Ian Rankin shares the method he uses to write the Rebus mystery novels in this excellent article.

Crime of passion | By genre | Guardian Unlimited Books notes: “He took me upstairs to see his office because I’d asked what date he started writing Exit Music and he said he’d check the manuscript because he dates every page: he started on 1 February 2007 and finished on 27 March - just two months to write a bestseller. But what is most interesting about this first draft manuscript is that he writes messages to himself in capital letters mid-text, saying things like: ‘I’M WONDERING IF THE GIRL COULD PLAY A PART IN THE BOOK.’ This is the girl who finds the body right at the beginning of the novel and ends up playing quite an important part in the plot.”

Writing a book and selling your book are two different processes, and for success as an author, you need to become adept at both.

Look at those statistics. The Easy Way to Publishing Success By Patricia Fry says: “First, let me say that, while it’s actually fairly easy to get published, the challenge is to experience success as a published author. Did you know, for example, that there were only 10 titles in 2006 that sold over a million copies? Seventy-six percent or 948,000 titles, that year, sold fewer than 100 copies. The next largest percentage is 17 percent representing titles that sold between 100 and 1,000 copies.”

Selling a book to a publisher is one thing. Ensuring that the book sells once it’s on the bookstore shelves is something completely different.

Selling your book happens in two stages:

1. Selling your book to a publishing house via an agent or doing it yourself

2. Promoting your book both before publication day, and afterward

I set up my exclusive new membership site to help you to get your books written, to sell them to publishers, AND to develop your career as an author.

To develop a long term career, what happens after publication day is just as important as what happens before that day.

If you’re new to writing books, copyright can be a confusing topic, and many new authors are completely unaware of the importance of obtaining permissions when they’re writing a book.

New to permission requests?

Here’s a good definition from Henry Holt:

Definition: A permission request is a request to obtain consent to reproduce an excerpt from copyrighted material from the party or entity representing the creator of the copyrighted material. Permission requests usually refer to excerpts reproduced in books, audio products or classroom coursepackets.

Here are a few cases in which you need to get permissions:

* You’re quoting substantially from another work - and even if you’re quoting minimally in some cases;

* You’re using images;

* You’re using song lyrics;

* You’re using quotes from poems;

* You’re taking screen clips from a software program.

Getting permissions is always the author’s responsibility. If you’re planning to use material which is copyright, then begin collecting commissions as you write the book.

Paying for permissions

You may get a nasty shock: often you will need to pay for permission to use copyrighted material - and you should assume that EVERYTHING, online or offline, is copyright.

Your publisher will assume that you know that you must collect permissions, and it can take a long time to collect them, particularly if a book from which you’re quoting is out of print. Once you’ve signed a publishing contract, your editor will send you permission forms. If he forgets, remind him.

Song lyrics seem to be a particularly contentious area for permissions - I know several authors who were shocked at the amount of money asked for for permission to use song lyrics, so be aware.