That's Not Possible...Is It?

Over the years, I've shared a few facts and figures about my writing income. (See here and here.) I've mentioned how often I write, and how many books I try to get published a year. I truly believe that in order to make a living writing for smaller presses, one has to have a vast, accessible backlist, have something readers want, and be consistent.

I also know not everyone writes as fast as I do, and some write faster. Many authors are happy to have one novel-length book out a year. And in the NY print market, that's probably very realistic.

What makes electronic publishing so inviting is that novels aren't the only cup of tea out there. Novellas are hugely popular, as are short stories and mid-length (category length books).

So for someone like me, who can write 10K words on a good day, a novella won't take nearly as long to write. Realistically, I do about 5K words a day. As a novella generally consists of anywhere from 25K-35K words, I'm looking at week to write the rough draft. I'll let the book sit a week or two, then go back to it and edit. I don't do full-on rewrites, because as I write, I edit as well.

I don't have another day job. All of my children are now in school, allowing me the freedom to work from home all day long. (Or at least until the little monsters get out of school for the day.) Writing is now what I do for a living, and I'm earning enough that I can work at writing "full time".

The attitudes about writing so many books in a short period vary. Some people are impressed. Some think anyone who writes so much in such a short time must put out nothing but crap. And others shake their heads and continue to believe ebooks aren't "real" books. Hey, to each his/her own, even as prejudiced against technology as he or she may be. I'm smiling all the way to the bank. :)

I don't get burnout because I have so many ideas, I don't have the time to write them all. Once one project is done, it's on to the next. And switching genres helps. Sometimes a contemporary romance is a nice breather from so much futuristic or paranormal fiction. Sure, I get lazy, and sometimes I fall off the wagon and take a few days to recharge. But my need to tell stories remains.

My writing tempo varies, but I'm averaging about nine to ten books a year. Mind you, these are released by different publishers and are of differing lengths. I'm not sure how many I write in any given year, because what's written today often comes out at least 6 months later after massive edits. But take this year for example. It's April 2011. Thus far, I've:

• Completed a 90000 word contemporary story and then done massive revisions on said work (And this was crazy. I've never written so much so fast. The story flowed, and it only took 2 weeks for the rough draft. I was possessed, is all I can think.)
  
• Finished edits for several books submitted last year, to include Wolf Wanted, The Lost Locket, Journeman's Ride, and Storming His Heart (those I'm almost done)
• Written RetroCog, due out next month from Loose Id. The book is over 50K words long
• Have revised Talson's Wait (from a 6K word story to an 18K word story) and Talson's Test (which I completely rewrote from scratch), also a novella at 26K words
• Finished the first two chapters of Grady's story--a Cougar Falls tale
• Wrote and submitted Closing the Deal, a follow up to Enjoying the Show (Samhain)

That's a lot of work and it's not even May yet. But hold on. Still on my agenda for 2011:

• Talson's Net and Talson's Match revisions. Both will be novellas, and both already have a good base as they were written not too long ago. Not too much work to do on these.
  
• Whispered Words, due June 1st to Loose Id. Mid-novel
• Grayson's Gamble, another Circ story, probably a novella, to Loose Id later in the year
• A Voider story for Ellora's Cave starring Tommy Chen--full novel
  
• Hopefully Grady's story, which I keep starting and not finishing due to other writing priorities and edits that keep cropping up.
  

None of these titles, except for the Talson books and Whispered Words, are sure things. But I know where I'm going. If, by the grace of God, I get them all done before the year ends, I can start on my projects for 2012, of which I already have at least 12-13 ideas. My brain is so busy coming up with new ideas that the pending folder on my computer grows, even as I strive to whittle it down.

For what it's worth, I have no problem writing and being happy about putting out more than two books a year. The way I figure it, Marie Harte is FAR from a household name. If a person doesn't like my stuff, she/he is free not to read my work again. Yet for every person that doesn't like a story I wrote, another might. Then that person can check out my backlist, which continues to grow...

So yes, it is quite possible to write several books a year that aren't crap and be happy. Yes. Yes it is.