Ten Top Tips For Inexperienced Book Authors

1) Consider self or independent publishing. This is because the market is so saturated with books currently; it can be very hard to get the attention of a commercial literary agent or publisher. They have literally turned away from the slush pile lately.
2) Get your book edited by one or two writing professionals. Make sure it’s proofread. It doesn’t have to be 100% mistake free, but aiming for that is a prerequisite for the job. Ghost writers and editors are a good source for book editing projects.
3) Save your money up in order to hire someone or several such someones to assist you. You will need some in order to independent publish, in order to hire a proper copy editor and/or proofreader, and in order to market your book professionally, too.
4) Prioritize your financial, time and travel needs. In order to market your book, you will need to do book signings, radio podcasts, possibly a national tour, etc. Put your affairs in order and realize that being an author can be a full-time job. It requires a lot of devotion and respect.
5) When you write, try rattling off your writing at first to get a feel for what you’re trying to accomplish, then analyze it yourself to see what you think about it really needs improving. Then, either improve it yourself or hire a professional to do it for you.
6) Don’t over-read your stuff, start on too many projects all at one time, or overcompensate for bad ideas through overly good writing. Instead, write your heart out about some subjects with which you’re very familiar or knowledgeable, and give your audience your experience, wisdom and expertise. Become knowledgeable in something popular if you don’t think you have anything else available – try to figure out what people seem to want to read.
7) Make sure you have a market for your work. It helps to Google keywords (such as, say, “Native Americans Texas” if that’s your subject area) and see if they related to popular subject areas. There are a lot of new fiction genres such as steampunk, chic lit, cozy murder mysteries (cozies), urban fantasy, post-Apocalyptic, etc. that people are reading lately. You can also try writing fan fiction about something you really like, and display your work. There are scouts who patrol the Internet looking for new talent – you might luck out here.
8) Take one good idea and carry it out into a series of books. This is a possible way to get a literary agent’s attentions, but it comes after you have one published book. You will have to get it commercially published in order to get any further attention. If you get that first one “out there” in the commercial seas, there’s a good chance you can get there with the other ones.
9) Spend a lot of Internet time researching your book markets, and lay out a plan of “attack” on your potential readership. This is best done through amassing a book proposal, which contains a synopsis, chapter by chapter outline, and two sample chapters, primarily. You can also add in a book market research report, and data on similar competing books. Hiring a professional to write your book proposal is a very good idea.
10) Give up on all expectations, and undertake the adventure. Don’t worry about becoming the next best-selling author; worry about your audience instead, and do your best to aim for it in ways that make sense to you. Plug away, plug away, and research a lot of the information available to you on the Internet, at writer’s conferences, in magazines, whatever you can find.