We’ve had some knowledgeable guest bloggers lately. I hope you’ve gleaned from their wisdom on the subject of writing your memoir and on building and using the right tools in your book promotion toolkit.
If you’ve followed this blog for a while or if you’ve spent time in the 7 years of archives, you pretty much have everything you need in order to successfully write, publish and promote a book; establish your own publishing company; start a successful freelance writing business and more. But many of you still have questions.
It’s common for those who want to write for publication to skip over some of the information they stumble across in the early stages of their publishing dream. Then when they need the information, they might have trouble finding it. You might discount advice the first, third or eighteenth time you read/hear it and then eventually realize it is something you definitely need to heed. That’s why professionals blog and continually produce articles and books that respond to the issues you will be facing as an author or freelance writer. Pay attention. We know what you need to know at some point in your process.
There are times when you read this blog and feel that the message is spot on for you at this moment. Other times you don’t believe it applies to you. But it may at some point.
I run into this when I’m out speaking. I’ve seen audience members shut down when I talk about the importance of writing a book proposal. They don’t want to do it and they don’t want to hear about it. Book promotion is another topic some would-be authors ignore. They simply can’t be bothered with something so foreign and distasteful right now when all they want to do is write their book, get it published and have the satisfaction of hearing readers’ praises.
Publishing is another issue that authors often resist researching or even acknowledging until they are finished with their manuscript and super eager to publish before Christmas or in time for someone’s birthday or they just want to finally complete their project. So what do they do? As little research as possible. Then they choose the first publishing option and company that seems reasonably legit—without spending any time educating themselves on exactly what criteria they should use in determining this.
Authors, I am so pleased that you are reading this blog and I urge you to check out some of the hard-hitting posts in my archives. If you are new to publishing or are struggling as a published author, please read my latest book, Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author. It’s at Amazon.com in print and Kindle and at most other online and downtown bookstores. Also available at http://www.matilijapress.com