Word has it you've decided to become a published author...congratulations! Writing one's own works for publication can be extremely rewarding. Part of becoming a published writer or author means rolling up your shirtsleeves and getting down to business with the numerous steps in the process that you will take from start to finish.
In this article, I will address a number of important elements of authoring for publication that you will need to have a clear focus on even before you set that proverbial pen to paper including...
- Understanding How To Write Effectively
- Manuscript Formatting
- Building a Roadmap/Storyline
- Writing Resources
- Anticipate Costs
- Writing the Story; Self-Publishing
- Like Good Wine, It Takes Time!
- Critical First & Lasting Impressions
- Write, Review, Rework & Polish
- Lead-In Promotions
- Post-Publication Promotions
- Book Reviews
Understanding How To Write Effectively:
One of the greatest assets you will ever have for whatever endeavor you may pursue is advance knowledge. Do your homework ahead of your project in order to avoid disappointment and frustration. Research extensively in advance. Understand where your particular genre is positioned in the marketplace so that you have no false expectations of what that potential market may be.
'Emulate for success.' You may have seen, or heard this expression countless times and this long-standing philosophy truly has significant merit. Before you write a single word study the authored works of highly successful authors writing in your genre whether romance, thriller, suspense, mystery...whatever your chosen genre and whether fiction or non-fiction, understand fully how these successful authors put together a powerhouse publication that sells. In turn, you can anticipate what genre-specific audiences want to read. Never copy verbatim but emulate while giving your content a voice distinctly your own...be unique through differentiation.
Today's author must be highly creative, original, and write exceptional quality content that readers will become fully engaged in. To captivate an audience content must be highly engaging and relatable. Capture the reader's attention and imagination from start to finish.
Remember...for new and unknown authors you can anticipate that it will take time and a lot of concentrated effort to establish your own voice and brand recognition. High-quality writing is first and foremost. Write for the love of writing, with passion and hone your skill and plant seeds that grow. Success through authorship is never guaranteed.
Manuscript Formatting:
Whether your publication project is for traditional print or electronic format, content quality is an essential component of successful writing. Before you even begin to write your story, start out by becoming intimately familiar with your chosen publisher's content and formatting requirements which each publisher sets out within their guidelines for the manuscript submission process.
Print format requirements vary and are typically less onerous than for electronic (eBook) submissions. The key to avoiding a lot of frustration and disappointment is for the author to review specified content and formatting guidelines in advance of starting their publication. In the submission process the author is entering into the final process before publication and at that stage, the manuscript must be in compliance with stipulated guidelines or face rejection.
If a manuscript is rejected the author will be able to re-submit their work but with further time-consuming revisions for manuscript compliance which can lead to a lot of stress and frustration. Understanding formatting guidelines can mean relatively straightforward Word document formatting settings before the project begins so that the author or appointed editor will not be dealing with time-consuming and costly revision processes for content incorrectly formatted.
The natural instinct for an author is to hasten completion of their manuscript as they near the final pages of their story. Never rush for any reason...that is when errors and omissions occur.
Build a Roadmap:
Set out your storyline in advance. Get a cohesive, naturally flowing road map to your story outlined ahead of writing the story. Doing so will give your story the fluid structure that it needs to round out a well-written and thoroughly engaging story for the reader. Your story will undoubtedly detour along the way as new inspiration shapes your content direction and even your ending may change but make sure you have thoroughly envisioned the direction of your story start to finish just as an architect who drafts the conceptual foundation and structural/finishing elements of a building under their design.
Once your first draft is completed, go back and review/refine all content to make sure it is the best it can possibly be. In doing so, you will have a much better product in the end and save yourself some cost once an editor/proofreader is engaged. When you read back your content is it clear what is happening in the story? Who is talking to who? On reading back, sense your own impressions and responses. Do you feel distracted, confused, disinterested, disengaged? If yes to any of these questions you had better revisit areas of your story causing these problematic responses...your readers will only feel the same, close the book early and never consider your future publications.
Writing Resources:
Take advantage of every author resource available. There are many outstanding writing websites ie Writers Digest, Writers Market, Writers Resource and more. Authors should also include in their arsenal reference resources such as an offline or online dictionary and thesaurus to ensure that content application is correct and error free. Nothing turns off readers (who become negative review writers) more than sloppy English spelling and grammatical issues throughout a purchased product.
Anticipate Costs:
Essential elements of a well written and presented publication include objective, professional editorial services, cover design, advertising and social media, website and blogging promotions. A critical mistake by many authors today is that they take it upon themselves to wear all hats (with good intentions) in the process and often with frustrating results.
Engaging professional services is a critical investment. Decide in advance what you wish to achieve with your writing projects. Publishing standards are high as are the expectations of not only your readers but the publisher as well. Ensure the highest possible quality through your own developmental writing, professional editing/proofreading services, a skilled cover design professional fully conversant with publishing requirements, individuals or companies who come on good referral that are focused and dedicated to your projects. Careful selection is essential. I can't tell you how often my clients have come to me extremely frustrated with a previous 'editing professional' who was obviously in it for all the wrong reasons...I had to redo much of the editing at additional expense to my clients.
Self-Publishing:
The Indie or self-publishing industry has become huge in recent years as more and more authors, especially those new/unknown, are unable to secure traditional publication contracts with the various publishing houses. This change has meant much more hands on participation in the publication writing and submission process and the need for critical knowledge and understanding of content and formatting guidelines, especially for electronic formats of emerging mobile reader technology in recent years.
Authors need to make a checklist in advance of starting each new manuscript and follow it reverently to avoid the frustration and stress of publisher rejection at the time of submission. You have put countless hours into creating your next treasured publication so get your project off to a good start by complying with publisher guidelines. The rewards on completion are immeasurable. For subsequent projects never assume that the rules remain the same - review carefully publisher guidelines before starting that new project.
Like Good Wine, It Takes Time!:
NEVER rush your manuscript development and writing. You cannot glaze over essential elements to pump out the next novel. We all set deadlines for ourselves as writers but to hasten a project's completion risks leaving something critical on the table. Your readers will see through that glazing in a heartbeat and walk away disappointed and never seek out your published works again. Your best critics can quickly become your worst nightmare!
As mentioned here previously, be methodical, pay attention to detail with the storyline and character building and develop a strong, emotionally responsive reader connection. Make the story real, fully believable and circumstances the reader can relate to. Readers will highly identify with credible life situations, even if fictional.
When it comes to building upon a dedicated readership, expect that your brand recognition will not happen overnight. Instant success in the publishing world is rare and even less likely if you only publish one book or novel. Give consumer response time as it will happen naturally and concentrate on writing quality that people want to buy again and again. Cookie cutter publications will not necessary sell well and consistently. Keep your content fresh, unique and thoroughly engaging start to finish.
Critical First & Lasting Impressions:
Always maintain focus on quality, engaging content from the opening line on Chapter 1, Page 1 through to the closing sentence of your story. The essential part of any sales and marketing equation involves repeat/future buying customers. If your reader loses interest part way through your book they will close the book and likely never buy your work again. We very rarely get second chances.
Write, Review, Re-work And Polish:
Authors need to practice self-editing of their own written works. Benefits of doing so include greater awareness of their own work and areas that require extra attention and focus, better storyline writing for current and future publications and reduced time and cost for the professional editor who really should be engaged prior to submission to a publisher. That statement surely sounds biased yet countless of my clients wish they had engaged a professional editor for previous publication projects which had less than desirable results.
Bottom line here is to be the best that you can be as the writer/author, refine your product before an editor's scrutiny and in the end have a finished product the publisher receives with open arms and your readers will devour and cry out for more!
Advance Lead-In Promotions:
As you near publication launch date you will want to begin to engage your readers and followers in a build-up (aka hype) of promotions carefully planned to alert those avid readers/followers (and potential new fans) of your pending book launch date. Plan to schedule such promo posts no sooner than approximately two weeks out (prior to launch) to keep the event fresh in people's mind. Your publisher will provide you with an online link to your appropriate author page where the book is featured and retailed so that you are ready to provide that link on launch date.
Be sure to share your news in as many quality locations as possible to get the word out and politely seek your followers' help by sharing your news and link posts with others. Be careful not to post to excess at each location to avoid annoyance out of perceptions that you are spamming. There are websites available where you can efficiently schedule promo posts in advance to go out automatically. Use best practices when posting self-promotions on your website, blog and social media networks including paid advertising. Also use sites like Goodreads to promote your new books and share in the reading and review of others to help grow your audience.
Post-Publication Promotions:
Once your book has launched your work has only just begun. Where paid advertising resources are limited the author becomes the key individual to spearhead self-driven promotions on an ongoing basis. Without becoming intrusive you must keep your publication in the public's mind and readily accessible to preview and purchase.
Develop compelling promotions through strong, highly engaging headlines and be sure to use hash tags to draw new followers through search engine queries using your top researched keywords and keyword phrases that are most likely to be used as search terms.
Personal networking is always a good practice for promoting your publications. Seek out those who would most likely engage in your work and be a good source of referrals themselves. This all may seem a lot of work and perhaps a considerable challenge. Short of hiring someone else to do all of this legwork, the author becomes the point person to get the news out there. Remember to ask your followers to help get the news out by sharing your posts with their own following, friends, acquaintances and associates at work. By way of thanks you can always offer incentives to foster such help i.e. a small gift or free copy of the book.
Book Reviews:
Also remember to ask your readers to post their own review of the new publication on the book's feature page...powerful testament for those considering a purchase. Remember that readers demand an outstanding product for their money and positive reviews are gold. Regardless of how good your writing is, be aware that there are often negative reviews posted for even the most popular authors. Be attentive to what has been said in the negative review(s) and if you feel compelled to respond, be constructively polite in doing so. Never refute or lash out at negative reviewers as the fallout could be damaging and poorly perceived.
Do not let negative reviews tear you down. There are any number of motivations for negative reviews. Be aware of the overall response to your publication(s) and if negative reviews are sparse/minimal there may not be basis for such harsh critique. Nonetheless, take heed of all criticism and where appropriate revisit your manuscript submission file and make revisions where warranted to improve your product. Be aware that some publishers will NOT remove negative reviews as part of their publishing policy to keep things real in terms of consumer response to publications. Some publishers also post Review Guidelines to deter artificial/commercial advertising type review content from unfairly influencing consumer purchase decisions.
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© Don MacIver, Editor, Writer 2015; All Rights Reserved