New Authors Need to Know That It Takes Time to Grow As An Author
Like all things, good things take time to happen
As the publishing industry changes and more new authors emerge, we also see some of these new authors disappear quickly.
At the beginning of a new author's career, everything is so wonderful, exciting, and new.
With the promise of having readers at all on the horizon, these new authors can be caught off guard when their careers don’t suddenly take off. Because not many people are out there spreading the word about how long it takes to build a successful career as an author. And this is why we see so many new authors disappear off the reader's radar.
So now the question is, what should every new author know at the beginning of their career?
Build Your Platform
This is the most important step of it all.
If you aren’t out there making sure people have ways to find you, they never will. Because creating this platform is going to ensure that readers can find you when they need to and find you organically.
Every author's platform is made of two components.
Authors Website: The place where readers can find all of your works in one place, your appearances, merchandise, and more.
Social Media: These are the places where readers are already. And when you post there and grow your following, you build awareness of your author's brand.
Building this platform at the very beginning of your career and continuing to update it will only help you in the long run.
Create a Plan
Take the time to create a plan for your book and a timeline for your whole publishing process.
Start from when you first start writing your book, to when test readers receive your content, and all the way until after the book is published. Because when you lay out the process this way, you provide a map that allows you to adjust ahead and plan accordingly. This also increases your chances of a successful book launch.
For more see Creating a Process Removes the Uncertainty of Self Publishing.
Research the Industry
As tedious as this sounds, researching the industry you are entering is only going to benefit you.
Even seasoned authors are always taking the opportunity to learn more about the industry despite their years of business. Because the market and the industry are always evolving and changing. And it has drastically changed in the past ten years with the addition and improvements in the self-publishing side of the industry.
Great places to learn more about the publishing industry are Writers Digest, here on Medium, and the news.
Make Friends
Making friends in the publishing industry is one of the best things you can do for yourself.
Meeting writers, editors, and reviewers on social media is not only going to teach you things about the industry but help you further your career. Writers will teach you about the business side of things. Editors will teach you how to write better. And once you build a relationship with reviewers, you can count on them to help review your books in the future.
And be sure to give back as much as you receive from these people.
Help promote others as well. This can be done by sharing their posts on social media or telling others readers about them. Doing so will provide a good show of faith.
In addition to everything that has already been said, the most important aspect to remember is not to give up.
For readers to take a chance on new writers takes time.
Many writers/ authors don’t start to see a steady reader following until they have 3 to 6 books under their name. Why is this? This is because readers begin to see a body of work, which means they can expect more from you.
When you take the time to build your body of work, the readers will begin to show up and eventually they return.
What new authors need to remember is that even though the timeline for this to happen feels long, it's well worth the wait. And if you can manage to continue to build, know that readers will tell you how much they appreciate it in the form of sales and reviews.
Remember all good things take time. Stick to it and it will happen.