Humans always have a peculiar interest in certain things, they wish to do in their free time, which is titled as a hobby. The only way to relax from this exhausting life of ours, do something you love. When a hobby is taken seriously, a burning passion builds inside of us, which can fuel our way into the road to success. Writing is one of the most productive hobbies to have, widely loved, and highly respected.
For this hobby to be pursued as a career, it is very important to have a never-dying passion and dedication to it. The most beneficial method to have writing as a career is to become a novelist. Writing a novel can earn you thousands, even millions of dollars if you have the talent to do so.
Pursuing a career, from something you are passionate about tends to be tricky. Since you don’t have a direct job to settle down with. First, it is very important to have a good experience in writing. For beginners, writing even a short story can be infuriating. Don’t get disappointed if the story does not turn to be the way you want it to be. Change your hobby into a habit, this way you simply don’t write as a way to relax, but as a way to practice your writing for future purposes.
Though you can improve your writing with experience, you can also complete a formal degree, preferably a bachelor’s degree in English. It gives you an idea to develop your writing skills. You should know how to put words together in perfection. Capturing emotions, creating captivating characters, plots that enthrall the audience are the key factors in creating an unforgettable story. It takes a long journey, filled with experiences of success and failures, motivation, and discipline to reach the destined place of your dream. Here is a guideline on how to achieve it.
Make it a habit:
The foremost step in this journey is to master your skill of writing. This can only be achieved by practice, there are no shortcuts.
Read, a lot.
Be imaginative and experiment.
Have something or someone to spark your creativity.
Gather information and get opinions.
Be unique, people crave for a difference.
Turn writing your habit. Write every day. To be sure on whether your writing has an improvement or not, post it online. There are so many websites concerning this. You can compare and evaluate yourself or ask for opinions from others. Learn to accept criticism, critics will always surround you. It might be hard in the beginning but train yourself to only take the good things and to ignore the rest.
Publishing your work:
Start it slow, publish short stories, then step up the game. You do not have to step straight into taking risks of publishing an entire novel. Reason being the fact that completing it might a while if you want it done perfectly. To get your book published there are two methods:
Self-publishing
Traditional publishing
Since this is your first-ever try, opting for the self-publishing method is a better option because when you go to a publishing company there is a chance for your work to get delayed or put on hold. Getting your work published on your first try is nearly unachievable. When you do it by yourself it is profitable as you take complete responsibility. Here comes a problem, either way, you have to spend a lot of money. It is essential to have a job that can help you financially until you establish yourself as a writer. If you have a person who supports you financially you can relax at this stage. But never forget to repay the gratitude to the person, they have helped you arise as an author.
Self-publishing method:
This method takes you a few months to get your book published. Numerous websites and publishing app will help you in this, if you are publishing in apps like amazon kindle, you need not pay anything as it is cost-free. But the other way might cost you around $2000 to $5000, depending on both the quantity and the quality of your words.
All the editing expenses sum up to a cost between $700 to $1000. If you have already gone through it, you may pay less. But if you have roughly drafted your work, you have to pay more than $900.
Creating the cover design costs around $500 to $1500. The more experienced the designer is the higher the cost. This is a crucial step in publishing. Although the quote “Do not judge a book by its cover” is embedded in our mind, we always fail to do so. Thus make sure your book has quite an attractive cover to capture the audience’s attention.
The interior formatting costs $300 to $500.
Since you are settling down with novel writing as your career, it is essential to spread your writing for a more profitable cause. Marketing agencies will lend you hand in helping you up. This costs the least out of this entire process, $50 to $300.
You are entirely responsible for paying all the expenses in the beginning but you are also the one to get every single dollar of the profit made.
Traditional publishing method:
This method will take you a solid time of two years to complete.
The expenses are entirely dealt with by the publishing company. A proposal or a query should be sent to them along with your work. The company will verify your work and decide whether or not to accept the deal.
If yes, they will give you an advanced sum of money and complete the procedure including editing, designing the cover, formatting, and marketing it after publishing. Various changes will be made and you get 10% to 12% of the profit made.
If no, do not give up, keep trying. J.K Rowling, the best-selling author, who is the only author to have become a billionaire was rejected many times. She has been through a rough past but never lost her motive for writing under any circumstances. Be motivated and keep trying.
Weighing both of these methods precisely, to choose a better option is challenging. Self-publishing might seem better to a few because in this fast-paced world getting the work done within a snap of our fingers is the most reasonable option. And the entire profit is yours. But to look on the other side, the traditional method creates a lasting identity for you. All the well know authors rose to pride and popularity by this method.
Then again the choice is yours.
Writing has been in the blood of humans since ancient times but for a few the need to write crawls its way through the veins, breaking all the barriers, fighting into the skin, residing as remains in the fingers. It is up to the person whether or not to fill its need to be converted into words and bless all the rest with blissful words of satisfaction.
The writers of the past left us remains of their life in words and we should carry on the tradition so the future generation has a book to rely on. Turning your hobby into a career for a lifetime is a true blessing, to live your life filled with joy and happiness. Have an adventurous journey!
