Five Things You Cannot Avoid When You Write A Book

There is no getting around it. If you are writing a book, there are some challenges you will encounter that are simply inevitable. New authors can get derailed by these challenges, lose momentum and confidence, and some just stop altogether.

I am a big believer in knowing what the challenges are so that you will be able to meet them head on. If you are expecting the challenges, then they will not be a surprise when they occur, and you will be able to sail right through them.

You have completed your first draft and you are pleased with yourself, and so you should be! You have accomplished more than all those people out there who say they want to write a book but did not do it. It is after the first draft stage that the unavoidable challenges occur. So what are these?

1) You cannot avoid revising, editing, and polishing. No matter how good your first draft is, it will need further work. Some authors see this as drudgery, but I prefer to think of it as the stage where you get to play with the original words you wrote. Every time you read your manuscript you will see areas that need to be re-arranged, clarified, and polished.

2) You cannot avoid the line edits and proofreading. This is the stage of editing that comes after the revisions and structural edits of your manuscript. When you do a line edit and proofreading, you are going through your manuscript line by line, making sure you have correct spelling, correct grammar, and correct punctuation. Do not short-change this stage. Publishers tell me that authors have lost book deals because their manuscript is full of spelling errors and grammatical faux-pas.

3) You cannot avoid rejection. The process of getting your book published is a feat of persistence. When you send your book to agents or publishers, it is inevitable that you will experience rejections. You can lower the chances of rejection if you have done your homework to find out whether the publishers you are targeting are interested in your type of book. Book selection can be complex and is often highly subjective. So never take rejection personally.

4) You cannot avoid reviews. If you land a publisher, the PR department will likely send your book out for review. Once it is published and in stores or online, reviewers are going to find it and critique it. Even if you self-publish, you will need to get your book out there for review as a way of creating visibility for yourself. If your book is well-written and interesting, you will get some good reviews.

5) You cannot avoid marketing. You have written your book. It has interesting content. It has a great cover. Your publisher or distributor has gotten it into stores or online. Now what? In the competitive book marketplace, as an author you have to be prepared to get involved with marketing your book. There are excellent books about book marketing you can check out and lots of internet sites that cover book promotion.

Educate yourself about all possible marketing methods and pick a few that appeal to you. One author may want to do an internet campaign. Another might be keen on getting radio interviews. Yet another might look for venues to speak or give seminars. The modern digital universe offers plenty of opportunities to get the word out about your book. If you want your book to have staying power in the marketplace, you have to continually find ways to promote it.

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