How to Write a Book for the Beginner

    So you want to write a book but don't know where to start, right?  Of course, the first thing you have to decide is what you are going to write about.  If you haven't already read my previous blog article on "Finding an Idea to Write About" you should probably start there. 
 

     Maybe you already have an idea but still don't know how to start, right?  You might want to read another previous article where I talk about how to outline your book if you haven't already read this previous blog article: "How to Outline Your Book Before Writing it".

     So now you are ready to start or are you?  Here is a video that just might help get you started in the right direction:

     Okay, now you're ready, right?  Maybe not...because when starting a book for beginners where you start your book can sometimes be problematic.  Here is another video that just might help you with that if you are still unsure where to begin.

     Personally, when I start a book I just start it.  What I have found is as I continue to write day after day this is usually when I will realize if I started my book in the right place.  Sometimes I have discovered a better place where I should start my story.  There have been times in my own personal writing where I have deleted my first chapter and replaced it with the second chapter.  Anyway, my best advice is that if you are still unsure where to start your book, just start writing the part of the story that your idea is about.  Take it from me, when you do this sometimes this will help you with where you should start your story.

     In my next blog entry, I'm going to discuss how to stay motivated while writing your book day after day.

     So stay tuned!

     

     

How do I Know if I am Cut Out to be a Writer?

When all else fails, write a story with a friend or family member

      So how do you know if you are cut out to be a writer?  The fact that you are actually asking the question tells me that you are at least thinking about it, and why not?  Personally, I think everyone has a story to tell.  The question is are you a person who wants to actually write this story.  Many people will talk about writing a book, and some will actually start, but to finish a book, that is another story.  

     I have to admit that I have started many books and I have also not finished them.  Of course, one of the reasons I didn't was because back in the day (many years ago) they didn't have self-publishing around the way they do now.  So I have started digging up all of these stories once again, and I have gone back to writing them.

     If you are wondering if you are cut out to write a book, my advice is to just start writing and see where it goes.  If I can self-publish ten books, so can you.  I am no one special but I did it anyway.  

     Here is a video talking about this subject:

     I think the hardest part to writing that I learned was staying committed to the project at hand day in and day out.  Everyday life I can truly tell you will get in the way, and as a writer, you have to find ways to continue to write.  There will also be those times when you doubt what you are writing and this will be a time when you think about abandoning your book.

     Here is another video talking about this:

     Along with your journey, there will be people that you will want to share your writing with and some of these people might make you start to doubt your writing again.  Then when all is said and done, when you do finally publish there will be people who won't like what you've written which could make you doubt yourself once again.  But, before you throw in the towel, let me tell you that you are not the only writer who has experienced this or will experience this in regards to writing a book.

     Here is a video that I hope will help you with this:

       One last thing, many people as I stated will start writing a book, and many people won't finish it.  I hope you end up being the writer that finishes your book. Good Luck, and happy writing to you.

     In my next blog entry, I am going to talk about how to write a book for the beginner.  So if you are just thinking about writing a book, and don't know where to start, this next article just might help you.

     So stay tuned.

    

How to Make Your Novel Shorter if Your Book is too Long

      Most writers can't imagine that a book being too long could be a problem, right?  The truth is it can be.  There are a lot of traditional publishers that don't like to see books over 1,000 pages long.  Now, if you are planning on self-publishing this could still be a problem.  You might be wonder why.  This could spell to the average reader that this book might be self-published, especially if the story has repeated, redundancies in its writing.  What this means is that certain information is constantly repeated over and over again, or there are a lot of run-on sentences.  This could happen a lot in stories that are too long.

     Here is a video below that might help you with trimming your story down.

    Here is another video that talks about 29 words that you should probably think about cutting from your novel.

     So when writing your fiction novel these are just some things you should think about and consider when you edit the first draft of your book.  Believe it or not, there really isn't a right or wrong to this as long as you are giving your readers the best quality you can give them.

     In my next blog entry, I'm going to answer a question that I received from one of my readers who told me that they wanted to write a book, but they weren't sure if they were cut out for this thing called writing.

     So stay tuned!

How to Make Your Novel Longer if Your Book Isn't Long Enough

       As a writer the first thing that usually happens is you get an idea for a story and then you decide that you want to write a book about it, right?  Now comes the hard part, you have to actually write the book.  It is always easy to start writing a book but to continue writing it day after day is not so easy.  Take it from me, I can't tell you how many books I have started and for whatever reason I would throw it to the side, only to start writing another book.  Does any of this sound familiar to you?

     The reasons I always hear from other writers is that yes they generally can start a book, and can actually finish it, only to find that the book isn't long enough.  This problem is normal for many writers.  In fact, they label this type of a writer as an underwriter.  What makes this hard is that if you are writing your book to be an eBook, what you might not know is that at the time of publishing this book on a book site, it will be compressed, (meaning that the page count you think you have will actually be lesser).  Yes, your story will not have changed, but to save storage on a book site, the site you published your eBook on will appear shorter in length.

     Here's a video explaining this:

     For example:  Let's say your book has 180 pages.  That would seem to be a decent size book, except if you are publishing it as an eBook. In an eBook, it will probably show the number of pages as maybe 110-130 pages long after you publish it.  Which to a reader who is reading your book statistics will not appear too long? (Don't get me wrong, some readers like short reads as long as the price is right). Here is a video below talking about how much you should charge for your eBook.

     So are you struggling with the underwriter's plague?  If so, maybe the video below can help?

     If you're wondering how long your fiction novel should be before publishing it as an eBook, from my own personal experience I think that anything from 250-300+ pages if compressed will make your eBook passable with most readers in the way of story length.  Another thing you can do is check out books online and find the authors who are selling their book in eBook and Paperback book form.  See how many pages are in the paperback, and then check to see how many pages are in the eBook.  This will give you a better idea of your own book size.

     In my next blog entry, I going to address the flipside of this subject and talk about the overwriter and how they can shorten their story.

     So stay tuned!

     

How Long Should my Fiction or Non-Fiction Book Be?

      The length of your book has been oftentimes debated online.  Most of the time when the debate comes up it is usually when someone asks how many words or pages should be in their book? There has been a lot of talk about it being from 10K to 50K + words for a fiction book. In a non-fiction book, it's a little more complicated because it will depend on your subject matter and the value you have to offer your readers.


     Here is a video talking about how many words should be in your fiction/non-fiction book:

     There are times I see writers question more about the total pages in a book more than the word count.  Here is another video talking about this subject:

     

     Having a book with a lot of pages can actually be troublesome, and I am here to tell you this is one of the biggest reason I decided to create a book series for one of my books called "Stranded by Deception" because it was over 1100 pages long.  I talked about this series in a past blog entry titled:  "Book Series:  Are They a Good Idea".

     So this basically will be a judgment call on your part.  You have to decide whether your story has the number of pages and value in it so you will know how much to charge for it. If you are traditionally published you won't have to worry about this because your publisher will decide this price.  But if you are self-published this will be completely up to you.  You need to understand that no reader wants to see a fiction book with less than 50 pages and a price tag of $2.99 or more unless you are a best-selling author with a fan base.  If not, you might have to start low until you establish a reader base that you know will pay for what you write.  These are just something to think about.

     In my next blog entry, I'm going to talk about writers who are known as underwriters.  This is a writer who needs to add to their story so you don't end up with a fiction book with less than 50 pages. Hopefully, this blog entry will help you with tips for doing just that.

    So stay tuned!

    

Writer's and the Dreaded Book Review

      Whether you are new or a seasoned book writer, at one time or another you will have to deal with what I call the dreaded book review. If writing wasn't hard enough, once you publish your book the realization of what you have written will come to pass when you experience people judging you and your book. You can't escape this since the Internet is filled with ratings on products of all kinds, and the book is one of the greatest of the reviews on the world wide web.

     The world of readers will judge your work in ways that you as a writer could never imagine. Some of it will be good and some of it will not be so good.  When people are praising you as a writer you will feel pretty great.  But, when someone says something bad, (I don't care if it is just one person) you will feel like you are washed up as a writer and should just throw in the towel and give up.  

     As a writer who has had some not so good things said about my writing, I can truly tell you that it digs deep at ones inner core and writing passion.  I can truly tell you that I have come close many times in giving up writing.  Of course, I then realize that writing is my passion and I would be lost without it.  So no matter what anyone says, whether it hurts or not I continue to persevere.  The one thing about being on the Internet is I have discovered that I am not the only writer who has ever experienced this.

     The following video helped me find some humor in regards to the dreaded book review.

     So what if you personally get a bad book review and it makes you feel like crap.  What should you do?  Here is another video offering you some solutions to this problem.

      Although the video above is good, I don't exactly agree with the Number 4 way of dealing with bad book reviews.  I personally feel when you see a one star or two-star review that these are usually readers who are NOT your readers of what you have written.  The star reviews that I think you should pay a great deal of attention to are the 3-star reviewers.  Why, because they are the readers who are wavering on whether or not they will become a loyal reader of yours.  They are usually readers who will always have something good to say along with something that they didn't like.  I have often times find that they will offer suggestions to you that you should probably pay attention to.

     Just remember if you ever get a bad book review take a deep breath and tell yourself that you are in good company with other writers.  Hey, as you saw in the video above even Stephen King gets 1-star reviews, as well as so many other well-known authors. 

So just Remember YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

     In my next blog entry, I am going to talk about how long your book should be whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction.

     So stay tuned.

A Writer's Insecurities and Fear

       When the floodgates of self-publishing opened up for all writers who ever had the dream of publishing a book without the gate guards (traditional publishers) stopping you, many new writers started to write, and write, and write.  Of course, this ended up opening a whole other set of problems.  You might be wondering what I am talking about.  Well, for the first time the non-published writer was actually going to be able to obtain their dream once and for all and get published, right? For some, this was the ultimate dream, especially if they had been wallpapering their walls with literary agents rejection notices. But, and I say but, because this ended up opening a whole different set of problems for writers who actually now could get published without the traditional publisher. (So what's wrong with that, you might be asking). Well, now the newbie writer was actually going to be able to publish something that they had written for the whole world to read and judge, and I do mean judge!

     Here is a video talking about the insecurities of writers and what some of you, if you are new to all of this, will probably feel at some time or another.

     Here is a video about how to deal with your writer's fears and insecurities.

     Then as writer's, we start to doubt ourselves and whether we should be writing what we are writing.  Here is another video which might help you with this.

     And here is a video that gives you (6) things nobody tells you about being a writer. 

     

    So here you have it these are the problems which face many writers.  Are you one of those writers?  I know I have been at times, but I continue to write because no matter what anyone says to me I have found that this is truly my passion. And, folks I'm not about to give up this gift of self-publishing that we writers have been granted.  So let's get back to work and start writing!

     In my next blog entry, I'm going to segway from this topic to a subject that as newbie writers, and also as seasoned writers you'll have to deal with at some time and that is the DREADED BOOK REVIEW.

     So stay tuned!

     

Should my Book have an Epilogue?

      What is an Epilogue, and should my book have one? Generally, an epilogue is a chapter at the very end of your book which basically wraps up everything in your story, or can lead you to something in your next story if you are writing a book series.  (See the video below where this topic is discussed).

     If you are still questioning whether to have an epilogue at the back of your book after watching this video let me give you some food for thought.  Is there a lot going on in your story?  Will there be a lot of loose ends to tie up when you reach the conclusion of your book?  If you are still basically at the beginning of writing your story, or even somewhere in the middle you might not know at this point if you want to have an Epilogue at the end of your book or not.

     Personally, I think Epilogues are great to use in Crime, Mysteries, Science Fiction/Fantasy stories because usually in these types of books there is usually a lot that you have to tie up in the end.  Lastly, the other thing you will need to ask yourself that if you decide to use a chapter instead of an Epilogue to finish up your book, will it make the reader feel like you dumped a whole lot of information on them too quickly. The reason I say this is that I have seen book reviews where readers have said that the author seemed to rush their story in the last chapter to its conclusion. So with this in mind, I think when a reader sees the word: EPILOGUE instead they automatically know that the conclusion of the story is at hand, and they expect to have a lot of information given to them where the story is concerned. I also say this because when I see the word Epilogue in a book I always assume this, although I can't speak for every reader.  These are some things you will have to think about as you get closer to the end of your book on whether you need to use an Epilogue or just an ending chapter.

     In my next blog entry, I am going to talk about writer's and their fears and insecurities in regards to their writing, and how someone other than themselves will feel about what they've written.  This can cause a writer who is thinking about self-publishing for the first time to hesitate on whether they really want to publish their work for all of the world to see or not.

     So stay tuned!

How to Outline Your Book Before Writing it

  To outline or not to outline that is the question, right? This is something that most writers don't really want to do.  I have to admit I am one of those types of writers.  I will admit here that when I outline I just do the basic type.  What I mean is I will outline the beginning, the middle and how I want the book to end.  The in-between parts I sort of write by the seat of my pants.
 

     Let's face it, most writers get an idea for a story and they just want to write their book. They don't want to stop and think about everything under the sun by doing an outline. They just want to get on with the story, right?  Of course, I realize that can cause a problem for some writers.  Why, because when you get an idea most of the time writers generally don't know where to begin a story.  They just want to get to the part of their idea.  This can cause a writer to abandon their story more often than to complete it. This is one of the reasons why writing a book and completing it is so hard.

     The video below will discuss the subject of the outline process and why it is important to do this before writing your book.  And, even if you've already started a book and haven't outlined it, you can still outline what is ahead in your story.

     Here is another video that gives you some more ways to outline your book:

     

     So to outline or not to outline is totally up to you.  There really is no right or wrong on whether to do this or not.  I always say do what is best for you on getting your book done. If during your writing process you hit writer's block, outlining just might help you get unstuck.

     In my next blog entry, I am going to talk about whether your book should have an Epilogue.

     So stay tuned!

How to Write a Great First Chapter in Your Book

      Writing a great first chapter will be one of the hardest things you will have to do as an author.  The first chapter is generally the first thing that a reader will see if you decide not put a prologue in your book, and so it better be good.  When I say good, it better happen in the first couple of pages of your book.  If not, you might lose the reader and they just might choose not to read your book.  Don't get me wrong, some readers like a long drawn out first chapter, but personally, I am one of those readers that don't.  If a story doesn't grab my eye in the first couple of pages I won't read the book.  I don't care how many people tell me the book is great, I just won't read it.


     Here is a video below where the person is talking about writing a great first chapter:

     The one thing that this person in the video didn't suggest that I would, is to pick up books around your house and read the first two pages in them.  Find ones that you think are good and ones that you think aren't so good.  Then ask yourself what was good and not so good in the first chapter of the books you found around your house.  You can also do this out on amazon.com.  Go to the book genre that you write in and look at a few books.  Amazon.com lets you do this through their LOOK INSIDE feature.  Ask yourself after reading a few pages in this preview would you want to read that book.  If not, why not?  If you would, then why would you?

     If you have already self-published a book and it isn't selling all that well, you might just want to edit your first chapter and see if you can fix anything that might be causing any future readers to look elsewhere.  Making this change just might help you in the long run.  This is the great thing about self-publishing; you can always change something in your book and re-publish it.

     In my next blog entry, I am going to talk about how to outline your book before you start writing it.

     So stay tuned!

How to Write a Prologue for Your Book

      In my previous blog article, I talked about whether you should have a prologue in your book.  If you missed reading it, you can read it here.  
 
     In this article, I am going to talk about how to write a Prologue if you want to place one in your book.  As stated in the previous article, a Prologue should be short and to the point.  The shorter the Prologue the better for the reader.  In fact, most Prologue's should never venture past three pages at the most.  If they do, you might want to consider making this Chapter One instead.

     Here is someone talking about how to write a Prologue in the video below:

     In my previous article, I stated that I love Prologue's and I have used them in several of my books.  One, in particular, is when I used it in a book I wrote called:  "Shattered Pieces of Shay".  In this book, I felt the prologue was needed.  But, I made sure it was short and to the point.

     Here is the prologue in the book:

Prologue

Shay fought her way through the water in the vast, Atlantic Ocean.  How did this happen and how did she go from being on the deck of Brandon's yacht to being in the water fighting for her life.  She struggled and desperately looked up in the direction of the boat hoping that someone would at least throw her a life preserver, but all she saw was her husband of four years, Brandon standing there looking directly down at her with a stone, cold look on his face before she went under the water. 

As you can see the Prologue is short and to the point.  What happens later is Shay's body washes ashore only to awake with amnesia. So when she eventually reunites with her husband she has no idea that he had thrown her overboard because he wanted to kill her. The reader discovers why he wants to kill her, but Shay is oblivious to this, which hopefully makes the reader want to know if Shay will get her memory back in time before it is too late.

So if you really feel the need to have a Prologue in your book, my suggestion is to make sure it is short.  Believe me, most readers don't want to read a long Prologue and will abandon your story if it is too long.

In my next blog entry, I going to talk about how to write a strong first chapter if you decide you don't want to write a Prologue but want to make sure your beginning doesn't send your reader to sleep.

So stay tuned!

Should My Book Have a Prologue

     If you are new to self-publishing and have not published at least one book, this question might be something you have wondered about.  In fact, even if you are published you might have wrestled with whether to use a prologue or not. 

     So what is a Prologue anyway?  A Prologue is defined as a separate introduction to your story.  Basically, the part at the beginning of a story, play, or a long poem that introduces it.  Generally, it is very short and to the point.

     Here is a video discussing this topic below:

     For me personally, I love prologues.  The reason is that it allows you to put something critical in your story that will draw the reader to want to read it.  For example; in my book series "Stranded by Deception", the book originally started with Chapter 1 and the first sentence was: It was a hot, summer day in San Francisco, California as Marissa pulled her car into the parking lot setting to the right of the busy, congested pier.

   Whereas, when I decided to add a Prologue it started with: 

     "Oh my God," Marissa exclaimed, "The boats on fire!" She didn't know why she should be so surprised by this latest revelation.  It wasn't like the day had started out on a good note. She knew she should have gotten off the boat the moment she first laid eyes on that dreadful man.  Looking back on it now, she wished she had listened to her inner voice.

     As you can see the Prologue is usually something very short and to the point.  This way when I started Chapter 1 with basically a flashback to how this all began with Marissa getting on the boat, the reader knows that a boat fire will happen, but they just don't know when.  This is how I generally use a Prologue in my books.  I use it to try and grab the reader.

     Sometimes Prologues are used in book series to catch a reader up if they decide not to read all of your books.  They can pick up any number in your series and quickly read the Prologue to know what happened previously.

     So the question still stands do you need a Prologue?  My answer is can your first chapter grab a reader in the first couple of pages?  If not, you might want to think about using a Prologue to grab your reader.

     In my next blog entry, I'm going to talk about how to write a Prologue.

     So stay tuned!

Book Series: Are They a Good Idea?

       Are book series a good idea?  This is something I have wrestled with and I still wonder about today.  Yes, I recently published my first book series called: "Stranded By Deception", a book that took me 30 years to complete and publish.  If you missed my blog article about this you can still read it here:

       I'm also currently working on another book series to my paranormal/fantasy book: "Beyond the Mysterious Red Door".

     I have heard good and bad from writers and readers about this practice of writing series for your book.  So in the end, I just decided to try my hand at creating a few book series along with my individual books and see what happens. Let's face it, some of the top stories that many of us are familiar with were book series such as, "Harry Potter", "Twilight", Divergent, and "Fifty Shades of Grey", and so much more.

     But, here is what I've heard from readers about this practice of writing a book series.  Some readers hate it when they start reading a book series and they have to wait too long for the next book.  Some readers hate the fact that they have to buy more than one book to get the complete story.  In fact, I read a book review recently that stated they didn't like that the book was part of a series and that they couldn't understand why authors would give a reader a free book just to bate them into buying all of the other books in the series. They said they thought this was a despicable sales plow, and that they were tired of all the writers who were currently doing this.

     Now the opposite, I also heard that readers like reading book series because usually when they like a book they hate for it to end.  So, if it is a series they know it doesn't have to end with one book.

     Even though I wrestled with creating a book series or two, I think personally every author should have at least one book series along with individual, standalone books.  I don't know what you all think? I do feel that as long as you are writing and trying to give great value to your readers with writing a good story that it shouldn't matter whether it is a series or not, just saying.

     In my next blog entry, I'm going to talk about something that many authors question.  The question is, should I have a Prologue at the beginning of my book or not?

     So stay tuned.

Finding an Idea to Write About

     If you are a person who loves to write but is currently having a hard time coming up with something to write about. Hopefully, this blog article will help you. Having to come up with a new idea once you finish writing a book that took you a long time to write can be hard, to say the least.  

     I'm happy to say that I've never really had this problem as a writer.  If anything, I generally have too many ideas floating around in my head, and not enough hours in the day to write a book for all of them. lol

     Anyway, are you struggling to come up with a good book idea?  If you are, you are probably not alone.  I have heard from other writer's that after spending so much time on one book, and then publishing it that it was hard to get motivated to start another.  I generally ask writer's when they tell me this are they just going to be a one book wonder like musicians are with a one-hit wonder?  I usually then hear that they want to write another book but they don't have any fresh ideas to get started with.  

     Here is a video below where this subject is discussed.  

     Here are some of my own ideas that might help you find something to write about.  This first one is where I get a lot of my story ideas from.

Fiction Book Ideas:

• Dreams (I have a notepad by my bed and when I wake up if I remember anything that I dreamt from the previous night I will jot it down).
• News (There are so many stories in the news.  Find one that you can change around and create a story off of).
• Music (listen to all kinds of music and see if any song brings to mind anything that you feel you can create a story from).
• Soap Opera's (with bad stories that you know you could write so much better.  Just rename your characters and fix the story and plots in your book so they aren't so bad).
• Everyday life (I like to walk around stores and shopping malls listening to people talk on their phones and to other people at the cash register.  You'd be surprised at what you hear. Some people live really colorful lives and believe me the writer in me is always processing ideas from these conversations. (If these people only knew). lol
• Music Videos (you can't really copy everything that is going on in a story-type video, but you can get some ideas from them. 
• Read other books, and then do the opposite.(I did this with one of my book's titled: "The Value of Love" where the woman in this story is a billionaire and not the man. The genre market today most of the time features the man who is the billionaire and the woman is generally falling at his feet).

To View Book Details Go Here!

Non-fiction Book Ideas: 

• How to save money
• How to budget
• How to live on a one family income
• How to get better organized
• How to deal with unemployment
• How to schedule your life better (tips & strategies)
• How to deal with a problem child
• How to deal with stress at home and on the job
• How to deal with problem neighbors
• How to beat addiction
• How to fix your own computer
• How to deal with various computer problems
• How to use grammar and punctuation correctly.
• Teach about something you know.
• How to deal with a health issue.
• Celebrity news
• Google Trends - this will tell you what is popular on the Internet at that particular time.  There are usually a lot of topics listed.  Research and write about one.

     These are just a few suggestions, but I'm sure you're getting the idea.  Just write about what you know and are passionate about, and that you feel an audience would be too!  The people who master this usually are those that have a strong readership, and they don't have to worry about how much money they are making because of this.  If you give good content your readers will continue to come back time and time again.

    So whatever you choose to do, I agree with the person in the video above just write.  Don't make excuses just do it!  There's a quote that I keep above my desk that reads:  

     Success...occurs when your dreams become bigger than your excuses!

     In my next blog entry, I'm going to talk about book series and whether or not they are a good idea.

So stay tuned!

     

Mistakes of a Newbie Book Writer

    If you've never published before and hoped to one day, most people will classify you as a newbie. (meaning you are new to publishing).

       The following video below talks about the mistakes that happen to newbie book writers and offers tips to help you.

     So as a new book writer remember that it just takes time. The thing that I learned the most when I was a newbie writer was staying inspired.  You can be a writer that just loves, loves, loves writing, but trust me there will be times when you don't. 

     When your book writing is flowing great you will be your happiest, but when you're writing isn't going so well then you'll probably wonder why you ever started to write a book in the first place.  Believe me, you will not be alone in having these feelings.  Take my word on it, most writers at some point in their writing journey will feel like this. The key is to never stop writing, even if it means you have to start another book.  I have to admit here that I often times work on writing in three different books each day.  And, when one isn't working out so well, I'll spend time on another book that is.  I don't recommend this for every writer because sometimes one book can be hard enough to keep track of, let alone three. (This is where good outlining helps before you begin writing a book).

     In my next blog entry, I am going to talk about finding an idea to write about.

     So stay tuned.

     

The Perfectionist Writer

        Are you a perfectionist writer?  Are you wondering who a perfectionist writer is? The perfectionist writer is someone who will always be writing something but will never share it with anyone. (Okay, maybe a few friends and family members), but generally no one else.  They always talk about publishing their work but never get around to doing it for one reason or another.

     I have to admit that I used to be one of those people.  Yes, from a very early age I wrote stories and continued to write them as I got older, but never published anything.  I think the only one who ever read my stories was my desk drawer. lol  And, I admitted in a previous blog article that one of the stories I wrote took me 30 years to publish. "The Book That Took Me 30 Years to Complete and Publish".  Of course, in the beginning, when I first started writing, self-publishing wasn't as easy as it is today.  Don't get me wrong, I know if you are a writer who has not published anything as of yet, it will probably be because you aren't sure how to go about doing this.  I was faced with the same dilemma at one time, and I had to learn a lot.  Believe it or not, you are not alone.

     I also know that another reason most perfectionist writers haven't published anything is that it is scary out here in the publishing world.  This is one of those jobs where you will constantly be judged the moment you publish your story by the readers who pick up your book.

     Here is a video that talks about how every writer starts at zero:

     
     Here is another video talking about how we procrastinate in our life and how we don't get where we really want to be because of this:

     The one thing I have learned since I first self-published is that once I did it, the next book was easier to get published, and so forth and so on.  It's like everything in life, once you do it, the next time is always easier.  Will you be scared the first time you self-publish....Yes, I was.  I remember that day so well.  I was excited, and yet, I was scared.  I'm not sure why, other than because it was the first time I had self-published.

     Do I worry about everything that has to do with my books today?  Let's just say I'm not as obsessed with my stories as I used to be.  I try to put forth the best I can with my books, but I don't pick apart everything the way I used to.  If you are a perfectionist writer constantly picking apart your book, I'm here to tell you that you might not ever get published.  Stop worrying about what everyone might think, and start wondering if you just might be sitting on the next best seller.

     Lastly, self-publishing I'm sorry to say is not an easy journey, but for me, it has been quite rewarding.  Yes, I haven't found my readers yet, but I continue to write and publish because I have no doubt in my mind that my readers are somewhere out there, and that I just have to stay the course.

     In my next blog entry, I'm going to talk about the mistakes of a newbie book writer.

     So stay tuned.
   

Writing a Book Description (Blurb)

     If you've been reading this blog we've covered several important things you will need if you are self-publishing a book.  One is a great book cover and a good title for your book. Now, if those two things weren't hard enough, you now have to write a description (blurb) for your book to tell your readers; in what I call a compact version of your book, what your book is about. This is something that I currently struggle with, and after viewing a lot of other descriptions (blurbs) from others writer's I can tell you that I am not alone.

     Here is a video explaining some tips that a writer can use to help with writing their book description (blurb).

     The one thing I learned from this video above is that you should check out what other best selling authors are doing with their description blurbs to their books.  So with this in mind, I decided to check out the book:  "Fifty Shades of Grey".  Hopefully, you all know about this book, but if you don't it is a book that sold over 100 million copies.  It started out as a self-published book before a traditional publisher grabbed onto it.  Now I have to admit after studying this book description blurb I'm still somewhat confused about what actually caused this book to sell so well.  The blurb is what I would consider average, and I don't know if I would have wanted to read this back when this book was first published or if it would have made me want to buy it.  But, this is just me.  Obviously, others have seen this differently, which is why writing a description blurb for your book will not be one of the easiest things you will do if you are looking to self-publish. Believe me, I continue to work at this myself.  But, the great thing once again about self-publishing is that you can constantly change this since you are in control of your book at all times. Most places that will sell your book will let you change your book description blurb as many times as you want or need to.

     In my next blog entry, I am going to talk about the Perfectionist Writer.  This is someone who has never published but is always writing a book. (Maybe you know someone like this; maybe that someone is you).  They are usually someone who will always have a reason for not publishing their work. Hopefully, this blog article will help them to put one foot in front of the other and just get self-published once and for all.

So stay tuned.