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The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Career » Page 2

Career

How Much Time Should I Budget to Write My Book?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon July 26, 2018
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New authors have a distinct advantage over established authors under deadline: no deadline.

As a new author, you may have fiddled with your novel for years. Perhaps you’ve entered contests and incorporated feedback. Maybe you’ve read books about writing and attended conferences. After all this effort, you landed a contract. Congratulations!

Now you may have another happy problem: estimating how much time you need to budget to write your next book. Here are some tips:

  1. Don’t be overeager. You’re rightfully excited to be entering a partnership with a publisher and you’re eager to please. Traditional publishers are aware of this propensity and they have an idea of how to pace you. Listen to them. Don’t try to set your deadlines too close together.
  2. Allow for edits. You won’t know how long it takes you to address edits until you’ve been through the process a few times. Your manuscript may hardly be touched, but it’s more likely you’ll be looking at rewrites. Changing a detail on page five will mean being sure the story keeps the change for the next 300 pages. This work will take time. As a new author, you won’t want to be writing another book under a tight deadline as well.
  3. Remember your family. Now that you’ve gotten a contract, your family will see you as a working writer rather than a hobbyist. However, family demands won’t dissolve. True, you may decide to hire help with housekeeping and take other shortcuts to free up time. Or you may not. Either way, you will not want to omit vacations and making family memories. Budget time for life.
  4. Set aside time for emergencies. We all hope you’ll never have an emergency. But if you do, you’ll be grateful for those free days. And if you don’t use that time for an emergency, you can take afternoon naps!
  5. Don’t work seven days a week. Flush with the excitement of a new contract, you may think you’ll easily write 3,000 words or so seven days a week. Please don’t. Your mind and body need a rest.
  6. Be realistic about the number of words you write a day. When I wrote books for publication, my top number was 8,000 words in one day. Many authors fly by me with 15,000 words a day. I thought I would die writing 8,000. You may think you’ll collapse after 500. There is no correct number. Just be honest with yourself about your actual output on average. If you write 1,000 words a day, five days a week, you will have a book of 80,000 words in four months.
  7. Allow time for your personal edits. Don’t forget that once you write the novel, you’ll want to go back and read it again and make your own edits before turning it in to the editor. You want to avoid turning in what is close to a first draft. The authors who can turn in amazing first drafts are rare.

Again, congratulations on your contract! Enjoy the journey.

Your turn:

What tips can you offer new writers on how long it takes to write a book?

How much time do you budget to write a book?

How do you manage a work/life balance as an author?

 

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Category: Career, The Writing LifeTag: Career, Deadlines, The Writing Life, Time Management

Best Advice for New Authors – For Working with Their Publisher

By Steve Laubeon July 2, 2018
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The idea to write this post came from a conversation this past week with a client who turned their manuscript in to the publisher a week early. The editor was thrilled! Thus began a short exchange on what every writer should endeavor to do in their career. This may seem simple but is important to reiterate. Do your best work. Always. No shortcuts. No “mailing it in.” No “sending …

Read moreBest Advice for New Authors – For Working with Their Publisher
Category: Book Business, Career, The Publishing Life, The Writing LifeTag: Book Business, Career, The Writing Life

Wronged in Business? When You Want to Hold a Grudge

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon June 21, 2018
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Even though we’re doing business in the Christian community, none of us is immune from feeling wronged at one time or another. Perhaps an editor should have bought your book instead of someone else’s. Maybe you know a publisher didn’t promote your book with sufficient enthusiasm. Someone who doesn’t understand you could be making negative comments about you.  Or someone could (intentionally or …

Read moreWronged in Business? When You Want to Hold a Grudge
Category: Book Business, Communication, The Writing LifeTag: Career, Grudge, The Writing Life

Good and Bad Advice on The Writing Life

By Dan Balowon June 19, 2018
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After graduation from college, I got an entry level job at a radio station, programmed with call-in talk shows. I carried out the trash, conducted regular “Frosty-runs” to Wendy’s for the news director, painted the sales office, screened callers for the shows during off-hours, took transmitter readings, got coffee for the hosts, and anything else the boss wanted. Once in a while, they let me push …

Read moreGood and Bad Advice on The Writing Life
Category: Career, Contracts, Economics, Marketing, Platform, The Writing LifeTag: Career, The Writing Life

Your Commitment to Your Reader

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon May 10, 2018
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When you’re working to get your book published, you feel you have lots of people to please. First, you have to be satisfied with your book. Then, you need to find an agent to partner with you to present your work to editors, who are her customers. Then the editor must sell your work to the editorial committee. Then it goes to the publishing committee. So along the way, you’ve had lots of people to …

Read moreYour Commitment to Your Reader
Category: Career, Editing, Inspiration, Writing CraftTag: Book Business, Career, readers, The Writing Life

Your Part in Your Agent Relationship

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon April 26, 2018
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Some writers want to work with an agent, but even after securing representation, don’t always take full advantage of the help an agent can offer. Agents appreciate authors not wanting to be high maintenance. However, it’s better to keep us in the loop than to leave us out. The expression, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” applies to so many situations that can occur! Manage …

Read moreYour Part in Your Agent Relationship
Category: Agency, Agents, Book Business, Career, The Writing LifeTag: Agents, Career, Contracts

How to Find Your Perfect Critique Partner

By Bob Hostetleron April 25, 2018
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When I teach at writers’ conferences, the value of good critique partners often comes up. An insightful critique partner can help a writer improve the level of his or her craft, sometimes more than either person would have thought possible. The conversation often leads to the question, “How do I find such a magical being?” Chances are, it’s not your mom. Your spouse is probably not your best …

Read moreHow to Find Your Perfect Critique Partner
Category: Career, Editing, The Writing LifeTag: Career, Critique Partners, The Writing Life

Your Obligations to Yourself

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon April 12, 2018
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Anyone who writes books knows it’s not a sprint, but a journey. Here are some tips for staying on the path: Allow Yourself Time No matter where you are in your career, allow yourself time to write. Making time may be especially hard before you start seeing income from your work if for no other reason, because someone paying you to write is a form of validation. But the more you persist, the …

Read moreYour Obligations to Yourself
Category: Career, The Writing LifeTag: Career, The Writing Life, Writers

Two Kinds of Writers in the World

By Bob Hostetleron April 11, 2018
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I often tell developing writers at conferences that there are two kinds of writers in the world: the “hobbyist” and the “professional.” Yes, it’s an oversimplification. It’s shorthand. But I think it gets the point across. Both the hobbyist and the professional may be good writers, even great. Both may often work hard. Both are valuable and worthy of admiration. Both may publish. But there is a …

Read moreTwo Kinds of Writers in the World
Category: Editing, Get Published, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: Career, Get Published, The Writing Life, Writers

The Bottom Line – Get It Done, Well

By Dan Balowon April 10, 2018
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Writing books is a performance business. At the end of the day, week or whatever time period applies, an author produces something on a schedule. I know many people write without any firm deadline as they are just starting out writing for illumination and enjoyment, but honestly, I can’t imagine working without a deadline and not self-imposing one. I’ll intentionally place myself in a position …

Read moreThe Bottom Line – Get It Done, Well
Category: Book Business, Career, Platform, The Writing LifeTag: Book Business, Career, Deadlines, The Writing Life
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