“Did you sell books right away?”

“No, not at first. I took a class on Facebook advertising and then another one. Still, I struggled. But I figured that if I have content and books for people to read, then I can always tweak the marketing and the advertising and learn more about how to do it right. About a year into it, I finally hit on the right ad copy, blurb, cover combination, and people started to download my books and read them. I continued to publish and I still publish a book about every six weeks.”

“Wow, that's a lot.”

“Yes, it is, but the thing is that I have been trying to be a writer for my whole life so once I started being successful, I figured the best thing that I can do is keep writing.”

“I like that attitude. That's probably going to take you far in life.”

“Well, it took me here.” He points to his house. “I never had the goal of being rich, I just wanted my books to find readers. Then, the more books I had, the more readers I found. It was kind of like a snowball effect, but I appreciate every last one of those readers.”

26

Emma

I have never spoken to a writer before in real life and I find this conversation utterly fascinating. Of course, I have learned a little in the Facebook groups and read what feels like a hundred different writing advice books on Amazon. Yet, it feels so exhilarating to talk to one in real life. Especially, one who is so successful.

“How do you manage to publish so often?”

“Well, I have a lot of them already written and in various stages of editing and marketing. I have the pre-order set up for the next five books, but I'm already working on book six in that series.”

“How long are your books?”

“About 50,000 words. 300 pages, give or take. I found that to be the sweet spot.”

“Are most fantasy books much longer?”

“Yes, especially those that are traditionally published. I personally like the feeling of completing a book and then staying in the series, not just as a writer but also as a reader. There's something about finishing something that gives you this positive feeling and I want to give that to my readers.”

“So, how much do you write each day? Each month?”

He pauses for a moment and looks out into the distance. I follow his gaze and we stare at the horizon where a gigantic saguaro cactus reaches for the sky.

A big black crow, or maybe a raven, perches on the top, balancing on the bright yellow bud of a flower, expertly avoiding the needles of the cactus.

“Different things and different approaches work for different writers,” Liam says. “When I first started out, my goal was to just write 3000 words a day. I would often procrastinate and sometimes it would take me hours to get this done. Then I immersed myself in books about the writing process, experimenting with other writers' approaches like they are jackets in a department store. A small few were a good fit, but most did not.”

“So, what happened?”

“I know that you want a straightforward answer, but you didn't ask a straightforward question. The truth is that different approaches work for different people at different parts of their life as a writer.”

I nod, taking a sip of my water and wait for him to continue.

“In the beginning, I experienced a lot of writer’s block because I wasn’t sure where I wanted the story to go. Then I started doing a lot of meticulous outlining. I had to know exactly what was going to happen in my story in order to move forward. That cut out a lot of the planning stages while I was writing. Then, just as I figured out how to outline and plot, something strange happened. I did it enough and with enough books that I no longer needed to outline. And if I do it too much now, know too much about my characters and the story, I end up with writer’s block again.”

“Really?”

“I start with who the main character or characters are and what it is they want. All primary characters have to want something otherwise the story isn’t going to go anywhere. Then I know the basic midpoint and I know how the book or the series ends. So, I sit down and fill in the blanks.”

“Wow, that's amazing,” I say. “I have been struggling with writing this one book and have about 20,000 words, but I'm stuck. I'm tempted to try something else.”

“You need to focus on achievable goals. You started this book, writing another 30,000 words isn’t going to kill you. I'd recommend that you set yourself a goal, like an hour a day, and stick to it.”

“What if I just sit in front of the computer and stare at the blank page?”

“No, you can't do that. You have to plan out where you're going to write. Since you don't have much experience with writing fiction, outline the whole novel. Write a paragraph about what's going to happen in the next chapter and the one after that. Then just sit down and write them.”

“Is that what you did?”

“That's what I did at first,” Liam says, shaking his head and running his fingers through his hair. “Then I realized that I could write a lot more a day and finish more books. I started doing sprints of twenty - thirty minutes following the Pomodoro method. I would write eight, sometimes ten hours a day, but only for a short period of time, like seven days in a row.”

“So, when you were doing that, how fast could you write the book?”

“My fastest time writing a book was in five days. It was exhausting, though, and frankly, not really worth it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I thought that speed was the most important thing in getting the first draft out, but what happened was that I was so exhausted by the end of that first draft, and basically any draft that I did in under ten days, that I had to take a bunch of days off afterward just to recuperate. I was starting to feel burned out. Remember, I'm not just a writer, I'm also an author.”

I lean back against the swivel chair and cross my legs. He looks at me with his devilish grin and runs his tongue over his lower lip.

He seems to be one of those men who doesn't quite understand exactly how attractive he is or maybe he does and he just doesn't care.

I lean forward, resting my elbows on the cool marble and ask him to explain.

“Traditionally published writers, all they have to do is write. They typically put out a book a year, if they are dedicated, and some do two books a year. It's really hard to make it as an indie author with such a small number of books. Basically, you need to build up a big catalog that people have to read through in order to make any money.”

“You're not exactly scrounging by here,” I say, looking around his place.

“No, I'm not, but most indie authors are not as successful as I am. I invest a lot in Facebook advertising and I invest a lot in educating myself about what's happening in the industry. I take a couple of classes a year and I also attend conferences that focus entirely on indie publishing. I talk to other authors and we discuss what’s working and what’s not. Mostly, I publish.”

I nod and try to interject, but he continues.

“I built up a bit of a catalog so that I have some leeway in terms of my publishing. If I want to take a day off or a week off, I can. Maybe even a month. There are hungrier authors coming after me and I have seen others who have made as much as I have suddenly dwindle down to making almost nothing. If you don't have new books out, then someone else will catch your readers' attention. My readers want to read something new every two months, if not sooner. Perhaps, I can push it to three months, but if I'm only putting out two books a year, I'm going to lose them.”