March 2021 will mark an important anniversary for me. It will be a decade since I retired from ‘normal’ work. I was an accountant in the City of London working for one of the largest firms of accountants in the world. It was a job I enjoyed, but working in an accountancy practice is a young man’s job that involves long hours and an enormous commitment. I had reached retirement age, and it was time for something new. Most in my position, would have considered a hobby like golf, sailing or walking. But I’m different.

I had always wanted to write a novel. “Collision” was my first. I always knew I could write. I had written four obscure accounting texts, one of which went to four editions, and I contributed to industry accounting texts on banking and leasing. But I didn’t know if I had the imagination and drive to write a novel. That’s a real challenge.

Well, a decade on, I ‘ve published three novels and am working on my fourth. Four books in ten years is not a great output. But it was never about the output or the money. I’ve learned a lot about storytelling, writing, publishing and marketing, much of which I have discussed in this blog. If you are new to writing I hope the blog I have produced will help you find your way. There are some 84 blogs on the subject.

There are lots of traps for a new writer to fall into. And a number of sharks out there that will promise you help and support for a large fee. Fortunately, I avoided most of them. The truth is that as a writer all you need is a computer and writing software that will output. I would recommend Scrivener (which is about $47) or any other software that can output Epub and Mobi formats. This is not a huge investment.

The only other essential expenses I incur are for editing, cover design and advertising. How much you choose to spend on each is up to you. It’s possible to get a good cover for under $100 on Fiverr. For advertising, I use Amazon Advertising Sponsored Products and keywords, but you need to tread carefully. The largest expense is probably the cost of editing. I do most of the basic editing myself, but a professional proofreader is a necessity for the final proof.

If you’re new to writing and publishing, then you need to understand that there is a learning curve involved. You need to understand dialogue and other writing format conventions, book formatting conventions, advertising and more. It will take time to learn. It took me 20 months to publish my first novel but I was a complete novice at marketing. Even now after ten years I’m still learning about publishing and marketing. The alternative is to undertake a training course to fast track the process. There are a number of good courses out there. But they don’t come cheaply.

If you are a new Indie writer and have a burning question, ask me on the blog. Or if you prefer, email me through my Contact page.