Everyone has a story to tell, in fact more stories need to be told through books. Why? Books represent history, acim, resource, tool and a pathway to learning. Even though a higher percentage of books are of the electronic version nowadays, meaning one can purchase them on an e-reader, tablet or mobile phone, a lot of people, including me enjoy having a soft or hard cover book to hold in our hand.
When I decided to actually write my first book, I did not really know where to start, however I knew what story I was going to write, it was about my life and how others help you succeed in life. I wanted my book to help others avoid the mistakes I made, in order to position themselves to succeed. Why?
Good question and the reason I wanted my book to help others succeed is because I am an inspirational speaker, thus my mission is to help people solve problems they encounter as a result of life challenges. Perhaps your book will be different and I hope it will be, because diversity in writing is a strength and we can all learn and or discover something new, refreshing and fascinating from other authors and the life they live.
So how do you get started as an author of a book? I am glad you asked and the first thing you should do is decide on what you are going to write about. You will need to know what genre of books you want to write about, for example do you want to write a novel, science fiction, nonfiction, or children books.
As you can see, there are a lot of great genre choices, but pick one and stick with it. Then have laser beam focus by setting a tight deadline, in other words I decided to write my book in 30 days and I did. My writing goal was to write a new chapter each day and on the days I backed off writing, I would edit, correct typos and focus on the message I wanted readers to take away from my book.
Once you complete your initial manuscript, have a friend or family member review your work and ask for comments, suggestions and recommendations. If you happen to self publish which is what I did, you will be able to get your book to market faster than if you go through a literary agent and book publishing company which typically takes between 18 months and two years.
Compared to when I wrote my first book in 2005, it is much easier and less costly to publish a book. When I wrote and published my first book. I hired a company to design my book cover, an interior designer to get my book into readable form, copy expert to write the sales material on the back of my book and a book publishing company.