Have You Thought About Writing a Book?

Discussion in 'Reading & Writing' started by Ruth Belena, Jan 28, 2015.

  1. John Stone

    John Stone Veteran Member
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    I've got ideas for several books percolating. I'm think the e-book approach would be perfect for them. The only problem I've run into is they all require specific formatting for their e-readers. It would be a lot easier if you could just put stuff into a Word doc and upload it to Amazon, etc.
     
    #16
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  2. Helene Lawson

    Helene Lawson Veteran Member
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    I have experienced a lot in my life, and I would love to write a book like a guide for people to really be happy of their lifes because time dashes really fastly.
     
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  3. Ruth Belena

    Ruth Belena Veteran Member
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    I think you should do it. Self help guides can be big sellers and a lot of people want to know the secret to a happy life.
     
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  4. Helene Lawson

    Helene Lawson Veteran Member
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    I guess you're right, but I can't really motivate myself to start writing for people, but yeah I will take that under consideration
    and maybe I'd give it a go. Perhaps my book would become a big seller you never know, haha. :D
     
    #19
  5. Teresita Campaner

    Teresita Campaner Veteran Member
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    I would like to try my luck on eBook writing. I believe its potential of making money and what's more, once the book is published, you don't have to spend any more hours creating or writing but wait for your earnings or royalties on each book sold.
     
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  6. Michelle Stevens

    Michelle Stevens Veteran Member
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    @Teresita Campaner - I wish it was that easy. It may not be necessary to go on writing, but you would probably need to do a fair amount of marketing if you wanted your book to earn a substantial amount of money. I'm almost more afraid of that part than I am of writing the book.
     
    #21
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  7. Teresita Campaner

    Teresita Campaner Veteran Member
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    I'm willing to try and roll with the hurdles of writing and marketing an eBook. It is better to try and fail than fail outright because you did not try.
     
    #22
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  8. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    I've never wanted to write a book. I've tried to write short stories, did write two or three, but they're nothing to write home about. Never tried or wanted to publish. Good writing takes talent and hard work, and I'm short on talent and since retirement, gave up on hard work.
     
    #23
    Last edited: May 14, 2015
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  9. Hannah Davis

    Hannah Davis Veteran Member
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    I have actually written a few books. I have actually published them out on Amazon. Just don't ask me how they are doing monetary wise. That's right I haven't been able to sell too many of them so far. I say so far because I am not giving up on them. I have always wanted to be writer since I was a teenager. I have been writing for years now, maybe these books will never take off, but for me this is more about my love of writhing then making huge money from it. I think that's the key right there, love what you do and I love writing so I will never stop no matter what.
     
    #24
  10. John Donovan

    John Donovan Veteran Member
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    I've tried many times to write a book, and I even had a few chapters of a book done once, until I decided to scrap it because I thought it wouldn't interest anyone to read a book about whatever stupid tales my mind comes up with. Every now and then I'll try to write again, but it won't be long until I'll give up.
     
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  11. Avigail David

    Avigail David Veteran Member
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    Historical fiction. Crime and thriller on justice and law like that of John Grisham's fiction novels. Action and adventure primary children's books. It's very nice to dream about writing science fiction, too.
     
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  12. Tom Locke

    Tom Locke Veteran Member
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    I had a (factual) book published in March and (drumroll) have my first novel in the hands of a publisher right now. They are doing something with it...copy-editing at the moment, I think.
     
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  13. Avigail David

    Avigail David Veteran Member
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    Wow! Congratulations @Tom Locke ! Perhaps, you could link to us your books? And post about your experiences with publishing? It's a great interest to many here, especially, to me. :)
     
    #28
  14. Tom Locke

    Tom Locke Veteran Member
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    Ken kindly allowed me to post this an another thread, so I hope it's okay to do so again. My published book is here:
    http://www.amazon.com/Life-Sauna-Tom-Locke/dp/1785072811
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Sauna-...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429444392&sr=1-1

    It's called Life in the Sauna and it's about the two years I spent working as a volunteer in Eritrea. I worked as an IT Advisor in a petroleum refinery.

    As I mentioned, my novel is in production and should be published in the next few months. It's a mix of social observation and humour and my main character - antihero rather than hero - is based on a boss I used to have. He was such an egomaniac, fantasist and philistine that parodying him was really easy.
     
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  15. Tom Locke

    Tom Locke Veteran Member
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    Hmm, where to start with that one. If I went into everything, this would be the longest post in the history of the forum. There are so many publishers out there and it really depends on so many things. You can target individual publishers or use a bombardment method. There are many writers' resources out there on the internet and various publications - in the UK, we have the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook that provides a comprehensive list of publishers, agents, magazines and what they specialise in. Presumably there is something similar in the US and other countries.

    Self-publishing is getting bigger as well. This doesn't have to be vanity publishing and need not be expensive. A lot of traditional publishers have a self-publishing arm and that was how I published my first book. In fact, the one I used call it 'assisted publishing' and it's not a bad way to go about things. You can spend months and even years trying to get something published, because a lot of publishers only want big names or 'celebrity' (ghost-written) autobiographies.

    I got lucky with my novel. I found a publisher that had an 'open submissions' window and sent my manuscript. Fortunately, they liked it and offered to publish.

    In short, there are many ways to skin this particular cat.
     
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