I remember on the TV show Castle, he was at his regular authors poker game, and guys like James Patterson were giving him crap because he was only writing a book a year, and how he needs to stop slacking. I'm sorry, but, Patterson is a poster child for being overly published. From 1976 to 1999, so over 23 years, Patterson wrote 17 books. from 2000 to 2004 he wrote 3 books a year. In 2011, he published his 89th book, and he has 13 books scheduled for release in 2012. At that high of a rate, how can you expect any level of quality?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crossroad Press
As a writer of several decades with a lot of books under my belt...I can say that two to three books a year is comfortable, and more is easily doable if you are focused. Having a solid outline helps if there is a speed element, but honestly, most authors have several great new ideas during the course of writing any given book, and as long as they start outlining in their dead time and preparing, there is no reason that - particularly if it's your only job - you can't manage 1500 - 2000 words a day. That being the case - three to six books done or nearly done in any given year is not at all unreasonable. Some of my best-reviewed novels were written in a month or less (first draft). There is a lot of work beyond that point, but still...if a writer treats writing like their career / job - and they work it a good solid number of hours a day, one book a year is a ridiculously low output.
-DNW
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There are other factors that can limit writing output, such as number of rewrites, length of the book, how much time you spend promoting the book, etc.