As a self-published author with no real publishing agent or publisher to answer to, I found that I had to set my own deadlines for progress.
So, how do I do this? The answer can be summed up in two words – Small Steps.
As an example, my latest published book, Quick Reads for Commuters, took almost a year to plan, outline, write, proofread, edit, format, and publish. Of course, this was not a year of full time, 40-hour work weeks. It was a long series of smaller steps as follows.
- Gather Story Ideas – this step involved just writing down story ideas as they occurred to me over time. In total this small step probably took a month to complete, but only amounted to less than an hour of actual time. The rest of my time was spent on other projects.
- Outline each story – Other than the actual writing, this step took the most time, probably a month, but remember again this is not a month of 40-hour weeks. I set the task of outlining one story per day. Some were easier than others, but the longest I spent on one outline is less than an hour.
- Write the stories – For this step I scheduled the writing as one story a week and this seemed to work well. After writing the first draft, I would pass it along to my editor for proofreading, comment, and suggestions. Your editor, by the way, can be anyone who knows how to read and write. I have several editors for most of my work but only one is a paid editor that I use for some of my work. Other editors are my wife, my brothers, and a couple of neighbors and friends.
- Format and Cover Design – My first books, not this one, were all formatted by me and the lack of professional formatting shows. For this book, I hired someone to format the book and design the cover. This took them less than two weeks. I highly recommend getting professional help in these two steps. It can make all the difference in your self-publishing, between an amateur and a professional product.
- Publishing – Of course, I did the publishing myself using Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. If you have never used it, I highly recommend it for beginners. It is not that difficult to get the book published once you have the proofread and edited manuscript and the cover designed. You can even design a cover on Kindle if you don’t want to spend the money for a cover designer.
I’m currently working on a second volume of stories using the same Small Steps. I’m currently on step 2.
If you are working on a novel, the steps are a little different. The first three steps would be Define Chapter Ideas, Outline Each Chapter, Write Each Chapter and then make sure they all tie together. This is where editing can really uncover problems with the flow of the story or the plot line. A professional editor is probably a good idea for a novel although my non-professional editors have helped me in my ongoing quest to write a novel. I have two in the works but don’t hold your breath waiting for the final product. Writing a novel has turned out to be slow work for me.
Other types of books, such as the series of Personal Finance books I wrote several years ago, need to be approached much like a novel because the final product needs to flow properly. Of course, there is no plot but there is an overarching theme to the work which must always be kept in mind. When I originally outlined my Personal Finance objectives, I envisioned one book about the entire subject. The final product turned out to be five books initially with more to be added soon.
I hope you can see how dividing your writing project into smaller segments can help you eventually get to the end – publishing your work. I originally made my living as a project manager in the Information Technology area and this is how every project is accomplished.
So, in reality, you need to become your own Project Manager in addition to all the other hats a self-published author may wear.