I’ve Started Writing My Next Book

This week I started writing my next book. I have no idea when it will come out. I’ve tentatively pencilled it in for early 2019 but let’s see how that goes.

The book is just sketches now; a smattering words thrown down in an attempt to corral five ideas into a single theme. What is more clear is I want this book to look like when it is finished and how I hope the process will evolve.

Things To Do Differently

I’m still proud of No Missing Tools, my first book, but looking back, there’s a lot of decisions I made that, well let’s put it this way, they were the mistakes of a first time, self-published author. This time I will approach the creation of the book differently.

Print Edition First
Most of the effort last time went into the electronic editions (Kindle and PDF). But, the print editions easily outsold the electronic ones. Even the limited edition, at U$65 a copy, did very well. This time I’m focussing on the print edition.

Own The Design
The cover art for No Missing Tools was good (and the similarities with the poster art for Netflix’ new design series Abstract are striking). But, I wasn’t satisfied with the layout design or the dense feel of the book (perhaps hard to avoid in a 60,000+ word paperback. This time I’m going to be a lot more hands on with the design. Between the creation of the last book and now I’ve significantly grown the number of good designers in my circle and that’s inspired me to me far more bold this time around.

Have Fewer Words
This will be a shorter book, I’m guessing less than a third as many words. The work I did with a writing coach last year has revitalised my writing and I feel like I can say more with less and I don’t always have to rely on non-fiction essays to say it. The book will be lighter, more open, oriented towards ideas and provocation, rather than biography and advice.Beyond words, the new book will also contain photos, drawings, puzzles, and a few other surprises.

Take Longer To Write
With No Missing Tools I pretty much stopped everything for almost a year to write and produce the book. It was very isolating. I sort disappeared, then turned up asking you all to buy my book, which is not a smart marketing plan. This time I want to share more about the process of creating the book. And, I’m keeping an open mind about taking it to a publisher instead of self-publishing.

Own The Final Edit
I was deeply unhappy with the final edit of my last book. Working under a self-imposed deadline I accepted a copyedit that didn’t fully conform to my style. This won’t happen again.

Things To Keep The Same

Of course, the story was not all bad with No Missing Tools and there was plenty to celebrate. Some things are going to continue to be part of the process.

Edit Well In The Earlier Stages
The line editing process transformed No Missing Tools and I plan to take the next book to the same editor once I have a first draft (or something close to it). It’s tempting with a shorter book to try and cut corners on the editing process, but that would be a folly.

Share Stories
Writing the first book taught me a lot about how to share stories and how to write descriptively. While the topic required a lot of explanation and advice it felt like the descriptive stories were probably the strongest part of the book.

Block Out Time
While I won’t be putting life on hold this time in the same way, there will be a season, maybe a few months, where the new book will be the only thing I do for six days a week. I’m a little more ready for that this time around.

Make A Premium Edition
Perhaps the most rewarding thing about theist book was the response to the hardcover limited edition version. The new book will have an even more luxurious made in Japan limited edition version.

That’s About It For Now

Although the ideas are incubating for this new book, there’s a lot of other stuff going on which will continue to be the main focus for 2017, from the YouTube channel, to some new photo prints and a few other things I’m working on.

Consider this a small sign, in an empty field, promising something new in the future.