Authors - Stand Your Ground!

Trust me, I've experienced the "were sorry" letters, the "try agains" and all other forms of rejections that come by email or letter. What should you do? You feel you made the best choice possible in choosing a publisher, you picked the right characters, the perfect editor, the greatest book cover, but something is missing! Giving up seems like the best solution in the world right now, but what does that say about you to others in this very competitive industry of publishing?

Well get ready to buy more jump drives, more printing paper and plenty of ink pens for those sudden rushes and gushes of inspiration, that will perhaps be the next best creation to arise from your desk. Here are some guidelines that will help you stay on the track to becoming a noticed, and respected author in your community and perhaps the entire world.

1) Be realistic with your goals and expectations. Know the norm in every process in the literary industry. Nothing happens overnight.

2) Be prepared to commit yourself to whatever you do. We all know that writing a book is not easy. It is a craft that requires research, time, plenty of hard effort and much passion. Can you commit to a career so demanding like writing?

3) Learn your craft! Sure, there is a lot of writing and typing going on, but are you determined to learn about the craft that you are practicing? There are plenty of self -help guides that will point you into the right direction regarding you literary career.

4) Be prepared to spend money. I never thought how much money I would be spending to advertise, and promote my work. Flyer's, bookmarks, invitations, announcements, posters and whatever else comes to mind to help advertise your project are all apart of your expenses. Just save your receipts for tax time!

5) Get close with all books store staff and management in your area. They will be your best friends when it comes to seeking book placement in their stores, or even setting up a book signing event.

6) DON'T GIVE UP! What has giving up (unless you were in a bad fight, that you were losing from the jump) done for anyone? Stand your ground and stay in the ring and put on the best show you can possibly give! Somebody out there wants to read what you have written about. You are here for a reason. Keep that pen to the paper!

7) Stay out of clicks! Yes, even in this crazy world of publishing, authors have formed clicks. Keep it professional at all times! Never, bite another colleague in the neck by saying harsh words or giving a poor worded review of someones (even if it is bad!) work.

8) Be nice! You never know when you will have to face that agency that turned your first book down. You never know when you will have to face that book store clerk you cursed over the telephone. Your luck will turn out that she will be the clerk working at that same book store on the day of your book signing. OUCH! Yes, Karma is alive and licking throughout the world!

9) Attitude IS everything! Just make sure yours is in the nice category! You are not a book diva or he diva that has been writing for years and has had millions of book sales and numerous books in print. Hell, even when you do make that status, everyone can appreciate a nice diva! Lord, knows we got enough bad ones making some poor assistants life a living hell!

10) Love what you do! You must be able to love your job in order to be successful in it! If the love is there everything else will grow in all the right places. Passion is a must.

11) Research what you are writing about. Is it popular, is it a fad, will it interest people enough to buy? Can you lure someone to buy your book based off the synopsis? Whatever you plan on writing about make sure you know a lot about the subject. Readers will be able to tell if you do or don't know what you are talking about! Do not write about topics that you are not familiar with or ones that make you uncomfortable to talk about. From there your work will either become popular or go straight to the discount shelf! Research is the most important factor you do not wan to X out! DO IT! I implore you!

12) Gather at all online sites! Myspace.com, Gather.com and so many other websites are out there for authors to share their works. It also gives you the edge on what is happening in the literary industry. I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with some of the worlds greatest authors on MySpace.com!

13)Make sure you sign up with your writers guild for whatever state you live in. Also participate at your local librarys monthly events.

14) Networking is the key! Try your best to save a little money for the biggest literary events. I know you would love to attend them all, but if you are on a budget, then pick the best two events and plan on being there. I know this all sounds like a lot of work, but NO ONE CAN PROMOTE YOU BETTER THAN YOU! The publishing company will not even do a fourth of all the stuff I just mentioned. If anything they will take your money to publish (if you are not self-published) your work, then try to get you to buy all these promotional deals that can now all of a sudden come with your publishing package.

15) Don't make drastic decisions. Even if you are approached with a dream deal, think about it! You not only do this for the love of it, but hey, you do it to live a comfortable lifestyle that will aloow you to an 'at home author' instead of a 'on the clock author'! Trust me there is a difference.

I hope these tips will help you settle into the crazy world of publishing. Good luck on all of your projects.