What Happens After Self-Publishing? Keeping Up Momentum to Write Novel #2
The road to self-publishing is a long one, full of hard work and obstacles that put your creativity and drive to the test. But once you’ve published that book, and you’re able to hold it in your hands and see your name on the cover, it is so worth it. The pride you’ll feel after self-publishing your own book may cause you to be stagnant, however. After all, you’ve already written a book, so why rush to write another? Don’t let your craft fall aside because this success – keep going, keep chasing further success. A writer should never be satisfied with one book when they have an infinite number of stories living inside their head.
Set a schedule, stick to it
After your first book is self-published, you may find yourself in a slump. You’ve done all your research, you’ve just completed all that hard work, you know the self-publishing costs and benefits, and now you want to relax – but you also have all these ideas for a new novel, not to mention readers who eagerly await your next piece of work.
You must maintain a rigid schedule. Since you’re self-publishing, you won’t have an editor to check in on you and keep you on track. Authors who publish traditionally may find themselves in a multi-book deal that requires them to deliver a certain amount of a next book to their editors within a specific time frame. Self-publishing, however, means you are your own editor. You must stay on top of your work yourself.
Write for a consistent amount of time each day. Weekdays, weekends – it doesn’t matter. Being a writer is a full time job. Set aside time to get something on the page. Not everything you write is going to be your next novel. Sometimes it really is just sitting down and getting words on the page.
Hold yourself accountable
Set goals for your writing. Have so many chapters written in a week (whether they’re good or not). Have a certain word count to hit each month. Not all of these words are going to make it into a final draft, but at least it’s a start.
Send drafts to readers
If you have a selected group of peers who proofread your work, you’ll have an additional accountability system. If someone is relying on you to produce something within a certain amount of time, you’ll have to work that much harder to get it to them.
Be as dedicated to your second novel as you were to the first
Your first novel is special, obviously, because it’s the first time you’ve ever done something like it. But your second novel deserves as much attention, dedication, hard work, and love as the first.Often it may be easy to fall into a pattern of thinking where the first novel is the most special, but an author can never play favorites, or else no other novel will be as good. You must constantly be striving to outdo yourself. You are always your own competition.
Stay devoted to self-publishing your novel
Much like your first novel, you can’t give up. Self-publishing can be a long road, but your success depends only on you, not on anyone else. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to choose the best self-publishing companies or best self-publishing sites, but it ultimately comes down to your work and your commitment to the novel.