A lot of people want to write and publish a book.
Whether it’s just a single book or a collection of books, people believe that publishing a book is an achievement and indeed it is.
A lot of aspiring authors see it as a legacy to write and publish their own books. And many others see publishing as an opportunity to make an additional income by sharing their stories with the world.
And for this reason, becoming a published author is the lifelong dream of so many people around the world.
Regardless of the possibilities that come with being a published author, for one reason or the other, many aspiring authors have not been able to write their books. And some may never get to publish their books.
So, do you find yourself in this group where you struggle to write and publish your book?
At some point, I was here. It was a big struggle to put my books together at first. In fact, after finishing my first book, it took me four years before I could start writing the next book. This was even when I’d always had the idea for the next book as at the time I finished the first.
As someone that has written books and worked with different authors, I can assure you, writing and publishing a book is not easy but it’s doable.
Yes. And in this post, I will share with you, seven easy steps that you can use to write and publish your first book.
Of course it doesn’t matter whether you’re a complete newbie or an experienced author struggling with content for your next book, the following are fireproof ways to get started with your next book…
Decide why you want to write a book
Table of Contents
So, why exactly do you want to write? Have you even bothered to ask yourself this question?
A lot of authors write because they are writers and they just can’t help it. Some write a book because they want to sell and make money writing.
There are also a handful of authors that write books because they want to demonstrate their expertise and become recognized as a thought leader in their niche or inspire others with their stories.
At some point, I was part of the latter.
Apart from the above reasons, a lot of authors I’ve worked with consider writing a book as milestone in their life or career. And with their book, they want to get their stories heard and probably make money out of it.
I have also seen a lot of authors whose goals is just to have their books published, regardless of whether they can make money with the books or not.
As an aspiring writer, you have to know exactly why you want to write if you really want your book to be successful.
Why you need to decide on why you want to write
Deciding why you want to write will completely influence the types of books you write and the result you get with the book.
If for instance your sole purpose of writing a book is to make money as an author, you’ll have to reconsider the kind of topics you choose to write about.
To achieve this goal, you have to research the money making topics and then work on creating your book around such fast selling topics.
If on the other hand your goal for writing a book is to become a thought leader in your niche, then you have to choose a topic in the particular niche, do your research and get your experiences to give the book thought provoking opinion and ideas that will create talking points in the niche.
In whatever industry you are, knowing why you want to write is a very important step in your writing journey.
It’ll get you started on the right footing.
Choose a topic/theme
Now that you’ve decided on your writing goal or the reason you want to write, it’s time to choose a topic to write about.
Choosing the theme for my book was not too daunting because I knew what I’d always wanted to write about. And who I wanted to reach with my work.
Before you get started choosing your book’s theme, you want to know about the kind of topic that will resonate with your target audience.
And to do this, you have to get your research right. Start with finding out conversations around important topics in the niche you want to write about.
Find out, how your target audience reacts to these topics. What part of these topics intrigues them the most?
Choosing a book topic can be quite daunting but the first step to take after finding out what appeals to your audience is to find out your unique message.
If you want to make an impact as thought leader, ask yourself, what unique perspective do you have that you can bring into this topic that can be very beneficial to others?
In a situation where your overall goal is to make money with your book then you might not necessarily need to have a specific experience on a topic, before writing about it.
PS: Note that there’s a difference between your book topic and a book title. While the former is the central idea about the book, the latter is the name of your book.
Write your book
After finding a topic for your book, it’s time to settle down and get the job done. Begin towrite your book.
Yes, writing a book is hard for some people. You might need to garner enough research, dig into your experiences and reach out to certain people in order to get enough and relevant content.
But, like I said earlier, writing is doable and there are steps to go about it.
To make things easier, start with chunking down the overall idea into sections or chapters, from the first to the last chapter; based on specific areas you want to focus on.
Don’t worry. You can always change a section into a different chapter, if the need arises. The only reason you’re doing this is to simplify the task for your mind so it doesn’t get too overwhelming.
After this, begin to write the book based on how you’ve divided it.
By the way, if you can’t get to write a book on your own, there are a handful of professional ghostwriters who can take up your ideas and write a book for you at a fee.
Decide on a Publishing Platform
When you’re planning to write a book, one of the important things you want to decide on is your publishing platform.
If you’re planning to work with a traditional publisher in some cases, you might have to reach out to them to approve your book idea and decide whether they want to publish it or not before you proceed.
If you’re planning to self-publish your book offline through a traditional publisher, you also need to decide on the publisher at this stage, the extent of the publishing services they are going to provide for you and the cost.
Finally, where you want to publish your book online, you need to decide on the particular online publishing platforms will serve your needs. There are a handful of them.
Although Amazon is the leading online publishing platform for self-publishing, you have to consider your target audience and writing niche, before choosing a publishing platform.
Edit and format your book
After writing your book, the next thing you want to do is to edit, proof read rigorously and format the book for publishing.
Editing and proof reading your book is very important. You can either do the editing yourself or get it over to some professionals to have it edited for you.
Even where you go with a professional, it’s still important you have a look through your final draft before getting it published.
After editing your book, you need to format it and get it all set for publishing. If you’re planning to publish online, here’s a guide on how to format your book for online publishing.
PS: At this stage you may also have to consider whether you’ll opt for a paid ISBN or an online issued ISBN.
Design a book Cover
One of the first things that will attract a person to your book is the book cover itself.
Besides the fact that your book needs to have a great content for the right audience, if you want your book to sell, you need to attract the right audience.
And one of the first steps to do this is to design a book cover that sells.
To get a selling book cover, your cover design has to be compelling. The words and pictures used in the design have to be captivating to a potential viewer with a narrative that clearly captures their interest while describing the content of your book.
While choosing your cover design imagery for example, be very conscious about your book topic, your target audience and the idea you want to project about the book.
Be mindful of the kind of words and imagery that will appeal to your audience, their religious or social inclinations and other sentiments.
A lot of authors do not pay attention to this but your book’s packaging can break or mark its success.
Publish and Promote
You’re done with everything and it’s time to finally publish and tell the world about your book.
So, where have you decided to publish the book? Is it online, offline or a blended publishing? A lot of authors prefer the latter.
Although you don’t need to pay anything to publish on most online publishing platforms, using both online and offline publishing platforms will definitely cost you a bit more than using one, especially where you choose to promote the book online.
IF you do not have enough money to go on paid self-publishing offline, you can still utilize an online publisher like Amazon, to publish your book without paying upfront publishing fees.
After publishing, be sure to promote the book. It doesn’t matter whether you want to make money out of the book or not, tell the world about your book, starting with your social media platforms.
There are several options to do this via paid and organic promotions. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re using a paid platform or not, always remember as the author, you’re one of the best person to promote the book.
Final Words
As you can see, you can really get started on the journey to writing your next book, if you follow through these simple steps.
Yes, with these tips, you can get your ideas right from your head, into a book but, nothing happens until you take the steps to start writing your book.
Like I mentioned, a certain adage says that the cemetery is filled with great ideas that were never explored, innovations that were never invented and stories that were never shared.
As experienced online publishers, we offer services that can get your books from ideas to published books. And you can contact us if you need any help.
So, the question is, do you want to get up and share your ideas with the world today? It’s your turn now!
2 Responses
[…] just finished writing your book and you’re thinking of ways to format your book for Amazon […]
[…] out, why exactly do you want to publish that book you have in […]