I really enjoy reading Jerry Jenkin’s blog.  Some of you may know him and others may not. He has published more novels than any author in history and was the co-author of the Left Behind series. Needless to say, he knows what he is talking about and is more than willing to share that with you, me, or anyone who chooses to visit his site.

Jerry Jenkins says you are a writer when you say you are a writer. It all comes down to  mindset.  Do you have the mindset of a writer? Do you take your writing seriously? Are you investing time and energy into learning your craft? Are you doing what professional writers do even when you don’t feel like it and haven’t been published? I hope your answer to all of these questions was yes.  If you’re planning on writing a novel and succeeding in your venture, you are going to have to develop a writer’s mindset.

How Do I Develop a Writer’s Mindset?

• Read books specific to your genre.  That’s what authors do.  It helps them to know their competition and keep up with what’s selling in the industry.
• Read blogs. Research and learn your craft.  I really like Michael Hyatt and Jerry Jenkins. These people are in the industry and can help you to get up to speed. I also subscribe to Writers Digest magazine.  They have great articles as well as information that will help you in your journey.
• Build your platform. Start that Blog. Michael Hyatt said he sat at many board publication meetings at Thomas Nelson. When reviewing a potential author one question always came up. “What’s the authors platform?” If the answer was there is none then the book was usually rejected. They pushed it to the side and moved on to the next one. The publisher doesn’t have the resources to market your book.  You need an audience-period. As I stated in a previous blog, my Novel was rejected not because of content, but because of my lack of a platform.
• Attend writing conferences if possible. You will get the opportunity to connect with literary Agents, Publishers and other aspiring Authors as well as attend classes that will help you improve your writing skills.
• Write! Write! Write!
• Consider joining writing critique groups (WritersWrite.com).
• Have fun and DON’T GIVE UP!

-Jan R

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If all you want to do is write, go for it.  You don’t have to get permission or a license.  All you need is a pencil and paper or maybe a computer depending on how serious you take your endeavor. If writing a novel is a future goal then this is one way to hone your skills.  Many professionals recommend that you start out small.  You could write an article for the local paper or a magazine, and even consider a blog. This not only improves your writing skills, but it also builds up the resume that you will need later when approaching an agent/publisher.

If you do want to write a novel, you should know it’s hard work. Those people who say, “Anybody can write a book, how hard can it be?” They’ve never written a novel and most definitely never had one published. You have to research, outline, draft and redraft, not to mention the countless revisions.  I have probably done a complete revision of my book 4-5 times.  I’ve lost count to be honest and these revisions don’t include the numerous times I have reworked scenes or randon sentences that didn’t read well. Did I mention combing it for grammatical and structural errors. That’s a lot of fun, especially if you aren’t an English major.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to stop writing to google simple questions on grammar.

Another thing to keep in mind, your first novel probably won’t be a masterpiece. This is true of every writer of every first novel. That does include Nicholas Spark and J.K. Rowling. Keep in mind you are learning the craft as your write. You will need to understand how to work dialogue, pace your book, construct a plot that is plausible and cohesive, build tension and create characters that your reader likes and can relate to. Experts say it takes about 10,000 hours of writing to prepare you to write a publishable novel.

I don’t meant to discourage anyone. I just want to make sure you know what you are getting in to.  Most books take 5-10 years to get published.  I’m on year 5 so maybe I’m approaching the finish line.  I sure hope I was a fast learner. If this is what you want to do, improve your skills by reading and writing. Yes you need to read. I would also recomment that you take classes, attend seminars, research, and join writing groups (WritersWrite.com). You will get there. The biggy is DON’T GIVE UP!

-Jan R

 

So you’ve spent the last year or so writing your first novel.  It may be a great story but it want even make it to first base if it’s poorly written.  Great stories with a significant number of structural and grammatical errors get tossed to the side everyday.  How’s your dialogue? Does it move your story forward or just sit like a rock slowing things down and encouraging the reader to skip it completely. What about your platform? Do you have one? Great manuscripts of first time authors get pushed to the side everyday because the aspiring author doesn’t have a solid platform.

I was recently rejected by a literary agent because of my lack of a solid platform. I spent the last few years editing and rewriting major portions of my manuscript to address issues mentioned above.  I was confident with my work and looked forward to a request for the complete story. Well, what I got wasn’t a request but a rejection.  The reason had nothing to do with my novel. I had focused so much on preparing it for publication that I failed to do one of the most important things, build an audience of potential customers. Is it necessary? Unfortunately yes, especially for first time authors. The agent who rejected me actually apologized for not giving me better news but said it was really hard to place new authors and especially those who did not have a solid platform. While she recommended that I send it to other agents, she also emphasized the importance of building a platform.

The good news is with technology it is a lot easier than you would think.  Google ‘Building a platform’ and you’ll find all kinds of information.  I would personally recommend looking into Michael Hyatt. He is an author, blogger, speaker, and a former chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers so he knows a little bit about what we are trying to accomplish here. I would also recommend his book ‘PLATFORM GET NOTICED IN A NOISY WORLD’. He provides all the information you need to get started, including websites that assist with the creation of your online presence.

I hope this helps someone out there on their quest to being published.  I chose to discuss platforms in my first entry because of the frustration I felt after receiving the news from the literary agent. I just didn’t know. This is something I could have been doing while preparing my novel for publishing.

Please join me on this journey as I navigate through the publication process.  I will be updating this blog at least twice a week and working out the kinks.  Bear with me and  I promise to provide information that will assist you in your journey and hopefully keep you from making the same mistakes that I have.

-Jan R Continue reading “Getting Started” →