So, you want to write a book. Now What? Part 2

You know the Authors you like or maybe the ones who are successful in the genres you want to write in, now it's time to...

• Learn how to do what they did. How do the authors you follow get readers? Are they masters of self-promotion? Did they get an agent who helped them get that coveted publishing contract?

I won't pretend to know what is right for you when deciding between getting a publisher or self-publishing. I can tell you how I came to my decision to self-publish. Several factors played major roles, but really, you don't have to make the call until you write a book.

Thus, I made my final decision to self-publish after spending almost two years writing the drafts of books one and two for my Sci-Fi/Fantasy series, Lamentations and Magic. There are tons of elements that may go into such a decision, but for me, these four weighed the heaviest.

1. Finances - can you afford to pay out of pocket for editing, formatting, and book promotion?

2. Are you confident you can handle the technical aspects of setting up a website, an Amazon account, do the marketing, etc?

3. Are you capable of self-promoting via blogging, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Bookbub, and Goodreads?

4. Are you impatient like me?

If the answer is no to any of the first three, then traditional publishing is probably your path. I'm fortunate enough to be able to say yes to those first three and also, I'm impatient. I don't want to wait for an agent and publisher to like my book to get it out there. I'm dedicated to the path of becoming a professional author, but I don't have time to wait. Thank God we have digital publishing platforms so that we don't have to.

First things first, turn that story in your head into a reality.

In the next post, I'll give you my current writing process and a little advice included with a block of salt.

So, you want to write a book. Now What? Part 1

• Find someone to emulate. Who are the authors you admire? Are any of them self-published?

As the summer of quarantine came to a close, I decided to tackle the, write a book, bucket list item. Until that time, I never really thought about writing a novel. I had always assumed I would check off this item by writing some boring technical domain expert book that all of twenty people would read. Then I discovered Kindle Unlimited.

There, I could indulge in my love affair with sci-fi and fantasy for $9.99 a month. I'm sure it's a couple of dollars more now. Thanks, inflation. Anyway, I got my money's worth by reading a lot of good books and partially reading a few mediocre books. The good, the bad, and the ugly were all from self-published authors. Of all the authors I read, I became a fan of two in particular.

Marc Edelheit, with his Stiger's Tigers series, combined Roman military history with good old fashion D&D fantasy. I loved the combination and have read all of his books. He's branched out now and I'm really looking forward to the second book in his new Sci-Fi series.

Olan Thorensen (pen name) writes the cross genre series Destiny's Crucible. With aliens, military history and elements of time travel, it is a brilliant series. I devoured book eight and can't wait for nine.

What I appreciated most from these and other self-published authors is their need to tell a good story even if they don't write like Shakespeare. Don't get me wrong, I have seen a steady improvement from each of these authors as they spend more time in front of their keyboard and me between the pages they produce.

So I said to myself, "If they can do it, so can I." This mantra will be indispensable when you run into those inevitable roadblocks that will try to derail your writing journey.

Then I had a troubling thought. Even if I write a story that I want to read, how do I get others to read my books?

Part 2 coming soon.

What you will get if you read this blog

For over two years, I have been on a pilgrimage to become a published author. As I'm nearing the finish line with Ancient Civilizations, which is book one of my series Lamentations and Magic, I needed a space to communicate with readers of my books. I also wanted to document the steps I'm taking to become a self-published author. I hope this latter information will help smooth the process for other writers.

Posts will fall into three categories.

1. Information about my past, current, and future projects

2. How I write and what I've done to become better at the craft

3. Give specific information about the steps I've taken to self-publish

Understand that I am not yet a successful author, but I am very proud of what I've written. Even after reading my book twenty times during the revision and editing process, I still love the characters and the story. My wish is to find readers that will feel the same way, and I hope the lessons I learn on this journey can help others who are writing the book they really want to read.

Russell