Writing is easy, yet…

Writing… lays your entire soul open on a piece of paper. Dreaming, discoursing. Letting the world know what your mind could create and your heart could feel.

In the end, with some luck, you might have a story, texts, and poems worth introducing to the general public or audience. So, you’ve decided you wish to turn them into a book? What now? What follows?

The process of writing is complex and hard-working. However, that’s nothing if you consider the other difficulties you will face in deciding how to publish and promote your work properly for potential readers.

So, to begin with, the author is facing two options: being his own publisher or the challenging quest for the search for an established publisher that values his writing and takes an interest in his work.

AUTHOR EDITION

This is one of the scariest options for all authors, regardless of their age (and, in some cases, even previous experience). Still, it can be a good choice for a beginner since the publishers are expensive and require a significant investment by the author, who might not be able to afford it.

Thus, this option appears as the least expensive one, and knowing the low marketing investment in young authors, it will sadly not have that great a difference where the visibility of your work is concerned.

However, if you make this decision, there are countless other choices to be made, and you have a lot of work to do.

In the first place, you need to define how you’re gonna do it. Will you be in contact with the book printers, or might you use one of the internet’s various services nowadays?

These services consist in websites that are exclusively used for author editions. There, the author can “make” his whole book, following the instructions step by step, and, in the end, you can also leave your work there to sell. Plus, you can order some copies for yourself, sell them directly to your readers, or even create a protocol with some bookstores.

If you are willing to make some investment (even smaller than in a conventional publisher), this could be a good option for you. On these platforms, you will find other authors in difficulty with whom you can share your doubts. This can be a great help and of motivation to you.

As for the book cover and pagination, both have predefined models that may help you in the process. Or, if you have the knowledge and creativity for that, you could create your own cover and send it in, turning your dream book into a reality. And, of course, you may always hire professional services, in or out of the site.

On the other side, if you hire a printer, with some research and negotiation, you’ll probably find a better price. Yet, you will likely have to order a massive amount of books at a time, which means a significant investment, while in previous services, you may order just one or two books, or how many you want…

Here stand two examples with great acceptance among authors and where you could research their conditions of use.

http://www.lulu.com/

http://www.bubok.pt/

CONVENTIONAL PUBLISHER

The conventional publisher is, without a doubt, an easier way to go through the whole process, giving cheer and confidence to any writer. This is often the little push you need to recognize the quality of your work.

However, it’s not easy, and we also face some challenges in this decision. When you take this option, you should start worrying about researching the potential publishers with which you’d like to work with. This is an essential part; the young author often forgets about it or dismisses it entirely. The anxiety and insecurity will make the most of us accept that first offer that comes in. That’s the worst thing you could do!

Picking the wrong publisher may devastate your career as an author, and your visibility might suffer; perhaps it may even be worse than a self-published work. It’s a common mistake; believe me, this was my experience with my first book. The bright side is that we learn from that experience and will never fall prey to this mistake again.

After we collected all the required information that we otherwise needed, we ended up with a couple of suitable publishers. Then, we send our work and wait.

And wait…

And wait…

With some luck, we’ll have at least one publisher interested in our book. Even if it doesn’t happen, please don’t despair. You could try other means, other publishers, or even make minor changes to your work to better fit in with the main editions from your favorite publisher.

And remember, a refusal from a publisher isn’t always related to the quality of your work but to investments and situations that are slightly related (or even unrelated) to the art.

But eventually, the moment will arrive. You have chosen a publisher that accepts your project, and the tedious work begins. That’s, many times, responsible for a lot of anxiety crises… It’s challenging yet rewarding.

The emails will start to flow, meetings with representatives from the ‘this and that’ department, you discuss the investment, the signing of a contract, the cover, you build the synopsis and pick the keywords and sentences for the marketing campaign, reviews and pagination, reviews again, more reviews, until the big day of the release.

For the release, you invite all your friends and relatives, even the ones you rarely see. There is such anxiety attached to that moment that it’ll make you lose track of time. On the day itself, just half of the people that assured you they’d be there actually show up. The anxiety grows higher, and the day flies by. At the end of it, you barely know or remember what you said to all those people.

It doesn’t matter if it didn’t go according to plan or even how bad it went; the feeling of accomplishment will definitely leave a smile on your face. Another successful step! 🙂

READERS

After all that is done, you feel like “it’s over”, but you’re totally wrong. Your journey is just beginning, and you don’t yet know where to go.

You will start to promote your book, showing it to people and making it visible and known. At this point, you’ll realize that you lost more money than you earned, but… it’s an investment, and you’ll be hoping that someday, you can get it back.

In my experience, you usually do, years later, without profit. But it isn’t all lost… It’s a hard way… and it’s a bit easier doing with another person by your side, someone who fully understands you wants to help you, and, even better, who fights and will continue to fight for the same things you do.

With a publisher or author edition, the problem remains the same: making sure your book is being presented to people, making it known. The publisher does not spend much money on an anonymous writer; pretty much all of the initiatives should, and most likely will, come from you. But, please, do not feel discouraged. I tried my hardest not to be, and my second work had more impact and visibility. Step by step, you will get it. Just remember, never give up! 😉