Writing and Publishing Advice

by Annette Young

There’s a great deal of advice available when it comes to writing and publishing but too much advice can equate to confusion.  I’m often asked the question as to whether writers should just write for their personal pleasure as inspiration strikes or write with a dedicated audience and marketplace in mind. There’s concern that you can’t just have unrestricted creativity if you are also planning ahead and trying to fit into a specific genre.  Let’s cut to the chase and smooth away any confusion.

If you wish to be creative for the sheer pleasure of it, you can write absolutely anything. Creativity means giving your imagination complete freedom and letting the words just pour from you. There’s no concern about word count or writing for a dedicated readership, it’s just about you and the whole creative process.

If however, you have every intention of having your work published and for others to be able to read your stories or book, then it pays to do a little research. Who are your intended readers? What publication would you like to write for? If a book, which genre? How can you make your book stand out?

Paying attention to these aspects will not detract from your creativity, if anything, it will strengthen it. You will have purpose and clear intent and couple that with creativity, you can write with conviction. If you are only writing for the sheer pleasure of it, write what you want, when you want. There’s no rules saying that you have to have your work published.

Write in an informed way and you are one step ahead. I call it writing smart. Creativity still bursts forth but, there’s now a defined niche in mind. It makes perfect sense to do a little market research so that you know who you are writing for. After all, your words are precious and you’ve added a little bit of heart and soul into your writing so why not let the world see your creative expression?

Sometimes, a story has to be written irrespective of the outcome and then, you are doing what is right for you at that time. It may be successful, it may not and you may decide that publishing and marketing needs to take second place on this occasion. It’s your call.

So the questions you need to consider are…..do you want to write a book but are not overly worried if it becomes published or even sells? Or, do you want to write and publish a book and really want it to be successful?

If the latter, then, invest all your enthusiasm and passion in the story creation but, do your homework too. Find out if that market  niche even exists, are there enough readers out there to buy your book and what’s the best way to build up a dedicated readership? All of the these aspects need to be considered as early as possible.

Planning and creativity can go hand in hand. Creativity should always take precedence, after all, that story is your creation, it’s important but, making sure that there is enough people interested makes sense. Find out what other books are published in your niche and then go from there. Give your words a fighting chance.