For those who dream to become an ambitious and promising author – hear us now that it’s not difficult at all. However, writing is. Therefore, if you put in the efforts and work – no matter how little it is, the hard work will eventually pay off. Eventually, it will sprout into something potentially profitable and professional. You can be a writer easily because how hard can it be? Write a piece on a topic and you’re a writer. However, there are few steps to follow if you want to pursue a career. To become a legitimate author, it’s not as difficult as it sounds! Here is our easy method and questions on how to become an author in 2020.
What Education is Necessary to Become an Author?
A bachelor’s degree is needed if you want to become a writer or an author because English skills need to be professional and polished.
Moreover, a Degree in English Literature and Journalism might be considered requirement by many people too.
But, if you’re good in English and have a good grip on grammar and sentence structure, then no official degree is required. Just go for it!
Here are the few steps you can take to chase your dream of becoming a aspiring writer.
Test Your Writing Skills
Before taking the big step, go for the small approach. You should be very much aware of the way you write, how you handle the words and ideas in your mind. See how they turn out when you note them down.
- Be creative. Your ideas must be outstanding and have quality. Your creativity will lead you to unravel the hidden abilities of your imagination.
- You must have a good grip on grammar and sentence structure. A true author is well aware of the strategy to melt the hearts of readers by their beautiful writing.
- Research and communication skills are as important as they come.
- Go beyond the norms. Look for everything that can make your writing worth the effort.
You should be aware of the genres you can write on. Whether hey are fictional or non-fictional. Genres might include fantasy, action, horror, detective and crime, reality etc. The point is, in any category, the ground work should be done. You should start by;
- Writing short stories or paragraphs.
- Reading about your desired category of writing from other authors.
- Acquiring skills from small platforms like Wattpad, Archive of your own (Ao3), Inkitt is important. These help writers publish their works and build a base.
Publish Short Written Works or Stories
By doing this, you will learn to get a grip on your writing style, time and plots. Moreover, it will give you an opportunity to have a glimpse of the vast ocean of writing. Furthermore, it will help you understand how you can use your abilities to move forward to the next step.
Also, you can write a sample too. If you’re going to a publisher, they would need authenticity and proof. Resultantly, this will be a plus if the publisher sees that you are capable of writing and publishing something.
Writing Your First Book
Now this here is the big step. Writing a book requires skills and capabilities. So, now you’ve reached here, only a little effort is needed to have your dream of being an aspiring author come true.
Just make sure to give your readers a magical ride through your writing abilities. For that, keep in mind a few things listed below.
Plot and Genre of the Book
Plot and Genre of the books you’re writing is what will define everything. The stronger these two aspects are, the more readers the book will attract.
A plot can be light or dark, filled with a soft setting or a dangerous setting. Either way, it should be strong. Moreover, it must gain their interest.
Also, choose the popular genres to write. The stories based on them will be high in demand and pleasing to read.
What are the Popular Genre of the Book?
The most popular genres, according to the demands of readers are; Action and Adventure, Drama, Classic, Thriller and Mystery, Comic Book and Novels, Romance and Teen Fiction.
According to Statistics, following are the genres that make the most money.
- Romance: $1.44 billion
- Mystery/Crime: $728.2 million
- Inspirational/Religious: $720 million
- Sci-Fi/Fantasy: $590.2 million
- Horror: $79.6 million
The reader will always read the short and comprehensive description of the book written by any author. Therefore, the description should be short. But, it must reflect the power and intensity of the entire book so that the reader is intrigued to read it.
Publishing You Work
Probably the only and slightly complicated part of the whole ‘how to become an author’ process is to find a trustworthy publishing agency. If the book is based on the highly demanded genre or topic, you’ll have more and more chances of getting your book published.
Types of Publishing: Traditional Publishing and Self Publishing.
Traditional Publishing is through an agency that will provide the contract to you once you approach them. They will have the right to publish or sell the book after paying you for it. Though in traditional publishing, you only get to keep 10-15% of the profit.
Self-Publishing, however, will give you all right to publish your book on your own and on your own expense. Moreover, you will be in charge of everything once it’s published and distributed. Additionally, another positive point of self publishing is that you get to keep 50-60% of the royalties.
What is the Income of a Published Author?
The income of an author is based on a few things.
- Success of Book.
- Number of copies sold.
- Number of Books an author published.
The starting salary of the published authors is from $1000-$10,000. According to the U.S Bureau Of Labor Statistics. Average salary of authors and writers that have few books published with a successful audience response is $61,340.
How to Keep the Success Going?
If you are successful in publishing one book and have gained a respectable audience and publishers, don’t stop writing. That’s the only way to become a successful and renowned author. Keep the business going!
Moreover, you can start a series of a book. Make a trilogy or go for more than three. Furthermore, you can create a universe with imagination and fantasy with the help of your characters and powerful plot lines. In addition to this, you can write sequels or additional plot lines, or alternative perspective pieces about the same book too.
Don’t stop writing and save this charm from fading! Once an author, always an author!
What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though.
J. D Salinger