It doesn’t matter what you write—fiction, nonfiction, ads, technical stuff or even poetry—some research is necessary. If you’re writing a historical novel involving soldiers and you don’t know the design of uniform for that period, you’d better go in search of a photo so you can describe it. If your story includes a visit to a pottery shop in Spain, you’ll need to know what one might look like inside. What do you do if you can’t think of a rhyming or descriptive word for a poem or prose? And all writers should refer to an appropriate style book or grammar site when they’re not sure of a particular word usage, for example.
When I started writing for publication, I used a manual typewriter and did most of my research at the library downtown. While writing my local history books, I also visited museum libraries. And now we have the Internet—a whole world of research material at our fingertips. Yet, still, some freelance writers and authors do not use the Internet to their full advantage. They don’t know how to do a successful Internet search. They sometimes get overwhelmed by the volume of information and resources on the Internet. And they resent the time involved in a search. They’d rather be writing.
If you hope to experience success with your book or article, I urge you to break through the blocks that keep you from conducting the scope and depth of research you should be doing on behalf of your project. Here are a few tips:
- Learn how to use the strongest search words in order to find the information you want. Experiment to find the words and terms that will bring the best search results.
- When you find a useful site, look for a resources page and spend time checking out the sites and other resources listed.
- Bloggers often list their favorite sites. Perhaps there are several on their lists that will be useful to you.
- Log sites you found most helpful in your search on a particular topic. You may want to visit that site again and again.
- Ask other authors, bloggers and site hosts for recommendations.
You’ll find many reasons to research using the Internet. Here are a few:
Before you write that book:
- Do an Internet search to find out if your book is a good idea or not. If there are hundreds of books like your proposed nonfiction book, is there room for another one on the same topic? On the other hand, if you’re writing fiction, you’ll want to know that you’ve chosen a popular genre and subject.
- Is your title fresh or has it been used before?
- Which titles seem most successful?
While you’re writing it:
- You’ll want to check facts and figures to make sure that the information in your book or article is accurate.
- Use the Internet to locate an appropriate publisher or publishing option.
After your book is published:
- There are many opportunities to promote your book online and it can be time-consuming and daunting to search through all of the information there. But it can also be worthwhile to spend that time seeking out appropriate reviewers, bloggers eager for new books to promote, bloggers looking for authors to interview and so forth.
- You can visit sites of authors who write in your genre/topic. Find out how they’re promoting their books. Most of them have a page listing their presentations, reviews, etc.
- Study articles and find books and sites related to book marketing.
- Search for book outlets for your book—book festivals, specialty bookstores, etc.
If you are a published author or you’re working on your first book and you spend fewer than 5 hours per week in Internet research mode, you’re not using this tool to your fullest advantage.