Tyler McCalister
For all of my aspiring authors out there I want you all to read this very very carefully. I repeat very very carefully. KEEP WRITING :) Don’t worry about if your book is going to be the next NYT Best Seller. Don’t worry about if people are going to hate it. Don’t contemplate on whether or not you are wasting your time. Always remember that it’s your story. No one will ever be able to tell the story like you can, so stop worrying and keep writing. Many people don’t realize this, but half the battle of writing a NYT Best Seller is actually writing the book! Once you’ve written chapter after chapter, you have now completed what most people said they were gonna do 10 years ago.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Do not edit, and write at the same time. That is why professional book editors and proof readers exists. They look to see if you have grammar flaws, and if your book flows. I promise you the only thing your editors want you to do is WRITE! So keep writing so they can continue doing what they love.
Please invest in a great book cover. Everybody knows the old saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” However we all know it happens. I myself am guilty of it. You want to ensure that the title of your book, subtitle and cover match perfectly with the content in your book. Your cover must look professional, and be appealing to the readers you would like to reach. If you choose to self publish, getting a professional book cover can be very expensive. I am here to tell you that it is worth it! I personally got my cover from a website called 99 Designs. I highly recommend them, and Fiverr.
I highly recommend editing more than writing. Meaning when you have finished writing your book and you’re ready for editing, DO NOT TAKE THIS LIGHTLY. Editing can be the difference from you selling 100,000 copies or just 10 copies. It took me 3 and a half months to write Young, Grown & Knowledgeable. However it took me almost a year to edit. I purposely spent more time editing, because I wanted my book to not only look professional, but also read as a professionally edited book. I preach that editing for a long time is good, but don’t be the person that spends years editing. If you do this you will never publish your book, because you will always think it needs work here and there. The truth is there is no perfect book out there. Think of the first NYT Best Selling book that comes to mind. I guarantee you that there are grammar flaws, punctuation flaws, and maybe a sentence or two that could’ve been moved here or there. The point I’m getting at is, yes there is always room to improve, but there will never be a perfect book. Take editing seriously, but don’t stress if your book is not absolutely perfect. A well edited published book is better than a well edited unpublished book. Remember that.
If you self publish, consider starting a publishing business. For example let’s say you publish on Amazon and you start to receive book sells. You want to separate the money you make in book sales from your personal bank account. This will make doing taxes much much easier. I recommend starting an LLC. For example “Books By Jack LLC” or “Jack Publishing LLC” and start a business bank account, to keep your book revenue in. I started a company called “McCalister Publishing LLC” to do exactly what I just told you. Trust me you will thank me later, if you decide to do this.
MARKET MARKET MARKET!
Congratulations! welcome to the authors club. Now here’s where the real work begins, especially if you are a self published author. I would say marketing is just as important as the editing process I mentioned earlier. Without a good marketing plan, your book will just sit in Amazon’s never ending cart of books or wherever you publish, and no one will know about your brilliant masterpiece. We obviously don’t want this to happen, so it’s important to have a plan before you publish. I personally reached out to everyone I knew. Friends, family and mentors months prior to me publishing. This will generate a buzz for your release date. If you have a social media USE IT. There are book promotion pages that would love to share your work with millions of book worms. Also doing a press release wouldn’t hurt. I would talk to your editor for that kind of promotion. (They’re usually pretty knowledgeable in this part of the publishing process) I would also recommend doing pre orders, and doing book giveaways. These go a long way, and you can reach more readers. Also please establish and authors platform on your publishing source (Amazon, IngramSpark, Lulu, Goodreads) so that your followers can keep up with his your next projects. I am currently looking for more ways to promote, and market as I am a fairly new author. I am always willing to share my knowledge on different avenues of approach for book marketing.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Do not edit, and write at the same time. That is why professional book editors and proof readers exists. They look to see if you have grammar flaws, and if your book flows. I promise you the only thing your editors want you to do is WRITE! So keep writing so they can continue doing what they love.
Please invest in a great book cover. Everybody knows the old saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” However we all know it happens. I myself am guilty of it. You want to ensure that the title of your book, subtitle and cover match perfectly with the content in your book. Your cover must look professional, and be appealing to the readers you would like to reach. If you choose to self publish, getting a professional book cover can be very expensive. I am here to tell you that it is worth it! I personally got my cover from a website called 99 Designs. I highly recommend them, and Fiverr.
I highly recommend editing more than writing. Meaning when you have finished writing your book and you’re ready for editing, DO NOT TAKE THIS LIGHTLY. Editing can be the difference from you selling 100,000 copies or just 10 copies. It took me 3 and a half months to write Young, Grown & Knowledgeable. However it took me almost a year to edit. I purposely spent more time editing, because I wanted my book to not only look professional, but also read as a professionally edited book. I preach that editing for a long time is good, but don’t be the person that spends years editing. If you do this you will never publish your book, because you will always think it needs work here and there. The truth is there is no perfect book out there. Think of the first NYT Best Selling book that comes to mind. I guarantee you that there are grammar flaws, punctuation flaws, and maybe a sentence or two that could’ve been moved here or there. The point I’m getting at is, yes there is always room to improve, but there will never be a perfect book. Take editing seriously, but don’t stress if your book is not absolutely perfect. A well edited published book is better than a well edited unpublished book. Remember that.
If you self publish, consider starting a publishing business. For example let’s say you publish on Amazon and you start to receive book sells. You want to separate the money you make in book sales from your personal bank account. This will make doing taxes much much easier. I recommend starting an LLC. For example “Books By Jack LLC” or “Jack Publishing LLC” and start a business bank account, to keep your book revenue in. I started a company called “McCalister Publishing LLC” to do exactly what I just told you. Trust me you will thank me later, if you decide to do this.
MARKET MARKET MARKET!
Congratulations! welcome to the authors club. Now here’s where the real work begins, especially if you are a self published author. I would say marketing is just as important as the editing process I mentioned earlier. Without a good marketing plan, your book will just sit in Amazon’s never ending cart of books or wherever you publish, and no one will know about your brilliant masterpiece. We obviously don’t want this to happen, so it’s important to have a plan before you publish. I personally reached out to everyone I knew. Friends, family and mentors months prior to me publishing. This will generate a buzz for your release date. If you have a social media USE IT. There are book promotion pages that would love to share your work with millions of book worms. Also doing a press release wouldn’t hurt. I would talk to your editor for that kind of promotion. (They’re usually pretty knowledgeable in this part of the publishing process) I would also recommend doing pre orders, and doing book giveaways. These go a long way, and you can reach more readers. Also please establish and authors platform on your publishing source (Amazon, IngramSpark, Lulu, Goodreads) so that your followers can keep up with his your next projects. I am currently looking for more ways to promote, and market as I am a fairly new author. I am always willing to share my knowledge on different avenues of approach for book marketing.
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