Query Friday: NaNo State of Mind

 Happy Friday!

This week I'm a little NaNo obsessed. I've been getting my butt in a chair to write every day and I've got to say, it's working for me.

I still have my YA Fantasy out in the slush, but Nano has proven a pleasant distraction. Keeping me from wearing out my fingers and losing my mind while refreshing QueryTracker.

And with both NaNoWriMo and querying in mind, you might be daydreaming about finishing this project. How it's going to be the next bestseller. All the agents you're going to send it off to...

 

 And my query tip for this week is DON'T. 

Not the daydreaming. Daydreaming is fully endorsed. Don't send out the rushed, possibly rambling, NaNo draft of your novel.

Let it sit. Let it breathe. Come back to it and edit it. Maybe you need another draft, or two, or twelve. 

But don't query it on December 1st. 

Happy NaNo-ing!

My stats are below, and I am BB427 if anyone wants to find me on the NaNo site.

-B

Dear O'Abby: Is it Worth it?

Dear O'Abby,

I'm in a writing group and we're currently doing NaNo which means we get together at a local coffee shop a couple of times a week to write.  After we were done the other night, we started talking about where the books we're currently writing will end up, and we ended up talking about Amazon and the cost of e-books.

Things went dark pretty fast, let me tell you! 

Basically, we ended up breaking down how many e-books you need to sell on Amazon per month to make the minimum wage.  It works out at over 3000.  3315, to be precise, if you're selling your e-book for .99c which I've found to be the best price for my shorter, NaNo-length stories.  And of course, I only get .35c of that cover price.

I guess my question is, is it worth it?  We're all out here kicking our asses to write 50K words in November, but realistically, even if everything falls where we want it to, the chances of making any kind of living out of this is minimal.  Are the seven plus hours a day I'm devoting to this project a waste of my time?

Yours Truly,

Figured

Dear Figured,

The short answer to this is no.  If you're writing because you want to make a fortune, or even a living, the odds of being able to sustain yourself on book sales alone is extraordinarily low.  Which is why there are not a lot of writers who rely solely on writing novels to make a living.  I wrote a bit about it here a few weeks back.

But if you're anything like most of the writers I know, writing isn't something they do to make a living.  It's something they love to do, something they have to do.  Every time I get a royalty statement from my publisher I sigh and wonder why the hell I bother losing sleep every day so I can find time to write, yet somehow I'm still up at 5:30am every day and at my keyboard by 5:32am.  

It's frustrating, I know.  Putting in all those hours of work for so little return.  And then reviews from readers that tell you they tore through your book in a single afternoon.  Great that they enjoyed it and found it so engrossing they couldn't put it down until they'd finished, but that book was one, two, ten years of my life to create.  Couldn't they take the time to savor it?

But back to your question...  The price of e-books isn't something you can really influence.  Readers have decided the value they put on this experience, and as you've discovered, .99c is the price point they are most comfortable at for the kind of book you are producing.  If you price the book higher, you will make more per book purchased, but you may sell a quarter as many units.  I imagine you've experimented with this, if you're an indie author, and this is one of the benefits of being an indie author - you're in control of the price.  Although, you have to price your books at $2.99 or more if you want to be part of Kindle Unlimited.

At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself why you're writing.  If it's a chore and you don't enjoy the process and it's not making you the kind of money you want to be earning, then you have to wonder why you're doing it.  Waiting tables is probably more lucrative.  But if you love to create and can't imagine living without spilling the stories in your head onto the page, then I'm afraid you're a writer.

X O'Abby

NaNo Tip of the Week--Week 2 of NaNo 2022

   

(Image source)

Welcome to week 2 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! Today we will focus on reward systems. The goal for today is 1,667 words for the day with a total of 13,336 words. For Reverse NaNo folks, the goal is 2,527 words for the day with a total of 23,447 words.

Congratulations on making it to the quarter point! Eight days down, 22 days to go. Every word is a winner in this amazing goal of yours!

Now, week 2 may not be the best time to talk about rewards, but bear with me. This week tends to be my historic worst in my (yikes!) 14 years of NaNo participation due to the week 1 energy wearing off. I usually encounter at least one (if not several) issues that pop up with my story. I didn't do enough research. I didn't do enough planning. I don't like the story anymore. I don't like so and so character. In general, I encounter problems and my motivation tends to wane. Or I didn't make my word count goal for the day and I'm bummed.

Enter Rewards on Stage Right.

I have experimented the last couple of years with making a reward box for a friend who prepared a reward box for me. We exchange the reward boxes and then either take pictures and send to each other or we open the cards/presents on video chat or in person. I usually combine cards and small gifts for milestones (5k, 10k, 20k, 25k, 35k, 45k, and 50k). This year my friend and I are going to the dollar store and buying 30 gifts that are each $1 and then we will have something to open each day. 

I like to start with candy and then move up to higher level rewards for the higher word counts, depending on the person's preferences. I am very happy with lemon drops, Reeses, some new markers or colored pencils. You get the idea.

Regardless if I have a reward exchange with a friend, I always buy myself a little something (usually a book I really want) and celebrate when NaNo is over with a nice meal at one of my favorite restaurants.

I have also noticed that I work harder when I get the reward first. Then I have to earn it. But this varies, and sometimes it is exciting to work for the reward and then get it. Feel free to experiment!

How are you motivated? What rewards have you earned so far? What rewards are you going to earn for reaching your goals?

November 8 is Young Readers Day!

Young Readers Day is the second Tuesday of November, which is also [coincidentally this year] election day in the US.  Be sure to vote!

And the third full week of November, which this year is November 14-18, is Young Readers Week.  No I don’t know why it’s not the week that contains the actual day. One of the great mysteries of life =)

Here are some ideas to commemorate the day: take your child to a library or bookstore, buy a book for your child, read to your child [or any child!], donate books to your local library or school, read a book yourself.

https://www.checkiday.com/826f7e79e928749a2ddee933f748dd23/national-young-readers-day

https://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/november/youngreadersday.htm

https://gosparkpress.com/ways-to-celebrate-young-readers-day/

Do you have any young readers in your family or in your circle of friends?  How are you encouraging them on Young Readers Day? Tell us in the comments!