Over the next two days, I\u2019m going to list 7 mistakes that many new authors make\u2014mistakes that can cost you large sums of money and dramatically diminish your opportunity for publishing success<\/p>\n
1: Inexperienced authors write a book as the first step. Why is this considered a mistake? If you aspire to have your book published and widely distributed, this may be the wrong approach. Whether you\u2019re writing a how-to book, biography, self-help, romance novel, children\u2019s story, mystery, memoir or dictionary, write a book proposal first. <\/p>\n
In the process of writing a book proposal, you will:
\n\u2022\tLearn if you have a viable book at all.
\n\u2022\tDiscover whether there is a market for this book.
\n\u2022\tDetermine your target audience.
\n\u2022\tAscertain the best way to promote your book.
\n\u2022\tBe prepared to establish your platform.<\/p>\n
Write a book proposal as a first step and you\u2019re more apt to write the right book for the right audience. How better to snag a traditional royalty publisher than with a promising project?<\/p>\n
2: Eager new authors often go with the first publishing opportunity they stumble across. You don\u2019t make other business decisions this quickly. You research the possibilities and study your options. Many authors forget that publishing is a business. We get so attached to our projects and so eager to see our books in print that we act emotionally rather than logically. <\/p>\n
Learn the difference between a traditional royalty publisher and a pay-to-publish service. You\u2019ll find hundreds of traditional royalty publishers listed in Writer\u2019s Market (available in the reference section of your library or for sale for about $30 in most bookstores. A new edition comes out each September). Read Mark Levine\u2019s \u201cThe Fine Print of Self-Publishing,\u201d to discover which pay-to-publish services are legit. (He has just come out with a newly revised edition. Get the ebook version FREE when joining SPAWN.) http:\/\/www.spawn.org<\/a> <\/p>\n Visit bookstores in search of books like yours. Find out who published these books and contact those publishers.<\/p>\n As an author, you have many options. Research them, understand them and scrutinize them in order to choose the one that is right for your project.<\/p>\n 3: New authors believe that they don\u2019t have a chance with a traditional royalty publisher. This is simply not true. If you have a viable project, you arm yourself with knowledge and you approach the publisher in a professional manner, you have a definite chance of landing a traditional royalty publisher. There were over a million books published in 2009 and 288,355 of them were produced by traditional publishers. <\/p>\n For more about publishing and book marketing and for online courses in the topics you need help with, visit http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com<\/a> <\/p>\n