10-Step Plan To Become The Published Author Of A Book

How to get published?  That’s the big money question for writers. Writing is fulfilling in and of itself, but almost every writer of a book ultimately wants to learn how to write and publish a book.

A lot of writers think becoming the published author of a book is a matter of luck.  Or it’s a matter of knowing the right person. Or it’s a matter of simply being born a brilliant writer.

Although all of the above can help you get published, you don’t need any of these things, because you can learn how to write a book and get published if you have even basic writing skills.

How To Become The Published Author Of A Book

When you follow this writers’ success plan for becoming the published author of a book, you’ll no longer wonder how to get published. You’ll BE published!

1. Create a successful writer’s mindset

To have a successful writer’s mindset, you must know where you want to go with your writing. Just having a goal of becoming the published author of a book isn’t enough.

You must have a laser-focused intention of what you want to create. You can use visualization to keep that intention at the forefront of your mind. You should also take an inventory of your beliefs about writing.

Any negative beliefs about becoming a successful writer will get in the way of your publishing success. So turn those negative beliefs on their head and transform them into positive beliefs that will serve you.

Once you have your intention, you can nurture it with visualization and positive beliefs until you’ve established a success mindset that will take you closer to becoming the published author of a book.

2. Develop the habit of journaling regularly

Diary writing or journal writing isn’t just for memoir writers. Every serious writer should try to keep a journal.  Good writers are good observers and journaling is a tool that will improve your ability to notice events and your feelings around them.

Journaling will also help you mine your emotions and thoughts.  Writing is revealing.  If you don’t understand yourself, your writing will seem flat and uninteresting.

Get to know yourself better, build your own self-awareness, and you’ll create a goldmine of emotion and thought that will make your writing rich. Creating rich prose is one of the requirements for getting published by a traditional publishing house.

3. Practice writing daily

The other way to improve your writing daily is by starting a daily practice to build your writing muscles and improve your skills.

Writing is like playing a musical instrument.  You must practice in order to improve. All successful writers and famous authors write daily.

The easiest writing practice to do is timed writing. Choose a length of time (at least 5 minutes; more is better).  Set a timer and just write. The only rule to timed writings is to not stop for any reason.

If you can’t think of anything to say, write, “I can’t think of anything to say.” But KEEP WRITING! The flow of words will spark your creative process.

4. Write to your strengths

Every writer has specific strengths and weaknesses. You must understand your strengths and weaknesses, and write to your strengths.

For example, having trained as a journalist, my style is spare and direct. I’ve written a science-fiction novella, but writing romance novels or literary fiction is not my strength.

When you know yourself as a writer, you can choose the projects with which you can have the greatest success. So, discover what you do well as a writer and don’t focus on what you don’t do well.

If you find that you need help with some aspects of writing, such as dialogues or character development, you can work with a book writing coach to help you improve your writing skills.

5. Write with feeling

Writing is all about emotion. If your writing lacks emotion, it will be flat and uninteresting. You must be aware of your own feelings about what you’re writing.

You must also know what sort of feeling you want to evoke in your reader and keep these emotions in mind as the writer of the book you dream of writing.

6. Add just the right details

Detail is essential to great writing, but too much detail can bury good writing under a layer of distraction that makes your prose dull and uninteresting.

Also, keep in mind that your reader’s attention spans have decreased significantly and most readers today want writers to get to the point.

When you learn to create the perfect balance of details – just enough, but not too much – you will become a successful writer of the book that gets published easily.

You must choose the details you want to focus on carefully, knowing what it is you want your reader to focus on.  Make sure they take the story forward and then describe them well.

For example, in a scene with a man and a woman in a bar, you could focus on the details of the brawl going on behind them, or you could focus on the details of their fingertips touching.

If it’s an action story, you would choose the brawl. A romance story would be better focused on the fingertips.

Some writers try and describe everything in a scene in great detail. This just bogs down the writing and slows the pace of the story.

7. Mesmerize your reader

How do you mesmerize your reader? You can use Hypnotic Writing – a term coined by the author, Joe Vitale. It explains how a writer should write in a way that grabs and holds a reader’s attention.

If you want to be a successful book writer you must have the ability to mesmerize your reader. You can create hypnotic writing with the use of short phrases, the use of rhythm, and pacing.

You can also create it with perfect word choice and a constant awareness that your writing must be written for the reader. Understand that, as they read, your reader always has this question in mind – “What’s in this for me?”

When you write with that awareness, you can make word choices that will make your writing hypnotic and keep your readers glued to the page.

An expert book writing coach can also help you learn how to make your writing so compelling that your readers won’t be able to put it down.

8. Structure your writing time

Inspiration is an essential element of writing success and many writers fail for lack of inspiration. Procrastination and writer’s block are two common writing career killers.

You must be able to find the inspiration to start and finish your writing projects. You can overcome writer’s block and avoid procrastination by having your projects planned out.

Create a short-term and a long-term plan. List the projects you want to do this week, this month, and this year. Once you’ve created the list, get out your calendar and make a schedule for how you can complete your projects.

Like most creative people, I have a tendency to resist structure, but over the years I have found that structure can actually enhance creativity. If you’re willing to structure your writing time, it will help you find the inspiration you need.

9. Use online writing tools

Thanks to technological developments, writers can now use online writing software free to help them write a book. Of course, you can’t depend on the software alone to do it all for you.

However, these writing tools can help you come up with profitable book ideas, help you structure your book, clean up your grammar and prose, and even help you find the best ways to promote your book once you get published.

If you’re serious about improving your writing, ProWritingAid is the best writing software out there. They have a helpful demo page where you can try out their grammar and style suggestions before you sign up.

10. Know what literary agents are looking for

In order to get published by a traditional publishing house, you need to know what sort of books literary agents and acquisitions editors are looking for.

You can use book promotion software to research your market and target the genres of books that are more easily accepted by a traditional publishing house to improve your chances of getting published.

Getting book coaching and mentoring from an expert book consultant, who can offer one-to-one guidance and advice on getting published by a traditional publishing house, can significantly increase your chances of getting published.

This success plan for becoming a quality book writer is not a quick-fix publishing solution and won’t turn you into J.K. Rowling overnight.

But, if you diligently work these steps to writing a book and getting it published, you’ll achieve your goals of becoming the published author of a book and even a bestselling writer.

Book writing & publishing tips

• Learn how to write a book with free book writing classes
• Best creative writing Masterclasses by Masterclass authors
• How to learn creative writing skills and be a better writer
• Learn fantasy story writing with the best fantasy authors
• How to start writing a book for beginners
• How to curate content & filter information to sell more books
• How to write catchy book titles & compelling book content
• How to learn lucid dreaming for creativity & personal growth
• 7 questions on writing and publishing a book for beginners
• How to become a book writer without writing a book
• How to become a successful self-published author
• Amazon KDP publishing tips & checklist to self-publish on Kindle
• Branding for authors: How to start building an author platform