How to Write a Book

Writing a book is a very lengthy process for any author be he/she of any genre whatsoever. Firstly, the author conceives the idea of the story in his/her head and then starts writing a rough draft in which he/she then puts the core of the story.

If the author is satisfied with the story, he/she will then continue to write the rough draft. If not, then he/she will start again from scratch until he/she is satisfied with the story. This process sometimes takes months or even years.

A work of an author is very tedious and time-taking but the results he/she gets after the publication of the book are priceless. After toiling away at the story for hours and hours on end and then proofreading the story again with a publisher is no easy business.

Finding the right publisher is also the key when it comes to writing books. The publishing house must show interest in your manuscript and be willing to proofread and correct any inconsistencies within the storyline. This is also a time-taking process as many publishing houses nowadays don’t have the time or energy to go through the whole manuscript of the authors.

The first thing that an author needs to do after finishing the story is to self-read and self-edit the manuscript and then show it to family and very close friends who will then let him/her know of the inconsistencies in the story. After this only, should the author approach a publishing house.

Once the book is in the hands of the publisher, the author cannot do anything more than just hope that his/her story is read by millions of people worldwide. The story is just like a small child for the author and when the child is taken away from the author, then he/she has pretty much no control left over it.

Many popular bestselling authors have toiled day in and day out to get their stories published. Some of these renowned figures are J.K. Rowling, Chetan Bhagat, Nicholas Sparks etc. We all read their latest novels when they come out on the market.

So, what does it take to write a successful book? Here are some steps to writing a book which every new author can take into account.

Ways to Write a Successful Book

1. First and foremost to get your creative juices flowing, you need a room where you are comfortable and will be able to write for longer periods. It should also have no distractions to disturb you when working on your book. So, choose an environment where you can work uninterrupted, freely and for hours on end.

2. Secondly, develop the idea of your book concretely. Ask questions about the book to yourself such as who will read your book, what is the story you are going to share with the people, why is your story interesting or important to tell etc. Once all these questions are cleared out of the way, then can you start writing your story.

3. Creating a roadmap or outline for your story will be helpful for you in charting out where your story is headed to. These roadmaps can be detailed chapter explanations or simple sheets to help you remain focused on writing your story. You can either use words or graphical representations to have your book outline in front of you. So whatever method you choose, the roadmap should be absolutely clear for your further writing sessions.

4. Research is important for writers of both fiction and non-fiction stories. For fiction stories, writers need to acquaint themselves with the period about which they will be writing their story and for non-fiction writers, they must visit libraries and read books on the subject that they are about to attempt as well as take help from other people who can give them more information on the subject.

5. Now when you have everything in place, it’s time to start writing your masterpiece. Start writing your rough draft by removing procrastination and diving deep into your work. Stick to a consistent schedule and adopt some productive writing habits to enrich your story for the readers. Schedule some time to write and pin it to your calendar so that you can get regular updates to start writing your book.

6. Try to finish your first draft as quick a time as possible. While finishing your first draft you may encounter self-doubt, lack of motivation and writer’s block which is pretty normal. But make sure you do complete your first draft because it will be quite fruitful for your book.

7. After the first draft has been written, it’s now time to revise and edit it. Strike out parts of the story that you feel do not link up. If you still have any doubts, consult your family and friends and ask them to help you revise and edit the inconsistencies in the story.

8. After the first draft has been completely revised and edited, you can now get to writing the second draft. In this draft, the inconsistencies from the first draft are not used and a more refined version of the story comes to the surface. But, it is still not finished and needs more revisions.

9. The second draft will undergo more revisions and then finally the editors and the publishing houses will take the manuscript for publishing. An author can choose where he/she wants to get the book published such as Kindle, paperback or hardback. With many online marketplace options at the dispense of the author, he/she can give it anywhere for publishing and get handsome royalties once the book reaches the bestseller list.

So, this is how a book gets published and comes to us readers in different forms. Writing a book takes time but the eventual result is very satisfying. So, to all the new authors out there, do give these tips a read and we are sure that you will adopt some of these when writing your next short story or novel.