10 steps to go through before you publish your work

My advise is strictly based on what I am experiencing as I go along through my journey of becoming a published author! I hope some of you appreciate my story and the advise that I have conjured up while I go through this experience. I will explain every step intrinsically.

1. Get a REALITY check:

whatever you thought being an author meant, flip that thought around. You know what? Cancel the entire thought, because it is entirely opposite from what is reality. My journey as an author just began, but my journey as a writer began more than a decade ago. These are two different things, in my opinion. The first thing I noted was that authors do NOT make a lot of money. In fact, published authors make an average of 9000 dollars a year! Unbelievable, right? Yeah. This was a surprise to me, as well. I received a hard, well-deserved reality check. I put off my writing career as an author in the hopes that once I do publish my book I would climb up the ranks as an author fairly quickly. But, I soon discovered that before even THINKING about publishing a book there are several things that must be considered.

2. Self Publishing or Publishing House?

Growing up, my father self-published a book for me called emotions. Funnily enough, I wrote it when I was ten and it was probably 118 pages of pure garbage. A few years later, I realized that I was only able to self-publish my book because I had no talent and my father paid well-earned money to print my books. I began to look down on self-publishing. But there are loopholes to everything! Some of the most esteemed authors making the most money, initially self-published their books! Through self-publishing you will be able to gain a larger chunk of every book you sell, but in return you must put more individual time and money into marketing, book design, etc, out of your own pockets. With publishing houses, if you DO get approved, they take a large chunk out of each book you sell but they do all of the dirty work for you to a large extent. So it really depends on which route you are most comfortable with.

3. Make CONNECTIONS!

Before deciding to make the difficult decision of finally sending out the final draft of your book to the world, it is important to try to make some connections! You could make a Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or even a YouTube account that is dedicated to your work! Attempt to acquire followers that could be fellow struggling authors and pitch your book to them in the promise of doing the same! Connections are very important, and there are many easy ways to gain these connections due to the interconnectedness of social media! Attempt to gain a following in whichever way you can! It will benefit you later! Get talking with people!

A/N: As I discover more about the world of publishing and books and marketing I will post more