Hey everyone! Sorry that this post is a little late today. I’ve been super busy starting a new job this week and didn’t have time to write the post at the time I usually do. But it’s still here on a Saturday so I’ll take that as a win. This week’s post is the last in the Idea to Book series so starting next week we’ll be moving into some stand-alone posts. So, without further ado…
From Idea to Book: Publication
Now this is the post that I think a lot of writers are aiming towards but are also scared about the most. Publication. Publication is scary. I personally have never published a longform novel and the longest thing I’ve ever published was a few poems in an anthology. Publication is scary, there are a lot of steps, and there is a high chance of failure. As someone who has never been published, I don’t have a lot of experience with the feeling, but I can break it down into some smaller steps that has helped my writing friends who have been published.
Step one: Choose a publication form
This is the first step to being published. Choosing between traditional publishing with a publication company or to do self-publishing. Both of these come with different difficulties, and both are perfectly acceptable ways to be published. But before you can actually be published you have to choose which one you would rather do. Traditional publishing is nice because there is a good contract, you don’t have to do as much of the work such as formatting, art, hiring people to do those things, being a publicist, or finding alpha, beta, or gamma readers. However, I have heard from some of my friends who do traditional publishing that they find the pay off less than satisfactory.
Self-publishing has seen a rise in recent years, which as a reader I see as both a good and bad thing. I find more books as a reader outside the usual trends that publication companies are following but that also means I occasionally find books that I as a reader wish hadn’t been published. But as a writer self-publishing has a lot of good points. The money is for you and those you hire and most of it is not taken by the publication company. You also can publish what you want or what you think others want to read that you enjoy. But you also have to do a lot of the work a publication company would normally do for you like your social media presence, formatting, editing, hiring artists for cover art, and other tasks.
For the rest of this post, I will probably focus the steps more on self-publishing since I’ve seen a rise in that, and that is the forms of publishing I am most familiar with through both my friends and my own research.
Step Two: Find readers
Editing on your own is all fine and dandy but what you really need is readers. Alpha, beta, and gamma readers. These are readers that will read your story at different stages and proofread and watch for any strange plot inconsistencies. Basically, they will read your story like a reader would before you actually get published. This can help you to catch things that some writers don’t catch in their own writing but that readers would catch in their first read through.
Step Three: Start advertising
These days advertising your writing is super important. Many writers do this by running their own Facebook, Instagram or X account. These accounts make posts such as showing which common popular tropes are in your book, aesthetic posts to show the feeling of your book, descriptions, videos of the author speaking on their book, jokes about being a writer, and all sorts of other posts to raise interaction and get your posts out there and your book our there by proxy. Many of the good self-published books I’ve read recently I’ve accidentally found on social media through posts or videos that made me interested in their book. This step is typically done at the same time as writing and editing and should just be done continuously as you work on the publication process.
Step Four: Formatting
Formatting your writing is the part of publication that I have heard from my friends who self-publish, can be the hardest part. When self-publishing it is best to have an e-book and print book version of your novel which means that you will need two differently formatted manuscripts of the same thing. This step should only be done after all of the editing, and readers have finished because of how difficult it can be for some to do the formatting for their book. Also, which place you self-publish will also sometimes have certain formatting requirements so watch for that.
If you work through traditional publishing the last three steps are typically done for you from what I have been told except for the social media step. Typically, social media advertisement is still done by the writers just making posts about their book although sometimes the publication company might have requests on the type of posts you should make.
That’s all I have on the publication part of the process. I hope that every writer can achieve their dream some day much like me to hold a physical copy of their own book in their hands. A world that you have created and a story that you have told finally available as something real and tangible that you can show others and also allow them to enjoy the creations of your own mind.
I hope that this week’s post was interesting and useful. I hope that you all continue to write and keep up on your goals. Since this is the last post in the series, next week will be a stand-alone post. There will be three stand-alone posts before my next hiatus. I will be taking my hiatus throughout most of November as I participate in Nanowrimo. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, become a blog page member, share, and follow me on social media at the link on the bottom of the page. And remember,
Get Up, Get Writing, and Get Published. See you next week!
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