This takes time. How long depends on you. Some authors write one book a year or take several years over one book – the ‘quality’ approach. Developing an idea, then getting it down on paper, needs a sufficient interval.
At the other extreme is ‘quantity’. Some authors write a book a month, or every two months. This does not imply the book is not as good as the above. It still takes the author many, many hours to produce the finished article – they tend to be full-time writers and put in very long hours.
Then there are the in-between, two or three books a year. It all depends on how much space you can commit to writing.
First and foremost, the book must be good – a compelling story, and powerful characters. Because a poor book won’t sell, no matter how much you spend on promotion. If you’re writing a series, the first book being good, even excellent, is more critical. Your readers won’t enter the funnel and buy the rest if the first doesn’t pull them in.
Many authors, they don’t know whether their book meets these criteria until they’ve hit publish. This is where developmental story editing comes in – an independent party reviews your novel and outlines the strengths and weaknesses and, most importantly, how to make the book better.
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