Yes.
When stuck, try going out for espresso. Sit in a visible part of the store and run your fingers your hair, sighing. Practice in the mirror first.
It really works, but you have to be convincing.
If there is a female handy, talk to her about your writer’s block.
5000 words per hour assumes a typing speed of over 83 words per minute. The average lies at 40 wpm.
So… regardless of the validity of the method described inside, the title is 100% marketing bullshit, especially if you would want to sustain that rate for multiple hours.
I remember reading that the Doc Savage writer once dictated an entire book to his wife in one day.
One of the keys supposedly is to never rewrite. Do a copy edit, but don’t recast scenes, don’t rewrite chapters, etc.
Yeah, Lester Dent was amazing, even considering the formulaic structure of a 40-50kword Doc Savage story. A few of those stories from the '30s have some prescient sci-fi elements that were first envisioned there. And of course Superman is in many respects a rip-off of Doc Savage – among other identical elements, both had a superhuman crime-fighting hero named Clark with a fortress of solitude to which he would retreat from time to time. But even Lester Dent rewrote a lot. The pulp editors were very hands-on in what they wanted Doc Savage and similar series to be, so they often wanted changes after a first draft. I imagine he never rewrote on his own dime, though.
To be clear, the author says 5K/hr is the upper limit of what can be achieved, so to that extent the title is marketing bs. He says he himself has hit that peak, but not consistently.
When he does hit 5K/hr it is by not typing. He recommends using Dragondictation software, and says you can reach those higher hourly outputs by using such software to get around the physical limitations of typing.
I mainly brought this up for Crusus, who posted above that he needs to hit between 2.5K to 5K per day 7 days a week. Its possible some of the ideas in this book might help him.
My only experience with Dragon is through Swype, and on those grounds, I scoff at the idea that it makes you faster. <.<
83 words per minute is achievable. Back in the day, if you were going to be a typist/secretary the expectation was ~120 wpm. It’s not really a job skill nowadays for whatever reasons, but it’s not like it’s because it can’t be done.
Not to lean too heavily on it, but I remember a frontpage post on the NaNo website years ago about a guy who consistently hit 200K+ each year (in 30 days) by dictating books during his morning and afternoon train rides to work. Given that this was probably 7-8 years ago, I have to imagine that the tech available now is better, though I still fear for the sanity of anyone who tries to write fantasy with dictation.
The kboards subform for self-pubbed writers has a lengthy thread about using Dragon to boost output, and its full of successes and failures. It is most certainly not a solution for everyone. It clearly is a possible solution for those with carpal tunnel or other physical issues.
I write pretty fast. I don’t write 5K an hour but 1,500 words an hour is doable. I am absolutely in the “write the first draft fast!” camp. My second and third drafts are for fixing my typos and all of the other writerly mistakes I’ve made. The key is that I have treated this like a job for the last two years. I spend about 2 hours a day in writer mode. Open the laptop, read the last few pages I wrote, consult my notes, and then bang out at least a thousand words. Repeat as needed. Once you are in the habit of writing every day, even if it’s the last thing you want to do, the words flow.
I kind of feel like I won the lottery two years ago when I wrote the first book of the Z-Risen series. It’s sold around 25K copies and the newest book, dropping next week, has already racked up 1,400 pre-orders. Of my 10 novels, this one was my breakthrough book. Sure they are fun/dumb pulp but I love writing them and they pay the bills.
So was your Z-Risen book always on sale for $.99? By my calculations that’s 75K in gross revenue, I’m sure Amazon keeps some. That’s great!
The thing I like about the idea of writing or filmmaking is the fact that you put the effort in once and then you’re done. They rest is marketing effort and royalties. This is soooooo much different than how labor markets work where you simply trade time for money and that’s it. It almost feels like cheating. Of course it’s a great effort to write a good book but hey, that’s the challenge.
I think this book has a good story and it’s so far fairly straightforward to tell. The biggest breakthrough I had was watching Howard Stern in Private Parts. His career took off when he decided not to hold back on personal views or things that happened in his life. Essentially he told himself that it was time to stop projecting a persona and just amplify his while talking about real things and sharing his real thoughts. I’ve used this to change the nature of my book. At first I was going to present the adventure I had as some kind of action/romance novel or something where I was the hero. In truth I’m just some dude and I was anxious and nervous a lot. I think I’ve mentioned almost shitting my pants several times now. I’ve also interjected all kinds of real personal details about my childhood, growing up in rural Ohio, college, and even experiences I’ve had later in life, long after the events of the book take place. I hope it’s not too rambley and unfocused, I try to do quick asides explaining why I think and act the way I do, being as self-effacing as possible, which is my default humor style. For instance I’m talking about kukuri knoves right now and why my facination with them stemmed from growing up around pocket knives in the country and my experiences fencing in college. I do this early in the book so that the sword fight atop the mountain later makes more sense in context.
That’s a funny question. I go to a lot of conventions and always get asked “Are you a full time writer?” My standard answer has always been: “Yes, and I also have a full time job.” For the last six months this has been nagging me. To put our more work, promote, get more involved in the writer associations I’m already an active member in (HWA, SFWA, ITW), do more conventions, and the daily stuff like reading up on what’s working for authors as far as promotions, I need to write full time. I’m not spending 3 hours a day commuting to a job I don’t like.
I write in Scrivner and it’s always set to 2K words per day. Some days I make it and some days I don’t write at all. Once you get into the habit of writing every day, it just becomes a job. I know a lot of people think it’s about inspiration and waiting for the muse to strike. That’s bullshit. Even writing 200 words a day, every single day, is writing. The key is: Write. Every. Day.
I think I’ll do okay. I’ve managed to crank out 2 or 3 books a year for the last few years. For the last six months I’ve consistently made more than my day job pays. Hopefully, when I’m full time that should go up considerably.
The issue with being a pro or trad-pubbed author is that a publisher is unlikely to put out 4 books a year. There are a lot of authors who wish they could write more. My friend Peter Clines was just bitching about this a few months ago when we were a convention in Texas. He would like to put out more books but his contracts won’t allow it. Publishers don’t want an author’s name saturating the marketplace. Then you look at a self-publisher like Annie Bellet who puts out a new book every few months and made a shade over $250K in the last 12 months.
Just a side note. I was at the Hugos last month and Robert Silverberg was one of the funniest and most interesting guys I’ve ever met. He also did an amazing presentation at the awards where he had the room chanting Hare Krishna.
I just put the first book on sale a few weeks ago. I ran about $125 in ads to get more attention on the series since book 4 is due very soon. The ads did okay but not great.
The books are usually $2.99 for the first, and $3.99 for the rest. I’m adjusting prices as the books age. Frankly, I don’t know that it matters. It seems like a book sells just as well at $2.99 as at $3.99. I only make 35% royalty on a .99 book, anything above $2.99 pays out a %70 royalty.
I hear you on Howard Stern. I’ve been a fan of his show for years. Honestly, he’s been an influence on me as far as writing goes because who cares what other people think about my books. They sell and that’s good enough for me. I’ve drawn on a lot of personal experience to develop my characters. They always say–write what you know.
Just as an aside, of course if you are trad-pubbed, nothing stops you from writing under multiple pen names if one publisher isn’t enough for you at a time. Well, nothing except your contract, but non-compete writing contracts are apparently rare to begin with, and you can either negotiate that or work in multiple genres with the different names.
Trad pubbed? Traditional publisher? Is that what it means? Does it matter if the publisher is university, Big 5, or small press? I’ve never heard that one before.
Crusis, I’m cheering for you man! One day I hope to do the same as you. I agree with your thing about write every day. I just really enjoy writing. I’ve had to push myself to do all the other stuff. I admire you for digging in with all the other stuff you mentioned (professional associations, conventions, and marketing). I am terrible at that sort of thing and probably need to do more, but I have no idea where I would find the time. Right now I am enjoying putting out short stories and novellas. I keep dreaming of finding a breakout book. Maybe one day, if I keep at it.
What’s the big 5?
I have a feeling I’m different than other writers. Sure I have lots of ideas for books but outright fiction may be above my pay grade. Most of my writing is more memoir writing like Tim did with Dope Fiend. I kind of consider this a one time thing where I’m getting an exciting true story out there. Ultimately I’d like my son to buy this book someday so he can understand his Dad was not always a stay at home Mister Mom. But of course I haveots of ideas, like a Time Travellers Club where a series of scientists who independently invent time travel start meeting each other in the past. But primarily I’d like to write down some cool stories because I’ve kind lived my life so that I can tell cool stories about it. A challenge to my kids to live life as well as I have, etc.
But writing takes time, time away from put options and government contracts and programming AI and various other pursuits. Yet I feel compelled somehow to throw my opinions out there talk radio style. “Let me tell you how the world works!” And all that rot. Ultimately it’s about communicating to someone and touching them while entertaining them, if that makes sense. If they learn something cool along the way so be it.
Is that arrogant? That seems arrogant.
Those are the big publishers in NY. Penguin, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster.
Memoir is the redheaded stepchild of the literary world. Even porn stars do them (heh heh, porn stars do them). But sometimes the result is very verygood.
So fuck it. If the desire is in your heart, keep putting it on the page.
Trad-pubbed is the opposite of self-pubbed. So it theoretically includes small press and so on. But since you can’t really make all that much money off of small press publishers, being a trad-pubbed pro strongly implies you are publishing at least some of your books through a major company.
Annie Bellet is really good. I’ve read a few of her books. She seems to be doing very well with urban fantasy with her 20-Sided Sorceress series, but her Gryphonpike Chronicles are a lot of fun. It’s D&D fiction without using the D&D IP.
I’m curious about your book that sold 25k. That’s really impressive. Did you do a Createspace version too, and if so, how did the paper version do? I see people like Konrath say to get your books up for sale that way too, but it seems like a bit of a bother.