Wanna write a novel?
You do?
Are you out of your mind?
Do you have any idea how complicated that is? And how much time and energy it will consume? No? Then let me fill you in.
First off, let’s say you have a great story idea. So you figure you’ll use this great idea to make a bundle of money. Well, story ideas are cheap, a dime a dozen as the saying goes. However, a story idea with a story ending is golden. So, if your great story idea doesn’t have a great story ending, don’t give up your day job. And if you do have an ending, you still better keep the day job. You have to eat and pay the bills and the novel won’t bring in any money until after it’s written. and even then the money thingee is more than a bit iffy.
When the book is finally completed, you’ll have to face up to the next part of the project: publishing. In the old days — way back in the 20th Century — you only had a single choice: get an agent. Nowadays, you still have that choice but you can also pay a hybrid publisher, throw thousands of dollars at a vanity press or self-publish. If you can’t get an agent and you don’t have a ton of money to spend on hybrid or vanity presses, you’re stuck with self-publishing. But don’t complain about this choice because this is a great opportunity to learn all about the publishing industry.
Self-publishing means you, the author, now do everything the publisher would have done. That means you hire a cover artist and a professional editor. Then you edit the manuscript, layout the book, write the book description, develop a set of keywords and set the book categories.
After you recover from all that work, you can begin learning how to marketing the book, because if you don’t market it, no one will. How’s that grab you? You’ll be amazed at how many marketing tactics are available for your book. You’ll also be amazed at how much money you can spend on marketing. And you’ll be stunned at how many scam artists you’ll meet.
If your marketing is wildly successful, you may sell around a hundred books and you may break even with the money you spent on getting the book published. If you’re lucky, other stuff may happen.
Are you still interested in writing a book?
Well, go for it.
Many, many people say they will write a book. Someday. Many people actually start the book and only a few ever finish it. So if you write and finish the book, you will be among the very few people who have ever accomplished this popular dream.
And that is something worth striving for!
If you’re looking for help on fiction writing, self-publishing or book marketing go to