I'm writing, publishing, and launching a novel in 7 days.

[themental]

Corona has kicked the arse out of my word counts.

Between homeschooling children, looking after shielded relatives and just general creative drain, my publishing schedule has fallen to pieces.

So, I have a pre-order deadline and a file that needs to be uploaded on Monday at 11.59pm. 5 days to write, 10k a day, two days for editing and formatting and then publish.

The fastest I've ever managed a book is two weeks. So this will be interesting.

Cross your fingers for me please

Thank you for all your replies, OP. Most helpful. You've inspired/shamed me into being more productive. I hope you get great sales (KU page reads).

@themental can I be a pain and ask about Pro Writing Aid again - do you use the paid for version and is it worth it?

OP can you let us/me know how we can read your book please? I’ve got KU and raring to go. Thank you

@themental I am finding this absolutely fascinating. I hope you don't mind me asking, but have you come across self published authors who have crossed over from fandom? I've written fanfic since I was 12, and I'm pretty good at it, so I'd love to give self publishing a go.

Some other questions for you... I think I know my genre, but I'm not sure if it's a 'thing' in the self publish market? In fanfic I always gravitate toward hurt/comfort, so - main character goes through intense emotional and/or physical pain, other character/s provide love, comfort and support - healing happens. It's all very emotionally intense . If this exists in self publishing, where would I go to research the other authors who write in this vein? It kind of sounds like an abuse memoir, but I don't exactly mean that kind of thing, if you see what I mean. I never thought outside of fanfic there could be a market, so I'd love to know if there is!

Write is never easy
Time is scarce
I need advice

Sorry if I missed but did the OP share the title or pseudonym? I hope you got good reads (income), OP, I found much of what you posted really helpful and an inspiration to raise my game.

Hi everyone! I'm new to Mumsnet, this is my first post.
I'm a 'secret writer'

OP, your method is so inspiring and the chapter you shared is brilliant. Can't thank you enough for all the info and experience you've shared.

I've got a week off next week and I'm going to aim for a 50k word romance in that time.

This thread is absolutely brilliant, love reading posts from like minded people! Also Mumsnet is so good can't believe I haven't participated before!

Sometimes I waste hours, literally hours, reading about other people's neighbour's trees or someone else's choice of jumper / sandals.

And sometimes, I stumble across this thread of pure gold!!

How absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much for being so honest and open to discussion.

And for writing so many thousands of words on MN when you had so many thousands of words to be writing elsewhere

And congratulations on getting it done and with time to spare. Bloody marvellous I hope it's a 5 figure month

I am honestly amazed at your speed, all of you. I’ve spent 2 weeks writing and have got only 16k words. They’re good words and I stand by them, but wow! I am glacial in comparison.

Sorry I am just seeing all the replies now!

@InescapableDeath I have the paid version and I really recommend it. I think you pay once and that's you (unlike Grammarly which is a subscription). The thing I like about PWA is it groups your errors so for example if I use a scottish word ten times, I don't have to click through all twelve. Similarly if you are switching from UK to US you'll have six "colour" that need to be changed to "color".

@caramac04 & @Zilla1 sorry I didn't come back to update with the book. It actually did so well (4.57 average on goodreads which is completely unheard of) that I pulled the book, extended it from 50k to 110k, and it's rereleasing on the 13th of July under a new pen name because I plan to make it a standalone book 1 in a series with a cowriter.

@pandarific yes!

I actually know a lot of authors who started writing fanfic. I used to rewrite the Labyrinth movie as a teenager and post it online 😂

In fanfic I always gravitate toward hurt/comfort, so - main character goes through intense emotional and/or physical pain, other character/s provide love, comfort and support - healing happens. It's all very emotionally intense .

So I'm by no means an expert and hopefully someone will come along if I'm barking up the wrong tree - but I think your best bet would be to find genres where this type of thing is what the readers come for.

Memoirs, I never see them doing that well in self publishing. SP really shines with genre fiction, because genres have tropes and that is what attracts readers.

That said, have you thought about dark romance, what I write? The people who read those books want to see the characters dragged through hell before they see the light at the end.

It's essentially about two very broken, very damaged people, forced together for some reason, and then slowly they begin to heal each other. Like you said above it's full of angst and very emotionally intense.

The only problem you might have is there are some genre expectations there (sex being the main one) that you might be uncomfortable writing.

I'm trying to think if there are other things... I keep hearing about domestic thriller being the upcoming genre. I haven't personally read any, but it might be a good idea to look into that?

Hope that helped and please come back if you have more questions 😊

@BostonFernGreen how exciting!! I have lots of words to do next week too so if you want some support and daily check ins, post here or join me on the self-publishing thread

@themental that sounds really good. I often ‘buy’ series of books on KU and devour them. If I have no caring duties I’ll generally read a book a day.
If you’re allowed to pm me your book titles and/or author name I’ll definitely download and read.
Thank you, I think it’s brilliant that you’ve given so much help on here.

• It's essentially about two very broken, very damaged people, forced together for some reason, and then slowly they begin to heal each other. Like you said above it's full of angst and very emotionally intense.

The only problem you might have is there are some genre expectations there (sex being the main one) that you might be uncomfortable writing.*

That... sounds completely my jam actually! I'm all about putting characters through the emotional wringer, and then having them try to put themselves back together.

Ah - the sex shouldn't be an issue. Give me a blank doc and a pot of coffee and I can have everyone naked within 3 lines.

If you'd like to read the current thing I'm working on just drop me a message (fanfic though - once I'm done with it I'll do a real thing).

[quote themental]@BostonFernGreen how exciting!! I have lots of words to do next week too so if you want some support and daily check ins, post here or join me on the self-publishing thread [/quote]
Thanks @themental this thread is fabulous. I'm on day two and I've done 4200 words so far. Not what I was aiming for yet but I had a lot of housework and life admin to do.

I then felt annoyed with myself for not getting enough done as a week off goes by so quickly!

However, I'm really happy with where I am and I have tk day this thread has helped a lot with motivation.

@themental

This is such an interesting thread, with some great links too. Thanks.

This is such an informative thread OP, thank you and good luck with it.

@themental what a fascinating, informative thread. Thank you for being generous with your time and advice. Could you possibly send me a link to your books? I’d love to have a read.

You'd probably be able to write it quicker if you logged off mumsnet.

Hi, I read the first chapter (this thread is fascinating by the way!) and i need to read the rest of the book! Could you pm me the link so I can buy it please?

Please could someone DM me the author name too, I'm invested and I need to know what happens next!

@themental
Is it true that self-published books should be shorter than trad published books and built into a series?

What a great thread! I would love to read this book and others so if anyone does have the details, could you please PM them to me.

@themental thanks so much for all of your advice!