Duana Welch
Possibly everyone says this, but: Start a blog before you start your book.
I did this without realizing it was a good authorship move. My daughter was little when I began writing relationship advice from a scientific angle, and I didn't want to spend time away from her (even mentally) that a book would entail. Blogs can be written in bite-size pieces; they don't have to take a ton of time. So I began LoveScience as a way to satisfy my need for this information to exist, free, for everyone, while also satisfying my need to max my time with my girl until she was old enough that she didn't need me quite so much on a moment-to-moment basis. It was a hugely satisfying move.
But. It turns out there were many other reasons starting my blog made sense, and these reasons apply to most aspiring writers, I think. Before my blog, almost all my writing was for scientific journals. I couldn't write in regular human-speak to save my life. Writing the blog let me hone my voice and find out what content did and didn't resonate; it let me build a readership that helped me on my way as I wrote and then launched my book Love Factually; it gave me a better shot at attracting all the professionals a great book relies on (such as a story editor, designer, and publicist), because a long-standing blog acts as a portfolio; it gave me much of the content to draw from as I planned, wrote, and promoted the book; and many of the blog readers became good friends who kept me motivated to persist when I'd just about had it. Then, when Love Factually launched, the blog readers were the ones who most cared about and wanted the book, and gave copies to friends and family.
As I read through this, I am freshly reminded of how much I owe to the LoveScience blog readers--or as I have always referred to them, Wise Readers. If you are reading this now, thank you! Love Factually could not exist without you, and you have enriched my life immeasurably.
So, yes: Start with a blog! It sounds like a chore, but there's so much reward in it.
I did this without realizing it was a good authorship move. My daughter was little when I began writing relationship advice from a scientific angle, and I didn't want to spend time away from her (even mentally) that a book would entail. Blogs can be written in bite-size pieces; they don't have to take a ton of time. So I began LoveScience as a way to satisfy my need for this information to exist, free, for everyone, while also satisfying my need to max my time with my girl until she was old enough that she didn't need me quite so much on a moment-to-moment basis. It was a hugely satisfying move.
But. It turns out there were many other reasons starting my blog made sense, and these reasons apply to most aspiring writers, I think. Before my blog, almost all my writing was for scientific journals. I couldn't write in regular human-speak to save my life. Writing the blog let me hone my voice and find out what content did and didn't resonate; it let me build a readership that helped me on my way as I wrote and then launched my book Love Factually; it gave me a better shot at attracting all the professionals a great book relies on (such as a story editor, designer, and publicist), because a long-standing blog acts as a portfolio; it gave me much of the content to draw from as I planned, wrote, and promoted the book; and many of the blog readers became good friends who kept me motivated to persist when I'd just about had it. Then, when Love Factually launched, the blog readers were the ones who most cared about and wanted the book, and gave copies to friends and family.
As I read through this, I am freshly reminded of how much I owe to the LoveScience blog readers--or as I have always referred to them, Wise Readers. If you are reading this now, thank you! Love Factually could not exist without you, and you have enriched my life immeasurably.
So, yes: Start with a blog! It sounds like a chore, but there's so much reward in it.
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