What does it take to become an author? Notice that I didn’t even insert the word, “successful” in this sentence. Success is relative, anyway, isn’t it? I know authors who don’t believe they are successful until they sell 100,000 copies. And then there are authors who celebrate their success if they earn back enough to pay their printing costs.
But what does it take to become an author? I’ve narrowed it down to 5 P’s. Ask any author who has been around the block and they will tell you that it takes:
• Planning
• Preparation
• Proofing
• Publishing
• Promotion
There are no shortcuts. One cannot deviate from this established path to authorship. If you want to become an author and experience whatever measure of success you desire, you must consider each of these 5 P’s. (It wouldn’t hurt to throw in the word Patience, either.)
Planning
Before you start writing the novel or the nonfiction book of your dreams, put some thought into the potential for your project—a lot of thought. I suggest writing a book proposal. You wouldn’t open a business without a business plan. Consider the book proposal a business plan for your book. At the same time, look at your book as a product. If you view this project any other way, you are already starting down the wrong path.
Preparation
Once you establish that your book is a viable product, begin outlining, organizing and writing it.
Also work on your platform:
• Create a massive mailing and emailing list.
• Become known among leaders in your book’s genre/topic.
• Write and submit articles or stories to appropriate publications.
• Develop workshops and seminars on your book’s topic and present them.
• Publish your own newsletter.
Proofing/Editing
Once you’ve completed your manuscript, you’ll become involved in self-editing. Proof and edit as thoroughly as you possibly can.
• Check for inconsistencies and repeated material.
• Make sure your spacing and punctuation is correct.
• Examine your manuscript for muddy writing and run-on sentences.
• Eliminate those sneaky mistakes that aren’t picked up by spellcheck.
• Correct any misuse of apostrophes or words.
Once you have done your self-editing, hire an experienced book editor for your final edit. Yes, this is necessary and the expense must be factored in. Hiring a good editor is an investment in your publishing success. But I must repeat—this should be an experienced book editor.
Publish
You now have a choice to make—you have options. Will you try to land a traditional royalty publisher for your piece of fine work? Will you go with a pay-to-publish company? Or will you self-publish (establish your own publishing company)?
People ask me, which is the best publishing option? My response is, “It depends on you and it depends on the project.” Your job is to study the publishing industry so that you understand all of your options and the possible consequences of your choices. My book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, provides a good start in that direction. If you are considering a pay-to-publish company, also read Mark Levine’s The Fine Print of Self-Publishing, wherein he rates and ranks 48 of these companies and scrutinizes their contracts for you.
Promotion
Do not even consider producing a book for publication if you do not have the money, time, experience, interest, enthusiasm for and/or knowledge about book promotion.
One of the things you will learn from studying the publishing industry is that the competition for books is fierce. You may have already noticed that everyone is writing a book. Did you know that over 75 percent of all published books sell fewer than 100 copies? And lack of promotion is only one reason why so many books fail. What are the other reasons?
• Lack of appropriate planning.
• Improper preparation.
• Inadequate proofing/editing.
• Ineffective publishing methods.
• Lackadaisical promotion.
Put your P’s in a row before you even put your pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and you will have a much greater chance for publishing success.
Note: You’ve been used to reading a new blog post here every single day for years. I’m taking off for a much needed vacation tomorrow and wanted to let you know that my posts might be a bit sporadic during the next 10 days. This might be a good time to review some of the posts in my archives. You’ll find posts on many aspects of writing, publishing and promoting a book.