As an aspiring writer, you may, at times, be faced
with pressure from family or friends to "publish something." This is
all to true. And so I am going to speak from experience when I tell you about
self publishing. Yes, there are many articles that talk about the advantage of
self publishing. However, there are many, many disadvantages as well. You, as
an author have worked hard, many days and nights. Sitting in some room behind a
desk, typing away as the hours slipped by, only to realize a new day is born.
So why give into time and
pressure of family and friends just to self publish? There is no reason for it.
I was guilty of this in my first book, Angels in Sadr City. The reason though
was however unique and justified. I had just returned from a 15 month tour in
Baghdad, Iraq and wanted to get the story out about what happened to the men of
my unit. To honor them and the sacrifices made by their families in the best
way I knew. Also, from the time of my return from one deployment, I was heading
back out again, to Iraq, for yet my 5th deployment in my career.
After the events that took
place in Baghdad, I new that is was very possible that I could be spending my
last days in Iraq on this next tour. So I wrote and took the self publishing
route. What did this do? Well, it brought closure for me, and opened up the
doors to being a writer with a potential career in the field. Most importantly,
it honored the memories of the fallen brothers. It gave a sense of hope and
peace to the families, letting them know the sacrifice of their loved ones was
not in vain.
What it did not do for me, well
a number of things. It did not force me to honor or learn the craft of writing.
It did not get me on a bestseller list. It did not give me credit as a
"real author." It did not get put through a correct editing,
marketing, distributing, or sales channel. The book I view as a success because
it is one of those rare ones that still sells as good today as it did three
years ago. This is because it is a living story. However, this is not the case
for 99% of books out there that go to self publishing. I realized that through
my book, I had a great story, but I was a far way from mastering the
"craft" of writing
To be a true artist in your field you have
to have a mastery of the craft. To have master the craft, you have to have love
for your work. That means you have patience and faith in what you are doing.
That means you do not sell out to the bright shiny lights of the industry or
dollar signs. Rather, it means dedication, toil, handwork, perseverance, and
most importantly time.
We all die. This is as true as
the air you are breathing. So, when writing, remember to make sure your work is
complete before you submit it to a publisher. You can study on your own how to
edit things but you need a proofreader. Polish polish polish polish! And then,
polish your manuscript some more!
So, now for the tips!
1. Join some kind of writers group and take a
creative writing class for God sakes!
2. Go through your script and cross out every third
word, then try to make the sentence better.
3. Read through your script again and try to make
every set of three sentences blend into one.
4. Get the book "Word Painting" by
Rebecca McClanahan. Read it, know it, sleep on it, and digest it fully.
5. Have no more than two people look over your work
at once so as not to lose the integrity of your story.
6. Make sure the character development is strong
and focused, not rambled and weak. There are many ways to do this and many
books written on the subject.
7. Get a Thesaurus. What is that? Oh yeah! Its that
thing we got in elementary school that gathers dust on the book case! No, it is
a very helpful tool once you know how to employ it.
8. Avoid quantifying words like very and really. Be
a little more descriptive and put feeling into the emotion.
9. Finally, love your work. Make the reader fall in
love with what you have. Once you do this, you will know that you are a
successful writer.
It does not take a blockbuster to make this happen.
Just think of anything that has ever been accomplished out of love? Think of
how dedicated a person becomes to something when they fall in love with it. So,
in turn, make your reader fall in love with your work and you will build an
audience like you won't believe.
Anthony Farina
https://www.facebook.com/anthony.farina.526?ref=tn_tnmn
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