This week we have the first in a new series called My Journey, where different authors will share their publishing adventures and struggles! Our special guest this week is R. Malak, author of The Beginning - Breath of War.
My writing journey has been of a kind of muddled road, where I was constantly trying to figure out what I needed to do and how to make this book succeed.
The first thing I realized, and your publishers will give you a list of editing tips to help with this, is that you need to clean up as many of the grammar and punctuation mistakes yourself. The more you do before sending your work in will mean it will more likely be read and understood, and it also makes the publishing process that much faster.
Author's Tip: If you write each day, try and leave a day or two each week to just edit helps a lot.
The second thing I learned was that I needed to create a thorough summary of my work with notes and annotations, which you can then use later on in the synopsis. The synopsis should of course be a much shorter version, 1-2 pages that relays all the essentials in a way that it'll interest the publisher or agent.
Author's Tip: This was the hardest part for me, because I barely kept any notes. I was winging most of it. Writing what I enjoyed writing about. The problem was I had to keep leafing back through my story so that I wouldn't create any contradictions, because I kept constantly forgetting things.
Another crucial step I found was to begin building a fan base as early as possible on social networks to attract and create awareness of your writing skills. The more followers you have the more you will able to spread the word far and wide about your work. And I guess the last thing to remember,before sending out your manuscript is to carefully go through all the submission requirements, which will give you the best possible chance.
Author's Tip: Marketing is probably the hardest part, but is also the most important. The more effort you put into spreading the word, the more likely it is to succeed.
Other than those few points, my journey to get my work published went fairly smoothly. I found a publishing agency I liked, sent in my manuscript, and they liked it. And soon I will be getting my book published!
The Beginning- Breath of War will soon be for sale on Kindle in September.
Visit R. Malak on social media:
Twitter handle @BreathOfWar
Or send him an email to master_rashed@hotmail.com
Do you have a story to tell? Message us today to share your journey with other authors!