I recently looked through Stephen King’s bibliography. So far, he has published 65 novels—which is actually fewer than I would have guessed. He started in 1974 with Carrie and scored a hit right out of the gate. Lots of bestsellers followed. It’s 50 years of writing. Impressive—not just because of the hits, but because of the consistency.

King’s Twitter is a mess, his politics a joke. But I still admire him. I want to get there too.

My goal is four books a year. One every three months. It’s possible. But to get there I need to do more.

Last year, I wrote a lot. I started a simple experiment: write 1,000 words a day. I stuck with it for almost all 365 days. The result? Four finished books—and several more that never made it past the halfway point. The main issue: I didn’t take the time to edit any of them. I treated it more like a writing exercise than an author’s workflow.

But being an author isn’t just about writing—it’s about writing something you’re confident putting out into the world. That’s where plotting and editing come in. Two things I haven’t really focused on yet.

To consistently release a new book every three months, I need to work on both, establish a working process, optimize it, and invest the effort. Simply put: I need to do more.

I’ll continue using the 1K-a-day method for writing. But on top of that, I’ll dedicate at least one hour a day to plotting and editing. Will that be enough to fully prep a book for release every three months? I’m not sure yet. The next few months will tell. I’ll report here on the tools I use, the time it takes, possible adjustments, and the final results.

So stay tuned…

I like to think I have good ideas. I also believe I can write fairly well. Not everyone will agree, of course, but there have been moments in my life when friends, family, and even complete strangers have complimented me on both.

There’s definitely a lot to learn about writing—it’s one of those skills where the learning never really ends. By writing more, writing regularly, and publishing my work, I should improve over time. Practice makes perfect, they say. And until perfection is achieved, there’s still improvement.

That said, the writing itself has never really been my weak point. My struggle is with marketing.

I’m terrible at self-promotion. And since nobody else is promoting me as a self-published author, my writing isn’t getting the attention I’d like it to get.

If you want to become a successful author, writing books isn’t enough. You have to figure out how to sell them—otherwise, you’re just another office drone or factory worker with an unfulfilled dream of being an author.

Over the past few days, I’ve been trying to figure out how to actually reach readers. I don’t expect to sell millions of books overnight, but over the course of months and years, I’d like to see some growth. So far, that hasn’t happened. The first two books I’ve published aren’t really selling—I get a small handful of readers each month, mostly through Kindle Unlimited. It’s been that way since the beginning, and more than a year later, nothing has changed.

Just putting my work out there wasn’t enough. If I don’t spread the word, nobody will find my work.

I once read that around 7,500 new books are published on Kindle—every single day. It’s certainly even more now. And with AI improving rapidly, that number will only increase.

That makes my books feel like a single raindrop in an ocean of new releases. It’s my job to make that raindrop stand out and get readers interested in what I’ve created.

One way I might do that is through blogging—preferably daily blogging.

These days, most people consume content on social media only. But if there are people who still read blogs, they should also be book readers. So daily blogging might be a good way to find an audience for my writing.

It’s a long-term strategy. It might take years to grow a blog—if I can grow one at all. But it’s a cost-effective promotional tool, and one I actually enjoy using. I like writing fiction for a reason. For the same reason, I should enjoy blogging too.

So, this blog will be one of the tools I use to promote my work. I’ll keep you posted on how effective it turns out to be.

My Books On Amazon US | My Books On Amazon DE

Until now, writing has been just a hobby for me. I wrote stories for fun, often discarding them as soon as they were finished. However, I did self-publish two books—mostly to understand how the process works. The first was a Western, 4 Bullets, and the second, a dystopian sci-fi novel, World War 4 (apparently, I have a thing for the number 4 in my titles).

I don’t have many readers – or buyers. In total, I’ve sold fewer than 100 copies of both books combined.

Without a platform, a friend with influence, a big marketing budget, or a major publisher backing you, being an author also means being the CEO of your own marketing efforts. Unfortunately, marketing is not my cup of tea.

Another thing that’s not mine: Editing.

Writing itself comes easily to me. I sit down and write 1,000 words a day, which adds up to over 365,000 words a year. Since a typical novel is around 60,000 words, I could easily write six books a year. Every year. But editing? That’s a different story.

The last book I published took me years to edit. Another completed novel—intended to launch a lifelong series—was finished in late 2023, yet here I am in 2025, still stuck in the editing phase.

Editing is exhausting. I comb through my text endlessly, always feeling like I need to go over it again. And no matter how often I went over it, I still find new typos in the next round of going over it again.

But here’s the good news: AI is changing the game.

This month, I experimented with feeding my novel—page by page—into ChatGPT for editing advice. The results were surprisingly good. While AI isn’t perfect and makes its own mistakes, it corrects many of mine. And fixing AI’s errors somehow feels easier than fixing my own.

This experience made me realize that not only can I improve the quality of my work, but I can also increase my publishing speed. Releasing six books a year no longer seems impossible. If AI continues to evolve, who knows? Maybe I’ll even manage to publish a book a month for the entire year.

Most importantly, this process has rekindled my passion for writing. It has also reignited my ambition to turn this from a hobby into something more.

Up until now, I wrote for fun and published out of curiosity. I never seriously considered making writing a business. Now, I do.

There’s a lot to learn, a lot of work ahead—but also a lot of excitement. Here’s what I’m focusing on:

• Crafting better storylines
• Creating more memorable characters
• Improving writing flow and style
• Editing more efficiently
• Translating my German stories into English faster
• Designing better book covers
• Writing compelling blurbs
• Learning about marketing and self-promotion
• Building a readership and online presence
• Growing my social media reach
• Exploring AI-generated audiobooks
• … and much more.

I plan to document my progress—successes and setbacks alike—right here on this website.

My next book is set to release this summer, marking the beginning of my journey toward becoming a real author. Let’s see if I can reach the finish line.