Publishing a book can be confusing. What’s more confusing is that it can be hard to get a clear idea of the realities of publishing and what you should be doing. What is expected from you, the author? Where should you focus your efforts? Here are four keys that few people will tell you about publishing.
Be prepared to talk about your book.
Here’s what usually happens. You spend months compiling your research, writing your book, and agonizing over the wording. You might even lose sleep over it. Then, when a friend asks you what the book is about, you find yourself talking about it for ten minutes without taking a breath. It’s hard to condense all of your knowledge into an elevator speech.
But you have to.
You must be able to give people the high points of the book so that the concept is easy to understand. Give people succinct language about the book so that they can in turn easily share the book concept with other people. You can even start thinking about this speech during the outline process—it helps you break down what you want the book to focus on so that you can make sure you’re hitting your goals through the book.
Publishing a book is about more than selling books.
In today’s market, writing a book has many more purposes than just making money (in fact, most authors don't make enough money from book sales to make a living). Instead, writing a book has many more important purposes. Some authors publish a book because they want to educate an audience about a topic they’re passionate about. Some write a book to help promote their business and spread the word about the valuable services they provide. Others write a book simply to delight and enrich their readers.
The list goes on, but the summary is that publishing a book is an incredible way to add value to the lives of your readers.
Planning your book is just as important as writing your book.
When it comes to writing a book, many people prefer to just jump in and start putting words on paper. Now, brainstorming is important and certainly has its place.
However, planning your book is also essential in order make your message clear and organized. Take time to write out your goals for your book, organize your main topics into a logical flow of chapters, and then plan your chapter subtopics from there. Your readers will thank you.
Many authors don't want to do the work to get their book out.
Getting your book into the hands of your readers requires much more than just writing it. You’ll need a marketing strategy to decide where you’ll focus your efforts as you spread the word. You’ll need to connect with different organizations interested in your book topic and brainstorm the different groups who will be interested in your book. In short, you’ll have a lot of work in front of you to share your book with people.
This process is actually an enriching one, as it helps you connect directly with people who need your message. What’s more, many authors prefer to simply post their book on Amazon and don't want to put the extra work in. This can help you to be a step ahead as you work to get your book message out.
Got questions?
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