What is involved in writing a book? That is a loaded question. There are so many things involved in getting a book written, not the least of these being writing. Why do you want to write a book? Maybe you have a story or experience that you want to share? You just want to be famous and see your name in print? You like to read? Any of these reasons will work as long as they get you serious about it. That is probably the first key to writing books--get serious.
Writing books takes a lot of time and energy not to mention a little bit of talent. What if you put in all that work to find out no one wants to publish it? First, it would be important to find out why they don't want to publish it. If it was really bad then you might want to do some revision and editing or have it critiqued to found out what doesn't work. If they liked it but just aren't accepting any manuscripts or stories right now or they have enough of the genre you wrote in then you have 3 choices to consider.
- You can keep sending the book to publisher, after publisher until someone accepts it.
- You can put it on the shelf to be brought out later and move on to another book.
- You can get it self-published.
I guess there is a fourth option, the garbage, but that is so hard to do to the baby you spent so much time on. If anything, use it for scrap paper. Some self-publishing companies will help you every step of the way--from editorial review to printing and distributing.
You can even write reviews of other books and fun editorials if you don't want to put all your effort into a long book. You can write e-books and other short stories and articles too. Sometimes if you do this and get published you will accomplish two things:
- Get confidence in your ability to write and sell your writing
- Get your name out there and have published proof of your skills
Remember, the more you write the better writer you become. Write anything and let your book come when it is ready-ready for you to write it, ready for a publisher to accept it and ready for us to read it!