The purpose of writing a book is to share ideas and purpose stock in your mind you feel it will be beneficial to others. Writing a book doesn’t just happen in the twinkling of an eye, but by reason, concentration and thinking.
A book consists of messages or images that relay information to our brain, leaving it to analyze and answer questions stock in our mind concerning the proceeding thoughts, but why are books made in the first place? Books educate us in various aspects of life, it may be in drama form, poem, erotics and so many but all these try to tell us the diverse ideology of life which we don’t know or are not conversant with.
Some thoughts shouldn’t be rolled away; they deserve to be polished and kept in a secluded area for reference purposes. Great men of old write out their thoughts as they go on in life since they know everything happens for a reason or because a glimpse of the world is revealed to them. Virtually, their thoughts on art, science, education are what brought about development in the country.
Can Everyone Write a Book?
Writing a book is not peculiar to only one person but all. There always come a time every individual get a little solution or idea to the world problems, making writing a book peculiar to everyone. One who has a brain must write; the writer doesn’t need to register in English, But can decide to write in the language they understand better.
Some books are written about people’s lifestyles to see if it is better to copy or clone. Most of these writers take their time to write and think about themselves to put in a book.
To put down words is easy to do; some might think it is not easy, but in a real sense, writing a book is easy, and everyone can do it.
What do you need to write a book?
Before putting down words, you should be able to posse the tools to do that. Getting a paper and a pen doesn’t mean you are ready to write a book. You must be able to staff some virtues needed. Things needed to write a book is classified into two, the worldly and the non-materialistic.
The materialistic aspects involve the paper or screen where the writer put down his words and the pen used in putting down the word on the screen or paper.
The non-materialistic entails virtues needed for good writing, which are;
- Ability to brainstorm: this is the first and most important thing needed to write a book; it entails all the ideas and thoughts to be worked on.
- Patience: as the saying goes, patience is a virtue, so to write a book, you must relax and allow the thoughts to flow and not be in haste.
- Lacking perspiration, most writers lose it when they run out of ideas when writing. They feel like the writing will have no impact since they run out of words. Some might even end the book just because of a lack of ideas.
- Commitment; a writer must be committed and never deviate from what they are pending down; they must make sure the book come to a finish line.
- Skills to write
All these stated above are needed by writers before they can make a book.
Is writing a book profitable?
It virtually depends on how long you have been in the writing world. First timer writers don’t earn typically big in writing. Even with that, writing a book is not a very profitable business to start up. Everything grows with time, same with writers. As they grow in their writing careers, they tend to increase in values and worth.
Once a book is published, and it was able to attract more readers, the author began to become popular, and when such continues, awards will be gifted. These awards are one of the main things that make writers popular because they indicate that their book is exciting and educating to read.
If such continues, the writer tends to gain from his or books written, but it doesn’t mean it is very profitable.
Most people engage in writing because it gives them the opportunity of consultation and being an orator.
Why should you write a book?
There are various reasons why you should pend down thoughts, some of which are;
- You are a writer:
A person who cannot write cannot call themselves a writer, one of the reasons you must write is that you are a writer and passionate about it.
2. Writing is now your career:
Choosing writing as a career means you will devote your time and energy to putting words together and landing concentrations in it. Also, it will be your life work, i.e. you are in the business of writing.
3. Because time is allocated to writing
One of the main factors in life is time. You can become a good author by allocating time to your writing career, so for you to set time writing is simply a good reason you should keep writing.
4. You earn money from it.
Money is a resource that is always part of our life, so earning money with writing is a good business. Although it might not be very profitable, some amount will still be awarded to you.
5. Developed passion
As you keep writing, you tend to develop a feeling towards it. It becomes so part of you that you start making it a habit of pending words down.
6. You become a professional author.
Continual writing will earn you the opportunity to become a skilled writer. As you write, your scope towards various thoughts and ideas regularly increased, putting you in the position of an experienced writer.
We will look at this in two different aspects: the traditionally published author and the self-published author.
Most authors who have their books sold by others don’t gain much since they get some percentages from publishing the book. They might give an advance to the writer or pay royalties after the book is published. 10 to 15 per cent of the sales will be given to the author by the publisher.
The royalties paid out is mainly depends on the price of the book. Take, for example, your book is priced $18, and the wholesale price is $10, you might be a given 10 per cent which is $1.8, you’ll need to sell a total of 5000 printed books to regain the sum of $9000 royalty, i.e. when dealing with Amazon.
So the amount generated by a traditional author depends on both the author and the publisher, including the genre. A book might have a sale of 12,000 copies a lifetime, which means the author will have $21,000 royalty.
All these are for printed books, but others vary with price and profit.
Self-published authors must take up the stress of cost and time of marketing but usually make more royalties. After paying for a cover design and printing your book, you may decide to sell each printed book for $12 since a traditional publisher does not publish it. But after subtracting the cost of printing and marketing at $8 royalty, you get at least $4 for each copy; multiply by 10,000 copies, you get the sum of $40,000. But to get this amount, you’ll need a lot of work.
How do you begin to write a book for the first time?
To begin writing a book is easy following the necessary steps below
1. Your Idea
The first and uttermost step to take before writing a book is your ideas which entails the contents, importance, and readers. Without having an idea of what you write will make it impossible to put words together.
Take, for example, you want to write a book on drama, a drama should be already registered in the writer’s mind like the writer is already in it, but that is not enough, you need to ask yourself, will people love to read about this drama? A question as such makes you strategically modify the book.
2. What category are you writing on
The writer must extensively research the category(genre) to find out where your book belongs. Reading books on that particular genre gives you better ideas on how to set yours up. As you do this, find out the books people engage in, i.e. the best-selling books.
3. Make a regular word count every day.
Setting goals on the number of words you are to pen down daily is a good step when writing a book. Every day you pen down words. You must target the number of words you want to write that day, not mind the stress it might cost you. Doing that will reduce the amount of time you spend on a book and put your book in progress.
4. Keep a good writing habit.
Most writers become tired after writing for the first time; this is a bad writing habit you need to get rid of. To avoid being overwhelmed by writing, you must set time or make a calendar for writing each day.
5. Get a writing tool
Writing software is an excellent tool to help you boost your writing skills. All you need is your pc which contains lots of writing software such as Google Drive, Evernote and MS word, others like Grammarly, a notebook and a pen.
6. Form a topic for your book
The book’s topic portrays what your book is all about; a write-up cannot be called a book without that. The subject matter should carry words capable of attracting readers since it is the first thing an individual looks at before purchasing a book.
7. Make an outline
Your outline helps you understand the way your characters will be positioned, maybe in the beginning of the context or at the middle or end. Without this, you may have a strong start, a soft centre and a wrong ending. It is a step you need to consider wisely.
8. Set time for writing
A way of setting time is by turning on alarms that will wake you or trigger you when it’s time. This step helps to run your daily routine along with your writing in an orderly manner.
9. Focus on your writing
Distraction is a massive hindrance to making a book; it makes you less efficient. As a writer, you must avoid such distractions as social media notifications and unnecessary visitation. To avoid such, you must turn off your phone or turn off the internet.
10. Start with a short book.
Making a lengthy book might bring discouragement as a beginner, start with a short one and increase as you professionalize.
11. Stay motivated
You can motivate yourself by having quotes at every corner of the writing area.
12. Be Inspired
Inspirations are what keeps a writer excelling in their career. Try to look into the life of successful authors always to serve as an inspiration to you.
13. Take a break when necessary.
Don’t stress yourself after extended writing. Doing that will restrict your brain from ideas that might be useful to your book.
14. Edit after writing
Writing and editing is a bad idea; it slows your writing and might discourage your writing career. The writer must try to edit the book after completing it.
15. Have a special writing place
A place for writing will trigger you to write. It doesn’t matter where but it should be a secluded place, so you can write when you come into the area.
16. Create a writing blog for feedbacks
Blogs are good tools for a beginner. You can paste what you have written to see the reactions of others, after some responses which you’ve to use to judge; you can merge all of the write-ups to form a book.
17. Make your writing chapter by chapter.
Finish a chapter before going to the next. Most time, writers who have already planned their chapters switch to another without rounding up the first, maybe because they found the other more interesting than the former.
18. Have a Journal
Rewrite the beginning of the book to be used as illustrations.
Your menu script can be an attractive summary of your book.
20. Never be afraid of failure.
Set back is one of the things you need to be used to when writing a book. Most times, it happens when you run short of words, and when this happens, try to give yourself the benefit of the doubt or try to do something different
21. Set weekly deadlines for yourself
When you achieve what you need or reach your word count, praising yourself as a professional makes you keep going.
22. Edit your book
In editing your work, you tend to discover errors that need corrections. You can also check for readability, grammatical structure and word choice.
23. Work on an attractive cover
A cover gives attraction to the book. It is the first thing a reader considers. You can get help from an excellent graphic designer to make an attractive cover. Your cover must portray what the book is all about; for example, fiction should have an emotional cover, while non-fiction has a creative body.
24. Format your book
Formatting should be what you do after successfully creating a book; arrangement helps you visualize what your text looks like. You can use software like vellum software to format or hire a professional to do it.
25. Make a delightful ending
An excellent book deserves a delightful ending. Make sure not to rush but slowly provide a perfect end to make it tally with your content.
26. Ask for a review from a professional.
Before publishing, make sure to ask for reviews from professional authors. They will be able to analyze various mistakes.
27. Chose a publishing method
You can select from either self-publishing or traditional publishing. As a self-publisher, you tend to earn more but will be stressed by the marketing and the printing. But having a traditional publisher releases the stress but earn less.
28. Publish your book
Now that you’re done with every aspect of your book, please take the next step of publishing it, either self or traditionally, to the public.
29. Market your book
You can market your book by
- using free advertisement
- paying for advertisement
- speaker opportunity
30. Write another book
Completing your first book shouldn’t be the end of your writing career.
Pick up other ideas and keep writing because doing so will make you a professional writer.
FAQ
Yes! Every writer was once an amateur before they became professional.
The answer is yes, but make sure you follow all the necessary steps
That depends on the number of pages. Five hundred pages can take a year or more to finish.
First, you outline.
Secondly, you must have a schedule and.
Thirdly get assistance when writing.
Well, the answer is no. Most writers do it for passion.
Conclusion
Becoming a writer is a long and tiring journey faced with lots of distractions, but those who can stand and face the challenges elope as professional writers.
Writing needs consistency, agility and skills. Possessing all these will makes you the best author and an excellent writer.
