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Today we tackled a topic that I (Johnny) have been wanting to get to FOR-EVAH for my own nefarious reasons, but that we haven’t been able to get to.
True to form, Sean and Dave tried to cockblock me out of this topic halfway through because they wanted to answer all of your called-in questions, but I PUT A STOP TO THAT BULLSHIT and cut them off. We got to a few of your questions, but we have an increasing backlog that will have to wait again… sorry. We won’t get to them next week, either, because we have a guest. Good thing I’m so apathetic and unsympathetic about other people’s issues. (I kid, I kid.)
Here are the questions we did get to:
• Do you need to read a lot to be a writer… and if so, should you “cram” before writing?
Short answer: You must read, but “cramming” all at once is a bad idea.
• How do you handle descriptions of characters? Is there a best order or way?
Short answer: Minimalistic description is the way to go in our opinion. this lets the reader supply his/her own description and hence feel like they’re a part of the story more.
• Are self-publishing awards worth it?
Short answer: No.
• What are the rules about exclusivity at different times with KDP Select?
Short answer: You can’t post/sell/make your work available anywhere during the 90-day period you’re committed to Select (including your website), but you can have it anywhere else before and after.
Then we got to outlining and story structure.
I started by relating a story about how I, by myself, recently wrote Fat Vampire 4. Compared to what Sean and I do with Unicorn Western, this was hard, because I have to outline the story myself instead of Sean giving me story beats. Since I’ve never been much of an outliner — and since working with Sean’s outlines has shown me how fast I can write when I DO have an outline — I wanted to learn more about it. And you get to listen in.
We then hashed this out from seventy different angles. Awesomeness then ensued.
We even get a step-by-step on Sean’s own outlining process in this one, which I’m going use the next time I have to do my own outlining. Good stuff.
To view the video version of this episode, go to: Self Publishing Podcast #43 – Outlining and Story Architecture
Hey guys.
I have a “nuts and bolts” sort of question concerning how to use pen names in KDP, without it becoming a giant cluster.
According to the Amazon info, it appears that an account can be set up for a pen name if it is done so from the beginning. Otherwise, whatever name was used to open the account will be used. Am I understanding this correctly?
I write in a variety of genres and for a variety of age groups. I am trying to keep myself limited to fiction pen name and a non-fiction real name…until I dive into erotica, of course
I think Sean has said that he has this same situation happening for his kids books/horror/non-fiction, and am wondering how his KDP account is being handled. Does he have 3 (or 4, or 26) different accounts with separate logins and all that nonsense? Or is there a good way to manage all of your personas/pen names from a single KDP dashboard while eliminating and weird overlapping between genres,/titles?
Thanks everyone…look forward to the podcast every week!
You can use a pen name by changing the author name in the setup of each book. It’s very easy.
I use a different name for my personal growth books than I do for my fiction. I’ve actually changed the author name several times for my personal development books. Just edit the details of your book from your KDP bookshelf or set a new author name when you upload a new book.
What Stacy said, lol. Thanks for answering Stacy!
I think there’s some confusion on this point that a lot of people won’t see. Amazon actually calls two very different things “pen names”:
1. If you’re just a normal Amazon USER who buys stuff, leaves reviews, etc… but may NOT ever use KDP to publish anything, there is a way to use one and only one pseudonym for when you leave your reviews. That setting is in your Amazon account settings somewhere.
2. TOTALLY SEPARATELY, there is what Stacy is talking about and what you want.
I suspect, based on the way the question is phrased, that you might be talking about the #1 thing. You want the #2 thing.
So yeah, you basically just enter whatever damn name you want in the “author” field when you publish a new book. That’s all there is to it.
Awesome. Thanks very much for taking the time to set me straight.
It’s very appreciated.
Cheers.
Very useful, thanks.
I’ve found I work differently and have a different mindset when outlining compared to writing to the outline. Outlining is the big picture type thinking, painting the grand sweeps of the story. I sometimes use a whiteboard first. The writing is then the careful colouring in – but not always staying in the lines.
As you guys said, it’s not that the outline is set in stone, it’s just there to help the next step. I never want to write without a rough outline again.
As pointed out, outlines aren’t locked in stone. Something I’m trying in Scrivener is to correct/update the outline to reflect whatever I actually write, either as I draft or before undertaking comprehensive revising/redrafting. That hopefully facilitates being able to back and do a high level review to assure beats , story arc points, scene arc points, etc. exist and are doing what they are supposed to be doing.
favorite sound bite: Sean– “I can muscle through it and make the clients happy, but it’s a little bit painful.”
Classic.