You Wrote a Book. Now What?

Many authors think that writing a book is very hard and that once you finish your book, the rest is a piece of cake.

Well I would argue about that. For example personally for me the writing process is more enjoyable and much easier than everything else that needs to be done after that.

Once you have completed your manuscript there are so many things that you need to do after. It may even make some writers feel overwhelmed and confused.

So let’s understand what should you do once you finish writing your book? What are the things that you will have to deal with.

1. Get feedback Who you should get feedback from?

Well many rush to their friends and family but I personally think that it is not a good thing. First of all – they are people who might not be able to be objective. Second, they may feel bad about hurting your feeling and may not provide any negative feedback. And the third thing is that they may not be your audience. For example I write women’s fiction and it is logical that my husband is not the most suitable person to approach for feedback. So try to find readers, who enjoy reading books similar to the one you’ve written.

1. Consider modifications based on feedback Just because you have received feedback does not mean that you have to change the book based on absolutely all the points that were brought up. Try to objectively evaluate what you received and make those changes that will benefit your book and which were objectively true.
2. Self-edit

Your manuscript has to be self edited. In fact maybe you will need few rounds of self-edit. One before you send out the text             for feedback and one after you have made the final changes to the manuscript.

4. Proofread There will always be typos and grammar mistakes which you have not caught so you should take that fact as granted.

          Ideally you should get professional help; but if you can’t afford it, have at least 4 to 5 different people go through your manuscript. That way you will minimize the remaining errors.

5. Professional editing Many authors I have interviewed so far have mentioned the importance of having professional your book. It definitely will make the experience of reading your book much better one. It will also ensure that your book ensures good quality text.
6. Research your competitors Ideally you will have to do that before even starting writing then book, but if you have not done it yet n case you have not done it do some research. See which books in your genre are bestsellers now. What are they about? What do readers like about them? How are they priced? What do their covers look like? And so on. Make sure you have the picture of where are you getting into and how to make sure that your book is at least as good as other books in there and make sure you know what differentiates your book from the others.
7. Decide about the platform Yes, Amazon is still the obvious market leader but it is not the only self- publishing platform out there. You can also consider – B&N, iBooks, Kobo, etc. You have to decide whether you would like to concentrate exclusively on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing or embrace all the possibilities.
8. Format the book Yeah… that is yet another boring thing that needs to be done. Each platform requires a specific format of the book and you have to make sure that the book is formatted well and it is easy for the eye to read.
9. Choose your category Choosing the right category and subcategory is very crucial. It will help you with your books rankings and visibility. That is why you will need to spend some time to choose the best category for your book.
10. Set your book’s price Come up with the pricing strategy for your book.
11. Look for reviewers Make sure that by the time your book goes live you have at least several reviews up. Send potential reviewers a free copy of your book in advance.
12. Choose a title Coming up with the title may be very difficult. But you have to have it ready for one of the most important part of the whole thing – that is getting the book cover.

13. Imagine your cover Readers WILL judge your book by its cover. The cover is what will make people either click on your book or not. So it would be nice if you could spend some time to imagine your cover concept. Even if you will not be the one creating it – you still need to provide the designer with a detailed brief.
14. Find a book cover designer ok – now that you know how you want your book to look like you will need to find someone who will make one for you. Unless you are a designer please don’t make your cover yourself. It will look unprofessional and harm your book on a long run.
15. Write a book description Writing a good book description is a challenge. The description is your sales pitch and it has to make people want to know about your book more – therefore want to buy and read it.
16. Publish the book ok.. only now you can finally publish the book.

As you can see I did not cover the marketing side, neither I spoke about the book launch strategies.

What I covered were the obligatory things that you will need to do with your manuscript in order to make sure that it becomes a book ready to be published.

So please don’t think that if you have finished writing your book, you’re done. As you already saw – there is a lot more to do than the writing.

Meanwhile.. before you get there, make sure you do complete writing the book you have started!

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