What Writers Should be Doing Today

You can't worry over what may or may not happen, the important thing to do right now is write and market. Even though you may be unpublished or published with few sales you have to share your work with readers. It is very important to write articles, blogs, or anything that will allow readers to read your work. Building an audience via social media specifically and the worldwide web in general is the best and least expensive way to market your writing.

If you are worried about piracy, as I've told many that attend my presentations, the bigger concern should be obscurity. You do not need to copyright everything and you certainly do not need to concern yourself with someone stealing something you have written. Like myself, I'm the author of this piece and have stated that "all written material is Copyright 2010 Jerry D. Simmons." If you add the universal copyright symbol "©" with your name and year you should be protected, as far as this protection allows. No one is completely protected from piracy even with a certified copyright from the US government.

Once the gates of acquisition again swing wide open, publishers will be searching for more quality content than ever before. However, the key will be how much content and how well written and edited. As the industry reinvents itself the single most important thing for writers is to create content. Work with a professional editor to refine, revise and rewrite your work making it the best it can possibly be. Then market yourself and your writing to as many web sites as possible. Place yourself in a position when the call finally comes that you are ready and have a lot of material to be published.

We will see a transformation and those that prepare will benefit the most.

By Jerry D. Simmons
www.WritersReaders.com
Your Source for Information About Book Publishing

Edit before submission

As a professional reviewer I find that many books crossing my desk are in need of editing for simple errors such as word choice, verb tense, verb subject agreement, spelling, and punctuation.

When writing a story, the author is too close to the piece to notice errors in the manuscript. A second pair of eyes is always good to check for any possible error such as writing about something in a time period when the item mentioned hadn’t been invented yet. Facts need to be precise.

When the author receives their copy of a book, they should look at the formatting closely. Review copies I have received have had many formatting error is spacing, possible typos, and more. Any formatting errors should be brought to the attention of the printing house and corrected.

Errors in books by new authors reflect on the author and not the printer. With more authors opting for self publishing this becomes more of a problem. Nothing yells amateur and self published as do errors because the author didn’t have someone edit the manuscript or check the book for any errors before the book goes on sale.
We all know that you only get one chance to make a first impression. What do you want that impression to say; accomplished or amateur? It is up to the author to create a quality manuscript and a quality book for the reader to experience.

Ultimately, the book is the author’s responsibility. Many publishing houses no longer have editors, proofreaders, and people double checking as in years past.

In today’s book publishing industry the author is also responsible for marketing their book. Do you want to market something to be proud of or just something with your name on it?

Be sure that all of your writing is the best you can make it and edit it before it is submitted for publication. Your readers will appreciate the added effort.