Tip 1: Be clear about your motivation and what you want to achieve from writing a book for publication. This will help you to stay on track and keep the momentum going for journey ahead.

Imagine for a moment that you have already achieved your writing dreams. You are enjoying the benefits of successful authorship, new opportunities have opened up in your life and creatively you feel fulfilled. You pause to look back on your journey so far from your current perspective of so much knowledge and experience of writing and the world of publishing.

What advice would you give to yourself today to make it simpler and more fun for you to experience that success?

Stop for 5 minutes now and imagine that scene in as much detail as you can. What images come to mind? How does success show itself to you? Really feel the depth of confidence that is a natural part of this level of experience.

Your recommendations would undoubtedly include the following:

1. Be clear about your motivation and what you want to achieve from writing a book for publication. Exploring your motivation at an early stage will set the right tone for your entire writing journey.

2. If you want to become a published author, prioritise a professional approach, high standards of excellence and action! Taking the whole business of writing a book for publication seriously will ensure that you have the best chances of success.

3. Be willing to learn from the best sources of inspiration and information available for would-be writers. Making sure that you are confident in the quality and reliability of your information will save you time, money and heartache in the long run.

4. Create a platform to reach your readers and know that this will help you to attract the attention of publishers. Underestimating the importance of your ‘platform’ is a mistake that many authors make, so begin your preparations for this stage now.

5. Be prepared to step out of your comfort zone when it comes to pitching and promoting your book. Knowing that there will be moments when you will almost certainly need to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ is part of the writing journey.

6. Give yourself the gift of qualified support to reach your goal of being published. Making the most of expert guidance alongside maintaining your independent spirit is the right combination for success.

7. Write a first-class book proposal or synopsis. Understanding the power of the most important tool in your writer’s tool kit can open the publishing door for you.

8. Celebrate your progress at each stage of your Writer’s Journey. Pausing to reflect along the way ensures that you remain true to your original sense of purpose and helps you to enjoy the journey.

9. Don’t compromise your authenticity or integrity just to get a publishing deal. Being flexible and open to discussion is certainly a good idea but watch out if you start to feel persuaded to stray too far from what deep inside you know is right for you.

10. Keep an open mind regarding the right way forwards for you and your book – good advice for writers on the path to publication! Finding the point of balance between being focused on your original intention and being open to discovering solutions that work for you will lead to the greatest rewards.

If you apply this Blueprint for Success, you will give yourself the best possible chance of completing and publishing your book in one form or another. This is the summary that I offer to you with the benefit of my experience of having worked with hundreds of authors and having successfully published hundreds of books over the last 20 years.

Let’s explore the very first piece of advice – Tip #1: Be clear about your motivation and what you want to achieve from writing a book for publication. The reason that I have put this before anything else is that it will affect many of the decisions you make regarding your approach to writing for publication.

So I highly recommend that you start here and don’t skip this step! Many writers are so impatient to find a publisher that they cut corners and miss out some of the crucial stages of preparation. Yet short cuts usually don’t result in long-term success. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, and certainly publishing is an extremely unpredictable business.

However, it is not a question of ‘one size fits all’. There are many different levels at which writers can enjoy success from writing for publication. Yet if you aren’t even clear about what success really means to you, how will you know when you have achieved it? Or worse, what if you arrive and realise that you’ve ended up at a destination that doesn’t actually deliver the results you are looking for?

INVITATION TO TAKE ACTION

Take some time out now to explore the question of what you are truly aiming for and why in as much detail as you can. Write your thoughts down in a journal that you set aside for your Writer’s Journey. You may well find that as the process unfolds you become clearer about what you really want. Feel free to refine your ideas as you go but make sure that at least you are starting from a place of relative clarity.

Here are a few questions to help you to begin thinking along the right lines:

* Are you aiming to launch a full-scale career as a published author? If so, what are you willing to do to make that a reality? What resources can you find to help you achieve that goal?

* How much value do you place on close working relationships, creative and independent thinking, and being closely involved in the publishing process? There are inevitably differences between the working methods of large and small publishers as well as independents compared to conglomerates so your experience as an author will vary according to what type of publisher you work with. If you choose to self-publish – a creative process in its own right which demands a fair degree of business acumen – your experience will yet again be different.

* Is it important to you to be published by a recognised name in the world of publishing – such as Penguin for example – to add extra credibility to your status as an expert in your field or genre?

By considering these questions now, you will be able to make informed choices as your writing journey unfolds. Also, when you meet the inevitable challenges along the way, your answers will provide you with a source of clarity, motivation and encouragement to find your way forwards towards your goal.

My final recommendation today is to understand that The Writer’s Journey Blueprint for Your Writing Success offers you a quality of experience to enhance not only your writing but also your life. Writing for publication can be an extraordinary vehicle for creative self-discovery and an opportunity to step up to the challenge of published authorship.

This is the InsideOut Success which enables you to enjoy the journey and arrive at the destination.

So expand your perception of what writing for publication is all about and let the journey begin!

Enjoy!