I spent years as an unpublished novelist, and I know that folks who are trying to break into the business don't actually dream about "finishing the chapter" or "editing the book" or even "winning the contest." In my experience, what writers REALLY dream about is Being a full-time professional writer!

That means earning enough from their writing to give them a good, secure life, where they don't have to fall into that day-job rut, squeezing their writing into the cracks of their lives.

You Can Get There

If there's one message I want everyone to know is that it IS possible to live that dream, become a professional novelist as your MAIN job, not the one you squeeze in when you have time.

Is it easy? No, not really. But if you're determined and if you want it bad enough...ya know? It's not that hard either.

Mostly it takes persistence. AND it takes knowing what you have to do beyond putting words on paper (or computer screen).

What It Takes to Be a Pro

First, you have to understand how to develop a story idea into a viable novel structure that's suitable for the genre of novel you're writing. A contemporary romance has a very different structure than a horror novel--and anyone who tries to shoehorn both into the same "hero's journey" model is doing themselves and their story a major disservice.

Then, you need to understand how to write your story--and write it QUICKLY. To break into today's publishing market, you can't afford to dawdle around. Brand new writers need to be able to produce at least a novel every 6-8 months.

Then, you need to figure out how to do a quality job of editing and revising your novel. Yes, you can pay an editor to do that—I offer that service myself. And I charge $2500 to $3750 to do a complete edit (depending on length). And I'm at the lower end of the pricing scale—some editors will charge upwards of $5000 to $7000 for a complete ms. edit! If you can't afford those rates, you need to know how to do a bang-up editing job yourself with much less expensive options.

So at the end of all that, you have a good quality, edited ms. Your job is done, right? WRONG!

You need to build an author platform and develop a fan base of folks who absolutely love your writing. That means, yes, a website. It may mean a blog. It may mean social media. Do you know how to set all that up? And use those to effectively build your fan base? No? Well...ya gotta learn that too.

Still, you're not done. You need to know how to package and present your book. That means yes, going to a professional book cover artist who knows the specifics of how to create a unique cover suitable for the genre of your book.

And then you need to know how to format the interior of your book, the title page, the copyright page, the specifics of what the chapters and text look like. You can pay someone to do that for you--or you can use low-cost tools and get the job done yourself in a few hours.

Finally, you need to know how to position your book on Amazon (or on other outlets such as Draft2Digital). You need to understand the difference between choosing or not choosing to use Amazon's Kindle Select option. How to set up a great book sales page. How to define keywords and categories so potential readers can find your book when they search for "dinosaur porn humor novels". (I just made that category up. But hey...could sound intriguing, right?

And you should accomplish all the above in about 6 months. Then do it again. And again. And again.

Does This Sound Impossible? It's Not...

Learning the hard lessons of how to manage your own writing career, taking charge of the production, marketing, and sales of your book, can be intimidating, I know. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars and years of time figuring this stuff out.

But I have a mission: I want to help as many writers as possible achieve that dream of becoming professional novelists--and earning good money at their chosen dream. How good? Did you realize that while those who go the traditional publishing route rarely earn anything close to a living wage, a knowledgeable indie author can grow their business to make 5-figure incomes--every month!

In large part your income as an indie author is determined by YOU...how hard you're willing to work. How consistently you're able to produce novels your fan base loves to read. How willing you are to learn and do what being a pro entails.

But I'm going to make it easy for you.

I have a brand new program...and as my own loyal subscribers, you folks get first crack at signing up for it.

6 Months: Story Idea to Published Novel Program

This program will show you how to start with a story idea, and walk through every one of those "What It Takes to Be a Pro" steps. It shows you the fastest, most cost effective tips and techniques I can find...

• How to get spectacular covers for only $100—only $200 if you want print covers too.
• How to build a website--or rather, how to have someone else build and maintain gorgeous author-tailored websites for only $59/month.
• How to structure a story that's appropriate for your story's genre
• How to find an editor (NOT Grammarly!) that will give you really excellent guidance on polishing your prose. Nope, it's not as good as a human editor, but it'll solve at least 80% of your editing problems for you--and it's INEXPENSIVE enough that anyone can afford it.
• How to build a fan base and keep them engaged with your stories.
• How to find the categories and keywords potential readers will search on so they find your book among Amazon's millions of titles
• How to package your book with professionally designed custom covers and pro formatting inside to make your book look great.
• How to build your own email list of fans
• How to use social media, specifically Facebook and Instagram, to attract new readers to your work
• And so much more...

The pilot program is available for sign-up NOW, though I haven't yet released it to the general public. The starting date for a kickoff call is Monday March 13, with the real work beginning on Thursday March 16. It runs through late September.

And you can get in early. I'm limiting the total number of seats in the program to make sure everyone gets personal attention and help. But, not only have I priced this pilot far below its value, for the first 10 people ONLY who register for the program, you can take 50% off even that extreme discount! And you can pay all at once, or spread the cost over 4 equal monthly payments. To get that 50% off, use Coupon Code

PILOTDISCOUNT

(enter the code AFTER you choose whether to pay in 1 payment or 4)

Here's the link to find out all about it. 6 Months Story Idea to Publsihed Novel​

But don't delay. That 50% off coupon is only valid for the first 10 people who sign up. And if my subscribers fill up those first 10 seats and get the super-discount, it's just too bad for the general public, right?

You have a 2-day head start. By Thursday, Feb. 23, anyone will be able to sign up for this pilot program. Sign up now.

Ready? GO!

Meg

contact@megleader.com

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