Writing and Publishing News

Are you writing your memoir, a children’s book, a how-to or a young adult fantasy? When is the last time you read a book in this category? Many of you can only answer that question with—“never” or “a long time ago.” And, in case you’re wondering, this is the wrong answer.

You need to read what you write. Why?
• In order to see what’s out there in this category, topic, genre.
• To understand all you can about the genre.
• So that you are more apt to write the right book for your readers.

What elements are a must in a children’s adventure book? What should you avoid? What type of memoir is most popular? What makes a memoir interesting to read? What techniques turn readers off? How is a successful how-to or self-help book organized?

Yes, you want to be creative. You don’t want to copy other writers. However, neither do you want to confuse or turn off readers.

Before you launch out to write your memoir or your first children’s book, study books in this genre or topic—lots and lots of them. Get a feel for what works, what’s appropriate and what readers want/need and will accept. And then you will be more apt to write the right book for the right audience.

For more about writing and publishing your book, read my book, “Publish Your Book.” It’s at Amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores. You’ll find it in print, Kindle and audio. Or purchase your print copy here: http://www.matilijapress.com

Yesterday, I shared three tips for jumpstarting your writing career. Here are three more. I can’t tell you how many people I meet every year who ask me how I organize my time so that I can write. Well, for me, writing is my full-time work. It’s what I do and what I’ve been doing for forty years. It’s a lifestyle that I take for granted now. But in the beginning, I had some of the same challenges you have when it comes to finding time to write, disciplining yourself to write and so forth.

I once worked at a regular job outside the home, for example, but I still found time to write. Here are three more tips for you:

4: Use your time wisely. Becoming a successful freelance writer or to write a book takes discipline and realistic scheduling. Failure comes to those who procrastinate, who have trouble prioritizing tasks and who are easily distracted. Those who succeed in this business have found a way to organize their lives and discipline themselves.

5: Just start. It isn’t easy to transition from full-time office worker to full-time writer. Most of us don’t have the funds to support us while we build a new business. I didn’t always have 12 or even 8 hours each day to spend working my freelance writing business. I built it over time. For any of you who are interested, here is my story:

I started writing articles for magazines from a corner of my bedroom using a manual typewriter in 1973. Thirteen years later, however, it became necessary for me to take a full-time job. I’d just spent 5 years researching and writing a comprehensive local history book and self-publishing it. So funds were low and my lifestyle was in transition.

How I missed writing. While I had a good job with lovely people around me, I disliked working for someone else—on someone else’s agenda. And it looked as if this would be my future. I became despondent. That’s when I realized that I had to find a way to write no matter what else was going on in my life.

I started getting up at 4 every morning and writing before I went to work. Then I would write on weekends. I completed an entire book in 8 months on that schedule. I can’t even begin to describe how happy and fulfilled I felt. But I wanted more. I wanted to come home and establish a writing business that supported me spiritually as well as financially. So I began using that time in the wee hours of the morning to submit articles to magazines—remember, this was before the ease of the Internet. Within a year, I was able to quit my job and come home to write. And I’ve never looked back.

6: Write what they want. You have to go where the paying work is and accept the jobs that are available. While I never compromised my values in order to get paying work, I have certainly had to take some challenging and sometimes not very interesting jobs in order to keep the flow of money coming my way.

I’ve seen too many writers so bent on making their own personal statement or doing things their way that they get nowhere in this business. If you want to make a living or even earn some part-time money as a writer, you have to go where the work is and write what is needed/wanted. Write about things that are current, popular or even a bit provocative or controversial.

It takes more to become a full-time writer than just dreaming about it. If writing full-time is your dream, read and reread the above six points and use them to finally fulfill your passion.

Would you like to establish a career as a freelance writer? Do you dream of writing full-time? Follow the suggestions below and your dream could become a reality.

1: Spend time writing whether it’s convenient to do so or not. Your routine is important to you. In fact, it probably represents your comfort zone. To step outside of this zone, even to pursue something you want to do, often causes some discomfort. You have choices. You can give up your dream of writing or try easing into the writing realm. How? Make writing a priority and you will find the time.

2: Make time to write. Usually this means making some sacrifices. What are you willing to give up in order to write? Sleep, TV, Internet surfing or perhaps overtime at work?
Get up an hour earlier or stay up an hour later and spend this time writing. Turn off the TV more often. What may feel like a sacrifice at first, will become part of your new writing routine. If writing is your passion, you will soon feel blessed to have the time to write rather than feeling deprived of time in front of the TV.

3: Be realistic about your writing choices. Perhaps your true dream is to support yourself by writing stories for your favorite romance magazines. Or maybe you’d like to become a novelist. It is extremely difficult to break in as a career writer of fiction. If fiction is your writing bag, I strongly urge you to set that dream aside for now and pursue a mode of writing that is more likely to produce the monetary results you are seeking.

Here’s what I recommend: start writing articles for magazines, seek freelance writing work in corporate offices or on the Internet or produce some how-to booklets on topics related to your expertise, for example.

If, however, you are submitting fiction in order to support your upcoming novel or the novel you are currently promoting, by all means stay on this task. If you need some resources listing fiction markets, let me know and I’ll send those to you.

Tomorrow, I will provide the additional three tips for freelance writers.