I'm a novelist - AMA

[AMAWriter]

I was a teacher for many, many years and took (grabbed) the chance of redundancy and used the money to write a novel.

Ask me anything!

Have you been published/ self-published?

How long did it take to write your first novel?

Do you prefer to hand write or type? I can’t think if I’m typing.

Where do you get your inspiration?

What sorts of methods do you use to write? I'm reading a book about the snowflake method right now and am working on a novel myself; it seems like a good way to get writing.

Will you use/have you used an editor?

@FireF

Have you been published/ self-published?

I self published my first two novels, because I couldn't get an agent. I can see now that they needed an editor to help me knock them into shape. I see them as my apprenticeship!

I'm now published by a major publisher here in the UK, the USA and in several languages - German, Russian, French, Polish Czech and Slovak. When you self publish you can't reach those other countries, but the best thing about traditional publishing is the editorial advice.

How long did it take to write your first novel?

I wrote a novel before the two self-published ones mentioned above. I wrote 80,000 words in 80 days. I had the novel planned out before I began, but spent the whole of one summer writing it - I did 1,000 words a day from 9 pm to 11 pm every night.

@LizzieVereker

Do you prefer to hand write or type? I can’t think if I’m typing.

I trained as a secretary when I was 16 and I've always typed rather than handwritten. I do know some people who handwrite their first draft, but not many - everyone works differently, though.

@MustBeDueSomeBetterFeet

Where do you get your inspiration?

I get inspiration from all over the place. My first traditionally published novel was based on a Mumsnet thread! The book had a completely different story to the thread, but the opening scenes were similar.

My second traditionally published novel was based on something I read in a newspaper.

Another book was based on a conversation with a friend, and another based on an experience with a lodger living in my house.

Once you have the idea, though, things don't follow the story it came from - that's where your own imagination takes hold.

@AvtarRamKaur

What sorts of methods do you use to write? I'm reading a book about the snowflake method right now and am working on a novel myself; it seems like a good way to get writing.

I was lucky enough to be in a Sophie Hannah workshop a few years ago. She recommended thoroughly planning the novel in advance. There's a piece on her blog about it here and for me, this really works, though I know some writers start with a blank page and just keep going, finding out what happens when it happens. That's too scary for me! But again, everyone has to find their own way of doing it. I've not heard of the snowflake technique - what does it involve?

Will you use/have you used an editor?

I've only used an editor since I've been published, though I wish I could have afforded to have done it with my self-published books.

My agent used to be an editor

Sorry, the above was for @gorgeoushazydaysofsummer.

How many rejections did you receive from agents before you were accepted? (assuming you have an agent now?)
How long did you have an agent before a publisher accepted your novel?
Do you write every day?
How many copies have you sold of your traditionally published novels and what is the average you make per book? (I’ve heard it can be as little as 6p per book!)

@Enidblyton1

How many rejections did you receive from agents before you were accepted? (assuming you have an agent now?)

Oh loads! I sent the first couple out to about 12-15 agents - some didn't reply and the others sent either a standard rejection or a really nice rejection letter.

With the first book that was traditionally published I noticed a difference straightaway. Virtually everyone I wrote to asked for the full manuscript straightaway. (You send the first three chapters and a synopsis first.) Then some were never heard of again and others wrote nice rejections. Then I sent it to my (now) agent and within a day or two she asked for the full manuscript and then a day or two after that she asked if she could call me. She did, and she asked if she could represent me. I was over the moon!

How long did you have an agent before a publisher accepted your novel?

She edited the book over the Christmas break and I got the revisions the first Monday after New Year. Those took a couple of weeks, then she sent it out and a couple of weeks later I had a deal with a UK publisher and a week or so after that I'd sold to Germany and the US. So it all happened very quickly in the end.

Do you write every day?

I do something to do with a book every day, whether it's plotting, writing, editing, proofreading or whatever. I've also written articles for websites and blogs. It tends to take me a while to plot but then I write quite quickly.

How many copies have you sold of your traditionally published novels and what is the average you make per book? (I’ve heard it can be as little as 6p per book!)

I'm not sure about exact numbers. I was given very good advice at the start which was not to keep looking at the stats otherwise it will drive you mad. When I self-published I sold about 8,000 copies which was a lot for self-publishing (a lot don't sell more than 100) and got 70% after VAT was paid (they were e-books.) That's so different from traditional publishing. I think paperbacks start at about 7% or so (no VAT on paperbacks) but the more you sell the more of a % you get. I think you get about 25% or so for e-books, but they're cheaper, of course. The % you get depends on what a book sells for, of course, so those books at ASDA for £3.85 earn the author about 25p.

Thanks

Re payments, I should have said that usually you get an advance against royalties, so an editor figures out how much they think you'll earn in the first year or so and pay that in advance. Having a high advance can be very stressful because if you don't earn that money, it can be difficult to get your contract renewed. Having a low advance can be difficult as obviously you get less money but there's less invested in you by the publisher, so they won't be pushing publicity as much as they would for someone who got a large advance.

Snowflake Method - I'm still learning as I go along, but the basic idea as I understand it is to start with a simple one-sentence summary of your novel, and build upon that. Each step expands and expands your ideas until you've written it.

For many years, I've wanted to write but always felt overwhelmed at the start, and this is getting me excited so I'm happy with it so far! I've already written an outline, and a few chapters, but the ideas are really flowing now and I'm coming up with new twists and turns that I hadn't considered before.

Thanks for starting this thread, it's been very helpful and encouraging actually.

I think that's what Sophie Hannah is talking about, @AvtarRamKaur. When you have a detailed outline you don't need to suffer from writer's block because you can just follow the outline and write what's next. If you get stuck on something you can skip it and come back to it later.

Everyone does it differently. One of my writer friends writes the scenes she fancies and then puts them into order. Another friend I know writes all of one person's POV and then another's and then puts it all together. I tend to work in a very linear fashion, though this time I'm leaving the prologue until I've finished as I need to get into the characters' heads a bit more.

Hope you're having fun writing!

How did you eventually attract the attention of a publisher?

@HamsterToast, you have to attract the attention of an agent, first. Publishers won't usually look at work except through an agent. I think the only way to attract an agent in my genre is to have a really good hook to the story. They want something that will make people want to read the book.

Hi, I've been tinkering around with a novel for years so thank you for this thread! The link to Sophie Hannah's blog was great, the planning makes a lot of sense to me.

I would absolutely love to have a novel published and I am going to start again from scratch tomorrow. New ideas, new plan. I had done some character development over the years but I think I might just start afresh and look at that as a practice.

I am currently a SAHM but was intending on job hunting in a year or two. If you don't mind me asking, does your writing bring in a decent income and how many years did that take to come in?

I also think I grew up in the same town as Sophie Hannah, I remember reading one of her novels years ago