President of Outskirts Press

Getting over the hump (day)

Happy hump day, otherwise known as Wednesday on any given week, but this Wednesday is particularly “humpy” because it marks the time when National Novel Writing participants really SHOULD be over that 25,000 word hump and on the downhill slope of their novel. I’m proud to say I have only 2 writing buddies on the NaNoWriMo site who have not yet traversed that 25,000 hill yet, although they’re both in the 20,000’s, so it should be any moment now. My other buddies have word counts ranging from the lower-to-mid-30’s (which is also where I am) to the upper 70’s (over-achievers!).

If the NaNoWriMo stats from the Denver area participants are any indication, this arduous task becomes harder the longer you’re at it.

Let’s analyze this graphic I uploaded when I passed 25,000 words, most notably the graphic in the lower right hand corner, which shows the cumulative word count of all the WriMo’s in Denver. You will notice that we all passed 8 million words half-way through day number 6, but by day 14, we still hadn’t doubled that to 16 million. In fact, we’re now at day 18, and it still doesn’t look like the cumulative word count has reached 16 million.

We’re all slowing down… Maybe that means the books have been finished and the word count totals have been reached; I would need to know the total number of Denver participants to determine that. But my guess is that this Hump day REALLY is a hump day, and we all desperately need that downhill slope. Well, it’s there, right at word 25,001 it begins going downhill. So I challenge the rest of my mentorees to get over that hump. And for those of you who already have, keep it up. You’re doing great.

Here are my stats for NaNoWriMo for Nov 18:

Average Per Day	1833
Words Written Today	2538
Target Word Count	50,000
Target ~ Words/Day	1,667
Total Words Written	33,011
Words Remaining	16,989
Current Day	18
Days Remaining	13
At this rate, you’ll finish	Nov 28
Words/Day to finish on time	1,307

NaNoWriMo, self publishing, writing tips

Under 20,000 words to go on the novel

If you’ll look at my NaNoWriMo stats for yesterday (posted below), you’ll see that I’ve crossed over 30,000 words written, which leaves less than 20,000 words to go. So does that mean I only have to write 20,000 more words to finish my book? Well, no. It means I only have 20,000 more words to write in order to “win” National Novel Writing Month (they consider it “winning” if you write 50,000 words in 30 days). Whether or not you actually FINISH your book is not of much consequence to them.

But that seems like a pretty arbitrary goal, doesn’t it? Writing 50,000 words in 30 days? So, yes, while I’m on track to write 50,000 words in 30 days (in 28 days, actually), I’m afraid I’m not on track to actually finish the book. You see, I just got to the point in the plot where Fenderson takes Brad on a road trip to Las Vegas on their way to the port to get on the cruise ship. If you’ll remember the posting that introduced the original outline for Idle Hands, you’ll see that Las Vegas wasn’t even mentioned, and you’ll see that by November 17th, Fen was supposed to have already killed Jacob. And, here I am, on day 18 and they haven’t even gotten to the cruise ship yet.

That’s okay, rarely are today’s modern works of fiction only 50,000 words. Idle Hands was always going to be longer.

But the point of this is to realize, for all of us WriMo’s out there, that writing (and finishing) a novel is the real goal, no matter how long it takes. They just put a 50,000 word number on it, and an arbitrary starting and ending date, to put us all on the same page (pun intended).

So if your book is less than 50,000 words and you finish it before the end of the month, start writing a new one. And if your book is going to be longer than 50,000 words, and therefore not finished by November 30, keep on writing, even if you “won” NaNoWriMo.

You don’t publish 50,000 words. You publish books.

My NaNoWriMo stats for November 17:

Average Per Day	1792
Words Written Today	2236
Target Word Count	50,000
Target ~ Words/Day	1,667
Total Words Written	30,473
Words Remaining	19,527
Current Day	17
Days Remaining	14
At this rate, you’ll finish	November 28
Words/Day to finish on time	1,395

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Freemium Self Publishing

The November 5th episode of South Park, titled “Freemium Isn’t Free”, finds the boys addicted to “freemium” mobile apps. According to Wikipedia, “freemium” is a term coined in 2006 and is the pricing strategy by which a product or service (typically a digital offering such as software, media, games or web services) is provided free of charge; but money (premium) is charged for proprietary features, functionality, or virtual goods.

Apple and its iTunes app store received so much heat over “free” mobile apps that, in reality, are not free, that they had to re-identify them as “freemium” apps and disclose the manner in which those apps actually made money. It makes one wonder when other businesses are going to have to disclose the same thing?

What does this have to do with self-publishing? Well, a lot, as it turns out. Many large self-publishing companies use this exact same business model, although the population at large hasn’t quite identified the similarities between mobile apps that do this, and businesses in general that do this. But if you look closely enough, you can identify all the same practices, because some of the largest self-publishing companies are actually “freemium” in nature. They tout “free” on their website, but once you’ve drank the Kool-Aid, or downloaded the app, or whatever you want to call it, writers are discovering what they probably suspected all along: Nothing is free. And suddenly they’re paying $999 for custom covers at Company C*, or $3,199 for book video trailers at Company L* — services that they can get for under $299 and $499, respectively, at Outskirts Press.

Some of the most popular freemium mobile games right now are Candy Crush, Clash of Clans, and The Simpsons, and it might surprise you to know that the average amount of money those companies make per user exceeds the $0.99 they would make if they simply charged for the game in the first place. The way freemium mobile apps manipulate you into paying is by wasting Earth’s most precious resource: time.

Freemium self-publishers use tactics that aren’t quite so obvious, but include overcharging for additional services (like the custom covers and book videos), overcharging for author copies, and the coup-de-grace: manipulating you into actually giving away your e-book to their customers under the guise of “marketing” (but, you only “earn the right” to do this if they have an exclusive on your book, thus preventing you from making money elsewhere). Talk about adding insult to injury.

Most authors are so attracted to the “free” part that they don’t bother to investigate their long term costs; if they did, they might be surprised to know that the average amount those companies make per user exceeds the $999 they would make if they simply charged for self-publishing in the first place.

There is no such thing as “free” self-publishing. But there is freemium self-publishing. Caveat emptor. Buyer beware.

My NaNoWriMo stats for November 16th are:

Average Per Day	1764
Words Written Today	1611
Target Word Count	50,000
Target ~ Words/Day	1,667
Total Words Written	28237
Words Remaining	21,763
Current Day	16
Days Remaining	15
At this rate, you’ll finish	Nov 29
Words/Day to finish on time	1,451

*I don’t name self-publishing competitors on this blog, but it’s not terribly difficult to guess the culprits.

NaNoWriMo

Daily Stats

Taking a blog day off, but not a day off from writing Idle Hands for National Novel Writing Month.

Here are my stats for November 15, 2014:

Average Per Day	1775
Words Written Today	1508
Target Word Count	50,000
Target ~ Words/Day	1,667
Total Words Written	26626
Words Remaining	23,374
Current Day	15
Days Remaining	16
At this rate, you’ll finish	November 29
Words/Day to finish on time	1,461

Brent Sampson, NaNoWriMo

25,000 Words in 15 Days

We are half-way through National Novel Writing Month, where I (and 500,000 other writers) have challenged ourselves to write 50,000 words in 30 days…

So a good bench-mark would be writing 25,000 words in 15 days.

Thanks to an “internal challenge” I had with a couple of my “mentorees” through the NaNoWriMo site, where we challenged each other to reach 25,000 by Friday, I’m happy to report that I earned my 25,000 Writing Badge yesterday. Woo-hoo!

Here’s a graphic showing the four main statistics from the NaNoWriMo site. In the upper left-hand corner are the Participation Badges (completed) and the Writing Badges, displaying my latest accomplishment of 25,000 words. The next Writing Badge to earn is by validating my word count, but I can’t do that yet, because I’m not at 50,000 words.

In the upper right-hand corner is my daily stats in bar graph form imposed against an average line chart for where I need to be to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I’m basically right on schedule.

In the lower left-hand corner are all the statistics I’ve been reporting on daily through this blog; this is how they appear on the NaNoWriMo site. What a red-letter day! The number of words I have written exceeds the number of words remaining. And, finally, I’m tracking to finish ahead of schedule again (although Thanksgiving is bound to put a damper on that, so if I was ambitious, I’d aim to be at 50,000 words by the 26th.) Don’t want to get tripped up by tryptophan!

In the lower right-hand corner are the bar graphs displaying the cummulative word-count totals of all the NaNoWriMo participants in the Denver area. 14 million words and counting!

I wonder where all those people are going to publish their books? I know where I would suggest, but then again, I’m biased.

We’re on the downhill slope, fellow WriMo’s.

Brent Sampson, ceo

The power of positive thinking

My November 12th blog was titled “The power of motivation” and within the body of that posting I wrote the following sentence: “Once I reach 50,000 words, I’ll probably stop.”

When I read my posting the next day (as I always do, to review it for errors after 24 hours have passed), something occurred to me for the first time when I re-read that particular sentence. I didn’t write, “If I reach 50,000 words.” I wrote “Once I reach 50,000 words.” In other words, I have never questioned whether or not I would write 50,000 words in 30 days. That has always been a forgone conclusion in my mind. I’ve been positive I would do it from the moment I signed-up.

Some might call that cocky; others might call it naive. I prefer “positive.” But, regardless of what you call it, visualizing the future without a shred of doubt has miraculous advantages in life; you do what it takes to “get there.”

I think this is also why I went through the exercise of creating a book cover image for Idle Hands. From the beginning, I have been picturing the end result. First, writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Second, revising and rewriting that first draft into a coherent novel. Third, submitting that novel to publishers, and then after they reject it (hey, it can’t all be positive), self-publishing it myself. For me, it is easier to picture that published novel in my hands if it has a cover. That’s going to be my reality. It just hasn’t happened… yet. But in order to get there, first thing’s first: writing 50,000 words in 30 days.

What does your future look like?

Okay, I rebounded from that horrible 0-word day, so here are my stats for NaNoWriMo for November 13th:

Average Per Day	1660
Words Written Today	2039
Target Word Count	50,000
Target ~ Words/Day	1,667
Total Words Written	21584
Words Remaining	28,584
Current Day	13
Days Remaining	18
At this rate, you’ll finish	December 1
Words/Day to finish on time	1,579

Even with writing over 2,000 words yesterday, I’m still on track to finish after the deadline. See what skipping a whole day of writing gets you? I’d better not do it again… The “fun” part is that both of the “word stats” are in the 20,000’s — I’ve written 21,584 words and the number of words I have remaining is 28,584. I’m looking forward to that “exactly middle” 25,000 word milestone, with a target completion date of November 15th. That gives me 2 days of writing to crank out 3416 words, or 1708 words each day. No problem-o…

… baby steps…

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Best selling self published author

A week ago I mentioned one of our best-selling authors at Outskirts Press, Mirtha Michelle Castro Marmo, and her success with using social media. The Self-Publishing News blog recently interviewed her, and here are some helpful excerpts from that interview for those of us participating in NaNoWriMo (and for all writers, come to think of it):

OP: What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of becoming a published author?

MMCM: The most rewarding part is and will always be the ability Letters has to touch people. It’s crazy because I didn’t think people really read books anymore. But for me, having these girls go and buy my book, and spend their twenty dollars or so on Letters–it’s amazing, that someone believes in things still. People say my book has helped them heal, and that it has touched them, and that they have read and reread the book five or six times. It’s not a long book, but still! That’s the best feeling. A lot of girls and guys have hit me up, saying I inspired them to write again. It’s so great, because I’ve had people inspire me throughout my life, so it’s kind of like I’m paying it forward. I love showing people that things are possible. When I first saw Jennifer Lopez in a movie, you know, I was like–wow, a Latin girl on screen! I was being represented. It was so powerful. If I can be an inspiration to someone to write, to publish a book, that’s beautiful.

OP: What advice would you offer new authors?

MMCM: Go with your gut. Don’t write for what you think people want–write your heart. People receive honesty well, unless they’re your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend. Just be honest in your writing, and then publish it. Don’t go to the coffee shop where people are writing scripts and things like that when you’re trying to write something heartfelt; the city noise and the distractions will prevent you. Take that time for yourself. Imagine you’re meditating with your computer, with words. Really listen to your soul, so you can express what it wants to say.

OP: What does the average day look like for you, as a writer?

MMCM: I make time to write, and obviously I also write whenever I feel something specific move me. I’m constantly thinking of new material, so I’m constantly on my phone. Some people might think I’m texting, but I’m actually writing. Discipline is super important. With acting as well, you want to go to class–you want to make sure you stay on top of your game by auditioning. It’s an entire job just to get the audition, and another job to book it, and then another job afterwards. The same discipline I follow as an actor I bring to my writing. I wake up early every day and try to write something, whether it’s one paragraph or a chapter. Each morning at a given time, I’m writing.

You can read the whole interview at Self Publishing News.

Mirtha Michelle Castron Mármol’s book, Letters, To The Men I Have Loved, has been one of Outskirts Press‘s Top 10 Bestselling Books every month since it was published in June. Mirtha Michelle Castron Mármol is known for her roles in the “Fast & Furious” franchise and the upcoming film, “AWOL-72,” and she keeps her fans and readers up to date on her activities through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. Check out her hashtag, #MMCM, to learn more about her work.

I hate to change so abruptly from such an inspiring post to such a depressing statistic, but I didn’t get ANY words written to my book yesterday, so my NaNoWriMo stats for November 12 look like this:

Average Per Day	1628
Words Written Today	0
Target Word Count	50,000
Target ~ Words/Day	1,667
Total Words Written	19545
Words Remaining	30,455
Current Day	12
Days Remaining	19
At this rate, you’ll finish	December 1
Words/Day to finish on time	1,603

For the second time this month, the Stats are tracking me to finish AFTER the deadline. I’d better pick it up!

NaNoWriMo, writing tips

The power of motivation

For the past 12 days I have been actively participating in National Novel Writing Month (along with some 500,000 of my fellow writers). NaNoWriMo, as it is known, challenges people to write 50,000 words to a novel in 30 days. I’d guess the majority of people who start the process may not successfully cross the 50k finish line, and that’s okay. At least they tried. But, impressively, many people make the attempt year after year. They keep on plugging along. As I quoted Ray Bradbury in yesterday’s post, “You fail only if you stop writing.” That’s not only true for National Novel Writing Month, but it is true EVERY month. In fact, it’s a good lesson for life in general: You only fail if you stop ~~writing~~ trying.

What I noticed as I was looking at other WriMo participants’ stats is that those writers who won usually stopped right around 50,000 words. They crossed the finish line, yes, and then promptly stopped writing their books. Their word counts rarely extended much beyond the 50,000 word requirement.

There are exceptions, of course. One WriMo wrote over 105,000 words in 30 days, but in general, the WriMos I researched who “won” did so by just squeaking past the finish line.

I’m probably going to “squeak” past the finish line, too. Once I reach 50,000 words, I’ll probably stop.

But should I?

Should any of the WriMo’s stop at 50,000 words? Should we stop writing on November 30th? Perhaps National Writing Month is only about cranking out 50,000 words in 30 days; but writing is about something more than that — it is about establishing a writing routine that is driven by a self-imposed goal (50,000 words) and a self-imposed deadline (November 30). These goals and milestones may not SEEM self-imposed in November, since NaNoWriMo is “throwing” this worldwide writing party, but the truth is, it IS self-imposed. There’s no one FORCING you to write 50,000 words in 30 days during NaNoWriMo. Those of us who are doing it, are doing it for ourselves. To see if we can.

What’s stopping us from doing the same thing in December? And in January? And February?

After all, that’s what a writer would do. As Richard Bach once said, “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” Let’s all keep writing, even after NaNoWriMo 2014 comes to a close…

Here are my NaNoWriMo stats for November 11, 2014:

Average Per Day	1776
Words Written Today	2007
Target Word Count	50,000
Target ~ Words/Day	1,667
Total Words Written	19545
Words Remaining	30,455
Current Day	11
Days Remaining	20
At this rate, you’ll finish	Nov 29
Words/Day to finish on time	1,523

writing tips

Words of inspiration

Outskirts Press has over 12,000 followers/fans on its Facebook page at http://facebook.com/outskirtspress — and some of our most popular posts have been inspiring quotes that we’ve shared to our writing community. As we begin the second full business week of NaNoWriMo, I thought I’d share a few quotes that seem particularly appropriate for those of us attempting to write 50,000 words in 30 days during National Novel Writing Month:

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” ~ Richard Bach

“If you wait for inspiration to write; you’re not a writer, you’re a waiter.” ~ Dan Poynter

“Write your first draft with your heart. Rewrite with your head.” ~ Mike Rich

“Fiction does not spring into the world fully grown, like Athena. It is the process of writing and rewriting that makes a fiction original, if not profound.” ~ John Gardner

“You can’t think yourself out of a writing block; you have to write yourself out of a thinking block.” ~ John Rogers

“You fail only if you stop writing.” ~ Ray Bradbury

Keep on writing, fellow WriMo’s!

My NaNoWriMo stats for November 10, 2014:

Average Per Day	1753
Words Written Today	1730
Target Word Count	50,000
Target ~ Words/Day	1,667
Total Words Written	17538
Words Remaining	32,462
Current Day	10
Days Remaining	21
At this rate, you’ll finish	26-Nov
Words/Day to finish on time	1,546

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Get a free Amazon Kindle ebook edition of your book

Judging from all the NaNoWriMo sponsors and all the “free” stuff those sponsors are giving away (ranging from 1 free book to 2 free books!), it’s clear that WriMo’s are like everyone else – they love a deal! During the days in October, when I began posting about my participation in NaNoWriMo, I mentioned the FREE CUSTOM COVER promotion we were offering at Outskirts Press if you began your self-publishing process before Halloween. Well, that promotion may have expired, but November’s deal is just as good. Whether or not you are participating in National Novel Writing Month, you are eligible to receive our free Amazon Extreme Package when you start publishing with our Diamond or Pearl full-color publishing packages during November. Among other goodies, the Amazon Extreme Package includes a free ebook edition of your book specifically formatted for the Amazon Kindle and distributed via Amazon. Get all the details, and the necessary promotion code here: http://outskirtspress.com/promotion.html

My NaNoWriMoStats for November 9, 2014 are below. I passed 15,000 words to my novel, Idle Hands.

Average Per Day	1756
Words Written Today	1378
Target Word Count	50,000
Target ~ Words/Day	1,667
Total Words Written	15808
Words Remaining	34,192
Current Day	9
Days Remaining	22
At this rate, you’ll finish	November 29
Words/Day to finish on time	1,555