Help - I Gotta Write A Book

By ed dugan

A COMPLETE GUIDE TO WRITING, PUBLISHING AND MARKETING YOUR BOOK

The journey a new author takes, from sitting down and writing the first word, to the point where someone actually buys a copy, is long and arduous.

The trip can be fairly easy and inexpensive, or it can be filled with wrong turns and large outlays of cash. The authors, Ed and Lynne Dugan, took the latter road, and now share their experiences with you so that you can avoid those mistakes.
 

If you're going to embark on a journey to write your book, whatever the genre, you really need to have this book as your tour guide

• Language: English
• Publisher: ed dugan
• Release date: Sep 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536549508

Book preview

Write A Book!

A complete guide to writing, publishing and marketing your book

Ed & Lynne Dugan

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Step One – Writing Your Book

Chapter 1 – What It Takes To Be An Author

Chapter 2 – Beyond Creative Writing 101

Chapter 3 – Outline First, Write Later

Chapter 4 – Good Writing Is Hard To Achieve

Step Two – Publishing Your Book

Chapter 5 – The Tipping Point In Publishing

Chapter 6 – Understanding Print On Demand (POD) Publishing

Chapter 7 – How To Proceed With POD Publishing

Step Three – Marketing Your Book

Chapter 8 – No Website Equals No Sales

Chapter 9 – How Not To Do A Website

Chapter 10 – SEO And Your Website

Chapter 11 – Other Ways To Sell Your Book

A Review & Recommendations

Chapter 12 – A Bucket List For Authors

Chapter 13 – Recommendations and Author’s Check List

BOOKS BY ED DUGAN

Help-I Gotta Learn To Cook!

Help-I Gotta Cook!

Help-I Gotta Retire! Option One

Help-I Gotta Retire! Option Two

Help-I Gotta Raise More Money!

Help-I Gotta Lose Weight!

Help-I Gotta Write a Book!

To learn more go to:

self-helpbookstore.com

DEDICATION

To Lynne, my wife and co-author

I would never have gotten my first book in print if it hadn’t been for Lynne’s encouragement and professional editing. She put up with my little tantrums and made the changes necessary to make our books much better.

STEP ONE:

WRITING

YOUR BOOK

CHAPTER ONE

What It Takes To Be An Author

This is a self-help book. The information and suggestions it contains will guide you through the writing, publishing and marketing processes while saving you time, money and effort. However, the first word, self, means you need to do most of the heavy lifting while we provide the help part. We can show you the roadmap but the driving is up to you.

Something else to keep in mind is this: It makes no difference whether they’re fiction or nonfiction, most books start with an idea. If you have an idea about writing a book you shouldn’t let distractions stop you. It’s easy to set the idea aside for a later time but often that time never comes.

Here’s a quote to remind you to get started:

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.

Theodore Roosevelt

Since the first section of this book is about writing, I think it’s appropriate to mention the following. Except for my two cookbooks, Help-I Gotta Learn to Cook! and Help-I Gotta Cook! our other five books include my wife Lynne as co-author. The way that works is this; first we agree on the basic idea behind the proposed book, then I write the initial chapters, then she edits them and makes suggestions concerning the phrasing, content and continuity, then I re-write, and the process goes on until we both agree the book is finished. The end result is a book that both of us have crafted and our system has worked very well. My point is, it really helps to have someone to talk to about your book as you proceed.

Let’s begin with the assumption that anyone can write and publish a book. You just need to write it, take it to a local printer, pick out a standard cover and get it printed. You can copyright it or not, try to stir up some local interest, maybe have a book signing and voila – you’re a published author! For many authors, that’s enough.

On the other hand, some authors, us included, write not only to make a point but also to make a little money from our efforts. We don’t kid ourselves that any of the books will be best sellers, although one can always hope. Our goal is to make enough money from royalties to prove that we didn’t waste our time writing and editing. Earning a few royalties will not only boost your bank account, but your ego as well.

Writing, and getting paid for it, entails a process that is 50% writing and publishing and 50% marketing. It’s the marketing phase that will bring in the royalties, and the quality of your writing that will sustain them. Otherwise, your book can be up on Amazon, Books-a-Million, Barnes and Noble and all the other internet book stores and you might not sell a single copy. Believe me, today you could write Gone with the Wind, and if you didn’t know how to market the book, the only people who would buy it are your friends and relatives!

From here on in I’m going to switch from the plural to the singular. I’ve been dealing with the publishing industry since 2006, and if there are any mistakes that could be made, I made them. I just want to make this clear, I made the mistakes, not Lynne. I’ve wasted our time, money and efforts in fruitless attempts at getting published and selling our books, and I’ve written this book to keep you from doing the same thing.

Perhaps the most important lesson I learned - a book is just like any other consumer product. As such, authors need to understand that they’re fighting for a place in a market of many millions of readers, and the competition is fierce!

The good news is that you don’t have to spend  a lot of money to get your book to the point where it’s paying you royalties. On the other hand, how and where you spend that money can make a world of difference. After all those years of tramping through the publishing jungle I’ve come to the conclusion that around $2000 can get you from beginning to end in a decent fashion. Of course, that’s for a ticket in the coach section not first-class. 

In the following chapters I’m going to tell you about some of the mistakes I made and how to avoid them.