Writing and Publishing

How I Plan to Spend 2013 (Writing-Wise)

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resolutions

Happy New Year, everyone!

I hope your 2012 ended on a lovely note, and you're all ready for another productive and exciting year. I'm planning to do some serious work this year, mostly on improving my process. Looking back on the hours and time I spent on my projects, it's obvious that my process for drafting and revision is flawed and extremely inefficient.

This basically means I need to think about how I can write more efficiently. That won't always involve my sitting in front of a computer and typing away. Sometimes planning may be more important (and more time-consuming) than the actual drafting itself. But that's okay if it results in a cleaner and better first draft that won't require months and months of rework.

I'm hoping to have four books written, including the current WIP plus an Ever After novella. My family and I are also moving in January, but hopefully it won't suck up too much time, though I'm definitely budgeting at least 2 weeks of non-writing time for the big move, getting things cleaned up, etc.

What is your Number One Professional / Career Goal for 2013?

Why Simon & Schuster's Archway Publishing Is Bad for Authors

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Simon & SchusterI had to comment on the deal that Simon & Schuster Archway Publishing is offering to authors. No matter how S&S tries its best to package it as "self-publishing" it is a vanity publishing venture, designed specifically to make profit by taking money from authors, not selling books to readers.

I've created a handy cheat sheet / chart below for you. You can see that S&S's Archway Publishing offers the worst of the both traditional publishing and self-publishing: You'll pay for everything; you'll have no control over anything; and you'll have to split your profit with the publisher.

Do not sign up for it. There's no reason to pay someone $2,000-$25,000 to format and upload your book on Kindle. (Since S&S plans to outsource everything for Archway Publishing, you won't get the kind of editing and cover art that S&S's traditional publishing program offers.)

Furthermore, you do not need to use service providers like S&S's Archway publishing to get noticed by a traditional publisher if that is one of your goals. They are already watching Amazon's Top 100 list. The self-published novelists who got snapped up by traditional publishers did not use vanity publishers.

Trad Pub Vanity Pub Self-Pub
Who pays for editing, cover, formatting, layout and all the other costs related to publication? Publisher You You
Who selects the team/people for editing, cover, formatting, layout and all the other activities related to publication? Publisher Publisher You
Who controls editing, cover, formatting, layout and all the other activities related to publication? Publisher Publisher You
Who controls your book's price? Publisher Publisher You
Who gets paid by the retailers? Publisher Publisher You
Is the money from retailers split between the publisher and author? Yes Yes No

How I Boosted My Productivity for NaNoWriMo 2012

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This year I was able to draft and do the first major round of revision on my manuscript during NaNo. I wanted to share two books that helped me achieve that, so that you too can boost your productivity whether you're doing NaNo or not. :)

First up is 2k to 10k by Rachel Aaron. 2K to 10K by Rachel Aaron

2k to 10k is a short ebook on how to increase word count (and hopefully your output consists mostly of the words you can keep) and revise. Her section on increasing productivity for the actual drafting phase is excellent, and many would benefit from reading it, not just for future NaNo challenges, but for general productivity. (I presume you want to write more and better all the time, not just in November.)

I personally found her advice on revision particularly helpful since I always struggle with it. I'm extremely inefficient with revision (my process is atrocious, trust me). I can spend 1-2 months on drafting a novel, then spend the next 12+ months on revision!

I usually end up feeling sick to my stomach at the idea of having to look at the book again by the time I mail my manuscript to Madam Agent. I know it's something I must correct for my own sake since it's holding my productivity back and hurts my career.

Anyway, changing something you've been doing for a long time can be difficult, but I know I can do it. I've done it before, and with the practical tips and guidelines, I know I can master the revision process.

I recommend 2k to 10k highly for not only prepping for NaNo, but for the post-NaNo months when you revise your NaNo manuscript. (And it's a steal at only $0.99.)

Be a Sex-Writing Strumpet by Stacia KaneBe A Sex-Writing Strumpet by Stacia Kane is something I wish I'd read years ago. I always struggle with sex scenes -- which is terribly frustrating for a romance writer who includes sex scenes in many of her books -- and I needed to find a way to write sex scenes better and faster.

The book is actually a collection of blog posts Stacia wrote, and the organization may be less than ideal (or formatting not up to your standards for those of you who want an uber-nice ebook). But the information in the book is 100% worth the price.

Be A Sex-Writing Strumpet isn't just for romance writers, since she also talks about sex scenes for other genres.

So if you don't have a lot of confidence in writing sex scenes or want to improve your sex scenes, try Be A Sex-Writing Strumpet.

Getting Your Dot Com: 1&1 Domain Registrant

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1&1Most writers (that is to say, 99% of writers) are expected to have a website with a good domain name, such as http://www.mypenname.com (or .net if .com is unavailable).

There are tons of companies that offer domain registration, and out of those, I found 1&1 to be the most economical and easy to use. Their fees are pretty low -- about $10/year per domain name for the most sought-after domains such as .com and .net. But the best thing about using 1&1 is that they offer free private registration.

What is free private registration?

When you register a domain, your contact information becomes public. Anybody who looks up your domain name can see your name, physical address, email address, etc. It's actually scary how easy it is. (You just need to google "whois"!) On the other hand, private registration ensures that your information is protected. So instead of your personal information, the following is displayed instead:

Oneandone
Private Registration
1&1 Internet, Inc. - http://1and1.com/contact
701 Lee Rd. Suite 300
Chesterbrook, PA 19087
(877) 461-2631

A lot of companies (GoDaddy, for one) charge for the service. The last time I checked, it was $10/year in addition to the domain registration and renewal fees, which effectively doubles your cost if you want an extra layer of protection between you and all the kooks out there.

So my recommendation is to try 1&1. I've been using them for more than seven years now without any problems. And you can't beat $10.99/year for the domain plus private registration for peace of mind and privacy.

Note: The 1&1 tech support isn't bad for things like domain registration and transfers because you rarely, if ever, need to talk to somebody on the phone about it. However, if you need some hand-holding because you're using them for web hosting, you may find them a bit lacking. I've heard people grumbling about it on Twitter, and Hero Material found them somewhat frustrating to deal with.

Back Up! Why Dropbox Is Awesome

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dropboxNow that it's almost NaNo time, I want to talk about something that's probably one of the most important things a writer can have: backup. If your computer has ever crashed and burned and lost all your projects -- or at least a big chunk of them -- you probably know how important it is to back up often. (It's happened to me too....ugh.)

But just knowing doesn't mean you actually do it. So let's talk about a tool that helps you back up automatically: Dropbox.

It's probably one of the best tools out there for backup and syncing your projects on multiple computers and mobile devices. Furthermore, it's available for Windows, Mac and Linux. So no matter what kind of OS you're running, you can use it. And the best thing about it? It costs nothing, and the free version comes with a full suite of features.

To start with, you need to create an account. The account ID is tied to your email address. A lot of services and companies are prone to spam, but not Dropbox. I've yet to receive a single spam message in my inbox, and I've been using Dropbox for over a year now.

Once you download Dropbox and install it, it will run seamlessly in the background and automatically back up all your files to a designated directory (or a folder). It's very intelligently designed, so it updates only the files that have been changed since the last backup. This ensures that it doesn't suck up all your computer's processing power, so the programs you're really interested in -- such as Word or Tweetdeck (for those of you interested in social media...or maybe just procrastination) -- can run as fast as possible.

In addition, Dropbox lets you automatically access the latest version of your work on other devices.

For example: Let's say, you wrote 2,000 words on Computer #1. Then you decided that you want to continue working on the manuscript from Computer #2. Without Dropbox, you'd have to get a memory stick and transfer the manuscript file over, send it to yourself via email, etc. But with Dropbox, you can just go to Computer #2 and open up the file, so long as you have the Dropbox program on both computers.

Later, if you want to review the manuscript on your iPad, you can do so by accessing the file using the Dropbox app. See how convenient and easy this is?

If you want to share your manuscript with another person and allow them to edit, you can share only that file by putting it in the Public folder and giving them a special link for it. This can be done easily via the Dropbox web interface or by right-clicking on the file.

Finally -- if you ever decide that the latest version of your file is garbage and you must get a previous version back, it can be done. Access the web interface for file history or right-click on the file on your computer for version history. Using this feature, you can even undelete files you've gotten rid of accidentally.

A note on pricing: The Dropbox basic plan is free and gives you up to 2GB of storage. That's usually enough for most writers to back up their manuscripts and notes. If you need more storage space, you can always upgrade to their paid plans. The paid plans can be pricey (almost $100 per year for the cheapest plan), but you get at least 50GB.

A note on tech support: The Dropbox website is full of helpful articles to help you out, should you feel lost. (Though I doubt you will since the program is very intuitive.) Almost all of their help articles contain screenshots, which I found useful. I've never had to email their tech support because their web articles are just that great.

Final verdict -- Give Dropbox a try to back up your data and sync your files across multiple devices. At $0.00, you can't beat its pricing or features.

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