Writing a book Part Three

Congratulations, you made it this far as a writer. You are an elephant. Not that you don't forget things, and believe me during the process of being a writer there are many things you will want to forget, but its because you have thick enough skin to handle the downsides of being a writer. Of course by now you are wondering how is it I know so much about writing. Well, it may not look like it, but I am a writer. A contemporary erotic author and newly discovered erotic Sci-Fi writer. By the way, those titles are called genres. Not sure which category you fall in, well there are a lot of them but I found mine from research. Contemporary means its written in current time. Paranormal are of course about those with extraordinary powers, shape shifters. Faeries, then Vampires and the like. There is a longer list I'm sure.
So now that you have decided to take on the manacle of writer, the question now is how much do you read? I was once a non reader. Didn't like to pick up a book because it made me sleepy to read past the first chapter. Then one day, I could read for hours, if the print is of a good size. When writing I use 11.5. Times New Roman, by which is the standard of all books written, is a good clear type. the 11.5 with 1.5 spacing is a big enough size to not strain the eyes when reading. Not sure of the difference, most best sellers are using a 11 or smaller which also makes the book thicker.
Becoming an author means you have a responsibility to your following to read, as much if not as often, as you write. You want people to follow you, well you in turn may need to read another's work. This is just good business. Of course you will find, not everyone views business the same way. You will read another's book, leave a review and your book has been shelved. They don't have time and next thing you know 6 years have passed. You cant be worried about those that haven't read your book because you read theirs, move on to new readers and your following will grow.
Not every author, blogger, beta, reviewer, cover artist, or web designer is your friend. I'm not saying this to be mean to anyone, this is just common knowledge. You will discover in social media exactly what I am referring to when you see in your timeline how one individual blasted another and its been shared over a hundred times and commented like crazy. Of course all of it could have been handled without the world having to know but then where would the fun be in that. Some people are petty and like to spread their misery. Some chose to make others aware of one who wronged them, alerting others who may be considering working with them. So there are good and bad sides to blasting people online, still there is a better and more professional way to do such things. If you have a problem with another, just talk to them, if they chose to become petty and loud and blow things out of proportion, just make sure you cover yourself and walk away.
Do you know how to make Swag? Swag is material you give out to readers and followers for their support. This can be in the form of book marks, either made by you or bought from a website. There are people on social media who do all kinds of arts and crafts projects with book covers on them. Stock up on a bunch and as you do a giveaway, or have a contest, send out a few. You will need a little black book to contain the mailing list and email addresses of those who follow you so when you have a new release, they will be first to know. Now when I say mailing list, this doesn't just mean for the continental U.S. Those you meet online, may not always be in the states. I have met people and worked with those living in Bosnia, Afghanistan, England, Australia, and  New Zealand. So when you gain a friend or two, sending packages overseas is going to cost a bit more than local mail and a different form will need to be filled out at the post office.
So back to you reading. I know most feel they don't like what everyone writes, but as an author you shouldn't limit yourself to reading just one type of genre. You will never know the interest of the reader base just reading one genre. Society has a habit of blowing up a new thing for about a month, or less and then its gone. To stand out, you want to be the one coming up with the new thing. Although this is still a hard process. Yes you are writing fiction but there still are rules. I said that before let me clarify.
By rules I mean when you make up a character, be it Paranormal, faerie, or an average person, they have to be believable. You cannot have an average man lifting cars to rescue the damsel unless he is some type of nonhuman. With powers, there has to be a weakness, not just the opposite sex. Think of Superman. He is an all powerful alien, but his weakness is kryptonite, which also when you make up a word, you will need to define it so readers understand the word better, and a red sun. 
If you make a character with a new ability, such as the character in Underworld where he was part Lycan and part Vampire, again you will need to spell it out to make such a character believable.
While working on those, there is the matter of learning to format your book. Learning about Page breaks so your chapters don't overlap one another, indenting the beginning of a conversation .5 throughout the book, and inserting cute little symbols to separate your chapters. This is all done through lots of practice and plenty of research.
The more you read, the more you will understand and the more your vocabulary grows.
When using your Microsoft word, or whichever software you are writing with, you will need to set up a search for words you use too often, or repetitive words and phrases. I found out using such words as 'Something, Look, That, Turn, -ly, and even said', can get pretty boring to see a lot of. Become familiar with your thesaurus, if need be, purchase a separate one and keep it handy.
There is a quote by Gary Provost, This sentence has five words. It gives you an idea how to evoke emotion in a reader with just five words. Its an amazing piece and replicating it is not an easy task. It cant be the same throughout the book but finding the one place to use it, and it gives off the emotion you want the reader to feel, may send your readers into a frenzy wanting to share it with others.
Your laptop may have a thesaurus, the amount of word available on it is limited.  Being a writer I am also learning, having more than one screen is helpful. I can have my book on one and be able to do research on another while having my thesaurus on a third. Another expenditure you will need to understand. The constant writing on a laptop and the ability to find one that can handle all you do to it. Will you take it everywhere or will it just sit on a desk until you return? How much memory space will you need? How big of a screen?
Finding the time to write. Will you need a quite space, will you have to share the dining room and listen to the family watching television in the next space? Will you listen to music, or prefer total silence. Keeping a notebook handy will help in those moments you have a thought and need to write it down. You can email yourself to copy and paste the rest later.