Six Things That Allow Me To Stay in My Jammies Writing Books All Day (In NO Particular Order)

Writing is a tough way to make a living. Not like coal miner tough or air traffic controller stressful. The job itself is wonderful. The commute to my office in the basement is pretty sweet, and it’s not exactly a hardship to spend my days with characters that I love. But as far as making a living off it? That’s the hard part.

I’m not a household name by any stretch of the imagination, but the past two years, I’ve made a comfortable amount from my writing. I had one pretty decent-sized hit (Break in Two) back in 2014 followed by two years where I barely made any money, and my writing had turned into an expensive hobby. I was on the brink of having to go out and get a ‘real job’ where I’d have to wear makeup and even possibly put on nylons (just typing that made me throw up in my mouth a little). I knew I had to turn things around fast.

Unfortunately, in this business, shortcuts to success are about as likely as finding a unicorn that poops out cash on demand. As much as I wished for some magical, instant fix, I knew it was going to require a whole lot of hard work.

Here’s what I did:

1)    Set goals, made a Plan, and tracked everything!

It may not be sexy but this one has been HUGE for me. At the beginning of 2017, I purchased the Authorlife Planner by Bria Quinlan. I basically planned out my entire year, and set specific, achievable goals for myself. I did it again in 2018 as well and am currently working on my 2019 goals.

 This has made all the difference in my ability to go from randomly putting out stuff and hoping it sticks to having books that stick around. I plan each month, and on Sundays, I plan out each week, making adjustments based on what I have left to do from the week before (and there’s always something left). More often than not, I overestimate how much time I’ll have and what I’m able to accomplish. This leads to chronic failure with a lovely side of stress which I can do without, thank you very much.

The planner has allowed me to get a realistic look at my time over the past two years because I don’t just plan ahead, I look back as well. I now know how long it takes me to write a chapter, an entire book, to do the first set of revisions, to launch a novel, etc. These numbers will be different for everyone, but the key is knowing what my numbers are so I can actually execute my plan and meet my goals. This takes a lot of the stress off which in turn lets me be a lot more creative. And my ability to be creative helps me work much faster with the end result being much better stories.

2) Continually learn and improve.

Each year I read at least three books on the craft of writing, and each one has helped me to advance my skills. My process for preparing a new novel — and in fact every new chapter I write — now stems from a combination of outlining/novel structure advice from K.M. Weiland, as well as Lisa Kron’s Story Genius and Wired For Story. The methods in these two books keep my stories on point as far as the main character’s goals, motivations, and deep-rooted fears go, which helps me to create compelling conflicts. As we all know, conflict is what keeps the pages turning.

 3)  I found a terrific editing team.

Another biggie. I have a wonderful editor who does developmental/line edits for me, two copy editors/proofreaders who I pay, and three people who proofread for me for the fun of it. Editing is my second biggest monetary investment (right after advertising), but the amount I’ve learned through the process and the end results are worth it – tighter, more compelling, faster-paced stories that can compete with all the shows on Netflix waiting to be binged on.

 A quick aside – How to make things work with an editor:

– Find someone who knows and loves to work on the type of book you’re writing.

– Get references.

– Send a test chapter to make sure you are a good fit for each other.

– Clearly communicate deadlines and make sure you’re on the same page as far as payments.

– Be reasonable about your expectations (i.e., don’t send your book a week before launch and expect it back with zero errors the next day. Also, keep in mind that you’ll need several fresh sets of eyes to catch all the mistakes. No one person can find everything and correct it, so have a team of proofreaders who will help you out).

– When you receive feedback, don’t take it personally. Your editor is trying to help make your book the best it can be. Accept that there is always room for improvement and that your goal should be to put out the best work you can, not pay someone a lot of money to pat you on the back and sing your praises. No one in the history of writing has ever written a perfect book. Drop that expectation now and you’ll be a lot happier. Go into the editing process with humility and the intention to learn and improve, and I promise it won’t hurt that much. ?

 4)      Branding

Just the word itself can cause an eye-roll so deep you fear your pupils will get stuck in the back of your head, but branding truly is vital for any author. This means starting with covers that immediately convey what type of books you write so that readers instantly know if that book is for them or not.

When I first put out The Royal Treatment, my cover—although very lovely and professional—looked more like a Y.A. novel than a romantic comedy. I mistakenly thought that I wanted to have the cover say royal first, then romantic, then comedy. When I put it out in May 2017 and it tanked, I spent two months redesigning covers for the series (which paid off quite nicely). By looking at the reviews of the book, I realized the comedy was the main attraction. I made sure my next set of covers said comedy first, then romance, and royal last, which makes sense since the group of people who want to read romantic comedy is much bigger than the group who are looking for specifically royal books.

I also swapped out my professional author headshot for a cute pic of my dog Lucy in a dinosaur sweater, rewrote my bio to make it wittier, and created new graphics that said ‘hey, this author and her books are super fun’ and the results have been amazeballs.

5)      Seek out people who will love your books, even if it’s one by one.

When I first launched The Royal Treatment, I was essentially starting over in a new sub-genre with a new pen name. This meant seeking out readers who like to read chick lit/romantic comedy rather than steamy romance.

I found a thread in a Facebook group in which an author had asked his readers if they liked comedy. I actually contacted about fifty people on Facebook that had responded to his question in the affirmative. It took me several evenings of sitting at my computer asking people if they would like to try out my book for free. The key was to try to make them laugh in my messages because if I could make them laugh there, they were far more likely to try out my book. This was time-consuming, but it’s been highly rewarding, not only because I found people willing to read my books, but because I made real connections with people who have become friends. As a sweet bonus, at least twenty of them are now part of my launch team. 

 6)      Follow your gut. ALWAYS.

Before I start each chapter, I do a quick gut check to see how I feel about writing it. Am I excited, engaged, and confident or is there little sense of dread/a tiny feeling in the pit of my stomach that says something’s not quite right? Ignoring that voice has had me rewriting entire novels. Yeah, that’s right. Entire novels with an ‘s’ because I didn’t learn it the first time. But I sure as hell know it now.

 So, that’s it, my friends. If you can get a handle on these six things, you can make it in this business. Easy peasy, right? 

—

Melanie Summers currently resides in Edmonton, Canada, with her handsome husband, three sporty nerd children, their adorable one-eyed dog, and one tiny puppy with a cute little brown nose. When she’s not writing romantic comedy, she loves reading (obviously), snuggling up on the couch with her family for movie night (which would not be complete without lots of popcorn and milkshakes), and long walks in the woods near her house. Melanie also spends a lot more time thinking about doing yoga than actually doing yoga, which is why most of her photos are taken ‘from above’. She also loves shutting down restaurants with her girlfriends. Well, not literally shutting them down, like calling the health inspector or something. More like just staying until they turn the lights off.

Melanie is a member of the Romance Writers of America, as well as the International Women’s Writing Guild.

Melanie would love to hear from you! She does her best to respond to all inquiries and emails personally. If you would like her to attend a book club meeting via Skype please contact her to book a date.

Website:  www.mjsummersbooks.com

Email:  mjsummersbooks@gmail.com

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Bookbub: Melanie Summers: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/melanie-summers

The Honeymooner

~ A Paradise Bay Romantic Comedy ~
From bestselling author Melanie Summers comes the wickedly funny, ridiculously romantic spinoff of her highly-acclaimed Crown Jewels Series…

Twenty-eight-year-old workaholic Libby Dewitt lives by the motto ‘if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.’ She’s finally about to start her dream life with her steady-as-a-rock fiancé, Richard Tomy. Together, they’re the perfect power couple—right down to the fact that he’s agreed to use their honeymoon to help further her career in mergers and acquisitions. But ten minutes before the wedding, her dreams dissolve via text message.

Devastated and humiliated, Libby escapes to Paradise Bay alone. She’s got two goals for her trip: to devise a plan to get Richard back and to convince resort owner Harrison Banks to sell his property to her company. Unfortunately, when she arrives, she discovers that tall, dark, and built Harrison is not about to make anything easy for her.

Instead, he derails her plans while at the same time, bringing out a side of Libby she’s kept carefully tucked away—a carefree, adrenaline junkie. After a few days together, Harrison’s got her wondering if the life she always wanted was meant for some other girl. Suddenly, Libby must decide which version of herself she wants to be.

Will she go back to her comfortable, safe life, or risk everything to be with the only man who’s ever made her feel truly alive?

 

Category: How To and Tips