How I Wrote My First Novel in 2016

How I wrote my first novel: I Began with Nanomo in November 2015

In October 2015, I got word I HAD to retire from Caterpillar–or be laid off. What a perfect opportunity to pursue my writing career! But I was certain I would fail, at first. I accepted that. Here is the story of how I wrote my first novel, what went right and what went wrong.

We ate a fried turkey, as a test of our new turkey fryer that month. “Say, wouldn’t it be funny if the turkey came back to life?” I remarked as we ate. “A Zombie Turkey,” my wife Julie commented. “Wow! What a great title for a book! That’s what I’ll write about in Nanomo. Link to Andy Zach’s page on Nanomo If you’re not familiar with Nanomo, follow the link to the site and read all about this wonderful organization.

I Succeeded at Failing

As I expected, I failed. First of all, I failed to write the fifty thousand word novel in November. I only got forty eight thousand. Then I took a break for December.

Starting with with the new year, I went back at it. I cleaned up grammar and spelling and made some changes and additions. Reading voraciously. I began with “Dan Poynter’s Self Publishing Manual Vol 2” here on Amazon.. I then read “How to Publish 30,000 Books on Amazon’s Kindle” also on Amazon. and six or seven other How-to-write books. I also took online classes.

This is all the while I’m interviewing and campaigning for another job, to replace my job with Caterpillar. You see, I’m not old enough to draw my pension yet. We have no income.

My breakthrough came from a book my daughter gave me: “From 2,000 to 10,000 words per Day” by Rachel Aaron, here:2,000 to 10,000. Ms. Aaron identified all my writing problems and gave three simple techniques, which worked for me. I went immediately to four thousand words per day.

After I completed my novel, I read my whole novel out loud (a recommended editing technique). I created a timeline and a scene flow chart. I felt the novel was in pretty good shape. But I knew I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I read that editing is vital. So I bit the bullet and hired my editor, Dori Harrell. Here’s her website. I found her through a friend who had previously published a book. I hired her as a content, developmental, and copy editor.

Editing, Editing, and more Editing

I sent my novel to Dori in June of 2016. She worked on it for a month and in July gave me my first feedback. She was more positive than I expected. I thrilled at her positive comments and worked on her suggestions. We went back and forth with several iterations–nine, to be exact.

Finally, late August, we agreed it was ready for copy editing. We both were familiar with every line by that time. Surprisingly, not only did she find mistakes, but so did I, when I reviewed the copy edited work.

 

How I Wrote My First Novel: Cover Art – a New Experience

I had read also how important cover art is to a novels success: both the paper version and the ebook version. I couldn’t afford a professional artist (thousands of dollars) and I didn’t want to do the cover myself.

My son had organized an art group while he attended college and his closest friends were in it. He suggested I pitch my cover to his friend who was striving to enter the comic industry. He, Sean, was thrilled with the idea of creating Zombie Turkeys art. We met several times in August 2016, brainstorming with Sean and other artists and came up with the idea for the cover and back cover. We signed a contract for him to do both covers and the interior chapter icons.

Then it was wait. It seemed to take forever! Finally, the front cover was done. I urged him on with the back cover. Meanwhile . . .

Still More Editing!

Dori and I were satisfied with the novel contents. The layout of a novel is tricky, because each of the popular formats, print, Amazon (mobi), epub, have different rules and regulations. With interior images of the chapter icons, it becomes trickier. I knew I needed a layout editor. She recommended Rik Hall for the interior layout. Here’s his website.

That was a smart move. Rik caught several errors Dori and I had missed. He also helped me with self publishing information I didn’t know I needed.

How I Wrote My First Novel: The Self Publishing Experience

Editing was harder than writing. Self publishing is harder than editing. I wanted to reach the widest audience with the most free advertising I could get with the least restrictions. Through my research, I quickly identified Kindle Direct Publishing for ebooks and Create Space for print books as the ideal for my situation. Your Mileage May Vary – what was right for me may not be right for you.

Along the way, I worked with Bowker to get my IBSN numbers. They weren’t necessary for Create Space, but they were needed for Kindle. I bought ten, knowing I have two other books under way and I planned at least a trilogy for my “Life After Life Chronicles”.

While editing, I found yet more errors in my book through publishing! I was surprised, but Rik was not. I got uploaded to KDP and Create Space and got my proof copy in October.

What a thrill! There’s nothing quite like holding your first printed book in your hands!

The Journey Continues – Book Promotion

What’s harder than publishing a book? Promoting and selling your book! Here’s what I did:
How I Wrote My First Novel – Book Promotion

Created my Zombie Turkeys website. I used Blue Host and Spinning Web Media Solutions to create a WordPress site.