How to Write and Why You May Want to Self-Publish: Tips and Insights from Personal Experience

I have been writing and getting published for years. Too many to recall now, actually. And I can tell you that it's a tough business, all of which I will get into shortly. However, let's speak of successes first then we can get into the difficulties.

The first thing I got published was a poem I had sent to a poetry journal in Canada . One day I got a letter stating that the publisher not only wanted to publish the poem, but that he thought it was brilliant. Had I read that correctly? Yes, "HE SAID BRILLIANT!" (that was me yelling, running and jumping around the living room ecstatic with joy) This was the first time I had been published. I couldn't have been happier. But like a lot of early success stories, they may not be followed by others for some time. I published a few more poems but got into my novel and had to think about getting published seriously. "Seriously" here meaning, getting something of length published that would be read by more than just family and friends.

I had written the story in about three months ( Black Body Radiation and the Ultraviolet Catastrophe ), working off and on as I worked and went to school. What's interesting is that writing, like most things, can be improved upon by practice. My first novel took me two years to write. Being my first time it was a difficult and tiring yet enjoyable exercise. As I improved my understanding of what I was doing and getting my skills up to snuff, the time it took to write took less and less. Today I can write many books in one year. Case in point, in the last two years I've written five books. I'm no Isaac Asimov (he wrote 500 books in his lifetime), but I'm improving on my skill, accuracy, and ability to generate material quickly.

So I had initially looked into getting an agent and trying to get published the traditional way, but self-publishing appealed to me because I had more control over the process and I wanted to see what publishing was all about from the ground up. If I was going to be a serious writer, I had to know what was going on. Let's talk about the book.

As I had said, I had written the book in about three months, but that was a rough draft. And this book was different. With this project I was inspired to free-write with little planning. I don't know specifically why, but I listened to my muse and she told me to do it, so I did.

The book is unique for many reasons. First of all, it resides in a very unique genre, for it's a philosophical, theological, science fiction / fantasy, comedy, satire, essay. Or Harry Potter meets Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets Gulliver's Travels meets Gandhi meets Groucho Marx. I wrote it on the fly letting my subconscious tell me what was needed. I began the book with a short story I had never finished and went from there. At times I was splicing in pieces of poems I had written or sections of dreams I had had that popped into my mind on certain occasions. I always listened to the muse and didn't reject anything.

But there's more to this uniqueness. The narrator is a person who talks to the reader. When he's not telling the story, he's opinionated and annoying, but he's also insightful and essential to not only the plot but the theme of the book. At one point, he talks to one of the characters, who is wise and insightful, to help him calm down enough to continue to tell the story, for he is very concerned for the main character but doesn't know how to help him. On another occasion, he even has the reader jump into the book momentarily to help out. So watch out if you think you can simply observe without getting involved. Forget it.

There's also a black hole that talks and learns from Augustus, the great universal Augur, how to love. Macho alien men who wear women's cloths, but for a very good reason. Wargons and Chumbawambas who do violent and stupid things, but the main character Augustus is there to save the day and help us all feel a little bit better about ourselves.

There's romance (OK, just a little; what do you want? this is a science fiction / fantasy action not some kissy wissy book. Geesh) time travel, space ships, and an intergalactic self-help book tour conducted by Augustus that needs to be experienced. Really, it does! (What, you think you're buying the book and me getting a $1.95 royalty is gonna make me rich? Geesh.)

But lets get back to the more technical stuff, shall we?

As I went back through the book certain themes, pieces of poems or dreams, images, people or whatever came to take on greater and greater collective meaning, meaning that became more and more clear as I re-wrote and re-wrote. Remember, writing isn't so much about writing as it is re-writing. In re-writing, ideas come to us as we revisit the material time and again that we didn't see before, for the changes that we made last time inspire us and guide us to new ideas as we see them for the first time alongside story that was not changed.

Moving along draft, after draft, after draft (I went through the book some 40 times; consider Hemingway rewrote A Farewell to Arms 39 times and won the Pulitzer and Noble prizes for literature) I was informed as to what to change. At times I had to add something for the scene was lacking or needed something to spice it up. Or at times I had to take something away for the scene had too much or maybe a character was not acting as he or she should. For me, and many other writers, we really don't know what we are doing or where the story is going until we are informed by our writing.

After completing the book, I needed a publisher. I found Lulu, a publisher that you don't pay because you have to do all the work. It simply gives you the platform and the tools to get your book published. But I had to get the pictures for the front and back covers, set the print correctly with proper spacing and boarders according to Lulu's requirements. I had to adjust the color of the spine and overall look to coordinate the two covers. Then I had to set pricing and get it over to Amazon and upload it properly. Get the ISBN before doing so . . . And this didn't all just happen. I probably had to revise some twenty times before everything looked professional and ready for sale.

But that's just the beginning. Now I had to do marketing. I began writing articles, posting on blogs, telling friends and acquaintances, handing out business cards, talking to students, putting copies in book stores, on and on.

So how am I doing five years later? I have sold about 700 books. If that doesn't sound good to you, consider that if you sell 1000 copies you're doing better than 90% of the writers out there. Also consider that if you get self-published, even if you are a really good writer, lots of reviewers won't even look at your book. So if you're looking for a good review to get your book promoted, think again. But there are a few who self-publish and break through to get on Oprah. But try less than 1%.

But I would not have missed out on the experience for the world. I have learned so much and have reaped the rewards. Shortly, I will have a traditional publisher, a New York publisher, publish one of my non-fiction books, and that's all you need. One book. Once you get that first book with your toe in the door, the sky's the limit. However, don't think that it won't cost you. It will cost me about $6000 to do so and I will have to do all the marketing. And that goes for everybody. Just because you get a big-time traditional publisher to publish your book don't think they'll do all the work. No sir. You are 100% responsible for the promoting and marketing.

If you look at those who are well known in the publishing world, it means they've spent a lot of time and money doing so. Mark Victor Hansen of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame, along with his partner Jack Canfield, did radio interviews every day for a year before their books took off. Robert Kiyosaki had to pay Radio Television Interview Report (a periodical members of the media use to find new talent) some $5000 to $8000 to get noticed. And the famous Frank Herbert of Dune fame was turned down by every big publisher before he was published by, of all things, an automotive publisher on his way to fame and fortune.

So if you want it, you can get it. But first, hone your skills. Write. Write. Write. Write. Write. And when you're done with that, write some more and some more and some more. Get into the details. Know grammar, punctuation, the paragraph, diction, build a vocabulary, learn how to think critically, logically, thoroughly, and to the benefit of your reader. Yes, your reader needs to be in your mind as you write. Not all the time, but if you forget them too often they'll soon forget you, or never notice you in the first place.

Know how to write interesting titles, realistic dialogue, how to stay away from boring, syntax errors, logic errors, and remember to edit, edit, edit, edit, edit, edit, edit, edit, edit, edit, edit, edit. Edit the big picture first making sure that the story works that you don't give away the end in the introduction (something I did and didn't notice until some five re-reads). Then once the story is logical, well-paced, a winner, get into the details. Look at those sentences. Read them carefully for pacing and meaning. Read them out loud. That will help you see if what you are writing is stilted and fake or hot and flowing. Go over those commas, words, phrases, clauses, moving things around and back and forth until you get the best result. That's what writers do, and if you can't do all this then keep writing for your family and friends. But if you want to go big time . . . Well, lots of work.

Not one to pull punches there you have it. Lots of work. Lots of dedication. And if you're a writer, then you've got the dedication and passion to see you through. Personally, I can't go a day without writing. If I do I die. That's a writer. If you're not at that level, it's going to be difficult if not impossible to make a career out of being one.

One last point of note. These days trying to get your book read is difficult. Unless it's on the New York Times Best Sellers list, not much of a chance for getting on Oprah or seeing sales sore above 1000 copies. Remember, most never even go that high. But today people are over inundated with stuff: books, shows, events, sports, on and on and on. In order for you to stand out, Mr. or Mrs. Best Seller, you really have to put in some time and work. My suggestion? Patience, a realistic understanding of what it takes to get published and work, work, work. But don't forget to get your checkbook out and put aside a couple dozen hours a day to work on sales and marketing. If you're not into sales and marketing . . . well, at least your family and friends will have something to read.

So good luck and good writing. Drop a line if you have any questions or experiences you'd like to share with your fellow writers. Peace!

Here's a snapshot of lulu dot com showing my book currently listed under "Staff Picks" (It's the one in the middle, second row). Even though Lulu is my publisher, I sell most of my books from Amazon, a more recognizable name, and they have neat metrics, marketing tools and such. My book is currently ranked about 800,000 at Amazon. It has gone as high as 7000. If that doesn't thrill you, consider that there are over 7.5 million unique titles on Amazon. Anyway, here's my social proof to validate. Good luck with your writing.