Every author wants success, but most authors have no idea how to achieve it. No matter how you publish or what you publish, there are five essential elements that will put you on in the fast lane on the road to success.
1—Write a great book.
Whether you’re writing a novel, a nonfiction book, a memoir, or a children’s book, the first step in writing a good book your readers will want to read is coming up with a great idea. These ideas can come from:
- Your hobbies, interests, career, or business
- Something you’ve experienced in your life
- A philosophy or theory you have about religion, life, or success
- A proven way you’ve created to solve a problem
- Something that’s happened in the news
… or sometimes, our ideas seem to materialize out of thin air.
And over time, you’ll work to develop that idea into an engaging narrative. For some, it only takes weeks, but it’s also okay if it takes you several months or years to finish writing your book.
2—Revise, edit, and polish your manuscript.
Through alpha readers, beta readers, professional editors, and proofreaders, you’ll receive valuable feedback on exactly what needs to be polished and how you can easily tackle those issues. But you’ll ultimately have the final say on what the final draft of your book looks like. It’s your voice and your style, and anyone who helps you edit or revise your manuscript should try to protect that at all costs. With that, comes a caveat, however. If the majority of your readers find a similar issue in your book, you are the one who controls whether to acknowledge that or ignore it. The author holds the responsibility for the final product.
3— Choose a title and cover that represents the book you’ve written.
These two elements of the entire package of your book are critical to get right because they combine to give your potential readers a first impression of who you are as an author and what your book might be about. If the title is uninspiring or there are five other books out there with the same title, you haven’t done the work to set yourself apart. (If you need help choosing the perfect title, make sure you utilize my PINCH method. Watch the FREE video here.)
Your book cover must be well-designed, unique, and match both the genre you are writing for and the book you have written. The first two elements work to grab a potential reader’s attention right away, and the last two can make or break whether that reader buys another one of your books. For instance, if your cover looks like a romance novel, but it’s actually a mystery novel, some readers may not get past the first few chapters. If you do some market research before the design process, you won’t have to worry about that.
4—Set clear and measurable goals for your writing success.
Think about why you wanted to become a writer in the first place. Was it to make money, see your name in print, or prove yourself wrong? Decide right now what will make you feel like a success before you publish so you know you have a goal to work toward. That doesn’t need to be your only goal, though. You can have five goals … or ten … or even twenty! And those goals can and will change as your progress through your writing career. Life as an author is a wide world of discovery, and you can’t possibly know everything … yet. So, don’t think you have to set those goals in stone, and you won’t feel like a failure if you need to change them.
5—Publish the right way.
There is no one right answer to this dilemma. Whether you plan to pursue self-publishing, traditional publishing, or publishing with Author Academy Elite, you must find an option that fits your vision for your future writing career. Like many of you reading this blog post, the authors at Author Academy Elite knew very little about the publishing process before they joined us. That’s why we created a program to guide them through every stepping stone along the way—writing, revising/editing, the design process, publishing, book launches, and marketing/promoting to help them reach their publishing goals sooner. And we can help you do that, too!
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16 replies to "Do These 5 Important Things Before You Publish Your Book"
I love your step by step approach. This read through it is point 4 that jumps out at me. I think for me the answer is bifold, to help others, I hope the words I write will spark ‘aha moments’ for my readers that will help them move on from stuck, struggling or barely surviving so much faster than I did. The second part is to fulfill a lifelong dream of being a published author,. To get the words, thoughts and concepts from deep within me out into the world. Thank you so much for helping my dreams come true. With you I am confident it is now achievable .
Great answer. Now is your time!
Now is your time.
I’m now on my second book and I can’t imagine what it would be like publishing with anyone else. You guys helped every step of the way. I feel like you are sitting with me as I write. This is a great reminder and blog. Thank you.
Congrats and welcome to the “book 2” book club!
We are thrilled to help you with your second book.
You can’t judge a book by its cover—but you sure can sell a lot with a great one! Great insight and advice!
Thanks friend!
This is exciting
Yes it is!
Of course, the writing and content is important but the cover and the advertising is what attracts my eye. I love great covers and descriptions that draw me to pick up the book and contemplate reading it. Author Academy Elite has helped so much with the preliminary considerations of planning a well-designed “book, marketing, and ancillary-materials package.”
Thank you for your feedback. We are thankful AAE has helped you so much.
Love the steps! I was especially drawn to step 4, setting measurable goals. I’m definitley going to be giving this some more thought. At first my goals have only been to finish the book, but having the need to further expand on those goals spelled out has inspired me to make it clearer. I’m now planning on making a vision board. Thanks again. I’m so glad to be part of AAE!
Awesome!