Blog

Amazon best-seller writer, Kay Kukoyi, was my guest in January 2017.

Since then, a lot has happened!

Both of Kay’s first two books have become Amazon #1 best-sellers in multiple countries. Don’t Hire a Software Developer Until You Read this Book has been #1 in six countries: the UK, US, Germany, Brazil, Australia, and Canada. And, Develop Your Idea! reached #1 in four countries.

Congratulations Kay!

So, how does Scrivener fit whilst working on book 3?

After I wrote my first two books, I made a list of writing habits that worked for me and those that didn’t! This time, for book 3, Don’t Buy Software For Your Small Business Until You Read This Book, the process was about what I wanted to keep doing and what I wanted to do differently this time.

How did this change things for book 3?

Following this list and resolving some of my earlier frustrations, I worked much more quickly and efficiently on my third book. I was much less nervous about doing the ‘right’ thing.

Can you give an example?

In books 1 and 2, I worried about what would happen if made certain decisions, such as choosing to use particular font sizes and styles. Once I understood that Kindle readers can change these elements themselves, I realised that it was a waste of time changing the default Scrivener font.

Good point! A lot of time can be spent trying to make the text look good when, all the time, it’s up to the reader what they see. Keep it simple is my advice.

In moving from Book 1 to book 2 to book 3, what did you do?

I kept hold of my writing tips and guidance folders with ideas and best practice notes in them and recreated them again in the new manuscript. This kept me on track, and I will continue to do this in future; my notes and reminders were always visible and easy to access and this was very helpful.

Again, can you give an example?

Yes, I had a marketing and launch plan folder which included a list of useful Twitter hashtags, writing tips, and my ‘elevator pitch’ for the book.

One subfolder has the list of free resources that I’ll be providing with each book as I like to include a lot of free templates and tools in my books for readers to use.

Then I have another subfolder which holds a list of people who might find my books useful, or that I’d like to reach out to and ask if they would be kind enough to help with my launch.

Last, but not least, I have lists of the Amazon book and Kindle categories which are best for each book across each Amazon territory.

Keeping this information in one place makes it easier to email the KDP team with requests about adding or changing book categories.

It can be nice to have the manuscript and all this extra info in one place!

Tell me more about book 3

The new book is called Don’t Buy Software For Your Small Business Until You Read This Book.

It’s another ‘software survival guide’, this time for small and medium sized businesses who are looking to buy software for their companies.

As companies grow, the options available become more complex (and expensive). There is research to be done and there are business and data protection regulations to consider, IT security concerns, financial considerations, legal contracts to review and a need to assess very carefully what the software really needs to do. Otherwise, it can be easy to invest large sums in a license, or consultancy fees, only to discover that the product is not really suitable, and so the cycle begins again with companies out of pocket and burned by the whole experience.

It’s a very stressful process for most businesses, so I wrote the book as a handbook, or guide to provide support for people facing this daunting task.

And, finally, what’s your favourite Scrivener feature?

I loved using the blue and yellow warning icons to identify parts of the book that were incomplete, so they were used again this time as they stand out and are easy to spot when working in ‘Scriv’, as I like to call it!

I used the way station colours to represent how developed each chapter was.

You seem totally committed to Scriv now!

Absolutely! It was definitely a more pleasant experience this time around!

More about Kay

Kay has spent over a decade as a software delivery specialist, including mobile apps, web apps, and websites.  She has a passion for translating ideas into professional software used by businesses and consumers worldwide.

If you would like to have a guest blog spot, contact me!

The ScrivenerVirgin blog is a journey of discovery:
a step-by-step exploration of how Scrivener can change how a writer writes.
To subscribe to this blog, click here.

Also … check out the Scrivener and RedPen Editing Tips
on my ScrivenerVirgin Facebook page.