Steven M. Moore
Eric,
It depends, and a lot of the "depends" stems from external circumstances. The longest duration was probably for Survivors of the Chaos and Sing a Samba Galactica. Those initially were part of one long epic sci-fi novel that was repeatedly rejected by many agents and publishers. I went on and wrote and published Full Medical, The Midas Bomb, and Soldiers of God before I broke that epic into two parts, added a third, leading to today's "Chaos Chronicles Trilogy." The shortest was The Midas Bomb where I got in a zone (meaning Chen and Castilblanco sort of wrote their own story, taking me on a wild ride)--all the mentioned books now have second editions, by the way (I've been doing this a while).
Don't get me wrong. While my experience with publishing did an end-around the traditional route for the reasons above, I have nothing against traditional publishing--not even agents, because I know there are a few good ones out there. In fact, a forthcoming book, Rembrandt's Angel, will be published by Penmore Press, a traditional publisher (but small imprint, not one of the Big Five).
Generally speaking, the content flows pretty fast as I write a new book. I often take longer with the copy editing--my own, and reacting to my beta-readers'. There's a lot to publishing no matter how you do it--complete DIY self-publishing, traditional, or somewhere in between (Draft2Digital, for example). I like to publish at least two books per year. In 2016, I only did one, Rogue Planet (that went fast too--maybe two months for the content). But I don't like to rush things. On the other hand, writing is a wee bit like painting: If you overthink and overwork an oil painting, the colors become muddy and some of the original ideas get lost. Same goes for books.
I hope this answers your question. Thanks for asking it.
r/Steve Moore
PS. Some of the above is discussed in more detail in my little course on writing fiction, a PDF free for the asking--email me using the contact page on my website. There are other PDFs available--see the list on my webpage "Free Stuff & Contests." My website: http://stevenmmoore.com.
It depends, and a lot of the "depends" stems from external circumstances. The longest duration was probably for Survivors of the Chaos and Sing a Samba Galactica. Those initially were part of one long epic sci-fi novel that was repeatedly rejected by many agents and publishers. I went on and wrote and published Full Medical, The Midas Bomb, and Soldiers of God before I broke that epic into two parts, added a third, leading to today's "Chaos Chronicles Trilogy." The shortest was The Midas Bomb where I got in a zone (meaning Chen and Castilblanco sort of wrote their own story, taking me on a wild ride)--all the mentioned books now have second editions, by the way (I've been doing this a while).
Don't get me wrong. While my experience with publishing did an end-around the traditional route for the reasons above, I have nothing against traditional publishing--not even agents, because I know there are a few good ones out there. In fact, a forthcoming book, Rembrandt's Angel, will be published by Penmore Press, a traditional publisher (but small imprint, not one of the Big Five).
Generally speaking, the content flows pretty fast as I write a new book. I often take longer with the copy editing--my own, and reacting to my beta-readers'. There's a lot to publishing no matter how you do it--complete DIY self-publishing, traditional, or somewhere in between (Draft2Digital, for example). I like to publish at least two books per year. In 2016, I only did one, Rogue Planet (that went fast too--maybe two months for the content). But I don't like to rush things. On the other hand, writing is a wee bit like painting: If you overthink and overwork an oil painting, the colors become muddy and some of the original ideas get lost. Same goes for books.
I hope this answers your question. Thanks for asking it.
r/Steve Moore
PS. Some of the above is discussed in more detail in my little course on writing fiction, a PDF free for the asking--email me using the contact page on my website. There are other PDFs available--see the list on my webpage "Free Stuff & Contests." My website: http://stevenmmoore.com.
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