My name is Angela Carling. I am the author of Unbreakable Love and Shackled (on virtual bookshelves June 1st) I have the privilege of stepping into Ali’s shoes and doing a guest post. I feel so powerful, like I just stole a car and I’m taking a joy ride.(wheeeee!!!) Anyway, becoming an author is a very public thing so I get to talk with tons of great people. One question that I get asked a lot is what do you wish you knew before you decided to publish a book. SO MUCH STUFF!!!!
That would be my answer, but I know that doesn’t help anyone reading this blog if they have the same question, so I’ve written five things I wish I knew before I published.
1. Learn the language of the business. The book business, like most business, has its own language, arcs and blog tours, manuscripts and query letters. It was all Greek to me. (No, really, it sounded like another language when I first started.) How to learn the language? That takes me to number two.
2. Get to know the bloggers. These guys have a pulse on what is good, and who is talking about it. They amaze me, not to mention inform me. If I could go back, I’d spend six months just getting to them and their recommendations. They are one of the vehicles of the book world, moving good books by their recommendations and of course teaching us the language of publishing.
3. Don’t plan on making any money on your first book. As a new author, even if you’re great, you are a little fishy being run over by big fishies (totally had to add that word to my dictionary) and likely boats too. You either have to have a truly unique book, spend a lot of money, or make a lot noise. You’ll probably ending up doing a combination of all of these things to get known for your work. You will have to prove yourself and that takes time.
4. If you’re not, Get tech savvy. Again, you are a tiny unknown fish. Technology is your friend. If you don’t twitter, blog, facebook, and know someone who can create blogs, vlogs, and frogs (just making sure you were still with meJ), you will be learning. I’m lucky, between my brilliant husband and our two brilliant male offspring, I have tech support, but I still had to learn a ton and am still learning---and I love it by the way.
5. Develop a thick skin. Being a published author means you actually put your work(and I know sometimes your heart and soul) out there for everyone to judge, I mean readJ The truth is, everyone is a critic. Not always a mean critic, but they have their opinions. Not everyone will like your work. I’ve learned to take their criticism and figure out if there is something usable to me. Sometimes, your book is just not their thing, but often, they make valid points that help us authors become better at what we do. I know, when I wrote Shackled, I thought about what I learned from Unbreakable Love and I tried to do better.
Thanks to Ali for letting me commandeer her very cool blog. Writing a book rocks and working with people like Ali make it even better!!! -See ya
