Indie publishing (also known as self-publishing) has been around for quite a long time, and with the introduction of ebooks and print-on-demand, it is a legitimate and growing industry.
Here at Speculative Chic, we’ve featured a number of indie authors, both as guests and on our list of regular contributors, so we thought we’d give some information on how it all works. If you’re a reader, you might find it interesting. If you’re a writer who’s considering indie publishing, there will be a lot you’ll want to know (and some things you don’t even know you want to know!).
Being an indie means wearing a lot of hats and being able to shift among different roles, all necessary to the overall job of being an authorprenuer.
If you’re considering indie publishing, I’m going to talk about some things you can do now, before you actually hit that Publish button, that can set you up for success. Being organized is important for an indie author, because there are many moving parts to this career path. But it’s completely doable!
This is going to be a multi-part series of posts, so hang in with me. We’re going to be covering a lot!
Before Writing
You may have already written your novel. That’s okay. You can still do some of these things. Others, you’ll need to adapt. But for the purposes of this post, we’ll assume you haven’t written your first novel yet. If you’re already on the indie path, you may still find some use for these suggestions.
Create a rough timeline
Not for your novel (yet), but for your novel’s life. Pull out a calendar and give yourself some deadlines. How long will it take you to write the manuscript? Revise it? When will you commission your cover(s)? Now, you might be saying, “But, Venessa, I have no idea what deadlines I should be putting down!”
That’s okay. Ballpark it. Think about how many words you can write in an hour and consider how many hours you’ll have to write in a week. That will help you work out a general deadline for your first draft. You can always adjust as you need to when life gets in the way (or if you get done sooner!).
If you’re not sure how many words you can write in an hour, try using Write or Die. It’s both a free web app and a paid app (can recommend!) that allows you to set a time and a word goal. It gives you a screen to write in while it’s running and if you stop writing, the screen will turn pink, then red, and if you don’t resume writing, there will be some consequence depending on what you chose in the settings. (I have it display a huge, ugly spider. I hate spiders!)
Since it “encourages” you to keep writing, it will show you exactly what you’re capable of. And I will bet it will surprise you!
I do recommend giving yourself a short deadline rather than padding in extra time, unless you’re allowing for a specific distraction like family visiting, a holiday, a medical procedure, etc. There’s an adage in the entrepreneurial world called Parkinson’s Law. It states:
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
What that means is that if you allow three hours for something, it will likely take three hours. And if you allow two hours to do that same thing, it will likely get done in two. Keeping this in mind, create your timeline with reasonable and unpadded deadlines.
Do some planning
Now we’re talking about the book! If you’re a dyed-in-the-wool pantser, the title of this section probably struck dread in your heart. Don’t worry. I’m not talking about a multi-tier outline complete with Roman numerals.
What I am talking about is considering what the plan is.
- Are you writing a trilogy?
- A longer series?
- Five books? Seven? Twelve?
Going into the writing with a basic overall plan is good because, as an indie author, you’re not just a writer. You’re a business person. And as a business person, you need some plans.
Knowing roughly how many books you will have will also help you further down the road in lots of ways that you’ll recognize as we get more into this topic.
How you approach a trilogy is going to be different than how you might approach writing a long series. Most series generally have an overarching series arc. Doing a trilogy will require a shorter arc than doing a twelve-book series. So knowing how many books you think you want to include will help the story planning.
Novel planning, even for pantsters
I was a die-hard pantser for years and years. But the thing I found is that without some sort of plan, it took me forever to finish a book. For traditional publishing, writing a book a year is fine. Not so for indies. If you’re a pantser and it takes you a long time to finish a book, I really encourage you to play with some plotting strategies to find things that help you work faster but that don’t take away the joy of discovering your story as you go.
What I discovered is that I enjoy seeing how the details of the story unfold as I write. It’s not so much about learning what happens, because even when I was solidly pantsing, I had an idea of where the story was going. What enchants me about writing is how the story happens and the language that creates it.
I started reading more about different ways to plot or plan a novel. Then I played with them to see what pieces work for me. I am absolutely a linear writer, which means that whole “write scenes and then rearrange them” does not work for me at all. (Seriously… hot mess.) But I did find a few different things that make sense to my brain and make writing easier and my time more efficient.
The way I plan out what I’m going to write is that I create a list of plot points. Nothing fancy. Nothing super detailed. Just a bullet point list of what happens. (You can also do a mind map). I don’t always have all the points. And that’s okay. I can add them later.
For each point, I make a list of potential scenes. Again, we’re just talking a bullet point list here. Nothing crazy.
Then, I write a short, one-to-three-sentence description of what happens in that scene. I don’t try to make it pretty or interesting. These are really just notes to myself. I also include things I need to remember like, “make sure to convey the MC’s sadness.” If a cool line comes to me at this point, I jot it in those notes so I remember it when I’m writing.
Then, when it comes time to write, I have guidance and I know exactly what I need to put into it. Sometimes the scene comes out a bit differently than I thought. That’s fine. That’s the magic of writing. Those are the fun things I discover as I go.
You don’t have to do it any specific way, obviously. But I do recommend, whether you’re a pantser or a plotter or something in between, you figure out when and how you’re most efficient with your writing and utilize that, whatever it is, as much as possible.
Don’t Panic!
One of the things to understand about indie publishing is that often everything affects everything else. If you don’t get your manuscript done on time, that can affect the publication date, marketing plans, etc. If your cover artist is delayed, that can affect your cover reveal strategy and even your book launch.
It applies to this planning stage as well. The two sections above will affect each other. Maybe you create your timeline and then, when planning the novel, you realize it’s going to take longer than you’d originally allowed for.
That’s okay. The strength of indie publishing is your ability to pivot. You go into your timeline and you adjust. You look hard at what needs to be done, how quickly you’re capable of doing it, and you plan according to that. Remember that you are the one in charge. You are the boss. So any changes you make are just fine!
I’ll be back next month to talk about some things to do while you’re working on the novel.
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