By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Happy 2015! Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. I’m back into the swing of things and have been working on this year’s production plan for my books.
I’m not so much a fan of resolutions. I’d rather see my goals laid out on a to-do list or on a calendar as deadlines. That’s why I use a very simple production plan each year. If you’d like to do the same, here are my tips for getting started or for honing your list.
Keep the plan visible. I use the free Google calendar for my plan. That means that it’s on my phone, which, as a mom, is always on my person. My calendar is set up to email me my daily agenda. Not only will I have the item itself on the calendar (deadline for finishing mystery, e.g.), but I’ll also have the rest of the year’s deadlines in the event description so that I can always see the big picture. Not be overwhelmed by the big picture, though, because I know it’s all meted out on the calendar.
Output: First of all, I keep my yearly goal attainable. There’s nothing like setting the bar too high. So know yourself, know your output. If it’s completely reasonable to expect yourself to write a page a day, then set your goal for a finished book in 2015. If it’s reasonable to expect several pages a day, set it higher.
Know your abilities. Know what you want or need to outsource. I completely understand the desire to keep costs down for a self-published project. But it’s also important to know our limitations. Do we have a design background and can learn how to make great covers that will help sell our books? Great. But if we don’t, that research time might be better spent in finding a good cover designer. Which leads me to…
Know what you need to learn. If you need to research book designers or formatters (I do maintain a free list, if you need help getting started), or website design, or even research extensively for the book you’re writing…add those things onto your calendar. Break tasks into smaller steps to make them less intimidating.
Know your order of events for production. Mine runs like this: Contact book designer and have a date for a cover conference (this is first because my cover artist gets booked very quickly). Write book by X deadline. Write cover copy, in case the book designer conference date is prior to my completion of the book. Edit. Send book to beta reader while I’m editing. Make sure I’m on freelance editor’s calendar, if it’s a self-pub book. Edit using revision suggestions from beta and editor. Contact formatter and send him text file and cover files and book extras. Your order of events might need to be slightly different. Maybe it’s your editor who is hard to book and you need to reserve him or her before you even finish your first draft. Maybe you have several beta readers or you format your own copy.
Know what you want to do/have time to do for promo. I used to be on every platform there was (although I never really could get the hang of Tumblr…). Now I’ve realized that it’s best to limit myself to the platforms I enjoy most so that I’ll actually stay engaged. Whatever you want or feel you need to do for promo, stick it on your production schedule in manageable bites. This might be have a Goodreads giveaway or this might be send out a newsletter when book launches.
The production plan helps me in three ways. One, it reminds me that this is a business. I have a plan and I’m sticking to it as much as I can. Second, it keeps me from being completely overwhelmed by the upcoming year. Third, it keeps me from forgetting any part of the process…and believe me, I’ve forgotten parts before. If you forget, for instance, to contact your cover designer, your launch could be delayed by a month or more, if your designer stays booked.
The point of a production plan is definitely not to create more stress. This would be primarily for writers who feel the need to impose more order and possibly more personal accountability, into the process. It’s really to make the goals manageable and actionable by its simplicity. It has the added benefit of making us plan and figure out what we want from ourselves and our writing for the year.
Have you thought about your goals for 2015? Do you ever write up production plans?
Great post- I especially like your post about knowing what you need to outsource. I tried to do something to save money- and it will end up costing me more. The good lesson is now I know how much money and time I need to budget for a quality, professional book. Happy 2015!
Melissa–I really fought with myself the first couple of self-pubbed books because I felt I was investing in something where I didn’t know if there’d be a payout. So much easier now to budget for cover, formatting, and editing. I know what you mean about trying to cut back and having it cost more in the end!
For the past 2 years, we’ve spent more on subcontractors and outsourcing and hired help than we used to gross in a year.
We’ve also had our 2 highest profit years.
Spending more has freed us to bring more in. Write more books, build more websites, create more social media marketing for our author clients.
Someone wise once told me that poor folks (me, at the time) spend time to save money, but the wealthy spend money to save time. I didn’t get it then. I do now.
Joel–That’s very good to hear! That’s the way I’ve been thinking about it lately…my time is worth something. And I can produce more content if I can free myself up more.
Elizabeth, a very Happy New Year to you and your family!
Your first two points, “Keep the plan visible” and “Output,” are very useful for me as I embark on my first writing project, a novelette or a novella. I have written some 4,000 words so far and although I missed my Christmas deadline, I now intend to finish it earlier than later this month. I agree, it is reasonable to write a page a day and take it up from there. Writing discipline “is” the key.
Happy New Year, Prashant!
I started out with a page a day as a writer and found that the momentum and daily “wins” of meeting the goal were what kept me going. Hope it helps!
Hi Elizabeth – great overview of your production planning process – being prepared is the key. Lots to think about here ..
Happy New Year … and thank you so much for all your wonderful posts last year and then congratulations on all your achievements … cheers Hilary
Happy New Year to you, Hilary! Thanks so much to you for all the interesting posts you did in 2014 (and the hours of research they took!)
Great post and thanks for the reminder to focus on production. This is the first year I’ll be doing one, and actually writing those goals down has been pretty daunting. Time to step it up!
Since I’m new-ish to the self-publishing game, I’ll be trying to minimize outsourcing just so I can learn the nitty-gritty of all those necessary tasks. I do recognize that I’m not a designer (for example), so after trying my hand at cover design, I know I will outsource it. Glad to be reminded to research the possibilities early so I don’t grind to a halt doing the research.
Have a great 2015 and I’ll be following your journey with pleasure!
Michael–I think research (of anything…writing-related or production-related) is the most overlooked time-suck! Acknowledging it and putting it on a schedule really does help. Good luck with your writing year!
Thanks for laying out your process and structure! And for the millionth time, everyone please spend money on a cover designer. I was thinking about a book I read a few years ago as a favor; I ended up really enjoying it, but I never would have picked it up because the cover seemed kind of cheaply made.
I like thinking about pages versus word count. Somehow “5 pages a day” feels less daunting than “1000 words per day”.
Deborah–They say we can’t judge a book by its cover, but the truth is that the cover sometimes can reflect the quality of the product.
I like pages instead of word count, yes. And for those of us with uneven schedules, we could even set a weekly page goal to bypass any really bad days we have.
Elizabeth – Happy New Year! I think it’s important to have plans and goals. As writers, I think it’s easy to get distracted by a new idea or by promoting work that’s already out there, etc.. In my opinion, a plan like yours helps the writer get it all done. And I do like the idea of having one’s schedule/plans right out there as a reminder. Plans and goals can always be adapted if they need to be adapted. But they can’t be achieved if you don’t set them.
Happy New Year, Margot!
As writers, I think distraction is a key enemy, even though it’s a quality that makes us writers…that we do daydream and follow shiny objects. :) But set goals and deadlines can help us keep on track.
Really helpful post, Elizabeth. Thank you! I’m leaping into self-publishing this year and all the tips I can get help. I bought a calendar and hung it right above my desk, so I can’t help but see it when I look up. And I have a sort of loose production schedule in my head – for farther off stuff. But the more I can get on paper, the better off I’ll be. =o)
B.E.–That’s right…if it’s right in front of our face then we can’t avoid it. :)
Good for those who like to procrastinate. (Like me!) I don’t map out the whole year, but I do know what I’m doing several months out.
Alex–Right…a quarterly production schedule would also help a lot of writers who would rather keep a short-term goal in mind.
So that’s how you do it! Well, that along with an amazing mind that can drive four horses at a time. I think I’m a serial monogamist when it comes to writing books ;) Mixed the metaphors, but I’m still on my first cuppa coffee here–
My calendar is pretty simple: January: brianstorm/plot/research; February-May: write and edit; June: final edit and publish. Rinse, repeat for July-December. But this time some other stuff is going to happen in order to have a harder launch of my third novel this summer. With three books in a series, I can market a set and that seems to be quite effective for marketing and garnering more attention. For that, I’ll have to have a detailed calendar to remind me to stay alive on various social media.
Happy 2015 to you and everyone else here, and I hope we all achieve our publishing goals!
Meg–That’s where the fun starts! Three books. :) That’s when I started really being able to make decent income for my self-pubbed books. I haven’t put together a set yet, but I do try to keep the first book in the series very cheap or free and that also helps. It just gives us so much more leeway for promo stuff.
Happy 2015!
Such a timely post – I started putting together a “writing plan” for this year yesterday and knew I was missing some key elements. I have never done one before. I especially like the message that the plan helps to remind us that this is a business. As always this post provides great tips.
Thanks very much for it and for the list of designers, formatters and editors.
Have a productive year everyone!
Rose–Hope it helps! And adopting a business mindset can really help in so many ways…from justifying the time and cost to ourselves and others to making careful decisions when it comes to hiring designers and editors.
Happy New Year, Elizabeth! Many thanks for your insights and tips this past year, and most of all, thanks for your support and friendship!
I am always amazed by your output (when do you sleep?). For me, all I could see was my current WIP, and I only had a loose idea of when I was doing what. I’m going to try planning out the whole year, and see if I can accomplish more in 2015. :)
Best wishes for a wonderful 2015, Elizabeth. <3
K.B. There isn’t a lot of sleeping happening, ha! Maybe I do need a resolution..to try to sleep more.
Hope your 2015 is a productive one!
LOL, you and caffeine must be best buds. ;)
I’m on a first name basis with caffeine, for sure!
I have a very basic production plan down, but I hadn’t broken it down into steps. I’ll get that down!
Kessie–Hope it helps!
Very good idea. I prefer goals and deadlines to resolutions as well. Thanks for the tips!
Happy New Year, Jemi!
Happy, happy.
Best to you and yours here in the new year.
I’ve bought a new pen for entirely too much money. That pretty much ensures I have to write like a mad monk to get the “good” out of it.
So many murders and so many murderers: I might have to resort to – gasp – a project list.
Let’s not get carried away with this organization business. It scares the menfolk.
Jack–Now you’ll have to get good use from it!
My level of organization at home is rather scary to the fam, I think. :) And yes, if you’ve got a ton of murders on your mind, best to dole them out throughout a bunch of books to avoid a gore-fest…ha!
I normally shy away from online calendars, etc, but I really think I might start using Google calendar or something like that the way you are. Especially now that I have podcast deadlines coming up every week….
Camille–I have both…because I sometimes have to see the *whole month* on *paper* to wrap my head around potential calendar conflicts, upcoming events, etc. But I love Google calendar on a day to day basis.
One of the things you mentioned early last year was print books, and specifically POD I believe. I thought about that and resolved that I’d get some of my books into print format.
It took until about June, but I got a few up on Createspace and by the end of the year had 10 or so. That gave me an extra $500 or so for the year.
So for all those on the fence, you might want to jump off it this year and get that extra income source from something you already have out.
Does that mean I’ll do audio this year? I would’t go that far just yet.
Greg–I’m glad to hear this! Yes, I was the same way…hesitant about print. I knew I’d have to shell out for a print cover and formatting and I’d have to figure out CreateSpace. But none of those things were as expensive or time-consuming as I thought and after the initial outlay of cash, it’s been profitable ever since. Apparently there are still plenty of print readers or maybe readers who like giving printed editions of books.
Audio was a lot less expensive. Actually, it was free. I’ll admit it (lately) hasn’t been quite as profitable as print, but it’s still a nice check every month. Maybe put it on your list of things to check into for 2015.