The Fear of Writing and Publishing a Book

 When you get an idea for a book and decide to write a story based on this idea I refer to this as the infancy stage.  It's as if you've just given birth to a baby and it is up to you to raise it.  You start your story and just like a baby you have to teach this young idea the ropes about the world in which it will live in.  As your story starts to grow, so will your baby into adolescents and all the problems this will bring to your story, and the many challenges, plus writer's block you will face. But, as you continue writing, eventually your story will finish as it reaches adulthood.  You will then have to make sure your story has learned everything it needs one last time before you think about sending it out into the world for all to witness how well you did in raising it.
 

     When the day finally comes and it is time to release your book to the world, whether you do it the traditional way or self-published way the fear of sending your grown-up child out into the world will be one of the most exciting, yet most stressful and self-doubting times in your life. And, if this is the first time you've ever published a book your fear of sharing what you wrote to the world who doesn't know you will scare some of you into not publishing your work in the end.

(Here is a video discussing this topic)

Here is another video that talks about our self-doubt and how to get beyond all of these fears and doubts to live your dreams.

     Personally speaking from my own experience, I think the first time you publish or do anything it is usually the hardest for most people; at least it was for me.  But, I have found once you do something that repeating it, again and again, gets easier.  So if you are a writer sitting on your manuscript because you are just plain scared to have someone read it who isn't related to you, my suggestion is to just do it.  

     Will your book be judged?                YES!

     Will your book be picked on?            YES!

     Will some readers hate your book?   YES!

     Knowing all of this should you just throw in the towel and give up your dream of ever being a published author?  I hope your answer here is NO!  What I am trying to say here is don't let your fear get in the way of your dreams, because like the lady stated in the above video life really is too short to live like that.  Just know as a writer you are not going to please every reader.  There is not an author alive or dead; for that matter who hasn't had some form of negativity thrown at their writing, or even them.  Like I said in other articles, writing a book is tough, but dealing with haters will be even tougher.  To walk in the author shoes is going to require that you grow a thick skin and learn to maneuver through it.

     In my next blog article, I am going to discuss self-publishing scams and what you need to know.

     So stay tuned!