With the incredible changes happening every year in the
publishing industry, it’s hard to keep up with what the latest advice is. Indie publishing or traditional publishing?
Agent or no agent? Structural editor or line editor? KDP exclusive distribution
or distribution everywhere?
With all these things to make difficult choices about as a
writer, there are just a few things which are clear and simple. Here are the top 5 things that I consider
essential to being a successful writer who is proud of their work!
1.
Quality
quality quality. This should be the first, middle and last thing you think
about in your writing. The quality should be in the writing itself (the very
best you can do, and a bit more!), in the editing and in the proof reading.
Ensuring quality means investing in quality, so that means choosing an editor
and proofreader with a great reputation; and investing in time which means
giving it that extra edit and extra read before you publish.
2.
Get an
amazing cover. Your writing is the very best quality. You have invested in
a great editor and proofreader. Now you need a cover that tells the reader that
what is inside your book is fantastic. Its time to invest again. If you want
the best of the best, go to the bookshop, find a cover you love, and find out
who designed it (the name is usually on the back cover or inside). Google them
and see if they do freelance work. Designers usually do. The next route is to
find a designer with a good reputation and show them the cover you love. Ask
for something similar. You’ll end up with a brilliant design that shouts
quality and appeals to the readers you’re targeting.
3.
Go for as
many formats as possible. E-book is easy. We’ve all got that. Print book is
also quite easy, although it takes a bit more quality control. But what about
audiobook? With the advent of ACX (www.acx.com)
it is now both incredibly easy and extremely fun to set up audiobooks. ACX is
part of Amazon, which owns Audible, where most audiobooks are sold. This means
that you are producing your audiobook directly into the distribution channel.
It’s the audio equivalent of KDP or Create Space. With clear instructions, you
explain what your book is about, set your budget (as high as possible for a
great narrator), choose your narrator, and then wait for them to produce it. My
own audiobook was produced in 2 months. No stress. No effort. But my work is
now available for a completely new market of audio fans. No brainer.
4.
Finish
the book and start another. It takes months – sometimes years – to write a
book. And the person you are when you wrote the first line is not the same
person you are when you write the last line. You’re a much better writer, in
fact. You’ve learned a lot while you’ve been crafting 50 – 100,000 words. So
what do you do? Do you start again, and re-write the novel from the beginning,
as the new-and-better writer you are? And when you’ve done that…. do you repeat
the process? There has to be a finish line, and you need to be clear about your
finish line. Stephen King recommends the formula “2 drafts and a polish” in his
brilliant book “On writing”. For you, it might be 3 drafts and a polish. But
then you need to stop! Get the line editor hired. Get the proof reader on it.
And publish. Then start the new one. Because you book you write next will be a
new, brilliant work, written with you as the new skilled writer you are. Know
when to draw the line. There’s always a new book to write.
5.
Be good
to other writers. It’s a grueling job writing books. It takes months or
years to produce one work. We put our sweat, emotions, hours, passions, open
hearts, late nights and all our money into our books, and then we are dependent
on people liking them to have any success at all. It’s brutal. But one thing we
can do is share our burden by being good to other writers. Reach out and
connect with them. Read their books and review them. Meet up with ones near
you. Share your advice and knowledge and experience. Share your contacts – your
best editor and your cover designer. Write blog posts for writing blogs! It may
not directly help you to be successful, but it will make the journey more
beautiful – and help you to have the stamina to keep writing until your
masterpiece becomes a worldwide bestseller. We’re all sharing a dream – let’s
help each other reach it.
Leonora Meriel grew up in
London and studied literature at the University of Edinburgh and Queen’s
University, Ontario. She worked at the United Nations in New York, and then for
a law firm. In 2003 she moved to Kyiv, where she founded and managed Ukraine’s
largest Internet company. She studied at Kyiv Mohyla Business School and earned
an MBA. During her years in Ukraine, she learned to speak Ukrainian and
Russian, witnessed two revolutions and got to know an extraordinary country at
a key period of its development. In 2008, she returned to her dream of being a
writer, and completed The Woman Behind the Waterfall, set in a village
in western Ukraine. Her second book, The Unity Game will be released in
May 2017.
Heartbreak
and redemption in the beauty of a Ukrainian village
For seven-year old Angela, happiness is exploring the lush
countryside around her home in western Ukraine. Her wild imagination takes her
into birds and flowers, and into the waters of the river.
All that changes
when, one morning, she sees her mother crying. As she tries to find out why,
she is drawn on an extraordinary journey into the secrets of her family, and
her mother’s fateful choices.
Can Angela lead her mother back to happiness before her innocence is
destroyed by the shadows of a dark past?
Beautiful,
poetic and richly sensory, this is a tale that will haunt and lift its readers.
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