Make A Living Writing Romance

Yesterday I came toe to toe with a rattlesnake. I was hiking in the Colorado foothills. Upon discovering my proximity to this lovely reptile I released a bloodcurdling scream that turned hikers away for miles. My personal warning system!

After spewing a few curse words and fighting back tears I continued on my way, ever grateful for the calming presence of my husband and his willingness to hold my hand.

Imagine being on the trail by yourself and getting bitten…

Now imagine your heroine on the trail. She is bitten by a rattle snake and she is by herself. What does she do? Does someone come along who helps her? Does she drag her poison filled body to the trail head, which is of course many miles away? Does a handsome vet, doc, or firefighter come to her aid?

When you make the decision to create a blog to showcase your romance writing, there are many more details than simply what platform to use, and how often to post. While these two details are quite important to consider, you also want to insure your blog is as successful as possible. The more people who are aware of you as a writer, the more books you may sell. And if you’re yet to be published, then when you do publish, you’ll have a built in audience. Publishers take notice of romance writers who already have a following.

In that vein, I thought it could be beneficial to you if we ran through some of the factors which can assist in that success.

First and foremost, please keep in mind that these are just steps. They are the first planning points, which are always alterable. What feels right today may not provide you with the same feelings in a week or two, and that’s the joy of the Internet! You can switch things up quite easily if you decide what you started with isn’t what works.

Write out these steps in your notebook, or some other location where you can go back and read them regularly. I find it’s often helpful to clear up any writer’s block or bumps in the road if I can go back to see exactly where I’m headed. With all of your romance writing ideas, your blog plans, personal schedules and other life-related things going on it’s easy to sometimes become overwhelmed by the whole process. Having simple, distinguishable goals to go back and look upon is a great way to get both feet firmly planted back on the ground, enabling you to focus on things more clearly again.

Before you even think about which platform you’re going to use for your blog, take some time to consider the following points.

• What is the goal of your blog? Will it be used to sell your romance books, gain readers, share tips with other writers or some other purpose entirely? Be specific with any point related to each goal. Instead of vaguely saying, “I’d like to gain new readers,” specify what your goal is by stating something along the lines of, “I’d like to gain one new reader every week.”

If your main goal is to sell your romance novels, make sure you use logical and achievable goals. I’m sure all of us would love to sell 100 books a week; however is that really a feasible goal to set? You don’t want to set yourself up for disappointment from day one.

• Sit and think about who your perfect visitor to this new blog would be. Is it someone who is the occasional visitor looking for tips to get their own writing business going? Or is it someone who’s going to comment on your posts regularly, buys everything you could ever want to sell, and reads with voracity every post you make? By answering some, if not all of these types of questions you may find it easier to get a clear picture of who you’re writing for, and the best way to accomplish that.

• What are you going to write about on your blog? Keeping in mind your perfect reader, do you simply want to write posts about your own romance works in progress? Or would you like to help others by giving tips and advice on romance writing in general?

• Have a brainstorming session frequently to build up your stock of potential blog post titles and topics. These don’t necessarily need to be done at a particular time every week or month. As you probably already know, ideas can hit writers at some of the most interesting times. Be sure you always have a notebook and pen with you for these impromptu ideas. The worst thing that can happen is you have this wonderful idea for a future blog post and you have nowhere to write it. Can you imagine writing ideas on your arm in the checkout line at the grocery store so you don’t forget it? I recommend you always keep a small notepad with you so this doesn’t happen.

• Prepare your first post. You might want this to be an introduction of yourself, including an explanation of what your blog’s purpose will be and what people can expect to find there. You may wish to include a posting schedule as well, especially if you plan on covering different topics or ideas on different days of the week. If you do set some sort of schedule, remember to keep it yourself. Long live the post-it note.

• Prepare your posts ahead of time when possible. You may find, especially at the beginning of your blogging experience, you simply can’t come up with something when you need it. Or you could have the opposite happen and end up with too many topics at one time. By preparing your posts ahead of time you’re always sure to have something to post on your scheduled day, just in case something unplanned comes up, or simply if you don’t feel like writing that day at all.

• Choose your perfect platform. This is going to take some research on your part. There are many possibilities out there for bloggers, and each one has their benefits and drawbacks. It doesn’t really matter which platform you choose, as long as it’s one you are comfortable with now and also see yourself happy with in the future. Some options are Blogger, WordPress.com, or perhaps even your own website.

• Add visual aspects to your posts. This can range anywhere from graphics and images to headers for breaking up sections to using font attributes such as bold or italics. Your blog posts are not the same as your novels. Add some flair you wouldn’t normally consider in your writing ventures.

Last but definitely not least, it’s time to post that first entry to your blog. Take some time going over it in your mind and aloud to make sure it has the tone you want to portray to the world. Take one more chance to spell-check it and you’re ready. You can confidently hit Publish and invite the world into your world. Congratulations, and welcome to the world of promoting your romance writing through blogging!

Using social networking or social media to boost your romance writing career is by far the best way to grab the attention of people around you. It gives people a medium to get to know you personally, which then gives them the opportunity to start liking you and trusting you. People who like and trust you are more inclined to choose you over someone else.

There are many choices out there in this internet-connected world for people. They now have a multitude of areas where they can spend their time and money, as well as whom they can choose to do business with. That’s a big part of the trust factor, and why you need to build that trust with your customers.

You need to build relationships with your target audience. You need to become friendly with your business contacts and connections, because everybody knows a friend is more likely to turn to you than a stranger is. Social networking is the ultimate way to work both of those angles and build up both sides of your media venue. Besides, word of mouth just happens to be the most powerful marketing tool on the planet.

Your first step towards using social networking is developing a strategy. You may already have a brand and strategy you’re working with, but that’s not enough to head out into the world of social media with. There are just too many people out there for you to jump in with both feet without a plan. It’s time to focus more directly on your best customers.

Perhaps the best place for you to start to find those best customers is Twitter. Twitter is the fastest growing social networking site available at this time. You can find everyone from the President of the United States to your neighbor down the street on Twitter. That leaves you with many people to talk to, even if you are limited to 140 characters at a time. This isn’t the only place you can reach out via social networking, but it’s a simple one.

Romance writers are encouraged to use their pen or author name when they sign up on Twitter. This will make it easier for people to find you, should they read one of your works and want to keep up with what’s going on in your career. Adding a picture, a bit of information about yourself and customizing your background will all help to define your presence on Twitter.

Tweeting, or sending out messages in 140 characters or less, is something you may want to play around with a little so you can get used to it. There are some buttons which are self-explanatory, while others might require a bit of playing around with. The importance is learning to use all of the features properly, and in the right perspective. While it’s fine to be playful with your messages, you do want the majority of your tweets to be aimed towards your writing. That is, after all, what you’re trying to promote here.

Search for other romance writers and readers you can follow, or for that matter, anyone else that interests you. They don’t have to be big stars and accomplished best-seller authors for you to follow them. Some of the most interesting people to follow are going to be at the same level you are, or simply enjoy some of the same things. Read people’s profiles to try and get a feel for whether or not you have something in common with them. If you like what you see, go ahead and click the “Follow” button. That will allow you to see what they talk about when they send out their tweets. But remember, nothing is written in stone. You can always un-follow at a later date if you change your mind.

The next thing to do is give other people something interesting to read. This is where Twitter is going to help your writing career. Start talking about your romance writing, your ideas and thoughts, or even your website. However, the important thing to remember is not to start spamming. Don’t just tweet links to your webpage, your blog or your sales page for your book. Write engaging statements, ask questions or start conversations with others. Retweet, or repeat something someone else said which you found of interest.

Soon enough you’ll see you have followers who are interested in what’s happening in your romance writing world, who are anxious to hear when the next chapter is finished and who just simply can’t wait until your book is complete and waiting for them to buy their own copy. Until then, happy tweeting!

I have to be honest here and say that it’s been a LONG time since I’ve submitted anything to an agent or an editor. I love the process of writing and creating romance and seem to get caught up in that enough that the submission process got pushed to the end of the priority list.

However, you simply cannot become a published author and many any money writing romance if you don’t submit your manuscripts!

Now that I have a revision process to adhere to, it’s time to start submitting again and I realized last night as I wrapped up the revisions for one romantic suspense manuscript, that I’m a bit fearful.

Submission Means Subjecting Yourself to…

• Criticism
• Rejection!
• Reality
• More revisions
• Negotiations (this is a good thing because it means someone is interested in your book but it’s also a stressful thing.)
• Networking
• Queries and synopsis writing!

I’ve never been a dive right into the pool kind of person. I’ll walk all the way around to the stairs in the shallow end and take my sweet time getting wet. Inch by inch.  However, sometimes if you  want something to happen you do have to dive right in. Set your fear aside and make it happen. There’s a lot to learn and a lot to enjoy about pushing past your fears.

In order to make the process easier, for me and for you, I’m going to work on creating a downloadable submission tracking system. Querytracker.net has a good system but it isn’t right for me. I want something on paper, that I can look at that keeps me organized and accountable. I want something that is systematized and automatic.

When a process is made simple and automatic, the fear is easier to push past. It becomes a habit rather than a stressful event.

So I’m going to get to work over the next two weeks to create a submission checklist and tracking system to make available over on the main website www.makealivingwritingromance.com.

In the meantime, please share your submission process. How do you get past the fear? How do you make it an automatic and easy process?

There’s no argument that the romance writing process is highly individualized. Some people write in a very structured manner, typing for an hour each day or working until they complete their word count goal. Others go on writing binges where they write for hours or days straight and then also have long dry periods where they may not write a word.

Some romance writers plot and plan every single detail before they ever start writing their manuscript while others, who call themselves “pantsters”, write by the seat of their pants. They just sit down and start typing out a story.

The Revision Process Is Just As Individualized.

You may sweep through your romance manuscript and make all the necessary changes in one pass. You may break down the process and make ten passes through your manuscript, each time focusing on a new step, dialogue for example.

You may dedicate a specific amount of time each day to your revision process or you may sit down and complete it all in one chunk of time. You may decide to revise 3 chapters a day, 100 pages a day, or for an hour a day.

So How Do You Create The Right Revision Plan for You?

There are three keys to any successful revision plan. They include:

1. Measurable goals
2. Structured time
3. A process or a checklist

Measurable Goals – The biggest goal to set here would be a deadline for having your romance manuscript polished.  A general rule of thumb, though you may be much more motivated and really amp the revision process, is to spend as much time revising your manuscript as you did writing it in the first place.  There is plenty of wiggle room here because if you had a whirlwind writing session and wrote your book in a week, it may very likely take longer to revise and polish it.  However, it’s a place to start.

Other measurable goals include smaller goals like a page count per day or a revised word count per day.  This strategy may seem restrictive however; it really helps you push through those days when you don’t feel so motivated.

Structured Time – You know what time of day you’re most productive, creative and energetic. This is the best time of the day to write and it’s the best time of the day to revise. Schedule your romance writing into each and every day and try to schedule it during your best time of the day.

A Process/Checklist – There are many phases to revising your romance novel. You want to make sure:

• Your scenes are fleshed out
• Your characters are consistent
• You use the 5 senses as appropriate
• Your dialogue works
• Your sentence structure varies
• Your pace, tone and POV are all appropriate for the scene

And so on….

Your revision checklist will reflect this. How you organize your checklist and structure your revision process is up to you. You may combine several elements or you may give your romance manuscript 20 passes, each time looking at a new element.

Here’s a sample RevisionChecklist.  It’s recommended to use this as a guideline for creating your own process customized to fit your style, goals and writing process.

Revising your romance novel is a required step to get it ready for publication. Make it easy on yourself and create a process that fits you.