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Writing a book – so much of the work comes afterwards

6/12/2012

Girl Holding Books Illustration
It’s very exciting writing a book. I love writing. At the Sydney Writers Festival I was amazed when a couple of authors on a panel said the blank page scared them and they much preferred the re-write. My lovely friend Pam Cook elbowed me and said “That’s the opposite of you.” So true.

I think that’s why I love doing NaNoWriMo each year. A blank canvas and a month to create a new world filled with new friends who go off on new adventures. It’s also probably why I never manage to join in the follow-up month they do in March for editing.

Anyway, it certainly is an achievement to write a book but the hard part isn’t that. The hard part is getting it published and even if you go the indie publishing route like I have it’s still quite hard.

Let’s face it, there’s a lot to learn. Book cover design. Formatting. Uploading to various sites (yes it will be yup elsewhere this week.) Working out how those sites market and rank books. Marketing and promotion of the book.

In this area I do have a slight advantage in that I have a background in the area but given so much of the marketing is actually done on the internet there’s so much to learn.

So far what I’ve learnt is that there are lots of wonderful people out there in the twitterverse and online who are happy to review your book, interview you, retweet your information and so much more. It’s amazing how generous and helpful people are, especially other authors.

I guess my point is just because something is difficult and daunting doesn’t mean it’s impossible and that you shouldn’t do it. It just might mean you have to work a bit harder than you expected to get what you want.

 

Comments

Whitney K-E
6/12/2012 12:07:38 pm

All very true, Monique. My sister has plans to write a series and I’m encouraging her to start blogging now. And she has yet to start.
But it really is about word of mouth and making connections.
Reply
Monique
6/12/2012 06:49:46 pm

I agree she really should start sooner rather than later. I had a blog and shut it down a couple of years back in a slump and I really regret that now…

Pamela Cook
6/13/2012 12:49:29 pm

You’re on a massive learning curve Monique. Soon you’ll be advising others on the whole process of e-publishing. Like you say sometimes the most daunting things can push us put of our comfort zone and make us realise we’re a lot more capable than we think we are.
Reply
Monique
6/13/2012 01:01:00 pm

It is certainly a massive learning curve Pam. Learning new things is fun but also very time consuming and it doesn’t leave much time to write the next one.

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