Writing Books
The No-Brainer Book Writing Template For Successful Authors
By Christopher Granger
Even with all the modernization and advancement in technology that the world is currently experiencing, there seems to be no end in sight yet for the written or the printed word. Books are still a popular way for people to learn, be entertained, or widen their perspectives. Today as it was before, books serve the purpose of storing the thoughts and musings of people from different walks of life and fields of learning and preserving those messages for future generations. It is a fast, effective, relatively inexpensive, and timeless way to get your message out to the world.
The importance of books is unrivaled and so it comes as no surprise that either every year established publishing companies or the growing number of self-publishers publishes around 170,000 books in the United States alone. Out of this huge number though is the sad reality that only 10% get a share of 90% of the total sales of books. That means that a lot of books fail to make any significant sales or profit. This is may be discouraging for most people who have tried their hand at publishing or who are thinking of writing their own book, but it doesn’t have to be the case if you are aware of the publishing secrets of the most successful authors.
Yes, just like anything that’s worth doing, there is a certain way to do things when it comes to writing a book – a book writing template that will give you a sure shot at success.
1) 10 questions to ask yourself before writing a book
The first thing in this book writing template is that you have to define the purpose of your book and why you are writing it. Before you even try thinking of the first sentence of your book or of the title, ask yourself these questions first:
* Why do I want to write a book?
* Who do I want to reach with my book?
* What is my book going to be about?
* How will I write my book?
2) Select a topic
There are countless of fields and professions that can benefit from the book you are writing. Choose a particular field and let this be the center of your brainstorming sessions for the content of your book. You want to have laser focus on a particular topic so you will produce something that will be highly relevant to that field.
3) Be ready to face your fears and the expenses
If you think that book writing is all about your talent and creativity, well you got it all wrong. The best writers will be the first to tell you that it takes a lot more than that. A good book requires effective publishing and especially good marketing in order to be successful. These two take money and risks and so prepare yourself for these things.
4) Make the most of your connections
When you enter the field of book publishing, you are setting up a business of sorts so you have to know the right people and use the proper connections. Local bookstores, community libraries, bookstore chains, these are only a few of the important connections you should be working on as early as now.
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I’m glad to see that even at your age you’re already decided on wanting to publish books. I’m 18 and I only made that decision 2 years ago so you might get published sooner than I will. I’ve done my research and this is what I know.
You’ll need an agent to help submit your work to publishers. Editors are also useful to help you improve on your work. However, they will require money. An agent is a must because publishers will not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
Publishing houses, because they forward all the costs of marketing and publishing, will take most profit. You will receive maybe 30% of the money.
If you self publish, it will cost you thousands of dollars, min. of $10000 for a decent number of books, for which you will have to present to bookstores yourself and see if they will sell them.
Now even when you are published, your profits are based entirely on sales. Most people will tell you that writing is not a job that you can make a full-time living on and it may be many years before you make a decent amount of money from it.
You’re only 13, I cannot be sure that if your books do get published that you will make enough money for college. Part-time jobs will earn you money and if you make the commitment to save most of your money then you can save up towards college but I cannot guarantee that earnings from a writing career will get you through college.
I hope that I haven’t deterred you from a career in writing. If you ever do get published I would love to read what you’ve written. Just stay commited to it, especially if its something you want to do for the rest of your life. I know its what I wanna do and I don’t care how tough it might be, I’m determined enough to see it through.
Good luck and take care.
Writing a book is about having the right mindset and approach to writing your book no matter what the book is about. You need to understand your client base as well as your target market. Try and get a feel for whom you will be writing your book for because the more closely you can understand your ideal customer the more impact your books will have.
If you want to write a series of self-help books, than you can build a business with your books.
Hey, I’m 14, I wanna be an author, too!
But basically, what I’m doing while I’m writing my book, is trying to set the mood of the story. I reccomend getting a journal that fits the mood of your story and helps you get into it. Write your story in the journal; after every chapter, enter it onto the computer. This is an easy way for you to revise a little at a time. Also, if your computer fails, you have backup, and vice-versa. If anything happens to the journal, you have two copies.
Also, imagine your story as if it was a movie. When I’m writing a story, I make a playlist on my Itunes of all the songs that help set the mood. It really helps me write and visualize my story.
For the characters, know them. Be them. Know them so well you know their great-aunt’s-grandma’s middle name.
Before you start writing, I would make an outline of all your characters. What I do is, I make it look like an entry on Wikipedia. I break it down into character description, places, names, facts, chapters, ect. It really helps.
And ya know what? If you use a journal, if your story becomes huge and you become like a JK Rowling author, you can sell it! Wouldn’t it be cool if JK Rowling wrote HP in a journal and you bought it, the first edition, with the author’s writing and drafts and everything!
And if your story becomes a movie, you can show them your playlist, and then maybe they’ll use it in the movie!
I really hope this helps, because it took me so long to write it!
Emily
how does one pursue a career in writing books such as self-help books and whatnot?
I feel I have a lot of advice to offer and would like to become an author of self-help books. What kind of college experience would I have to get involved to write these types of books? Is it the same as writing any other ole’ book or does it take different experience and degrees for writing different types of books? For example, does it take the same things to write a self-help book as it does to write a joke book!
Writing Books?
I want to write a really good book, and I have already started, but the beginning sucks, (i’m 12 years old, my name is Rose, and i’m on my dads profile) if you have any really good tips on how to kick it up a notch. hten give them to me, or give me an internet site, thanks 4 all ur help, i’ll put points in ur account!!!
What are some good sites about writing books?
I’ve always writen books, but never finished them. And I need some help about the witing tuff, and what to be aware of, and what i have to do for writing books, so if you know any good sites let me know.
Starr’s suggestion is one of my favorite writing sites as well 🙂
I also like this one:
http://www.watt-evans.com/writingadvice.html
It is from sci-fi and fantasy authors but their advice translates to other genres.
Also, Stella Cameron offers these tips at her site.
http://www.stellacameron.com/contrib/plot.html
I’ve never read her books but the writing info is entertaining 🙂
And Brandilyn Collins has a slew of blog entries in her archives under ‘craft and industry’ that are helpful and interesting.
http://forensicsandfaith.blogspot.com
And this essay, called The Theory and Practice of Titles, always makes me smile.
http://www.sfwa.org/bulletin/articles/clough.htm
Writing books?
I am currently writing two books, one on my own and one with a friend. I would like to publish them and earn some money for college. I am only 13, so do you think I will have to pay more than what I will earn? They are both teenage books… I hope that they will soon get published. 🙂
Does anybody know where I can get software online for writing books for free?
I am in the process of writing a book and I want a writing books software (that is not a demo version) to help me. It would be nice if somebody knew of any good writing books software with a full free version.
Well as far as a specific software for writing books, I don’t believe any exist, but I can tell you that a simple word processing software will do.
Formatting your pages and the like is just a process that any program can handle. Tabs, margins, fonts, etc. can be achieved with even the most basic programs. If you want a simple program that works almost exactly like Microsoft Word, I would recommend trying OpenOffice’s Writer program. It’s a free FULL word processing program that will allow you to save your documents in a format that is compatible with MS Word.
Try the link below.
Hope it helps!