So you've finished your book, even edited it thoroughly to the best of your ability, so now what? Should be easier that completing the manuscript, right?
Wrong. I'm sorry to hit you with this demotivation so early on your writing career, but it's a fact; getting published is one heck of a struggle. I should know. I've finished my first book back in...2015, yeah, it's been 5 years and that story still saw no light. I finished many books since then and continue writing today but have just one novel actually out there for people to read. I've even tried self publishing recently as well, and so I have experiences in all fields to let you know, none of it is easy! The Severe Competition The first problem is something that almost everyone would face in any field; competition. It gets annoying how many people exist in the world trying to do the same things as you but you have to face it, you're no special butterfly in the garden. Everyone out there who is writing is probably doing so for a reason, I'm sure many are great at it while many have great stories to tell, but at the end of the day there can only be so many books out there that people would actually read let alone become bestsellers. The problem isn't with you, I've come to realize, the problem is with the overload of competition. You need to really shine hard and prove yourself to be perfect to even get a chance in today's world. Whether you are selfpublishing, investing with publishers or seeking the help of a literary agent, you won't be able to outshine other writers that easily. It's harder with literary agents, as they won't even consider your work unless it is a diamond in the rough of their query letter pile. The Personal Disadvantages Another problem in today's world is the unfair system where your hard work and talent doesn't help you succeed as much as some privileges do. If you have a lot of money to invest or professional support or perhaps some useful contacts that can sneak you past the line in your career than suddenly it becomes a lot easier. For example, publishing a book online for free is an option but to market it you need to invest and you need to get professional help to make sure your work is worth marketing in the first place. In the case of publishing through literary agents, you need to have an advantage of either contacts or an impressive writing credentials that may take years to build up. But you can also take advantage of this unfair system by seeing what path is better suited for you as some things may be harder than the rest but there might be a way for you to make it if you have the right plan. Maybe you are more capable of investing time in building a bio that will make literary agents more confident about working with you or perhaps you would rather save and invest on publishing and marketing your book so that you can quickly gain readers without having to wait for a literary agent to do the job for you. The Need To Be Perfect Like I mentioned before, your book really needs to outshine the rest of the library for you to dream of becoming a bestseller like how I wish for it. Even if you think your book is done, even if you went over it so many times that you are sick of it, even if your friends and family told you it was great... you still need to keep improving to the point of perfection that no one can doubt. So what do you do? First, don't just write it, really work on it. Dedicate good amount of time to give your writing your full focus. Perfect each line to the best of your ability, edit and re-edit as long as the manuscript sits there unpublished, get reviews and ask for harsh comments to improve every tiny fault in your work and if you can, invest in professional help and editing services. Just never stop working on it! I know it's a struggle to give so much of your time to something that might never make it out there any time soon, but if you dared yourself to start on it then it's only fair you give it your all before giving up...and for all you know, after several years of waiting and working, you might actually end up with an instant hit!
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AuthorWelcome! My name is Iman Malik and I am an aspiring novelist who is dreaming to be a bestseller one day who can be well known as writer Iman Malik. Archives
September 2021
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