author’s Plan by Chloe Adler
Let’s welcome back monthly columnist Chloe Adler as she shares with us “Planning a Series to Launch – Indie Self Publishing – One Author’s Plan!” Enjoy!
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I finally made my launch plan and set my release dates, after studying the success of others for many years. I plan to have the first four books in my series released between March and July 2017.
I had finished book 1 of the series, Distant Edge, but was stuck in an editing loop. Some authors love the editing process and others prefer the writing process. I’m in the latter camp. Knowing this about myself it was easier for me to start book 2 than to edit book 1, so I did that. I know that some authors write a book and then edit it before starting the next one and if that works for you, great! But that doesn’t work for me.
After a few weeks of solely writing book 2 and not editing the first book I realized I would not make my March deadline. I got out the trusty calendar and wrote down my publishing goals/dates as learned from Kristen Painter and Roxanne St. Claire at the last RWA Conference. This was the first step. I had already gotten into the habit of writing daily and tracking my progress via accountability so mapping (or calendaring) out my goals was practical.
A word on that – I tried out Kristen’s calendar system which is a dry erase wall calendar but that has not worked for me. I don’t have a separate room in my house for my office but if I did I could see this method working very well. I tried a monthly paper calendar and that’s been better. But what I ended up doing — that doesn’t cost anything and is finally working the best — is a separate google calendar. I named it “publishing schedule” and I put all my deadlines there.
I figured out the date I needed to finish book 2 in order to go through the rest of the process. Then I divided the end word goal (for me it’s 60,000 words) by the number of days I had until my goal. I had already written about 10K when I did this. I have to hit 1200 words per day, five days a week and I’ve been consistently hitting this goal since then. I also divided the scenes for Book 1 to see what I had to edit per day and came up with 4 scenes per day.
I have a plan laid out which includes:
Words per day to write on Book 2 (whatever number here).
Chapters/Scenes or words per day to Edit on Book 1
Book 1 to developmental editor – date
Cover for Book 1 – date
Book 1 back from dev editor – date
Finish first draft of Book 2 – date
Book 1 to copy editor – date
Rewrite Book 2 – date
Cover for Book 2 – date
Book 1 back from copy editor – date
Start Book 3 – date
Book 1 final – date
Book 2 to developmental editor – date
Etc. through Book 4 and then start the entire process all over again giving myself a month break.
The breaking point for me – what got me to FINALLY commit to my own rewriting/editing was hiring my developmental editor and a cover artist. I paid the deposits and they gave me a deadline. I will talk about how I found them next month.
Here are Some Fantastic (FREE) Resources for Indie Authors!
- Romance Divas – wonderful forums with a lot of advice, focusing on romance authors
- Facebook – For Love or Money Group – How to do it all – from write to launch – all genres
- Lindsay Buroker Podcast – Marketing Sci Fi and Fantasy but great marketing advice all around
- Joanna Penn Podcast – Fantastic writing advice for non-fiction authors as well as fiction authors
- Rachael Herron and Carolyn Jewel Podcast – The Business of Writing in Romance–focused on the romance genre but it’s fantastic advice across the board
NEXT MONTH: How to find an editor and cover designer.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chloe Adler can often be found singing karaoke musical theme songs in dive bars. Her favorite tracks are from Evita and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. After thoroughly cleaning her rock collection, Chloe is now ready for prime time.
In the past two years Chloe has written four books and is working on the next two. She is most proud of her Distant Edge Romance Series. Sadie’s Mortal Desire just placed third in the “On the Far Side” Contest.
The one thing that’s remained constant in the past several years is that now Chloe cannot stop writing. In her five minutes of “free time” she’s performing tricks ala aerial circus arts, cuddling with her adorable dog, and cooking.
