There is a lot that goes into successfully writing and publishing a book. It doesn’t matter what genre you are writing and whether you are self-publishing or opting for the traditional route – there are a few things to know and to avoid to make the entire process easier.
Writing and publishing a book involves many steps to make the process smoother and successful. No matter the genre or whether you choose self-publishing or the traditional route, certain things are essential to keep in mind. Finding the best writing services can help simplify this journey by providing professional support. Having expert assistance in polishing your work can make all the difference in achieving a successful, impactful book.
Read on to learn more.
No One is Perfect – Accept It
It is incredibly important for you to understand the simple rule of life, which is that you cannot live perfectly. Perfectionism doesn’t exist in the real world. If you strive to do everything perfectly, essentially, what you are doing is avoiding or minimizing the chances of criticism and blame.
Perfectionism is an extra heavy shield that you carry while hoping that it will protect you from hurt. In reality, perfectionism is preventing you from getting seen. If you run after perfection, you are embarking on an impossible journey. As a newbie author, you might try to perfect everything from writing the first draft to the query letter and getting published.
Speaking of query letters, check out these query letter examples so that you know what is expected of you – but don’t get discouraged when you have to try times and again reach out to a number of literary agents to get your manuscript accepted for publication.
Letting Go of Perfectionism is Crucial for Success
Let go of the urge to perfect every little detail before taking your book to the next stage. If you run after every single detail, it can take you up to four times longer to get your book published. The truth is that your book is never going to be perfect – even if you polish and re-polish every single sentence of it for years.
The more you try to perfect your book, the more opportunities you will have to make mistakes. Ideally, you should complete the draft, take a break, self-edit, and then send out the manuscript to a professional editor.
Whenever you find yourself in a loop, ask yourself whether you are actually improving your work or just being scared of moving it forward.
It Takes Time – Be Ready to Invest
Yes – you read this right. Writing a book is a serious endeavor of life. Many aspiring authors dream about writing a book and getting published – however, only a handful of them actually make it. On the other hand, there are people who rush through the different stages of book writing and don’t take the time to make their book great.
When you hire a ghostwriter, you are more likely to make this mistake as you are paying the writer and want to get your complete book as soon as possible.
At this point, you should know that if you want to publish a book that your ideal reader actually enjoys reading, you cannot rush through it. You cannot skip developmental editing or any other quality control step.
Writing is Never the Hardest Part
After completing their first draft, many aspiring authors think that the hardest part is over and that it will only take a few more months to get their book out in the market. The truth is that while you can publish a book this quickly, especially when you are self-publishing, it will reflect in your book that you didn’t invest your time and effort into making it great.
You can rush through the different stages of your book, but your aim should be to publish a book that you are actually proud of. You want people to fall in love with your book, so make sure to invest time and effort to publish a great book.
Make Your Book Sellable
At the time of writing a book and working on the first draft, you must make sure that your book will sell. Have a target in mind regarding how many copies of your book you want to sell – it doesn’t matter whether you are self-publishing or traditional publishing.
Also, don’t stop after you have published one book. Keep growing your audience and keep writing. There are also countless other ways you can make money from your initial book. For instance, you can consider selling services and products.
You can also offer online courses and teach what you write about, especially when you are writing self-help books. You can also sell other services and products. Offering your book in various formats is also a good way to keep generating revenue and making money.
Understand that Process is Hard
As an aspiring writer who is currently working on their first draft, you should never expect the process to go smoothly. Also, remember that setbacks are temporary and setbacks are essentially setups, which is why success isn’t always about moving horizontally but about moving vertically.
Instead of getting caught up in self-set expectations and the way things might be moving, you need to take a step back and figure out what is actually important.
The thing is that sometimes it takes setbacks for you to upgrade, update, and level up. Don’t miss out on any of the steps that are part of the book-writing process, and by the end of it, you will emerge successful and with a clear mind.
As an aspiring author, you are going to hit bumps and get bruised, which can happen during the editing process, the reader’s feedback, changing the title, or when you try to publish. At the different stages, you can expect something to kick back.
Reviews Are Important But Not Easy
If you believe that it is easy to get reviews, think again. You should know that it is hard to get reviews. You might think that you have tons of people who will write reviews as they might have told you so – the truth remains that it is incredibly hard to get reviews.
Hitting one hundred reviews is a massive milestone. Hitting one thousand reviews is incredibly big. The truth is that you should expect that only twenty percent of the people who say they will write a review actually do it.
Besides, Amazon will block or remove a couple of those written reviews.
