There was something that I forgot to mention in my last post. I was writing about the CWA interview on the publishing revolution and hybrid authors. Barry said that it takes time to build up a career in writing. I’m not sure what he meant by that. It implies improvement in some area, but whether that’s an improvement in the author’s quality of writing, visibility, marketing, sales, or something else, I’m not sure.
I published The Spy who Sank the Armada, on Amazon, almost exactly two years ago. There are now four books in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, and I’m writing chapter three of the fifth book. If my ratings are anything to go by, my books seem to be improving. My first book rates 4.0, book 2 rates 4.3, there’s a slight slip to 4.1 / 4.2 for book 3, but book 4 rates 4.7. There’s improvement, but given that Amazon’s filter for rating only goes up to four stars or above, even 4.0 gets into that top band.
The research phase for book 5 has been extensive and prolonged. I’m also taking my time in the writing phase. I’m trying to spend more time choosing the best possible words and phrases, rather than leaving that to the rewrite. Claire is reading my manuscript as we go, rather than leaving it to the end. I’m finding that helpful because why wait until the end for feedback? If you can build in improvement on the way, why not? Continuous improvement was a mantra of quality assurance during my engineering career, so I’m determined to make it apply to my writing career.
I intend to take my time over publishing as well. I have allowed myself to be driven by getting the book out for Christmas. My intention with book 5 is to see if I can interest a publisher rather that sticking to the Amazon self publishing route. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with self publishing, it’s just that cover designs, editing, audiobook producers all cost money. I’m also going to carefully consider the right publishing window for competitions. There are criteria for entering books in competitions. I wish I’d been eligible to enter Called to Account for a CWA Dagger. I’d love one of those. That would definitely be an improvement!