After you make the decision to become a writer there are a few things you need to know. First don’t quit your day job. Unless you are a famous personality, the chances of making a living when you start are slim. There are exceptions of course but they are few and far between. With the changes in the industry the big agents and publishers are no longer looking for raw talent to develop. Instead they look for polished, professionally edited manuscripts, before they even consider the work.
My next suggestion is to grow a thick skin. Expect and prepare yourself for rejections. Even if your manuscript is polished and edited, your work will not be everyone’s cup of tea. Critics will outnumber endorsers; it is just the nature of the business. This is hard to swallow, especially when you think you have written a best-selling novel. Until you find a match with an agent or publisher who gets your work the rejections will continue to come in the mail.
Be patient is next on the list. If you are lucky enough to find a publisher or agent don’t expect your book to be an overnight success. Being famous to start with is a big help, sports or high profile political figures have a huge advantage. The promotion of your book is mostly left up to you and it takes a lot of hard work and time. You have chosen a field of work that has been flooded with want to be writers who self-publish and are happy just to be able to tell their friends that they are a published author. Do your homework, there are scams out there from people posing as agents and publishers, so don’t jump at the first offer. If you decide to self-publish be prepared to take the hard road to the top. Most self-published books sell less than one hundred copies.
Learn to promote yourself rather than your book. This is one of the hardest things for most people to overcome. If you spend all of your time trying to sell books then it leaves very little time to continue to write. Leave the book sales to the professionals, bookstores, Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, etc. There comes a point when you have to decide if you want to be a book salesperson or a writer. Traveling around with cases of books in the trunk of your car becomes old fast. But if you can sell yourself as someone who is an authority on the subject of your work, the sales will follow.
Marketing is a one of the biggest parts of being a published author and learning to do it wisely is the trick. Develop a plan and see it through. Other authors can tell you how they did it but that doesn’t mean it will work for you. Through trial and error you can come up with your own plan. This is where patience comes in again.
Networking with other authors is a good step. You’ll find they are not so much the competition as a good resource of information of what works and what doesn’t. It also helps to team up with them in a marketing strategy promoting each other. An endorsement from another author helps. So when you reach your goal as a successful author remember, to help someone else, it can only boost your own sales and makes lifelong friends.
Finally remember that everyone has a story to tell, a good author takes the time to learn the trade. Engaging the reader is a skill that is honed over time and making them feel that they are part of the story is an important key that sets you apart from the want to be authors. I like to think of writing being like the music industry and a quote I heard somewhere. “Just because you pick up a guitar doesn’t make you’re a rock star.” The rock group ACDC sings a song that goes “It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll.” Like the new musician, a new writer has to learn to pay their dues and practice until it hurts to make it to the top.
J. W. Thompson
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