• By Aline Heller
• Published 01/25/2012
• Writing

Anybody can write a book. Writing a book is something you can do absolutely on your own without having to get other people’s approval. No one can stop you from collecting all of your high school written compositions, binding them together and calling it your book. However, if your goal is to write a good book, then there’s only one key ingredient-work. Good books were not magically produced by its authors. One thing’s for sure; it required a lot of effort and perseverance. If what you really want is to get a book of yours published, then you have to do some research. There are online sites that specialize on publishing. You might want to try Writers-market. Websites such as these provide instructions on how to submit material to them. The problem is a lot of aspiring writers do not abide by the publishers’ instructions. Publishers encounter a tremendous amount of books each day. To save time, they are by necessity very selective with the materials that they handle. You have to put in effort to learn their requirements and policies. Not only do you need to research the idea for your book, you also need to know how to make a convincing proposal to your target publisher.

People think that authors encounter a lot of rejection from publishers. What is even truer, actually, is that a lot of aspiring authors take themselves out of the publishing process simply by not researching and abiding by the publisher’s guidelines. If they are not willing to put i

n the effort to meet a publisher’s requirements, then it is highly doubtful they would have the discipline to complete a whole book. In today’s digital world, it is very easy for aspiring writers to self-publish. We totally have the tools to do that, but, of course, making use of the computerized tools at our disposal would also take effort. If the real reason you want to write a book and have it published is because you have dreams of becoming rich and famous, then, what you need is a reality check. It is true that J.K. Rowling achieved fame and wealth through her books, but, in general, writing is not considered a well-paying occupation. If you calculate the amount of time inputted by authors into writing their books, versus the income derived from the sale of their books, you would usually come up with a pay rate that is much less than an average office job. Being self-employed, they also do not have health benefits and paid leaves.

Nowadays, it is more common for people to write books after they have become famous, rather than the other way around, that is, to write books as their pathway to fame. If you want to write a book, you need to have more motivation than just earning money. If you must write a book, then, let it be because you love to write, and you love to share the ideas that you have in your mind with other people. Usually, the people who love to write books are the same people who are passionately in love with reading books, as well. If you’ve looked into yourself and have found this passion within you, then, go ahead and start writing your book today.