Getting started as an Author: Advice for After You Start Writing

When people start to write many of them don’t think about what it takes. It’s very important to know what the writing world is all about if you want to publish. Many in the writing community hear how easy it is or how “It can be that hard or entail that much right?” by well-meaning friends and family. The truth is it’s more than just putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. One must think about what they want to write about, it’s always a good idea to research your genre, learn about different ways to publish, any cost associated with publishing. If you are self publishing there will be some cost associated with it. If you go with a small publisher (not a vanity publisher) often times you can commission someone to do your covers or edit your book. The author of this article has an editor outside of her editor because of their good professional relationship.

Here is a list of things to do to get started as a writer if you are considering publishing your work.

Research your genre: It’s important to know what is selling in your chosen genre. It’s always a smart idea to look at covers, prices, blurbs. Check out what the authors that are selling a lot of books are doing. See how they reach their audience to let them know about there books.
Research the different ways to publish a book: There are so many ways to get a book published that it can get a bit overwhelming when first starting out. There are traditional publishing, self-publishing and vanity publishing. With traditional publishing, you’ll have a team helping you with just about everything. Even small publishers you’ll get help with editing, marketing, etc. Self-publishing it will be just you doing the work. You will have to decide who edits your work, who makes your cover, where and how to market. Everything falls on you. Vanity publishing is not recommended because you have to pay for them to even publish you. There are a lot of fees associated with going this route and they still take a percentage of your sales. I do not recommend publishing this way either but added it so that people are aware of it and can look out for vanity publishers.
Market your book before it’s published: Start talking about your book before it’s even published. Let people on social media know your writing a book. Talk about the genre and tell them what it’s about. Maybe share a quote or two. Talk about what stage in the writing process you are and be sure to let them know when it will be published. You may even find beta readers by being open about what you are doing. This will not only let people know you’re a writer but will possibly create buzz for your book. Be careful not to get too spammy though, you don’t want to overshare and cause people to stop following you. Post the things you normally do but add your writing project in there now and then.
Create an author page: This will be for all things writing-related and where you can talk about your book as much as you like. I suggest making this page after you start talking about writing that way more people may be inclined to like it. It’s a good idea to add other writer’s work in there and maybe give tips and tricks. Share writing articles and blogs to keep your page fun, fresh, and engaging.
Have a blog: This is yet another way to get your name and book in front of people. Many writing blogs offer advice, suggest books, talk about the author’s progress, give author interviews, any and everything writing-related really. Blogs are very popular and attract a ton of people. This is a great marketing strategy for any author just starting out and needing to gain an audience.
Follow other authors: Follow other author’s social media pages, blogs, YouTube channels. This will not only help you know what is going on in the writing community but can help you learn more about being an author. You can see how they engage their readers, how they get a following, what their writing process is, how they market books and more. There are so many authors out there that connect with their readers in these ways that the list is large for you to choose who you want to connect with.

This isn’t a comprehensive list of what to do to get started as an author but hopefully, it’s a good starting point for when you are just beginning your journey toward being a published writer. As mentioned in the article early on research. Researching everything about being an author, publishing, and book marketing can save you endless hours of heartache later on.

Crystal Reavis is an American fantasy author. Her book “Areal” the first in her series “The Awakening” is available now on Amazon and her publisher’s website breakingrulespublishing.com. She lives in Colorado with her husband of 13 years and their three wonderful children. When she isn’t writing Crystal moonlights as a marketing specialist for other authors.