BellaOnline Forums Career Fiction Writing What Did You Write Today?

I started writing ahead today. Not as big as your projects Lisa, but progress for me. Aim to write 6 articles ahead while I'm off from work this week. Picking up a rescue kitten tomorrow in the mix. lol..

Lisa, BIG CONGRATS on finishing your mystery novel! I look forward to reading it.

Sandra, I would agree with Lisa's advice 100% on your mystery stories. Put them together and publish them as a collection. I've seen readers (in the romance genre) grow increasingly sensitive about how much text is enough to justify selling for even 0.99 cents. Readers have grown used to getting really good stuff for only 0.99 cents because many authors nowadays are publishing full-length novels (typically the first in a series with the sequels priced higher) at 0.99 cents to generate reader interest. So readers may understandably balk at spending it on a very short story since they're growing used to getting so much more for that price.

As for the dated content, I also agree with Lisa. Publish as is. But maybe put a setting/date label on the first page to orient your readers. Something like, "December 1995, Chicago." Mysteries from the recent past can be very interesting such as Sue Grafton's books set in the pre-internet 1980s.

Val, Thank you for the feedback. It is so helpful to get a perspective from someone with experience in publishing and fiction writing. I am going to compile my stories and keep in mind what is of value to my (hopefully) readers.

Allyson -

We all have different time and schedule demands, so we all work at our own pace! That is a fantastic goal .

Val -

I have all ten of my medieval romance novels selling at 99 cents, so that's for the full story in each case.

I was recently thinking about raising half of them to $2.99 as an experiment. I want to raise money for my cause. I wonder if more people would buy the book at $2.99 because they think it's a "worthy book" at that higher price, vs "not worth reading" at the lower price. I.e. it'd be a mind experiment. Do people sometimes pass over the cheaper books, figuring they won't be good? Sort of like being nervous about a too-cheap car because something might be wrong with it - and going with one in a price range you think is safer?

Next up on my #writing polishing list - my first sci-fi novel I was finishing up just before I began my August #nanowrimo project. It's currently 276 pages, 80k words. It's been a storyline in my head for probably 20+ years now. I tried to "get it out" by turning it into a medieval novel - but it kept pulling at me to write it "as it was". So I finally did. Now to get it into shape for the reviewer team. I have some time - I just gave them all In A Glance, my 12th medieval novel, so I don't want to give them too many things at once .

My goal is to write at least two articles a week. I like having a supply built up and in Que.

There is a lot of other writing that takes up time each week also, such as FB, Google +, and Twitter post, and of course my Forum.

Lisa,

I read Conquering Your Fear of Spiders and have reviewed on Amazon. I enjoyed it and hope it does well for you.

I made a note of a few tiny points - will email you with those.

Sandra,

Thanks for your suggestions. We don't have a driveway, but our condo estate (if that's the right word) forms a block that I could drive around. The speed limit is 15mph so I couldn't do too much damage, even if things went horribly wrong!

That's my first step, then I'll take up Lisa's suggestion to drive around a parking lot.

Thanks to both of you for your support.

Grace,

I think that is an excellent first step. Wishing you well.