Writing and Publishing News from

This morning I received a question about how to turn a dissertation into a book. This student had read my book, “Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author.” Here’s my response:

“Thank you for your interest in my work. You asked about the process of turning a dissertation into a book. Sounds like an interesting topic, by the way.

In response, let me suggest that you have read books. You know what a book contains and that most books have some sort of purpose. They are either designed to teach/educate, inform, offer new ideas for self-help, show a new way of doing something or to entertain. In order to turn your dissertation into a book, it’s just a matter of determining what you want the purpose of your book to be—what you want to offer your readers. Along with that, it is important to do some research and find out what else is out there like your book and to determine if there is, indeed, a readership for a book on the topic. If you decide there is, then you go to work either publishing your dissertation as is—or if it is not appropriate to your audience in that form, use parts of it in a new form that makes sense for your audience. A nonfiction book, for example, must have a beginning, middle and end and be appropriately organized and readable.”

You can create an interesting and entertaining book from a journal or diary. An incident in your life can be transformed into a book. One’s entire life, in some cases, can make a good book. You might be able to create a book based on some of your skills or talents (a how-to book on masonry, flower-arranging or restoring a 1940s vintage car, for example). Your knowledge and experience might be tapped to a degree that you could organize a viable book. And certainly imagination has been the basis for countless novels.

How do you use another form of writing to create a book? It’s the same process most of us go through in order to write our books whether we’re writing from the heart or the head. And the fact that this student has a copy of “Publish Your Book,” should help him immensely through the process.

This is a question I get once in a while. Some people don’t ask the question, they just assume that they can quit their job and make up the salary by writing the next bestselling novel. Many retirees view their book in progress as their next meal ticket. I have to tell you, it certainly is possible, but the odds are way against it. The competition is fierce and the statistics dismal. The percentage of books that never get the recognition the authors think they deserve is off the charts. A large majority of authors will lose money on their first book project.

What about their next book? Most won’t take that step. Those who do may have a better experience if they paid attention and learned from the first one.

I just had an email from a client/friend who was telling me about some of the things she is doing related to the book she is writing. She is blogging regularly. She is giving presentations. She is producing materials related to the pending book. She is creating her brand even as she is writing her book. Her book has a strong niche audience and she is already addressing them and demonstrating her expertise in this topic. This is an author who will succeed. She can no doubt expect to earn a pretty good living from her first book. Why? Because she is laying the groundwork as she goes.

Here are my recommendations for those of you who want to earn money from your writing and who aren’t, perhaps, as savvy as my client or you don’t have a nonfiction book with a solid niche audience.

1: Produce booklets and even ebooks (where appropriate) focusing on a skill or knowledge you have and that is of interest or value to a segment of people. Make sure this topic isn’t already widely covered. If it is a popular subject, come up with a fresh and creative approach.

You don’t have to be an expert in the topic if you can develop a unique, appealing, intriguing and useful guide, for example. What is your expertise or interest? Could you write a booklet or pamphlet on making your own designer coffee drinks at home, featuring new quilt patterns, focusing on local weekend getaways, including rainy day activities for kids, with tips for barbecue marinades or introducing a dozen interesting ways to flirt, for example? Write the booklet, isolate your audience and market, market, market. Become known as an authority on this topic and produce additional booklets. If all goes well, a complete book on this topic might be in your future. And just look at the audience you’ve already solicited for anything you come up with on this topic. But expect to spend a lot of time planning, producing and marketing your products. If you want to make good money, you must stay on your toes.

2: You could write articles for magazines and web content. In order to make this pay, you have to look at it as a full-time job. You should constantly study the market, seek out appropriate publications for your material and write what they want. It is important to keep up with what’s going on in the world and/or in your field and come up with creative ways to present it. There is nothing new under the sun, so you have to make it appear fresh. Be prepared to constantly put yourself out there, always be coming up with ideas and creatively and professionally presenting them. Develop a tough exterior because there is a lot of rejection involved. And become an excellent manager of your time and your submissions. Again, you can make money as a freelance writer, but you must give a whole lot of your time and energy in order to get the return.

3: Probably the best way to make money writing now is to get involved in corporate and business writing. Many companies rely on outside contractors to write or revise their manuals, write promo material, their newsletter, etc. Peter Bowerman is the expert in this field. If you are interested in starting a career like this, read his book, “The Well-Fed Writer.”

I used to get jobs by visiting the company and picking up a brochure or going to their website and snooping around. If you discover errors or you believe you could make a better presentation for them, write a sample and set up a meeting with the person in charge.

Hey, I just thought of a booklet idea—a list of jobs for writers.

I finished another novel—my second this year. What fun. This one is also what I call a light-mystery. I think they are now termed “cozy mysteries.” It was fun, yet frustrating to present all of the clues in logical order. I found that if I changed the order of an event, I sometimes had to go back and double check to make sure I didn’t also move the discovery of a clue to a place where it comes in too soon or too late.

Those of you who write this type of story know exactly what I’m talking about. Those who read mysteries may take the placement of clues and the flow of a story for granted. Or you marvel at how the writer makes the story work and keeps track of all of the events and activities that move the story along.

I am a newbie when it comes to this type of writing. But I wonder if my years of experience with nonfiction writing—where organization is key—may help some. I’m sure it can’t hurt. Where a lifetime of nonfiction writing may create a problem for someone who wants to suddenly dabble in fiction is when it comes to storytelling. Can a “give-me-the-facts-ma’am” writer turn into a storyteller?

I know of a few who have made the transition beautifully and a few others who, while selling thousands of copies of their nonfiction niche books, have produced novels with multitudes of elementary problems.

As a nonfiction writer turned novelist, what have been your greatest challenges? As a fiction writer turned article writer, what has been the most difficult tests?

Note: If you plan to go out and speak about your novel or nonfiction book after the first of the year, do yourself a favor and buy a copy of Talk Up Your Book. It will help you to perfect your presentations, better understand and bond with your audiences, locate speaking gigs, create speaking opportunities, present yourself and your book more effectively in interviews and so much more. http://www.matilijapress.com Also available at amazon.com and most other online and downtown bookstores.

What does a writer do when she comes to the end of a project? Many of us panic. We feel pangs of fear and we wonder, “Will I ever have another writing job?” “Will I be inspired again?”
Has the well run dry?” “Am I washed up as a writer?”

What is a writer to do when he or she is flooded with writer’s doubt? I say, get back on the horse…er, the office chair.

I have a love/hate relationship with my writing projects. Once I get involved in the writing or editing, I am completely immersed. I am usually also completely in love with the work. But when the job is over—when I finally finish the book or the commissioned work and there’s nothing else on the horizon, I feel an annoying void.

I must say that it is rare that I don’t have back to back projects lined up as far as the eye can see. As with most freelance writers/authors, there’s always book promotion to do, that unfinished book waiting for attention, the new client waiting in the wings and a filing cabinet brimming with article ideas.

Yes, there’s always work to do, but it requires starting over and that’s not always easy. I guess this is a type of Writer’s Block. When you’re involved in a project there’s a sense of comfort involved. Each day you walk into your home office knowing that you will spend the day working on Chapter Twelve, editing a client’s memoir or finishing up the research on a major article. Once it’s finished, you have to start fresh. If there are no priorities among the projects on your shelf, you must decide what to work on. You have to determine which new project will pay off in either earnings, satisfaction or as a career move.

Starting anew is sometimes hard to do. It takes a shift in your consciousness. You must develop a new habit, make a new commitment and create a new comfort zone. It all boils down to change and I don’t think we humans are very good at change—whether it comes upon us or we facilitate it on purpose.

Will you be starting a new project soon—maybe in the New Year? Are you having trouble finding a good stopping place with your current project? Is ending it becoming as difficult as starting it was? How do you overcome or come to terms with the annoying insecurities that sometimes come with change in your writing world?