I published my first novel toward the end of 2017. I made the decision to independently publish for a variety of reasons, which I detailed here. Before I pressed ‘publish’, I did a significant amount of research. But there were still gaps in my knowledge, and I learned a lot across the process of publishing that book…and the next one…and the one after that.
The truth is that if you want to be an author, the first thing you need to understand is that it’s a job. Even if it’s not your full time work, if you are creating a product that you intend to sell, writing goes from being a hobby to a business.
The foremost strength of How To Be An Author is that it explicitly recognises this. To anybody who told me that they’ve written a book and want to try and get it published, I would recommend they read through this first so that their entrance to the literary industry is dispelled of as many illusions as possible. It’s an almost coldly practical approach to a business that a lot of people prefer to describe in terms that resolutely avoid any suggestion that money, profit, or sales, are involved in the literary industry.
Drawing on the collective wisdom of various authors under the Fremantle Press umbrella, the book divides the business of writing into various stages, from questions surrounding how to cultivate writing routine, to how to identify your audience.
As an established (sort of) author, it was a nice back-to-basics to see how other authors approach planning, genre, and the protection of time dedicated to writing. However, I felt the point was at times a bit belaboured. A lot of this information is already instinctively discovered by would-be writers, but that said, where the appeal of a book such as this really lies, to my mind at least, is in the sections which examine agents, promotion, contracts, and the process of publication—in short, the bits that happen after you’ve written the story. Regardless of whether you’re an independently or traditionally published author, the need to establish an author ‘brand’ and create a presence that is part of the marketing machine surrounding your work is a simple fact of the current landscape, but there’s not a lot of clear information out there on how to actually achieve that. More investigation and offering clear and specific actions and strategies that achieve these requirements would have really helped How To Be An Author stand out as a must-have handbook.
Perhaps most valuable is the list of organisations and resources at the end of the book. There’s such a multitude of groups, competitions, organisations, blogs and lists out there that knowing how to distinguish between what’s useful and what isn’t is a near impossible task. Having a specific starting point is an invaluable resource.
Given the fact that there are a lot of courses out there on ‘how to write’ and ‘how to get published’, at $34.99 RRP this book is a hell of a lot cheaper, and covers a lot more ground. It’s therefore something I’d recommend any day of the week to someone who was interested in pursuing writing over one of those courses, which, dare I say, can be quite exploitative at times.
With that being said, How To Be An Author did at times fall short of what I believed to be its potential. Frankly, I’m almost inclined to say that this book could have been in two volumes: one that go over the craft of writing, and one that goes over the business of writing.
How To Be An Author is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up How To Be An Author? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
If you dream of being published, this book will teach you the nuts and bolts of what it means to be an author.
Georgia Richter and Deborah Hunn look at the business of becoming an author. In a friendly, informative and practical way they share all you need to know about inspiration and research, preparing to submit to a publisher, creating an author brand, legal, ethical and moral considerations, pitching, effective social media and much more.
Practical advice and top tips from Liz Byrski, Alan Carter, Nandi Chinna, Tim Coronel, Amanda Curtin, Daniel de Lorne, Deb Fitzpatrick, James Foley, Alecia Hancock, Stephen Kinnane, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Natasha Lester, Brigid Lowry, Caitlin Maling, Meg McKinlay, Claire Miller, Brendan Ritchie, Rachel Robertson, Holden Sheppard, Sasha Wasley, David Whish-Wilson and Anne-Louise Willoughby.
