This is a post in a series about how I wrote and published my first book. If you like, start with the first post. Or see the Weekly Updates.
When things get rough, one needs motivation. One needs to know that others have done the same, have suffered in the same way, and have succeeded.
And not only this. For me, feats that sound superhuman are more motivating than just the normal writing achievements. When someone manages to write 1500 words per day, well, good for him. I can do the same. No big deal.
But when someone writes a book every month? When these books sell, and the author makes thousands of dollars off them? When someone writes 50,000 words in one day like Matt Ahlschlager did? That’s inspiration. That’s someone to emulate.
Here are a few stories of such people.
Most of the people in this article did not influence me in the sense that I try to emulate them. In fact, I haven’t actually read anything by Dawson or Anderle, and only half a book by T.S. Paul. I’m not interested in their genres and topics, but this doesn’t matter. They are wildly successful, all of them, and I’d like to know how they did it. I’d like to do the same, and the fact that they were able to write as they did shows that it can be done.
One thing they all prove: success is not about the writing, the refined choice of words. It doesn’t depend on covers or editing. There are two things that single them out:
- They all write a lot, and they do it fast.
- They (almost) all write gripping stories.
Chandler Bolt
Bolt dropped out of college at 20, and wrote a book “The Productive Person,” containing productivity tips from his experience working as a teenager. He made USD 7000 the first month, and a steady 2000-5000 thereafter. Bolt advocates a system of writing and publishing a book in 90 days, which might seem fast, until one meets the people further down in this list.
Mark Dawson
Dawson wrote his first book in 14 months and published it in 2012. He wrote the second in 9 months. Throughout 2014, he went from selling a few hundred copies in January to thousands of copies in December. While he was still working on a day job, he had to commute 3 hours per train every day, so he used this time to write. He managed to write 3000 words every day during these three hours on the train. Dawson publishes a book every four months, has published over 25 books, and writes primarily in series. He is an advocate of advertising on social media, and he offers courses teaching how to use Facebook ads to market books.
Like all the others in this list, there’s a ton of interviews with him on the Internet, so dive in and listen to his story!
Michael Anderle
Michael Anderle started writing a book just to see how it is done. He published it on November 2015. In the same month (!), he published two more books, and earned around 400 USD. In December, he published his fourth book and earned over 3500 USD in royalties. On January 11, he published the fifth book, earning over 10,000 USD.
Anderle also uses Facebook ads to market his books, obviously to good effect. He too advocates writing in a series, and he believes that the emotional payoff of the books is the most important factor that contributes to their success. Specifically, he does not believe that a book needs to be perfect at the time of publication. Like a software product, it can go through a series of iterations, beginning with an MVP (minimum viable product), which can then be perfected. This method allows the writer to test new series without losing too much money or time perfecting them. If they catch on and seem to be successful, the writer can then invest money and time into editing, better covers, and other improvements.
Anderle writes multiple novels per month. His (now famous) calculation was that he would need about 20 books to make 50,000 USD per year (assuming each book made about 7 USD per day). He calculated this before he actually had 20 books written, and he reached the financial goal long before he had 20 books. Here is a pdf file that he wrote halfway into his journey.
T. S. Paul
T.S. Paul (or Scott Paul) is another intriguing writer, just because he seems to have broken all the rules of the Amazon game.
- He didn’t write a novel first, but a novella of around 30,000 words. His following books were a little longer, but not much. They are still well under full novel length.
- He didn’t edit his books. He just finished them and pressed the “Publish” button.
- He didn’t (initially) care about the book covers.
- He doesn’t do free giveaways or 0.99 pricing.
Still, he had phenomenal success. The AuthorBiz blog reports:
According to the Amazon rankings, T.S. Paul was selling a lot of short books. His first was 62 pages, his second was just over 30 pages, and they both ranked in Amazon’s overall top 2,500.
He wrote and published six books in less than three months, publishing at a rate of two books a month.The books sell for 2.99, and the author refuses to go cheaper, although some of the books are quire short.
This is an amazing story, and I’d encourage everyone to look up interviews with T.S. Paul online, for example here, and here, but there are lots more.
The interesting thing about both Anderle and Paul is that they don’t care about careful editing or covers nearly as much as one “should” according to conventional wisdom. Both believe that the story comes first. And for both, writing a lot has been the key to success.
Russell Blake
Russell Blake belongs to the first generation of Kindle authors, who managed to come up during what perhaps were the “golden times” of Kindle self-publishing. A time when Kindle books were much fewer, and therefore much more visible.
Russell Blake has a great blog online, with a lot of information about how he came to be successful, and lots of advice for new writers. For example, on “How to Write More, Faster.”
Like the others in this list, Russell also believes in writing fast. He has published a total of more than 40 books, writing and publishing between six and ten books per year. Every year.
He writes primarily action thrillers and adventures, but is different from Anderle and Paul in that he believes in the power of careful and interesting language, good editing, and strong covers — that is, solid craftsmanship. His books are not as plot-focused and minimally-utilitarian as T.S. Paul’s, but contain the occasional lyrical description or witty phrase. His covers are excellent, his plots worked out in detail using his own spreadsheet-based outlining system.
Despite these differences, what unites them with the others is his extraordinary speed in writing and publishing, and his focus on fast and gripping stories.
Conclusion
So, we’re at the end of this little motivational interlude. Follow the links above and hear the stories of these amazing writers first-hand.
And then, sit down, grab your pen or keyboard, and start cranking out a story.
If they can do it, it can be done.