1900 words today. I wrote toward Indie Author Confidential Vol. 7. I hit my quota for today around 6AM.
I tee’d up the book description for the Writing App book and also chose a title and subtitle. I chose a suitable image for the book cover so that’s done too. I wrote the book description last night.
I also ran the Writing App book through my editing workflow and got it officially ready for my editor. All I have to do is send the email. We’re officially good to go.
The final wrinkle with the Writing App book will be a big one—I have to insert 72 images and give them all captions. I’ve written the captions, but it’s going to take me at least a day or two to check my work and make sure there aren’t any missing images or mismatched captions. This will be a unique feature to the book so I want to get it right.
Anyway, today was very productive.
First, I started doing competitive intelligence for the How to Write a Novel Without an Outline Book. Turns out there are only 4 books I could find on the topic. For the most part, it’s uncharted territory.
I didn’t think so at the beginning, but I now believe I have an opportunity to knock this book out of the park. There’s a real market opportunity. Not a huge one, but an opportunity to make an impact and provide assistance to people struggling with this topic.
With my writing books, they usually fall into two categories:
- They’re focused on a specific need (i.e. I focus on the target market more)
- They’re focused on an idea I want to spread (i.e. I do not focus on the target market at all)
When I think I have a book that hits a sweet spot, I do a little more leg work in the beginning before starting it—mostly competitive research.
When I’m doing competitive research for nonfiction, here are the things I look for:
- What is my goal with this book? To teach pantsers how to write a novel without an outline, with confidence.
- What are the comparable books on this topic?
- What are the tablestakes? In other words, what do ALL of the other similar books on this topic do that my book MUST do to be competitive?
- What are my potential advantages? In other words, what have similar books on the topic overlooked? What did negative/critical reviews say about those books?
- Branding: what signals can I put on the cover and book description to signal to target readers?
- Table of contents: the TOC is an amazing place to show value. How can I structure the table of contents in this book to answer the most common questions/concerns about pantsing so that the TOC helps me sell the book?
Anyway, I did my competitive intelligence AND hashed out the outline for the How to Write without an Outline book (ironic, I know). I feel very good about the outline, so much that I started writing the book tonight!
I am about 1000 words in, and I should have the introduction done tonight.
A COOL COLLABORATION
Check out this video by fellow YouTube Zarina Macha. She did a compilation video of snippets from black writers about what it’s like to be a writer. No politics or racial stuff, just people talking about what it’s like. Subscribe to her channel too. Zarina did a video a few months ago about her experience as a black writer that I thought was very courageous. Check her out!
PROGRESS SO FAR
How to Write a Novel without an Outline:
Cold Hard Magic: 50,200 words. With my copyeditor.
Indie Author Confidential Vol. 7: 11,000 words.
Rat City (Chicago Rat Shifter Book 2): 76,000 words. With my proofreader.
Writing App Book: 16,500 words. Ready for editor.
Writing App Tool: 100% complete
Indie Author Confidential Vol. 6: Published.
