Take off your pants and make some money writing

A lot of authors just starting out don't have a lot of money. 

They're working at a dead end job they hate and trying to carve out time to write after work. 

A lot of writers are trying to balance a family, and all the demands that puts on them while still writing. 

There's not enough time in the day to do everything they want or need to do.

Time management is an essential commodity for a new writer and so is money. 

If you had more money, you could make more time by delegating the marketing of your book so you could focus on writing. 

If you had more time, you could do all of the writing and marketing of your book on your own.

So let's make a deal.  I'm going to write a series of articles on here that tell you how to write and market your books and it's not going to cost you a dime.  What I will ask of you is two things: if you like what you read you can get faster (time) training by downloading a free book I've written.  And number two, if you start to use any of these suggestions, click on one of my links to buy a fiction book from me, then leave a review.  That's it.

Of course you don't have to do either, and can still use this valuable action items as lists to help you reach your goal.  Just remember, as a new author you're going to need reviews, and you're going to need promotion and a lot of luck.  It doesn't hurt to ask for some extra luck and share some love for the price of a Grande latte.

Ready to get started?

OK, you're one of two places. You have an idea for a book or you have written a book.  If you have an idea for a book, grab your notebook and let's rock and roll to get your book written and done.  If your book is written, you can skip this part to the publishing and promotion section, but before you do, let me make a suggestion.  Grab your notebook and write a short story that compliments your book.  Trust me, you're gonna need it.

The great thing about all of the writers I know is they have hundreds of ideas.  Heck, if you're anything like me, you may have hundreds of stories started, or handwritten or even on the computer just waiting for you to finish, publish and promote!

That's great.  No matter where you are, the number one key to your success is ACTION.

Got your notebook?  Write down your story idea.  Use the phrase: This is a story about ...

I'm going to do it with you.

This is a story about a retired spy hired by a billionaire to break up his son from a gold digging girlfriend. 

All right, that's your idea.  You can be as descriptive as you want and don't hold back.  Write it all down. 

Excellent.  Now we're going to create plot points for your story.  I do this for every story I write. 

It's something I learned when I was pitching and writing scripts in Hollywood.  Some people like to write them on index cards and pin them to the wall, but I'm an old fashioned pen and paper guy for the plotting and outline.  

You can do it on your computer, or whatever method you choose, but the idea is to create 20-25 plot points. 

Don't worry if you can't think of all of them right away.  Let's at least get 10 down.

It should look something like this:

This is a story about a retired spy hired by a billionaire to break up his son from a gold digging girlfriend.

1. Brill answers the phone. It's Carver with an assignment

2. Brill meets the billionaire.  The billionaire has an assignment.  Break up his son from a gold digging Ukrainian model.  There are conditions.  The son can't know the Dad asked for it.

3. Brill and Carver rent a mansion up from the boy since money is no object.  Brill trails the boy to find out what he likes and befriends him at the gym.  He hires some goons to harass the boy and comes to his rescue.  They grab a beer together.

4. Brill hires an actress and puts her in line in front of the girl at a Starbucks one day,

5. Brill and Carver discuss seducing the girl to show the boy she's bad news. Brill hits on the girl.  She shoots him down.

6. Brill brings the actress back the next day behind the girl.  Carver hits on the girl.  She shoots him down.

7. Brill and Carver rent out the whole Starbucks. She and the actress sit together.  The actress gets the girl to confess on wire she's just out to fleece the boy and live in America.

8. Brill has proof of concept, confirms with Dad, but they can't tell boy.

9. Brill and Carver come up with plan for Dad and boy to get into fight.  They rehearse how it should go.

10. Dad and boy get into fight.  Boy leaves house.

11. The boy moves in with Brill and Carver.  They convinces the boy to take the girl to an island in Greece to marry the girl.  Brill hires out actors to stage a fake wedding, marries the boy and girl with him acting as the best man.

12. The girl applies to divorce the boy and get a settlement.  Brill meets her at the Starbucks and gives her the headshot of the priest and the girl who met her in Starbucks.

13. The girl has her boyfriend and his buddies jump Brill.  He gives them the chance to walk away, then destroys them.

14. Brill catches a flight back to the US on the billionaire's private jet.  It drops him off at a private island where he can rest and recover as a thank you from the billionaire.

Do you see what we did?  We just outlined 14 steps (plot points) in a story that I'm going to use as a short novella for my thriller series.

Since you're writing your first book, you should try to have 20-25 plot points. 

You can add complications, you can add twists.  The old adage is to take your main character, give them a problem and trouble every time they think they've solved it.  They should learn something and solve the problem by the end.

If you have a book, you should have 14-20 plot points you can turn into a short story.

Now what do you do with those plot points?

Here's where the work comes in.  Sit down in front of your computer, type the plot points into a document.  Put the plot point at the top of each page. 

Then write the scene you just described.  If you write 1000 words a day, you'll have a 20K-25K novel in a month.  It takes roughly 20 - 30 minutes to write 500 words.  So if you can squeeze out an hour a day, you can be done with your first book in a month.

If you're writing your short story, you'll have a reader magnet piece ready to go in a month, if you only crank out 1000 words a day.  I routinely can type up 1000 words in 30 minutes if the creative juices are really flowing and I get in the zone.

Plus, I'm very protective of my writing blocks.  I schedule it, just like I schedule my marketing, and my ongoing training.

You should schedule your time and guard it jealously.  Be protective of your creative time.

There are some weeks when I can crank out a 5000 word short story each day or add 5000 words to my novel.  There are some days when it's tough to bang out 2000.

Do you know what I do on those days?  I go write an article after I've added 2000 words to the novel.  I work on a case study for marketing.  That way I'm still using my blocked time to create product content with the goal of reaching additional readers.

Alright, you've got your assignment.  By now you should have your story plotted.  Don't worry if it changes and takes you in a direction you weren't sure of.  Follow it and finish it.  Forget about editing and cover design and formatting.  Just get it out of your brain and on the page.

We'll cover those things in the next article.

Anyway, I’ll be exploring a lot of this on my blog in the coming months. Many of the posts will debut on my Patreon page first. There’s already some exclusive content on that site as well about licensing and thought and changes.

If you feel like supporting the blog on an on-going basis, then please head to my Patreon page.

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Which I am going to say right now. Thank you!

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