Day 96: Calculating my release schedule
I was working on formally outlining my villains' internal arcs today (as opposed to just winging it as I was writing the book), and I got through the second half of volume 4 all the way through volume 9. That means I only have volume 10 left.
Technically I should probably do the serial novel, too, but I'm not entirely sure yet if I want to do it right now. Mostly because I want to finish writing the manuscript I'm working on currently, which is volume 2 of the main series, so that I can start releasing the books.
I talked with my husband about options for my book release schedule. Originally, I had intended to write all the books at once and then release them once a month or so. But since I made a new goal of making some money this year, I thought it would be best to release the books as I finish writing and editing them.
The only issue is if I'm writing a volume in the series and discover something I have to change in a book I've already released. But since self-publishing ebooks is so ridiculously easy, I can make changes and simply email my newsletter to tell them I corrected a mistake, and my readers can redownload or update their copy of the book.
Since I started using 4thewords.com, I've been writing a fair number of words per day, with an average of about 2500 words per day, and that's including a few days where I had some health issues going on. For the past week alone, when I haven't had health issues, I've been averaging about 3500-4000 words a day (although some of those words have been outlining and not writing).
I was writing more words a day when I was dictating, but my rough draft was extremely messy and needed a lot of time for editing. When I type my manuscript in 4thewords, the copy is very clean and doesn't need as much time editing, so the number of words per hour may be about the same, but I'll need to double check that later. Also, I didn't have as much motivation/fun writing when I was dictating because 4thewords gamifies my writing and I discovered that I enjoy games like that very much. For now, I decided to go by my more recent average of 2500 words per day using 4thewords.
So I did some calculations. If I take into account my average writing speed right now of 2500 words per day, writing 6 days a week, and a book length of 100,000 words per book, it will take me 6-7 weeks to write each book, which isn't that much different from the original release schedule of a book a month. If I can do 3500 words a day, I can finish each book in 5 weeks.
The only reason I can calculate this is because I've already spent the time to outline all the books in detail, so the writing is not so difficult for me.
After the manuscript is finished, self-editing won't take very long since my copy has been very clean, and my graphic designer is ready to go with a general template of the covers for the series. I might be limited by my copy editor's schedule, but usually she's very quick. I also have to decide if I want to ask for beta readers to help me by checking that my writing is acceptable for the general Christian market.
However, after each manuscript is done, I think it will only take me a month at most to get all that done and then publish the book. During that time, I can be writing the next manuscript. If I can keep writing every day, and finish a manuscript every 6-7 weeks, then I can publish a new volume every 6-8 weeks or so.
That makes me feel very positive about being able to release my books this year! I would never have thought that I'd be able to write a book so quickly and release a book every 6-8 weeks, even though I'll be publishing them as I write them.
So I think that will be my goal, to release a book every 6-8 weeks. I hope I can keep up this writing pace!
Time spent writing: 7 hours, 12 minutes
Total number of words: 0 words (I didn't keep track of the number of words I wrote when doing the outlining/characterization)
Average writing speed: n/a
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 29 minutes (however I just realized I didn't check social media yet today, so if I do that it'll add some time to this)
My takeaway for today: I would never have thought that I'd be able to write a book so quickly and release a book every 6-8 weeks, even though I'll be publishing them as I write them. Thanks, 4thewords!
Technically I should probably do the serial novel, too, but I'm not entirely sure yet if I want to do it right now. Mostly because I want to finish writing the manuscript I'm working on currently, which is volume 2 of the main series, so that I can start releasing the books.
I talked with my husband about options for my book release schedule. Originally, I had intended to write all the books at once and then release them once a month or so. But since I made a new goal of making some money this year, I thought it would be best to release the books as I finish writing and editing them.
The only issue is if I'm writing a volume in the series and discover something I have to change in a book I've already released. But since self-publishing ebooks is so ridiculously easy, I can make changes and simply email my newsletter to tell them I corrected a mistake, and my readers can redownload or update their copy of the book.
Since I started using 4thewords.com, I've been writing a fair number of words per day, with an average of about 2500 words per day, and that's including a few days where I had some health issues going on. For the past week alone, when I haven't had health issues, I've been averaging about 3500-4000 words a day (although some of those words have been outlining and not writing).
I was writing more words a day when I was dictating, but my rough draft was extremely messy and needed a lot of time for editing. When I type my manuscript in 4thewords, the copy is very clean and doesn't need as much time editing, so the number of words per hour may be about the same, but I'll need to double check that later. Also, I didn't have as much motivation/fun writing when I was dictating because 4thewords gamifies my writing and I discovered that I enjoy games like that very much. For now, I decided to go by my more recent average of 2500 words per day using 4thewords.
So I did some calculations. If I take into account my average writing speed right now of 2500 words per day, writing 6 days a week, and a book length of 100,000 words per book, it will take me 6-7 weeks to write each book, which isn't that much different from the original release schedule of a book a month. If I can do 3500 words a day, I can finish each book in 5 weeks.
The only reason I can calculate this is because I've already spent the time to outline all the books in detail, so the writing is not so difficult for me.
After the manuscript is finished, self-editing won't take very long since my copy has been very clean, and my graphic designer is ready to go with a general template of the covers for the series. I might be limited by my copy editor's schedule, but usually she's very quick. I also have to decide if I want to ask for beta readers to help me by checking that my writing is acceptable for the general Christian market.
However, after each manuscript is done, I think it will only take me a month at most to get all that done and then publish the book. During that time, I can be writing the next manuscript. If I can keep writing every day, and finish a manuscript every 6-7 weeks, then I can publish a new volume every 6-8 weeks or so.
That makes me feel very positive about being able to release my books this year! I would never have thought that I'd be able to write a book so quickly and release a book every 6-8 weeks, even though I'll be publishing them as I write them.
So I think that will be my goal, to release a book every 6-8 weeks. I hope I can keep up this writing pace!
Time spent writing: 7 hours, 12 minutes
Total number of words: 0 words (I didn't keep track of the number of words I wrote when doing the outlining/characterization)
Average writing speed: n/a
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 29 minutes (however I just realized I didn't check social media yet today, so if I do that it'll add some time to this)
My takeaway for today: I would never have thought that I'd be able to write a book so quickly and release a book every 6-8 weeks, even though I'll be publishing them as I write them. Thanks, 4thewords!
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