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I took some advice last Quarter that I’m really proud of following.  James Altucher suggested I sit quietly each morning, drink coffee and write down ten ideas each day.  They could be about business, about books, about improving the community or building a better mousetrap.  He said that by practicing creating ideas I would become an idea machine.

It worked.  I was the most productive, the most creative I’ve been in a long time and my income through Amazon almost doubled.

Funny how that works.  As an author entrepreneur, the more you write, the better you get.  The better you get and the more work you publish, the more money you make.

Plus, as you become a better writer, you find more readers.  Readers love books that give them pleasure.  Readers like to have fun.

So do writers, and if you can create 10 ideas a day, you’re going to have a blast.

Unless you get frustrated like I do.  I have so many ideas, it’s hard to focus on just one at a time.  It’s tough to think some are going to have to go on a backburner, and some may have to get outsourced, and some may never get told at all.

Frustrating and sad.  This is my first call for help.  If you are an author and you want to double your output next year and you like my writing style, let’s partner up.  You write 20k words, I’ll write 20k words and we’ll co-author a series.  Email me for the deets.

Instead of waiting for other authors to realize that indie publishing is a great way to start building your career as an author though, I decided to train to become a faster writer.

Derek Murphy introduced me to Chris Fox in a podcast.  Fox wrote a series of Sci-fi novels, and a couple of non-fiction works, much like I did.  He’s got a bigger audience than me (he’s been hard at it since 2010), so he’s ahead of the curve.  He also made 100k last year, and expects to almost double it this year.  Not bad for an indie.

He’s the 10th or 11th fiction author I’ve found doing those numbers.  I study them all.

What’s their secret?  They write.  A lot.  They publish.  A lot.

Since I have a lot of ideas, outlines and books on the tarmac in various stages of completion, I needed to figure out a way to join the ranks of Uberproducers.  Or Megaproducers.  Which do you like best?

Fox wrote a book called 5,000 WORDS AN HOUR.  I grabbed it and devoured it.

Turns out, writing fast is a lot like getting fit, or training to run a marathon.  You practice.  He called them writing sprints where you track your words.  I started practicing.  Turns out I naturally write around 2k words an hour.  I just have to work up to doubling it, then work 2 – 4 hours each day.

I’m training to write faster.  Which is good because I just discovered and researched audio rights for indie authors.  Did you know there are at least 7 ways to make money from audio on your books, and that audio books are in a growth phase in 2017?

I ask the question because besides Derek Murphy, and Joanna Penn, I read Seth Godin daily.

He suggested we start asking more questions.  Better questions.

That’s a common theme among people who want to pioneer any industry, or who want to rise to the top.

Start with “How can I?” to create your goal, then ask everyone who has done it before, “How did you?” and “What would you do different?”

If you were starting out as an indie author in 2010, you would write a series of books.  By now you would have 8 or more in the series, and be making a decent living as an author, if your writing was good, if you connected with an audience and if you had discover-ability.  (Those facts must always be present in your work, and the more you write, the better you will be.)

Now it’s 2017.  The ebook tsunami washed up and down.  A lot of stuff was published.  Some of it stuck.  Some people failed.  Other’s succeeded.  The questions you need to ask are what did those who succeeded do, that those who failed did not.

Sometimes it’s about writing to market.  Pick a niche.  Write 8 books in the niche.  Then repeat.

Sometimes it’s about better covers, better format, better professionalism.  Good writing trumps all.  Fun writing trumps all.  But try different covers, better covers if you want to increase sales.

Some gurus will tell you ADS are where it’s at.  In 2016, it was FB ads.  In 2017, they’re trying to sell you on how to use Amazon ads.  Practice and experiment to see what works.  Be prepared for what comes next.

Write a 100 Day plan for your author business.  Add at least one marketing idea per day and at the end of Q1 you will have done 100 things to market your books.

Add one marketing promotion for another author to your to do list.  At the end of 100 days you will have done 100 things to promote another author.  If you partner with me to write a series, I’ll do one thing each day for a year to market us.

Ask a lot of questions.  I have a series in development about Gnomes.  Why gnomes?  I was obsessed with them a decade ago.  I found my garden gnome in a box and put him in my office.  I found a notebook with two dozen ideas about gnomes in it.  It made me need to launch a Kickstarter.  It made me need to find an illustrator.  It made me write four query letters to production companies to pitch.

I’m not waiting for someone to give me permission to move forward with them though.  I’m asking questions about tax incentive financing for film production in the state.

It seems like a lot.  It’s just one question a day.  One action a day.

And I write.  Every morning, after my ten ideas are done, I sit at the computer, open a word doc and put in 2k words at least.  Then I practice 2k more, going for speed.  Soon, I’ll reach 3k, then 4, then 5.

Training.  The question is, how can you get better?  At marketing.  At writing.  At connecting.  At entertaining.

Find your questions, then ask them.

When you get your answers, go do.  Go do now.

I can’t wait to see what you’ve done.  Tell me what you’re working on in the comments.

BTW’s, this post is 1100 words.  I wrote it in 15 minutes.  That’s what practice can do for you.