A Book Every Six Months?

Status
Not open for further replies.

gothicangel

Toughen up.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 29, 2008
Messages
7,907
Reaction score
691
Location
North of the Wall
If you're not a book-every-six-months writer, the publisher is not going to force you. The timing of books is something you can discuss at contract time.

That's an interesting point. I wonder if Fabbri initially had a four book deal, and has now signed a new contract asking for a book every six months.
 

Jamesaritchie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
27,863
Reaction score
2,311
If you're not a book-every-six-months writer, the publisher is not going to force you. The timing of books is something you can discuss at contract time.

That's it exactly. Though what a publisher will sometimes do is wave a contract under your nose that has a lot of zeros in it. The offer of much money is not force, but it can be very persuasive.

I used to know a writer, dead now, but very well known in his time, who liked writing two books per year. Then his publishers offered him a massive contract for three books per year. He really didn't want to take the deal, but the money was irresistible.
 

Calla Lily

On hiatus
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
39,307
Reaction score
17,490
Location
Non carborundum illegitimi
Website
www.aliceloweecey.net
When I signed my new book deal, I agreed to a book every 7 months. That shaved a month off the 8 I prefer. Turned book 1 in on time and am outlining book 2. It's doable because I'm continuing my old series and know the characters. I don't know if I could write a book with all new characters in this time.

...gets off AW and gets back to writing...
 

Jamesaritchie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
27,863
Reaction score
2,311
When I signed my new book deal, I agreed to a book every 7 months. That shaved a month off the 8 I prefer. Turned book 1 in on time and am outlining book 2. It's doable because I'm continuing my old series and know the characters. I don't know if I could write a book with all new characters in this time.

...gets off AW and gets back to writing...

I don't know how much you make per book, but do you know yourself well enough to say what you would do if the publisher offered you a million dollar advance per book, plus, and probably more important, better royalties, if you would agree to write an extra two books per year?

This is what happened to the writer I knew, and that was back when a million dollars would actually buy something.
 

thethinker42

Abnormal Romance Author
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 30, 2006
Messages
20,733
Reaction score
2,669
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Website
www.gallagherwitt.com
First, unless I am missing something, this does not necessarily mean that he is taking six months to write a book. The publication of his last book may have been delayed, he might have been working on them concurrently ... all sorts of possibilities. The gaps between publication dates does not necessarily equate to the length of time it takes to write.

This.

I write pretty fast, but it can take several months before a book comes out. I also work with more than one publisher, and have been known to have books come out in rapid succession. In May, my co-author and I had two books come out back to back. They were both written almost a year ago, a few months apart from each other, but that's just where they landed on the production schedules.
 

Calla Lily

On hiatus
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
39,307
Reaction score
17,490
Location
Non carborundum illegitimi
Website
www.aliceloweecey.net
I don't know how much you make per book, but do you know yourself well enough to say what you would do if the publisher offered you a million dollar advance per book, plus, and probably more important, better royalties, if you would agree to write an extra two books per year?

This is what happened to the writer I knew, and that was back when a million dollars would actually buy something.

I work full-time, so my 7-month schedule takes that into account. It's conceivable that I could write books faster if I got a deal that allowed me to quit the FT job and still pay the bills.

It's my dream...
 

WeaselFire

Benefactor Member
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
3,539
Reaction score
429
Location
Floral City, FL
*I've actually always been afraid of publishers deciding that there's a limit to how many books you can publish per whenever (the whole cannibalizing sales thing).
Then you probably want to look for a publisher that doesn't pay attention to the market and has no idea what their business is doing... :)

If a publisher wants only one book a year, write two anyway and publish under a pen name. Plenty of authors do so.

The timing of book releases is dependent on publishers far more than authors. If you want more releases of your work, and feel the market can support them, that's an argument for self-publishing.

Jeff
 

thethinker42

Abnormal Romance Author
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 30, 2006
Messages
20,733
Reaction score
2,669
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Website
www.gallagherwitt.com
*I've actually always been afraid of publishers deciding that there's a limit to how many books you can publish per whenever (the whole cannibalizing sales thing).

I release 1-3 books a month. I've never seen any evidence that that hurts sales. Quite the contrary, actually.

The only limitations my publishers have ever put on me has had to do with logistics on their end. They have other authors, and only so many editors, artists, etc. For example, one of my editors works on a set number of books every year, and can only realistically commit to working on 5-6 of mine, so that's the maximum number of annual releases I can have with that house. That house doesn't restrict me from working with other houses or self-publishing, though, so I can still write/release as many books as my own productivity allows.

But I've never worked with anyone who restricts what I can release per year across the board.
 

Maxinquaye

That cheeky buggerer
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Messages
10,361
Reaction score
1,032
Location
In your mind
Website
maxoneverything.wordpress.com
I make a point to write at least 2.5k words per day. Most of the time I reach 3k. That's not because of brilliance or talent; I've just worked as a writer for a long time, and my backside and my elbow can take the grit of it. It's just a function of habit and practise.

With that speed I write a first draft in 20-30 days. Then I polish for another month or two (including a long pause to get the novel out of my head and into a zone where I am not close to it any longer).

So, yeah. Six months is a long time.
 

Fictional Cowboy

Life is short. Live with purpose.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 11, 2014
Messages
248
Reaction score
23
Location
A forgotten time
There's another variable to consider.

The amount of time it takes to write a novel is not only commensurate with a person's talent and skill, but also in the amount of time they spend writing each day. Someone with only one hour available every day will take longer to write a novel than someone who writes for six hours a day.

Given a reasonable amount of time to write each day, I don't see writing two novels a year as anything extraordinary. Anything more than that starts getting impressive though.
 

Jamesaritchie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
27,863
Reaction score
2,311
There's another variable to consider.

The amount of time it takes to write a novel is not only commensurate with a person's talent and skill, but also in the amount of time they spend writing each day. Someone with only one hour available every day will take longer to write a novel than someone who writes for six hours a day.

Given a reasonable amount of time to write each day, I don't see writing two novels a year as anything extraordinary. Anything more than that starts getting impressive though.

I think many, many writers out there write a lot faster than most realize. They use pseudonyms, they write novels fast, but rather than releasing more than a book or two per year, they write reams and reams of short stories, articles, screenplays, and you name it.

I'm much like this. I've written and sold a novel in three weeks, and another, of only fifty thousand words, in ten days. But novels are not my priority. I write 2,500 final draft words per day with no strain. This is five hours writing time.

The majority of these words go to other things, such as short stories, articles, screenplays, essays, or you name it. These things are my bread and butter, and I love the diversity.

Anyway, you can't really look at how many novels a writer releases each year and judge his writing speed from this alone. Between pseudonyms, ghosted books for certain publisher's book lines, short stories, articles, screenplays, and you name it, many writers are extremely prolific, but it doesn't show in how many books come out per year.

I know so many prolific writers, and I've read about so many more, that I really don't get impressed until the writer hits a book per month. Or, more accurately, hits anywhere from seventy-five to one hundred thousand words per month, whatever those words go to.

At five hours per day, five days per week, I write fifty thousand words per month on a regular basis, but when deadlines or multiple projects force me to add hours and days, I can double this without killing myself. I won't have any much free time because to hit one hundred thousand words I have to write seven hours per day, seven days per week, and I hate putting in that much time, though some writers, such as Dean Koontz, put in considerably more.

I can, if need be, keep such a schedule for three or four months before I burn out and need some time off, but I didn't become a writer because I wanted to work long hours seven days per week, so I limit how often I let this happen. Unfortunately, it's happening right now.

I would say I'd writer faster were I a better typist, but I'm not sure it's true. Nancy Kress is pretty darned prolific, really, really good, and she types with one finger on her right hand.

So no matter how fast and well I could type, I think my writing speed, my brain speed, for final draft words, at least, is five hundred words per hour.
 

Fictional Cowboy

Life is short. Live with purpose.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 11, 2014
Messages
248
Reaction score
23
Location
A forgotten time
I think many, many writers out there write a lot faster than most realize. They use pseudonyms, they write novels fast, but rather than releasing more than a book or two per year, they write reams and reams of short stories, articles, screenplays, and you name it.

I'm much like this. I've written and sold a novel in three weeks, and another, of only fifty thousand words, in ten days. But novels are not my priority. I write 2,500 final draft words per day with no strain. This is five hours writing time.
...

It's remarkable, and inspiring, what can be done.

Your post(s) have taught me a lot. For example, this last one showed me that what I thought was extraordinary for a novelist (more than two novels a year) was really a reflection of what I think I'm capable of myself.

I wish I had known more while I was growing up. I was raised in a very rural place, extraordinarily sheltered and controlled, and had no idea what life meant or offered. And while I believe that God had a plan for my life through it all, I can't help but wonder where I'd be today if I had known then that I was allowed to be a writer. I was good at it and it's what I wanted to do. It still is. The thought of having to work any other kind of job still makes me cringe. All I want to do, all I think about, is writing for a living. If only I'd known. But, if wishes were pennies...
 

Ken

Banned
Kind Benefactor
Joined
Dec 28, 2007
Messages
11,478
Reaction score
6,198
Location
AW. A very nice place!
I don't know how much you make per book, but do you know yourself well enough to say what you would do if the publisher offered you a million dollar advance per book, plus, and probably more important, better royalties, if you would agree to write an extra two books per year?

This is what happened to the writer I knew, and that was back when a million dollars would actually buy something.

Not sure. I mean if a publisher wants you that bad and values you that much the ball is sorta in your court. I suppose you could finagle as such and enter an agreement that would be more to your liking, just by being honest. "Simply put, I'm not up to two a year. I wish I was but I am not. I would still very much like to sign with you. Is there any other arrangement we might make?"
 

dondomat

Banned
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
1,373
Reaction score
225
............

I know so many prolific writers, and I've read about so many more, that I really don't get impressed until the writer hits a book per month. Or, more accurately, hits anywhere from seventy-five to one hundred thousand words per month, whatever those words go to.

My favorite German sci-fi/weird/horror/fantasy Meister Wolfgang Hohlbein (looks exactly like the writer character from IT)--unfortunately unavaliable in English--his output is about a fat novel or three short ones per month, and anything I've read--from interplanetary adventures, to alien invasions, to horror (but none of the YA fantasy--I just don't dig this genre)--was pretty good. He may be on autopilot, but when the cruising altitude is high enough, I don't mind.

At five hours per day, five days per week, I write fifty thousand words per month on a regular basis, but when deadlines or multiple projects force me to add hours and days, I can double this without killing myself. I won't have any much free time because to hit one hundred thousand words I have to write seven hours per day, seven days per week, and I hate putting in that much time, though some writers, such as Dean Koontz, put in considerably more.

Back in the early 1970's Koontz first went the vintage paperback way--publishing like 8-9 novels a year, before making the jump from quantity to quality and focusing all that energy into 'merely' two fat novels a year. And Baaaam! Move over Stephen King.

Although personally, I rather do prefer some of his early pseudo-Dick/Simak/Zelazny sci-fi like The Long Sleep or The Haunted Earth or A Werewolf Among Us or Fear That Man--smashing stuff. Much more jolly and fluid for a sci-fi fan than his later dense, dense, dense "The Dickens of thrillers" style. He keeps it all out of print now, the dickens. Supposedly ashamed of his early level. But I take a pinch of salt when a midlife convert to neoconservatism keeps out of print precisely the early books about pot-smoking boob-groping, God-dethroning protagonists ;).

I can, if need be, keep such a schedule for three or four months before I burn out and need some time off, but I didn't become a writer because I wanted to work long hours seven days per week, so I limit how often I let this happen. Unfortunately, it's happening right now.

Well, good luck with weathering it. As the great Dan Simmons said,

I wake up as late as I can, because that is one of the few, great benefits of being a writer. You don't have to get up early and commute to work. So the morning is wonderfully wasted: reading three newspapers, reading online, having a slow breakfast, then after getting dressed, meandering off to my downstairs office and jumping into it.
 
Last edited:

jaksen

Caped Codder
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 6, 2010
Messages
5,117
Reaction score
526
Location
In MA, USA, across from a 17th century cemetery
For what it's worth - and I'm not published in novels, just shorts - from 2009 to the present time I have written seven novels, one novella and about 20 short stories. Edited them, rewritten what needs to be fixed, etc. I have not queried the novels, just the novella and though I got about 20 full requests, ultimately it was turned down by agents mainly because it was 'hard to place.' (I got that comment, with explanations, enough times to believe it.)

However, I write up to six hours a day, and am retired and truthfully, writing is all I really want to do. I forego social activities, TV viewing, even being with my large and pretty great family. (We all get along, no kidding.) My family knows I like to write and have always respected it, plus I'm sort of a loner who can exist for weeks alone. (Right now I am on Day 6 of being all by myself in my summer house. No one is with me right now as the refrigerator AND hot water heater have gone kerplunk. Waiting on delivery of both, but on the Cape you can wait, and wait, and...)

So, in other words, I am truly happy writing, with breaks for reading, a walk, some exercise, food, then back to writing.

So writing a lot in a little time? Surely, yes, it can be done.
 
Last edited:

spikeman4444

The snozberrys taste lke snozberrys
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
Messages
907
Reaction score
77
Location
anytown, USA
Six months seems pretty reasonable. I've written a 74k word first draft in about two and a half months. I was a full time teacher at the time and I knew I wasn't going to get paid for my writing when I was finished also. So if there was a contract in place, I could work faster/write more per day
 

dantefrizzoli

Banned
Spammer
Joined
May 28, 2013
Messages
245
Reaction score
5
I would say it depends on the publisher as well as the writer- it could have been a one time thing where he had lots of ideas and was able to compile them in a short amount of time- or maybe he was rushed to complete the job but it's really a personal preference to the author- whatever works for them and their writing skills
 
Status
Not open for further replies.