Many authors are wary of posting their material online. You shouldn’t be.

One author had some luck.

This article, Author Found on Penguin’s Web Site Signs Book Deal – NYTimes.com, reports:

“Ace Books, an imprint of Penguin, has signed the debut novelist Kerry Schafer to a two-book deal, only weeks after Ms. Schafer posted writing samples on Bookcountry.com, a Web site Penguin introduced in April that invites writers of genre fiction to share their work.”

There you go.

You’ve created a blurb for your book. You’ve even created an outline. Now comes the writing.

Unfortunately, few things go according to plan. When you’re writing a book, nothing goes according to plan.

Although I know that writing a book’s a chaotic process, that doesn’t mean I like it. I’m always looking for something — anything — which will tame the chaos. Otherwise I know that I can get entangled in thickets for days, if not weeks, trying to find my way back to my original inspiration.

Here’s an idea for planning your novel which I’ve never heard discussed. This post, Taking note: Charles Dickens’ Plan Sheets, describes Charles Dickens’ plan sheets:

“On the right side dealt with the substance of the chapters. Thus he usually wrote on the top right of the sheet the name of the novel and the installment number; below the title he wrote the name of each planned chapter. In the space under each chapter he listed the most important events. The “plan sheets” varied very much, as one might expect. Some plans are very full, some remained rather empty.
“

It’s a simple, paper-based method, which is why it appeals to me. I can write nonfiction books on the computer, but when I’m writing fiction, I always write my first draft using pen and paper. I’ve no idea why this is, but I can’t write my initial draft at the keyboard; when I try I always end up blocked.

What do you think of Dickens’ planning method?

Oh dear. Panic abounds on indie authors’ forums and blogs.

Don’t panic, dear author. Amazon isn’t taking the bread out of your mouth… Kindle owners can only borrow ONE book a month, so who cares?

You shouldn’t.

I heartily second this blog post. Scott Nicholson:

“Every single move Amazon has made resulted in MORE money for all participating writers, MORE ebooks for all readers, and MORE opportunity instead of a monopoly (if you follow me at all, you know I’m a contrarian and I see huge, huge opportunity in the other markets now, which of course will have to do something to counter Amazon’s big move.)”

No one is twisting any author’s arm to take part, are they? And as Scott says, without Amazon, indie authors would be using manuscript pages for origami.

Amazon’s just giving authors more opportunity. If you’re not interested, don’t take part.

Readers are right. Everyone else is WRONG. In this blog post,, I said:

* Sometimes editors are wrong

* Sometimes literary agents are wrong

* Often ALL buyers of your writing are WRONG. (By which I meant buyer of your writing services, rather than readers.)

Anyone who stands between you and your readers can be wrong, and can steer you in the wrong direction. Only your readers are right.

Readers are what writing is all about, and when you have direct contact with readers, your writing will take off.

As proof, we have this blog post, How I Became a Best-Selling Author – Yahoo! Finance, about Darcie Chan’s rejected novel which gained 400,000 readers very quickly:

“This past May, Ms. Chan decided to digitally publish it herself, hoping to gain a few readers and some feedback. She bought some ads on Web sites targeting e-book readers, paid for a review from Kirkus Reviews, and strategically priced her book at 99 cents to encourage readers to try it. She’s now attracting bids from foreign imprints, movie studios and audio-book publishers, without selling a single copy in print.”

You’ll notice that Darcie Chan’s novel has only been selling online since May, 2011. That’s 400K copies in seven months.

Since there’s no shelf life for digital books, the novel will snowball. Judging by the publicity Ms Chan’s getting, I predict she’ll hit a million copies sold sometime next year. If I were a betting person (I’m not) I’d bet on the second quarter of 2012.

Want an agent? If you do, try not to shoot yourself in the foot.

This post gives you great advice — things you shouldn’t say in your agent query letter. Glass Cases: Stop Helping Yourself. I liked this one:

““My manuscript has been professionally edited.”
The first question that always comes to mind is “by whom?” Your friend who works at the local newspaper? A college writing professor? Your aunt who reads a lot? There are plenty of freelance editors out there whose opinions are professional and whose judgment I would respect as an agent. However, even if you used professional services, there is no reason to say that in your query. It tells me nothing about the quality of your writing or whether I’d be interested in your book. “

Here’s a tip: forget getting an agent until you have an offer from a publisher.

New writers, and professional writers who should know better, think that all you need is an agent, and fame and money await. That’s rarely the case, and in the early stages of your career, an agent can do you more harm than good.