My favourite books and who wrote them

 Stephen kings- pet sematary, Dr sleep, the shinning

Beautiful creatures series by Kali Garcia and Margaret Stohl

The Engelsfors trilogy (the circle, fire and the key). by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren

Why do i write?

 Todays blog post centres around why I write. 

I write because it helps me with anything I have struggling with; I actually have a bunch of mental illnesses and physical issues so writing has always been an escape for me; when I write I don’t feel pain nor any of my issues. I get transported into my books and can just escape everything that is going on. 

I also write because reading is another way I escape the real world and I want to help other people escape from their issues for a small amount of time to the best of my ability. 

My goals when writing isn’t to write a best seller or to earn a lot of money although I do hope to one day earn enough money to live off that isn’t my main goal I just want to get my books into peoples hands for whatever reason they like to read for. 

10 tips to treat your writing career as a business

Treating your writing career as a business can be difficult but with these ten tips you are such to be building towards  success

1. Set Clear Goals: Define your writing goals, whether it's completing a novel, publishing articles, or becoming a freelance writer. These goals will guide your business strategy.

2. Create a Business Plan: Develop a detailed plan outlining your writing niche, target audience, marketing strategy, and financial goals. Treat it like a business roadmap.

3. Invest in Education: Continuously improve your writing skills through courses, workshops, and reading. Invest in your knowledge as you would in any other business asset.

4. Build a Brand: Establish a unique author brand with a professional website, logo, and social media presence. Consistency in branding is key when it comes to social media and marketing.

5. Financial Management: Keep track of your income and expenses. Consider hiring an accountant or using accounting software to manage your finances efficiently maybe even consider opening a Business expense account to help you manage this.

6. Networking: Connect with fellow writers, editors, and publishers. Networking can lead to opportunities, collaborations, and valuable insights.

7. Marketing and Promotion: Develop a marketing strategy to reach your target audience. Utilize social media, email marketing, and book promotion techniques.

8. Time Management: Set a writing schedule and stick to it. Treat writing as your work hours, just like any other job. This can be difficult when writing isn’t your main job  but stick to writing for half an hour to a few hours after work or on weekends.

9. Legal Considerations: Understand copyright laws and contracts. Consider consulting a legal expert for advice on publishing agreements.

10. Adaptability: Stay updated with industry trends and be willing to adapt to changes in the writing landscape. A successful writing business requires flexibility.

Remember that building a writing career takes time and dedication. Treating it as a business helps you stay organised, focused, and increases your chances of long-term success.

The difference between my first book and my latest

 

Now you could think I maybe referring to the differences between wrongful love and an authors guide to writing but that just isn’t what I am going to be doing; it’s hard to compare the two when they are completely different genres with completely different goals in mind. Or you might even think I would be comparing the first book I ever published which is no longer available but I won’t be doing that either. 

No I will be comparing my first wattpad book secrets to the hybrid mate which I know isn’t even in the top four of my newest books but I do think it will be a good comparison. 

Secrets is still available on my wattpad and while it is not the same as it was when I first published it; it is still really bad. 

Now I think the most outstanding difference is the writing while I know I am still not prefect but who really is? I know I have come a long way with my writing and that is something I am proud of. 

The other key difference is I didn’t know a thing about editing when I wrote secrets where now I have learned a lot about editing. 

How I begin writing a new book

 

Starting to write a new book can be a difficult process but I like to think I have it pretty down packed now. 

Once I have an idea I like to start by writing a rough plan; now this isn’t by what I want to happen in a chapter nor is it an actual book plan but more an outline of the key points of the story. 

For example I’ll share with you the plan I had for one of my finished projects. 

The hybrid mate is about a young girl named () whose family was killed by vampires at her birthday party when she was () she spent many years training to kill vampires but sadly she was mated to a half vampire half werewolf called (). 

Throughout the book you watch as () grows to love her mate, and even falls pregnant although cursed by a witch in her pregnancy. 

As you can see it’s more a rough blurb and then I will come up with my characters and start writing; my first draft is never perfect but it is just getting my book idea good enough on paper that I can rewrite it and edit it to perfection.

How do you start writing your books? Are you a pantser? Plotter or something in between like me.

Writing Q&A

 

In todays blog post I thought I would answer nine questions related to writing and my career as a writer

1. What inspired you to pursue a career in writing?

My mother started writing her own book series when I was a little girl and I wanted to just be like her; and while my life hasn’t turned out how I pictured it would I am very happy that it has turned out that I can write for a living and share my stories with the world. 

2. How do you stay motivated when facing writer's block?

I work on multiple stories at a time so when I face writers block I just put a pin in that book and work on another. At a later date I will reread my story and if I am still stuck I will move on from that scene and come back to it after. 

3. What's your writing process like from idea generation to publication?

I address this in my book on writing An authors guide to writing by Phoebe M.C. But once I have come up with an idea I write a rough plan on what I want to happen; start writing. Put the book on stand down for three months then edit and self publish it. 

4. How do you balance creativity with the demands of running a writing business?

I will manage all my social media and the demands of advertising etc. through the day and work on my books with the creative side at night. 

5. Could you share a memorable writing success story or milestone in your career?

I think it’s he biggest milestone in my career was seeing the first book in The hybrid series get over 60 buys in the first six months of the book release. The most buys I had ever had in any of my books; and while it only had one five star review I knew that with more improvement I would make my dream come true. 

6. What are the most significant challenges you've faced in treating your writing as a business, and how did you overcome them?

Self doubt for sure; thinking my work isn’t good enough or that no one will like it. I overcome this by looking at my previous book sales; learning what I did wrong in previous books and work out a plan to get better with each book I write. 

7. What advice would you give to writers looking to self-publish their work and market it effectively?

My main advice would be to make sure your book is as good as you can possibly get it and don’t be scared when you don’t see people buying it immediately. On the front of how to market effectively; share the hell out of it. Talk about it whenever you can, make a tiktok and market it that way as well can lead to a lot of sales. 

8. How do you manage your time effectively to balance writing, marketing, and other aspects of your writing business?

I write 2-4 nights a week for around two hours a night and in that time I only focus on my book. Once a week I will bulk film/ write up promotional tweets and posts and then upload them throughout the week in the mornings. 

9. How do you measure success in your writing career, beyond just financial aspects?

While I haven’t actually seen a lot of money from my Amazon books (unlike my HiNovel books) I measure my success by any reviews I get, comments on my social media and just knowing that even if it flops that in writing and editing that book that I learned what to do better for my next book

What other questions do you have for me? If you want to start writing but don’t know where to start consider checking out my book on writing. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHM7NBL6?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420

How I did with my 2023 writing goals

 My goals for 2023 were 

• write 100,000 words
• Publish all of my hybrid series
• Finish writing all unfinished books
• Edit 2 books 

How I did?

I managed to publish all of my hybrid series within the first month of 2023, I managed to write the only unfinished book I had sitting there waiting to be written and managed to edit it all by June 2023. I then started writing and editing another book which I just finished in November 2023. 

I didn’t manage to write 100k words I only hit 78k but that’s still good enough to me.