So You Want To Write A Book!

Source by John C Tyler

So – big deal – you want to write a book!

That's the tiny first drop of water in a much larger bucket, my friend. Let's go into the real world of writing books – and getting them published!

So – you want to write a book is my " teaser line " because I realize that many other articles are being written, so we authors need a " hook 'to get the reader – like you, hooked into our story.

If I did just hook you in, then you can use hooks to bring others into your article.

Now, let's go into the world of writing a book and getting it published. I am a published author, and have written seven books ranging from 257 to 542 pages. One is a paperback and it's been on Amazon for over ten years, and readers are still buying it.

That said, I want to express my opinion that online e-books will be the wave of tomorrow – and for several valid reasons: Brick and mortar books stores will fall by the wayside – as will conventional publishers and literary agents. Again, it's my opinion, but the signs are everywhere, and this is good news for "rookie authors".

Let's deal with brick and mortar stores first. Many moons ago, I predicted that they would become irrelevant in the future. The future arrived today as I read in the Wall Street Journal that Border Books is contemplating filing bankruptcy plans and they are working with GE Capital and Bank of America to borrow $ 500 million to keep it afloat after the filing.

Why is this a surprise? It should not be to rookie authors (I say rookie authors meaning those who are writing good stuff, but can not get published – or even reviewed by publishers or their literary agents). Online-e-books are the culprit for the demise of brick and mortars, and I mean it in a nice way!

What has been happening is that rookie authors have bought to get their books looked at and, hopefully, published. The problem has always been that the publishers have their pet authors – the ones making them tons of money, so they do not take monetary risks with rookies. Instead, they defer to literary agents to do the dirty work while the authors write apological reasons for why they can not entertain a rookie's works.

To wit: Here is the verbiage of one fundamental publisher: " XXX Book Publisher's, Inc. does not accept unsolicited submissions, proposals, manuscripts, or submission questions via e-mail at this time. considering for publication by a major book publisher, we recommend that you work with an established literary agent. Each agency has a manuscript submission guidelines. agencies. It can be found in most libraries. Another excellent source is The Writer's Market, which you should be able to find in a local bookstore or library. You can also visit their Web site at writersdigest.com for more information . "

Then, when you visit many literary agents – you know – to "pitch" your book, they have almost identical language!

Take heart my ink-stained writer friend – we have ways to do it all, baby!

Why rookies are gaining momentum, and brick and mortars are going the way of the dinosaur, is because we have figured out how to get our books online faster, cheaper, and better illustrated. Amazon is king now. Google Books is climbing the online book ladder on their way to the top, and a host of other online book stores are popping up everywhere.

Here's the advice I have been giving … and I have done it all myself, so I know that it works.

First, as a rookie author, think of a title that you dig. Most publishers will tell you to go for a title that is a winner for the public, but I will tell you that some of the best sellers are not well-known titles …. like "Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert Pirsig This guy had exactly 121 rejections – before his book became a best seller!

I would, however, try to come up with a title that will sell. For example, I would not be particularly interested in a book entitled, "Wrestling with Multiple Myeloma". Although that's a very important subject on bone marrow cancer, it's specific and limited. On the other hand, my brother went through this cancer called Multiple Myeloma, so I am actually familiar with the dreaded illness ..

Five years ago, it was an automatic death sentence to have Multiple Myeloma. My brother could probably write a book about all of the trauma that he suffered going through a bone marrow transplant … and that was only after a new wonder drug called Revlimid came on the scene. Because of Revlimid – he survived, and – in fact, has zero cancer cells in his system as of the last test.

Should he write a book, his title might sell better if it was, "I beat a death sentence from cancer". That, to me, would attract a lot of cancer patients as potential readers. Learning from his personal experience – and ultimate victory, would be beneficial to his readers.

So, once you get your title down pat, you should lay the book out in a nice format … like Microsoft Word. This is what I have done consistently. Then, once the book is finished, and you are satisfied with it … add an index.

There's nothing worse than reading a book without an index. When I wrote "Diary of A Dieter", I had an extensive index because there was a humorous section entitled "potty humor" in it, and there were sections about blood pressure and the effects that bad eating choices have on obese people. Readers want to go back and reference things that strike them as being important and relevant to their life.

Then, once your book is finished … go back over it and proofread and edit it. You can not believe how many words are misspelled. It makes you look really bad to your reeder. (See – I hope you saw reeder! Are you annoyed)? Reeder – reeder – reeder!

Read your book several times to make sure that you are happy with the way things are written. Make sure it flows. There is not much sense in writing a disjointed book that has the reader staggering all over the place wondering how it got into a chapter in the first place.

I liken this (and having no index) to going on a trip to New Hampshire without a road map. Or, it's sort of like watching a great crime / drama TV show. All of a sudden, you have this urge to head to the bathroom, but you are stuck in there for ten minutes. You come back out to watch TV, and the actors are wrestling someone to the ground – and you have no idea where this guy came from. That's what it's like to read a disjointed book.

Okay … so now your book is finished. It's ready to go to press. Did you know that It costs an average of $ 13,500 to get just one of your books printed with 1,000 copies – with a front and rear cover designed by pros … and maybe the inside flap.

Whoops! $ 13,500? Who has that kind of money? Would you take the $ 13,500 risk to have this book of yours printed and published? Understanding that – you would likely not take the risk. Now somewhere you can begin to see why book publishers have been due to hand you a check for two million dollars for your book!

Ah – but there are great ways to get 'er done, as Larry the cable guy has owed. And those ways are what is causing lots of online e-books to be produced these days. the advantages are:

1. They are cheap to produce, No printing is involved

2. They can include tons of color illustrations. The reader gets the benefit of that. It is too cost prohibitive to do color illustrations – even in a $ 22.00 hardcover book.

3. Many times, there are no middle men. The rookie, if technically savvy enough, can directly upload an online e-book – in living color …. hundreds of pages … on his or her own.

4. Rookies can operate their own book store – in addition to getting exposure online through Google Books, or possibly having their e-book available at Amazon.

Several hints have come about slowly as to the public's interest in online e-books. Several of my relatives are now walking around with "Kindles" or other book readers. For $ 10, they can download their favorite book … and it's not printed on paper! TV ads tout these e-book readers, so slowly, the reading public is being brainwashed.

Rupert Murdock, billionaire owner of the Wall Street Journal and Fox TV has just announced that he has developed an "online daily newspaper – called The Daily. but the trend is there. He can sell newspapers for $ 0.14 and include color illustrations. This competes with other US or daily local papers who have to get $ 1.00 for the same news, sports and weather. ..more to my point.

The "dirty little secret" of why we rookie authors will rule the planet with our online e-books is also a money issue. We make a lot more money selling an e-book. Here's a personal example: My paperback on Amazon sells for $ 14.95. From that, I get $ 6.73. From that, I take out $ 4.00 to print it, and another $ 2.00 to ship it to Amazon. I net seventy-three cents!

Let's contrast that with any other of my e-books, including that one. I sell them for $ 9.95 in several online book stores – including one of my own. Any rookie can do this. I set up a deal with PayPal, and they collect the $ 9.95 from my readers, and the reader can pay them by credit card. From that, I get $ 9.36 … or exactly $ 8.63 more in my pocket! No shipping … no printing … no hassle. PayPal deposits the money received into my bank account in about two days. You can do it, too … and many of us are finding out that we do not need the publishers who avoided us anyway. We are doing it all – ourselves!

The final thing that I do, and you might consider doing it as well, is to write articles for Ezine or Helium, or Faithwriters.com, or Biznik – or a dozen other sites. Then, when people read your article, they are blessed with your knowledge because you've already been there. Hopefully, rookies will have learned something from this article.

But – more than that … you get to incorporate a link back to your website where you can pitch your stuff to your article readers. If they love the article, they can Facebook it …. Tweet it, YouTube it – and get your information out all over the social networks, and that – my previously ink-stained (now laptop stained) writer, is how you can get the job done without the help (not) of publishers or literary agents – although they are experts at their craft.

These publishers or literary agents have no idea of ​​the talent that lies within you. It is their loss … but it does not have to be the loss of your readers.

You go girl – or guy!