Day 31 - Can you Self-Publish a Book in 30 Days?
If you’re reading this and thinking, “Wait, you said it was a thirty day journey.” You’re right. I did say that. I also said that the exact end of the thirty-day journey fell on my fifteen-year anniversary and I didn’t want to launch on a Wednesday. The industry standard for book releases are Tuesdays. I figured, why buck the system? So I pushed the release to the following Tuesday. I later realized that uh…the 21st isn’t actually a Tuesday. It’s a Monday. When I made the announcement for the 21st, I could have sworn it was a Tuesday. I assume I wasn’t thinking clearly. Anyway, I’ve been saying “the 21st” for weeks and don’t really feel like back tracking now. Monday it is.
So no. You cannot launch a book successfully in thirty days. Thirty-seven days, maybe. I won’t know until the sucker is actually online and for sale. My planning wasn’t so good on this one. I should have said forty days and then I would have beat the time limit by three days. Live and learn. Truth is, I came up with this idea on a Monday and implemented it on a Tuesday. Literally, overnight. There was no forethought, no planning, no talking it over with my confidants. I started on a whim; although I’d been contemplating the idea for several years. Just as a “what if.”
Actually, you can launch a book in thirty days - start to finish - zero to sixty - if you don’t have anything else going on in your life. No kids, spouse, pets, job, etc. The biggest challenge of this project has been juggling real life with self-publishing. Most weekends have been flops. My family wants to hang out, I’m pooped, and I literally just want to watch Hallmark Channel all day. I do most of my work in the late afternoons (after school) and early in the mornings (before school). I’ve neglected my school work in some cases and taken days off I shouldn’t have. That’s not good. If you have a life (like most of us) the least amount of time I would recommend for this (again, starting from scratch) would be two months. And that’s pushing it. Three months means you can take your time, do it right, and not grind your teeth down.
But what about those authors that upload one book a month? Those people are in beast mode. They must have the freedom to write and market all day long with no interruptions. They also look at writing as a factory. Books are their widget and they are the machine operators. Once you get the foundation down, you can churn a book out once a month if you don’t care if it’s good. The fact that some writers look at books as something repeatable and easy to mass produce is hard for me to understand. See, I look at books as unique little flowers that take time to cultivate. Like orchids. I could create a formula and implement it exactly the same way every time, but it wouldn’t feed my soul, it would be a machine. Machines are cold.
There are two types of writers: The churners and the dreamers. I’m the latter. I don’t believe Lessons in Love is the most original story ever told, but it’s cute and it has heart. Churners know (and abuse) the secret that only seven plot variations exist.
Overcoming the Monster
Rags to Riches
The Quest
Voyage and Return
Comedy
Tragedy
Rebirth
Some argue there are more, but this is the basic idea to all of human storytelling. Lessons in Love is a quest - the quest to find love. It has elements of all of the above, but its principal theme is an emotional expedition, something to be discovered. Learning about the seven basic plots is helpful if you’re just starting out.
If you’re a quick and talented writer, you can mass produce a series without giving it much thought. Take a well-loved novel and do a re-telling. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back. And then write the sequel. You can totally do that, but I don’t like that some people crank out books at lightning speed. To me, it seems false. You don’t have to be a tortured soul, agonizing over every word, but put some love and thought into it. If you’re reading this, you’re probably not a churner. Churners focus on marketing and not writing. You’re a dreamer looking for some helpful words to make your journey lighter. All I can say is, love the journey. Enjoy the scenery and write because you love it, not because it’s something you can mass produce. Self-publishing has introduced the idea that you can make a six-figure living on your writing. It’s a myth. If you’re here for the money, you’re in the wrong place. My goal is to be comfortable. I care about comfort now. When I was in my twenties, I could easily live off Top Ramen in a shabby apartment with three other people. Now, I like paying my phone bill. I like having a phone. If my writing can fund a comfortable life, I’ll consider that a success.
Once Lessons in Love is settled, I’ll focus more on work/life balance, and helping you do the same.