How to Get from Thought to Book Publishing: 3 Easy Steps

Making that transition from a mere idea or manuscript to a published hard-copy can be a very exciting and rewarding activity for every writer. The smell of the first set of printed copies can be dizzying, and the adrenaline that comes with the thought that your book will get into the hands of people you have never met, and travel to places you have never been to, is a solemn rite of passage in the life of many authors.

Now, these descriptions may have sparked your interest in publishing a book. This article will guide you on how to move from thinking about publishing a book to having your book published.

1. Have an Idea

The first thing to consider when you want to publish a book is what kind of book do you want to publish: fictional or non-fictional? If you settle for fiction, you need to know the kind of fictional narrative, the theme, characters, amongst others.

Some fictional book themes you can consider are:

1. Love
2. Death
3. Lust
4. Marriage
5. War

2. Have a plan

After settling for an idea, you need to also have a plan on how to carry out the book project. Do you want to employ the service of a ghostwriter to help you write the book (if you don’t have enough time or skills to do it yourself) or do you want to write it yourself? If you decide to write it yourself, then you need to:

1. Have an outline of what you want to write
2. Do a free writing of the book
3. Develop the content of the book and
4. Edit the book thoroughly

3. Publish the book

After writing the book, what you need to do is to get the book published. You can decide take the self-publishing route or traditional publishing. For traditional publishing, the publishers are like investors, they publish (either print or online) and market the book for you while they get a commission from the book sales. If you decide to publish the book, then:

1. Decide on the type of book cover you want for the book (you can work with a graphics designer to get a perfect book cover design)
2. Decide on the medium you want to publish the book (online or print )
3. Market your book.

Also, don’t forget to be disciplined and have fun while working on getting your book published.