Starting a New Book: I Must Be a Glutton for Punishment
No worries, I'm still working on Fury at the same time.
I am a proponent of continuous learning. As such, I know that I don’t know probably half of what I need to be a successful author. Don’t get me wrong; I feel that I am a strong writer and decent storyteller. But there are always things I could work on. No one knows everything about any given topic. To say otherwise would be quite arrogant.
In any case, I’m starting a new book on October 30th, but not because I’m bored with Fury or have nothing else going on. In reality, this new book is actually part of a process for taking a writing course. I was debating on simply using Fury or perhaps Skeletal to drive this new adventure. However, I feel that I would probably get more out of the course if I started with something brand new.
Besides, it’s a 101-day course that will only require 842 words per day. I can write that before I have breakfast. So, I could write for an hour on this new book while still putting in some quality time with Fury and the other projects.
Why Take a Writing Course?
I can admit that I am still quite new to self-publishing and being an author, in general. And while some people will work toward a proper education full of master’s degrees and college credits, I don’t have the time nor the resources to do the same. Nonetheless, this time around, I can fit it into my schedule and it costs far less than going to college.
I’m not saying that you’re wasting your money by taking college-level courses for writing. But when you don’t have the funds, you should make do with what you have available. Sometimes, the cheaper alternative to college can give you everything you need to get started successfully in your trade.
Working with Brands
I was approached by a prominent publishing company to take a look at their online courses and perhaps make a video or two about my experiences. It’s a brand that I’ve talked about before on YouTube, so I figured it would be a great experience. So far, my interactions with the brand’s products have been favorable.
This is perhaps one of the highlights of having a blog and a YouTube channel centered on helping writers of all kinds. I’ve been invited to try all kinds of new products, made a few bucks from sponsorship deals, and made a mark in the world as an expert in my field.
Although I enjoy working with brands, getting freebies, or getting a couple hundred dollars here and there, my focus has always been on helping my audience. As a result, I’ve turned down several deals that just weren’t quite what I wanted to promote to my readers and viewers. Not to mention that some brands don’t like the idea that I share both the good and the bad of any particular product.
Adding to My Knowledge
Obviously, I’m going to jump on any deal that involves furthering my knowledge of something related to writing. In this case, it’s a full-blown course on how to write a book from start to finish. And while I do have a working knowledge of publishing, I know there is more that I need to learn.
In reality, I already planned on taking a few courses regarding various topics to increase my knowledge while providing ideas for reviews on the blog and YouTube channel. For one thing, I don’t like to promote or write about something I’ve never used or experienced myself. I’m not like a lot of creators out there who simply go off the experiences of others when covering a topic. I can’t call something “the best” if I’ve never used it.
Anyway, I’ll never turn down an invitation to learn something relevant to my purpose. In this case, it’s all about writing books, which is what I’m mostly focusing on nowadays.
Potential Blog and Video Content
As I said a moment ago, this new writing course will provide quite a bit in terms of content for both the blog and the YouTube channel. That’s how I view a lot of things today, actually. Everything is content.
Not everything works out for the best, unfortunately. There have been times when I tried a product and the related content really didn’t have much of an impact on my audience. Nonetheless, there have been some products that wound up generating a great deal of money in ad revenue alone, which has made the experience worthwhile.
I’m not sure where this one is going to land, to be honest. But even if the resulting content doesn’t pan out monetarily, I’ll still wind up getting a great deal of knowledge from the course.
So, no matter what, I win.
Ideas for My Own Courses Down the Road
I was asked recently during a live stream if I planned on developing my own courses sometime down the road. As I am still relatively new at being a self-published author, I don’t feel I could do the course justice. However, I wouldn’t mind giving it a shot after I’ve sold a few more copies of my books.
I am still toying with creating courses for freelance writing and blogging, as I am confident enough in my abilities to publish something amazing. But as from an author’s perspective, there is still much to learn and I don’t do the “fake it till you make it” crap. I want people to be confident in my abilities before asking them to fork over a few hundred bucks for a course.
I tell ya what, as soon as I consistently generate $100 per day in royalties for 90 days, I’ll start creating courses. Until then, I’ll just share everything on the YouTube channel.
What About Writing Fury?
Fury is the second book in The Witcham Chronicles series, and I have no intention of slowing down writing the manuscript. Keep in mind that my goal is to have the 4-book series by the end of 2024.
As I said earlier, I can schedule an hour in the morning to work on this new book while still keeping the two-hour block of time I normally work on Fury. The trade-off is that I might have to reduce the number of blogs I write per week on my many websites.
The tentative goal is to have Fury done before Christmas, and I’m still working toward that end. The reason why I am starting a new book is so that I can put into practice what I learn as it’s fresh. It’s just easier for me to absorb what I’m learning if I begin with a brand-new tale.
Besides, I plan on putting all that I learn into Fury after the first draft is done and the beta readers have a chance to go over the manuscript.
This isn’t the first time I’ve worked on more than one manuscript throughout the day. I know I said I would never do it again, but I think this is a bit of a special instance. Not only am I putting what I learn into practice, but it could turn into an amazing deal at some point in the future.
It’s a Great Opportunity!
Out of all of the brand deals I’ve come across in my career, this one is perhaps the most closely related to what I aspire for my future. After all, my end game for everything is to do nothing but write books and blogs all day. And this is an opportunity that may just give me one hell of a step toward that goal.
Then again, I thought the same thing about using Ezoic’s Basic service, which turned out to be a dumpster fire of an app. I kind of ruined my chances of making $1500 from Ezoic, but I refused to polish up a turd. It was a horrible experience and I let my audience know.
This one seems much different, especially since this particular brand is far more stable than others I’ve dealt with in the past. So, I’ll swing for the fences, but I’ll always keep my feet firmly planted on the ground so as to not lose my balance.