Category: Writing

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How I Published 4 Books in 3 Years – You Can Too

Yes, I Published 4 Books in 3 Years. Here they are:

Published 4 Books
Andy Zach’s Published 4 Books

First I published Zombie Turkeys on October 31, 2016. Then ten months later, out popped My Undead Mother-in-law on August 5, 2017. I still strove to hit my nine-month publishing goal with Paranormal Privateers, which debuted on May 5, 2018. Finally, I switched genres to middle-school science fiction with Secret Supers, appearing March 29, 2019.

I feel like these dates are the birthdays of my children!

4 Books Published
The Andy Zach Family, before publishing

In the next section, I’ll give you a rundown of my steps in publishing.

4 Books Published – First Zombie Turkeys

  1. I wrote the first draft in November – December 2015 – I used NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month) as my motivation. You can too!
  2. Then I self-edited my book – inefficiently. January to March 2016. I checked grammar and spelling and reviewed checklists of what not to do. I think I went through six or seven revisions.
  3. Next, I studied publishing and self-publishing. ‘Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual, Volume 2‘ and How I Sold 30,000 eBooks on Amazon’s Kindle were my primary influences.
  4. In April, I worked with an editor for the first time. April to August 2016, Dori Harrell. She’ll work with you too! This created another six or seven revisions.
  5. I knew I needed a cover artist, so I got one: Sean “Fuzzy” Flanagan. We went through ten ideas and we selected the handprint cover. August to September 2016.
  6. Then, I bought IBSNs from Bowker. September 2016.
  7. After this, I set up Amazon Kindle and Createspace accounts. They’re now merged. September 2016.
  8. I learned I needed a format editor: someone who edits the text into ebook and print formats, Rik Hall of Wild Seas Formating. You need him, too. September 2016
  9. I set up a website, zombieturkeys.com. It’s now merged with andyzach.net. October 2016
  10. Finally, I uploaded my edited ebook and print book with their covers to Amazon and set the launch date to October 31st. October 2016
  11. Before I could order books, Amazon had to approve them. As soon as they did, I ordered my print books. Mid-October 2016.
  12. Then, I set up my book launch party at the Peoria North Library for October 31st. That was probably a mistake. I learned that some people were out, due to Halloween.
  13. I got my print books in the mail. Huzzah! I got them just before the launch party. Late October 2016.
4 Books Published
My First Book Copy

The first concept sketch for Zombie Turkeys:

Zombie Turkey Concept Art

Zombie Turkeys, the first sketch

Next, My Undead Mother-in-law

I knew I had to surpass my first book with my second one. I had to be crazier, funnier, wilder, more exciting, more violent. In November of 2016 when I wrote my first draft of My Undead Mother-in-law. I’ll tell you what I learned through that book in my next blog post.

This one is long enough.

My Undead Mother-in-law, Andy Zach’s second book

But naturally, you’ll have questions. Ask me! I‘ll do my best to answer you.

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3 Things About Author Andy Zach You Didn’t Know

3 Things About Author Andy Zach–Let’s start with my office.

What about the inside of my office? It’s messy. Here you see a little of my desk and computer screen.

3 Things About Author Andy Zach
My first book arrives, Zombie Turkeys

Now you see a little more of my desk.

3 Things About Author Andy Zach
My Undead Mother-in-law with a little clutter.

Do you see the sticky notes? I used them to manage writing Zombie Turkeys. I still use them to remind to do stuff.

Maybe you’re unimpressed. “This isn’t very messy, Andy!” you might say. Okay, here’s a wider view of my desk (on a good day).

Next, you get the view of the rest of my office.

Messy enough for you?

3 Things About Author Andy Zach – The Second

Despite all appearances, I’m a real human being. I was born in 1956.

Andy Zach as a baby.

I had my childhood in the 60s.

3 Things About Author Andy Zach
Andy before authoring–or learning to read.

And I went on family vacations, like this one to Lake Ontario in 1968.

3 Things About Author Andy Zach
Andy with one of 3 pike he caught with his Dad. 1968. Click to zoom out.

But that’s not all of my humanity! Next, you’ll discover I actually own and love dogs.

Trip at 6 weeks and 12 pounds.

My wife Julie named him ‘Trip’ because the first time we took him to the park he walked between my wife’s legs. Then he grew.

3 Things About Andy Zach
Trip at the table A polite 105 pounds.

I’d like to know about YOUR pets. What kind of pets do you have? Contact me or answer this poll.

1. What kind of pets do you have or wish you had? (1 minute survey here. You get a free book if you get the right answer on the final question.)

Now, what’s the last thing about me as an author you may not know?

The Last Thing About Author Andy Zach

You can’t just be an author. You also have to be a businessman and entrepreneur.

I have to pay taxes–even if I don’t make any money! How’s that? I must pay sales tax on cash sales.

Even if I don’t have any income (I assure you, I don’t! Revenue, book sales, is not the same as income. Income=sales-costs), I must pay sales tax on my sales. And on my purchases.

Taxes are a big enough issue I’ve written these blog posts about them:

3 Tax Tips For Authors Business Owners

Authors Business Owners
Zombie Lady Maximizing Tax Returns

Taxes 101 for Authors – The Andy Zach Way

Image result for 2016 income tax public domain images Taxes 101 for Authors

3 Tax Programs Compared For Tax Day

3 Tax Programs Compared
Andy compares TaxAct with two other programs

In these posts, you will learn how to track your expenses, your revenues, and how to compute your taxes so you maximize your returns. Check them out!

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5 Writing Posts to Make You a Better Author

5 Writing Posts to Make You a Better Author – where am I going with this? I found these great articles teaching writing skills. Then I thought, “Maybe other people can benefit from these. Other authors, poets, non-fiction writers and students can all learn.

So tell me if you like this kind of blog post here.

5 Writing Posts – Your First Lesson

Just kidding! I thought I’d start with a laugh. Here’s the real article next.

Yes, that’s right. This initial post covers everything you should NOT do as a writer. It’s a simple list, but it covers most of the bad things writers can do and do do.

Your Next Lesson

Now you get a video tutorial on how to structure a book.

Various plot structures

The following quickly summarizes :

1. Hero’s Journey
2. Save the Cat – 15 beat story structure
3. The Plot Embryo
4. 27 chapters (3 act structure) Each act into 3 blocks and each block has three chapters.

Do I follow these structures? Not consciously. I seek to start quickly with a tense situation, and build through each chapter. I’ll have ‘relief’ chapters where I surprise the reader with new, interesting characters and conflicts, before returning to the big conflict. The problems build through the book until they’re finally resolved in a big climax. Then I throw in a twist at the end.

I did this for each of my books:

5 Writing Posts
Andy Zach’s novels

5 Writing Posts – Your Third Lesson

Now, let’s tackle that dreaded activity–editing after you’ve written your book.

My quick summary, in time order:

  1. Developmental editing – story structure and organization
  2. Line editing – making each sentence the best it can be.
  3. Copy editing – getting rid of stupid speling misteaks and grammar errorz and punctuation!!!
  4. Proofreading – how does the final copy look on the page? Font size, spacing, paragraphs, page breaks.

I just use items 2-4. I’ve never really had anyone criticize my structure so far. My editor for edit types 1-3 is Dori Harrell at Breakout Editing. She’s worked on Zombie Turkeys, My Undead Mother-in-law, and Paranormal Privateers.

For my latest novel, Secret Supers, just published last March, I tapped Leslie McKie’s expertise.

Aside from professional editing, she’s taught middle school and disabled children. She was perfect to edit my book about seventh-grade disabled superheroes.

5 Writing Posts
Secret Supers Cover

For my layout or proofreading edit, I use Rik Hall at Wild Seas Editing. He’s formatted all my books for print and ebook versions.’

Your Fourth Writing Post

More on plotting! I dislike any structure forcing me to write a particular plot, but I follow everything it says.

Your Last Writing Tip

Naturally, I couldn’t resist publishing another joke first. Your real, last tip comes next.

What can you learn from this lady?

  1. You’re never too old to start writing.
  2. Once you start writing, keep writing
  3. Publish what you write. You may finally catch on.