Comments on Nathan Bransford, Author: A Book a Year?

In the past, I've counted the days until a new Dea...

2008-07-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

In the past, I've counted the days until a new Dean Koontz or Janet Evanovich book came out. With JE, I'm following a series and when I have to wait,I actually miss her characters. I've identified deeply with Stephanie Plum, the main character and I'm obsessed with her hot Cuban bounty hunter, Ranger. (?) Seriously, I actually see and hear these people in my mind. You could chalk it up to either great writing on her part or mental health issues on mine. With DK, there's no series; only the promise of an amazing ride and that's enough for me. Personally, I have written exactly one book and it took me exactly one year, just as I knew it would. I think a year is long enough to miss the characters but soon enough to keep your juices flowing until the next one comes out.

I read that article with something approaching amu...

2008-07-06T17:37:00.000-07:00

I read that article with something approaching amused interest. During my period as a staff writer at local publisher, I was expected to produce a completely new manuscript every 3 1/2 to four months (although near the end it was strongly implied that I was a lazy bastard if I took more than three). During 2004, my most productive year, I produced two collections of short fiction, a book on urban legends and another on my six favorite horror movies. But rather than suffer from this pace, these four books are easily my favourites of the 12 and 1/2 I wrote during my time at the company.

I have found, and this could only apply to myself, that the length of time a person spends on a work ultimately does not contribute a whole lot to its success as a finished project. I've gotten just as big responses from works I wrote in two hours as I have from that which I've written in two weeks.

In the article Lehane laments not having his epiphany until after one of his books was already on store shelves, but I would argue that there is no guarantee that had he had that same epiphany earlier or had the time he needed to implement it that it would have resulted in a better work. It may have left himself feeling more satisfied, but that satisfaction might not have necessarily translated into anything for his readers.

Knowing myself, as well as other writers, I interpreted the article as further proof of our own natural laziness. Yes, writers write because they have to, but they also do it because it is so totally better than having a real job.

I always go for quality over quantity and realize ...

2008-07-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

I always go for quality over quantity and realize that even an established writer can turn out rubbish. This can a result of arrogance or laziness, or external pressures, but if an author's mind is not in the right place during the plotting, writing and editorial process than they should hold back on releasing the material until the quality is sufficient enough for the general public.
Knowing what I do about the requirements of signed authors, Ipart of their time is dedicated to book signings, conventions etcetera... not to mention the work requirements of many authors who are just starting out. And what about family obligations for parents? Heck, what about the case of juvenile authors in school?
There are lots of variables, but the focus should be on quality because there is enough poor quality prose being printed today.

Echoing what many are saying. As a reader, I'd lo...

2008-07-01T05:45:00.000-07:00

Echoing what many are saying. As a reader, I'd love a book a year--at least, especially if I really enjoyed the book and the author.

As a writer, I can appreciate the enormity of that task. As it is with blogging, if you don't post often enough, you lose readers.

(That was to anon@6:05, by the way.)

2008-06-30T20:10:00.000-07:00

(That was to anon@6:05, by the way.)

laugh

I believe I've read one of your masterpieces.

As a reader, I always like to discover writers lat...

2008-06-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

As a reader, I always like to discover writers late in their careers because then I can devour all their books one after another without waiting. But if I happen to catch them early on, I'd rather wait longer and get a better next book.

As a writer, I can't imagine producing a consistent book a year. But then, at this point it's hard to imagine being in a position to write full time. If publishers want a book a year, they should definitely be paying enough to let the writer quit his/her day job. And even then, I think two years would make for a much better book.

writing is like playing an instrument, yu have 2 d...

2008-06-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

writing is like playing an instrument, yu have 2 do it everidai, then again, given that i am bi far the best living writer in the universe, this does not really apply 2 moi, because mi talent surpasses ani literari giants worque in herstori and use of orthogaphical conventions is not 4 me eitha

Chris: I didn't say that slow writers must simply ...

2008-06-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

Chris: I didn't say that slow writers must simply not be able to type fast enough to have a higher output, I said that I imagine *my* typing ability contributes to my own faster output.

If you type slowly but make your decisions and have your plot points lined up in your head, you're still only able to produce the story as fast as you can type it. I'm blessed to make my connections quickly and be able to type quickly as well, thus a faster output. Everyone's case is different.

As a librarian, I like to see from a "quick read" ...

2008-06-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

As a librarian, I like to see from a "quick read" type series (such as the Private books) a couple of volumes a year. A slightly more in-depth series, like the Percy Jackson series, 1-1.5 years per volume. Harry Potter, I was fine with the longer wait.

Non-series books, I think that it all depends on how the author writes and having a somewhat consistent time frame between books would be nice. Of course somewhat consistent could mean a lot of things. Some authors I know will take a few years between their stand alone books, others can put out at least one a year (series and/or stand alone). I do think I've seen some authors whose work has suffered because they are putting too many books out too quickly.

I like my favorite authors who are writing a serie...

2008-06-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

I like my favorite authors who are writing a series to have one a year. I'm a fast reader, so there are several series writers that I watch for.

As a writer, I could do a book a year for a long time if I didn't have a day job. I love writing.

Thank you for having this blog.

Jill Roberts

As a professional reader (editor/proofreader/index...

2008-06-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

As a professional reader (editor/proofreader/indexer), I can consume quite a number of books a year. Sorry to say (or not), the climax always involves a paycheck. And since most of what I read is academic/scholarly, that little bit of incentive helps. Not many old-style page-turners cross my desk.

If you're in the publish-or-perish cycle, look me up and file the name away. Never know when you might need me:

boblandedits.blogspot.com

Jess -- I can type just as fast as you, but it sti...

2008-06-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

Jess -- I can type just as fast as you, but it still takes me two years to write novels at present. It's all the thinking and planning and decisions and such that slow me down... lots of staring at the screen, lots of tweaking sentences for the 30th time, etc. I imagine that most here suffer from the same sort of thing, not being slow typists.

Chris

Oh! I noticed it in someone else's comment and in ...

2008-06-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

Oh! I noticed it in someone else's comment and in the interest of full disclosure - I write 70k YA novels currently, although I know from past experience I can produce a typical 90k first draft in one to three months, and polish always depends on how much is needed so the total time would vary.

(I do think having a typing speed near 100wpm helps immensely.)

As a reader I would like a book or more per year. ...

2008-06-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

As a reader I would like a book or more per year. I recently read Triptych by Karin Slaughter which was her first stand alone novel. I would love it if she published one or more novels a year whether they were stand alones or in her Grant County series.

As a writer I could deal with producing one book a year only because as of right now I know I have it in me. I can't get the writing out of my head fast enough.

Lisa R.
Philadelphia, PA
duchessmalfi@hotmail.com

As a writer, a year is an enormous amount of time ...

2008-06-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

As a writer, a year is an enormous amount of time to me because I'm a naturally fast writer. I spent four months on my most recent book from start to polished finish.

I'm unpublished, so that is to be taken with a grain of salt, but I can say that spending more time on it will not necessarily improve it; I've made it the best I can. I just happen to have done that in four months.

Some books will take me longer, but a whole year? We'll have to wait and see.

I understand many people are not that fast. I think a year is a decent chunk of time. I also think it's probably the limit a reader can wait before they forget or stop caring, though.

lehcarjt said: A second author that makes me cr...

2008-06-26T16:16:00.000-07:00
lehcarjt said: A second author that makes me crazy is Kate Elliott. She wrote half of a great sci-fi series called Jaran. The stopped, wrote a second, really long, fantasy series and never went back to complete Jaran.

Yeah, I've been waiting on that one, too. But to be fair to Kate, her agent told her to set it aside and turn her efforts to writing fantasy because that was selling better. She does plan to return to the Jaran world eventually. (Though in a way, she already has. Her new series appears to be set there, in a much earlier time period.)

As to Diana, one of the ways she keeps her writing and motivation fresh is to work on more than one project at a time. Speaking for myself, she's one of those writers for whom I'm willing to wait a long time for the next book.

I always seem to come late to these parties...
...

2008-06-26T16:06:00.000-07:00
I always seem to come late to these parties...

Yes, I love seeing a book (or more) a year from my favorite authors.

As a writer, no way could I write that fast. I probably shouldn't admit that...

No way I could keep a book a year schedule. I'm a ...

2008-06-26T14:16:00.000-07:00
No way I could keep a book a year schedule. I'm a GRRM when it comes to the time I need, only not as good. ;)

As reader, I'm willing to wait for a good book. Steady releases are nice, of course, but a bit of editing won't hurt in some cases (Malazan Book of the Fallen, much as I love the series, would have benefitted from a few more months between the later books and better editing).

Both as a reader and a writer I think one book a y...

2008-06-26T13:14:00.000-07:00
Both as a reader and a writer I think one book a year is doable, but it definitely depends on genre and word count. As an urban fantasy writer I'm not too worried, but then again actual publication is quite another business. Personally I work well with deadlines though :)

There's a difference between writing a book a year...

2008-06-26T13:11:00.000-07:00
There's a difference between writing a book a year and publishing a book a year.

Simply writing a certain number of words in a certain period of time doesn't necessarily equate to a publishable novel.

Also, some authors have a drawerful of old material sitting around, and after they publish book #1, this old stuff is dredged out and reworked, which leads to faster production times.

So if you can publish a book a year consistently, you're way aheaad of the curve. Say you start off with a 2-book deal 9pub company likesbook 1, obviously, so that gets published, and then they contract you to write #2. Well, by the time #2 comes out, the sales figures for #1 will have been established. If they're not good, then there's an awful lot of pressure on #2, and if that one doesn't do well, then byebye. There won't be interest in a third.

So writing a book a year is not the trick, it's publishing a abook a year (which means you're constantly working on new deals and promoting, too) and then having those books sell so that you get more contracts to write more books.

Well, I tell ya it all depends. I'm happy to read ...

2008-06-26T12:44:00.000-07:00
Well, I tell ya it all depends. I'm happy to read a Richard Stark novel a year (though I think it was more than a year between the last two. Some, like Stark/Westlake can keep the quality up at a good pace. But definitely some should slow down. It makes me think of Patrica Cornwell, who I thought started out pretty well, but quickly got very very bad.

As for Self, there's the side of me that thinks I'm taking too long with mine ("It's a vampire novel, Burchfield, get it over with") vs. the side that tells me to get it right ("But there's a million of those out there, so this one has to be *right*). I hope the next one goes a little faster.

Speaking of frequency, I read somewhere that Grish...

2008-06-26T11:55:00.000-07:00
Speaking of frequency, I read somewhere that Grisham thought A Time to Kill, his first novel, was perhaps his best and attributes that to not having a deadline of any sort. It was published small. The Firm went big quick. The pressure to produce again was easy in that A Time to Kill was published again on a big scale. Pressure was then great for a third. In response, and this is the amazing part as I believe was related by Grisham, he wrote The Pelican Brief in about a month. Wow.

>>there is absolutely a different sort of &q...

2008-06-26T10:08:00.000-07:00
>>there is absolutely a different sort of "beach read" book mentality to the 2-4 book a year production rate.

CC Not quite sure what you mean here but, for the record, Sandra Brown puts out one book a year and has been called a beach read too. Beach reads are generally genre fiction (romance, suspense, thriller etc). The way you've referenced it here, it DOES sound derogatory (though you might not have meant it to).

I really do believe it depends on the person and t...

2008-06-26T09:41:00.000-07:00
I really do believe it depends on the person and their circumstance and ability. By circumstance I mean having a part-time or full-time job, children, etc and so on. By ability I mean if they tend to take breaks between or if they write quite religiously on a daily basis. Do they set time brackets in their day or do they go with the flow? I think if the impulse is there, and if the opportunity is there, it CAN happen.

Comments on Nathan Bransford, Author: A Book a Year?

In the past, I've counted the days until a new Dea...

I read that article with something approaching amu...

I always go for quality over quantity and realize ...

Echoing what many are saying. As a reader, I'd lo...

(That was to anon@6:05, by the way.)

*laugh*I believe I've read one of your masterpieces.

As a reader, I always like to discover writers lat...

writing is like playing an instrument, yu have 2 d...

Chris: I didn't say that slow writers must simply ...

As a librarian, I like to see from a "quick read" ...

I like my favorite authors who are writing a serie...

As a professional reader (editor/proofreader/index...

Jess -- I can type just as fast as you, but it sti...

Oh! I noticed it in someone else's comment and in ...

As a reader I would like a book or more per year. ...

As a writer, a year is an enormous amount of time ...

lehcarjt said: A second author that makes me cr...

I always seem to come late to these parties......

No way I could keep a book a year schedule. I'm a ...

Both as a reader and a writer I think one book a y...

There's a difference between writing a book a year...

Well, I tell ya it all depends. I'm happy to read ...

Speaking of frequency, I read somewhere that Grish...

>>there is absolutely a different sort of &q...

I really do believe it depends on the person and t...

laugh

I believe I've read one of your masterpieces.

I always seem to come late to these parties...
...