This is the third post in the “How To Break Into Publishing” Series. If you’re coming in late, Part One: What Even is Publishing? (Different types of publishing) is available here!
You have a lot of ideas. Unique ideas that no one has ever written before. Thoughts and experiences that make you who you are. Hopes. Dreams. Strange flashes of inspiration in the shower.
No matter where or how you get your ideas, there is only one person qualified to turn them into a book (or poem, or short story, or epic series) — YOU.
You might be tempted to ask your friend the Published Author® to write your story but they can never do it justice because it’s not their story. It’s yours. And besides, they’re probably under contract, working on writing a book, editing another, and promoting a third, all while reading as many contemporary books as they can get their hands on – either to stay current with the marketplace or for author blurbs. Maybe even for fun.
(Wait, I’m a writer, not a reader! Why should I be reading? Aha, you missed my last blog, didn’t you? Check out Part Two – You Are What You Read)
In any event, they’re swamped and (spoiler alert) there isn’t a lot of money to be made in publishing (we’ll get to that in a later blog in this series. I promise.) “Splitting the profits” really doesn’t make sense for you or them. If you have an idea, write it.
You’ve never written anything before? Now is the perfect time to start. It doesn’t have to be conventional. It doesn’t have to be award-winning. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be legible. It just has to be written.
Caveat: My goal for this blog series is to educate, not discourage. Getting a book published seems so very simple at first glance. It’s really, really not! But when you (like me) would rather be writing than pretty much doing any other thing, it’s worth it. As always, this is based on my limited experience and limited understanding. Your mileage may vary!
Write
This might sound obvious, but if you want to publish a book, you’re going to need to write a book.
Write Some More
Seriously. Write as much as you can, as often as you can. Hone your skills. Keep writing. If a book fails to nab an agent, write a new book. If a book fails to sell on sub, write a new book. While you’re waiting for your edits to come back, write. When you fall down, get back up and write a book about it.
Close Twitter. Close Instagram. Even close the app you use 24×7 to talk to your writing group and write.
The only way you’re ever going to improve your writing is by writing more. You can read all the how-to books and blogs in the world, take all the writing workshops, even get a MFA but the only sure-fire method that can make you a better writer is to sit down and write.
And keep writing.
Thank you for continuing to read this series! The next blog, Part Four: Let’s Get Critical (Critique Partners, Beta Readers, Ghost Readers, and Editors) will be released next week.
How To Break Into Publishing:
- Part One: What Even is Publishing? (Different types of publishing)
- Part Two: You Are What You Read (Catching up with genre trends)
- Part Three: Wait, I Have to Actually Write This? (Spoiler: You do)
- Part Four: Let’s Get Critical (Critique Partners, Beta Readers, Ghost Readers, and Editors)
- Part Five: Misery Loves Company (So find yourself some!)
- Part Six: Get Down To Business (Getting an agent and a publishing contract)
- Part Seven: Party Hard, You’ve Made It! (The cold hard checkbook)
