How long it takes to write a book depends on its length.
The Rift, which was well over a thousand pages of manuscript, took two years.
I can't speak for the other authors, but what I hoped to achieve was to illuminate certain corners of the Lucas universe that hadn't yet been explored.
Even if you only want to write science fiction, you should also read mysteries, poetry, mainstream literature, history, biography, philosophy, and science.
Everything that you read is an influence on everything you write, and you want to draw as many elements into your work as you can.
Try to meet as many authors, agents, and editors as you can.
I'm in favor of any technology that makes my work available to the reading public at a reasonable price.
I want a platform that, like a book or a magazine, I can carry into the bath or leave at the beach.
That's why editors and publishers will never be obsolete: a reader wants someone with taste and authority to point them in the direction of the good stuff, and to keep the awful stuff away from their door.
It's hard to generalize, because they're all different. When I started, I decided to take as much advantage as I could of the freedom offered by the SF field.
Working within the limitations of the shared world generally made the writing easier, because I didn't have to invent any of the characters or background, which is usually the hardest part.
Some of my ideas were shot down by Lucasfilm because they stepped on territory that has been reserved for the movies. I didn't have a problem with that.
