First time authors
often underestimate the amount of work that goes into writing a successful
book. I know many authors whose books
don’t do as well as they could because they’ve neglected one or more of these
essential stages.
1: Research
Before you even
start writing, you need to do a bit of digging into who else has published
similar books so you can ensure you’re not rewriting what has already been
written.
If you’re thinking
of trying to get one of the mainstream publishers on board to publish your
book, you’ll also need to research which of them publishes books similar to the
one you’re proposing to write (if they don’t, they probably won’t be interested
in a book that doesn’t fit into their genre).
Also you’ll need to look at their publishing schedules to ensure you
won’t be in direct competition with another title published around the same
time or a bit before yours.
2: Planning
To make your
writing process as easy as possible, it’s wise to put together both an overview
of the book and a schedule in your diary to ensure that you have time blocked
out to write.
I like to use mind
maps to plan out, first, the whole book so I can work out what each chapter is
about and second, the content headings for each chapter, including stories and
anecdotes, quotes, models, diagrams, processes, etc.
Finally, it’s a
good idea to plan your chapter recipe.
This is the structure you will use for every chapter, so, if you begin
with a quotation, every chapter starts the same way. If you end with an action plan, you’ll need
to do that on all the chapters.
2B: Your Proposal
If you’re planning
to go with a mainstream publishing house you’ll need to submit a proposal. Most big publishing houses have an on-line
format for this and they’re all slightly different. However, you can expect them to want:
- A synopsis of the book
– 1-2 pages only.
- One or two chapters of
the book for them to see your writing style.
- An overview of your
target reader audience.
- Your marketing plan –
don’t expect them to do a huge amount of marketing.
3: Writing
If you’ve dug deep
in your planning, this should be pretty straightforward. As long as you have time allocated to write,
you can simply take each chapter plan and apply it to the chapter recipe,
filling in the information as you go.
Writing to a plan
ensures you don’t hit the ‘blank page syndrome’, where you don’t know what to
write.
4: The title
You may already
have a title in mind for your book, but before you carve it in marble, do some
checking. Search for your proposed title
and see if someone has already used it. It
doesn’t mean you can’t use it for your book, but you could be creating
confusion and even lose sales to a book with the same or a similar title.
Non-fiction books
will also need a subtitle. The rule of
thumb with titles and subtitles is that if the title doesn’t tell people what
the book is about, then the subtitle must do that job. This means you can have a quirky title, with
a practical subtitle explaining what the book is about.
Research what
phrases and words people are searching for when they’re looking for the kind of
book you’re writing. This will help to
ensure your book title turns up high in searches.
This research is
much easier than it used to be – now there are huge online bookstores where all
books are listed.
5: Editing and proof-reading
If you’re
self-publishing or going with an independent publisher you will need to have
your work edited prior to submitting your manuscript. Be prepared for at least two edits and a
final proof-read.
If you are
successful in getting a publishing contract then your publishing house will
almost certainly have in-house editors who will edit and proof-read your work.
Don’t be tempted
not to have your book edited – it will benefit enormously from a professional
editor’s attention. Unedited books are
usually harder for the reader to get through.
6: The cover
Once again a
publishing house will have in-house graphic designers to help with this. A very few independent publishers also have
in-house cover design services, but mostly you’ll need to get a graphic
designer who is experienced in book cover design to create your cover.
There is a cost to
this – and it’s wise to take a look at potential designers’ work to ensure
they’re familiar with the kind of cover you have in mind.
Having had at least
one book where the cover was done in a hurry to ensure launch took place at a
specific event, which resulted in something neither me nor my co-author liked.
You will need
‘blurb’ for the back cover giving potential readers an insight into why they
should read the book. Also a short
biography of you as the author.
If you have people
who will read a pre-publication copy of your book and give you a review, you
may also want to include a short (one sentence) quote from one of these.
7: Marketing
There are two
elements to marketing your book:
- The launch
- Ongoing marketing
There are many ways
to create a successful launch, but don’t expect your publisher to do much. You could have a launch bonus, a special
launch day price reduction, email campaign, social media promotions, social ads,
book yourself to speak about the book content at local networking or
professional organisations, etc.
Once the book is published and launched you’ll need to continue your
marketing campaign to keep sales moving, otherwise your book will vanish
without trace.
If you’d like
help with any of these elements, call us on 01245 473296 or email lesley@insidenews.co.uk for more information.
