Have you written texts and stories, they stay alone in your computer? Do you sometimes dream about what it would be like if others could read your writings? Today, everyone has the opportunity to publish their own books as a self-publisher and thus share their stories and knowledge.
Writing is a hobby for many. Using the written word, one can convey thoughts, tell experiences or let the imagination flow, put it on paper and tell in a way that is not necessarily possible through the oral word.
At some point sharing your own thoughts and ideas in public can at first seem a little daunting since you don’t know how readers will react and whether they will appreciate what you have written. That is exactly what it is about being a writer: to awaken thoughts, inspire others, and create new worlds for the readers and to offer knowledge.
With digitization, it has become possible to share their own thoughts and texts in blogs, social and other media, which has led to completely new dimensions of interaction and communication. But the internet does not always offer the author what is needed – sometimes, you have ideas that could be enough for an entire book.
Self-publishing is a perfect opportunity: you can easily and quickly get your book out in the bookstore, on your own. Self-publishing is a risk-free way to publish books and an increasingly popular alternative for authors: it means low publishing costs and the author decides on how to and where to publish himself.
I WANT TO BE AUTHOR
When the desire to write becomes so high that you just have to write, even in the middle of the night, or when the characters in your story start to feel alive, it is time to plan your book publishing. Necessary first steps are to have concrete ideas about the content, to write them down, the willingness to publish, your narrative voice and a lot of motivation. With these, you have a solid foundation for the writing process, which is the next step in the publishing process.
SELF-PUBLISHING IS EASIER THAN YOU THINK
For many people, writing is an integral part of life and you might not even think about sharing your texts with others. Book publishing is much easier than you might imagine. Self-publishing opens up many new opportunities for authors in the book market around the world.
FIND YOUR GENRE AND NICHE
If you write fictitious love stories, children’s stories or poets, fiction is your branch. The non-fiction is fact-based and consists of e.g. textbooks, lexicons, biographies and scientific texts. As a journalist, you can, for example, write in connection with your work, or you may be a specialist in a field.
Regardless of whether you are writing facts or fiction, it is important to think about why you want to publish your own book and what opportunities there are. In order for your book to reach as many readers as possible, it is important that the content of your book is outstanding and interesting. Think about what makes your book unique and write it so readers find something new and engaging – something that makes them recommend the book to others.
WRITING PROCESS
Most often, the author has an idea of the content before the writing process begins and the story is edited and developed as the writing process progresses. The important thing is always the writing itself: write down everything that makes your story move forward.
Everything does not have to proceed according to the original plan or you may come up with new things during the writing process that will affect the content and form of the final text. Remember that you can always change, move and delete text afterward, but a text that does not even exist cannot be edited.
INSPIRATION
Although writing is your favorite job, it can sometimes feel like an almost impossible when you lack inspiration: nobody wants to read it, it’s better to give up – you might think. Every writer goes through difficult phases too, but it is not worth giving up. Both good and bad thoughts can be good to share with others. Support from others and good discussions are important; otherwise, the authorship may feel alone. Besides, you often find inspiration through sharing with others.
PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE INFLUENCES THE READER
The fine-tuning of the text is an important step in the publishing process and it may be necessary to obtain support in the fine-tuning phase. It is well known fact that one can become blind to one’s own text and make mistakes even if you go through the text many times.
As a writer you are a professional in your field and as a professional, you want to be taken seriously. The book must be published with good text. Ask as many readers as possible to go through your text and tell them what they think about it. Both friends and family can be good test readers – but they may be biased and we recommend that you obtain an objective response.
When you are in the final stage, you better employ an editor who reviews your text for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and who also gives feedback on the language overall, the logic of the text and the credibility of the text. With this response, you can develop and process your text until it is completely finished.
PUBLISHING ON YOUR OWN
Developing the book idea into a broader concept and transforming the idea into text is a long and sometimes quite complicated process that you have invested massively with time and work in. Now it is time to complete the project and get the book out in the bookstore!
Self-publishing is an easy, fast and effective way to get your book in the book stores. In practice, this means that every author can publish his or her book without criticizing or changing the contents of the book: as a self-publisher, you have full right to your book’s content, appearance, publication date and sale price.
As a publishing form, self-publishing has grown a lot in recent years and many self-published books have ended up on bestseller lists worldwide. Many authors who publish their books in traditional publishers choose to publish on their own because of the artistic freedom that self-publishing entails. With the help of self-publishing, aspiring writers are given the opportunity to publish their books, which they might not have otherwise.
THE BOOK’S PATH TO THE READER
Once your book has gone through all the required steps and finally been published, you can be proud of yourself! You have done a great job and it is great that your book is now published. Congratulations, you are a writer!
Sandy Kohen
