Always Worth It

Writing a book can be hard. Some authors take years to finish their first draft, whilst others might take a few months. But it really doesn’t matter how long it takes you, for the end result is the only thing that counts. You might be a part-time writer with a full-time job doing something completely different; you may only want to write at weekends or evenings or when you can take a few days’ holiday from work. If you find yourself in this situation, always remember you can’t do everything - you’re human and even though you have that book eagerly needing to be released, it takes time, and patience, and dedication.

We writers often give ourselves a hard time. We worry about deadlines and perfection, then about marketing and promotion. And when we finally get our heads around all that, we start to worry about reviews and what our readers think and if the long-awaited novel we’ve been so excited to launch will perhaps become a bestseller, and maybe, even, get into the popular book clubs and high-end publications before it’s scooped up and made into a film. Of course, before any of this could even be a twinkle in the public’s eye, every author has to spend copious amounts of time plugging their book, which mostly consists of social media interaction these days. It can be a laborious task, and often one that can resemble wading through treacle. But what you have to tell yourself, every single time, is that it’s worth it.

You’ve given up so much of your precious time and created characters that only you have control over, and you’ve moulded them into people you feel are interesting, fascinating, perhaps good or evil. These people are a product of your hard work; to you, they are real. This is what you want your readers to feel, too - that those characters who have become a part of you, will soon become a part of them. You’ll want readers to relate to the people you have created, sympathise with them, loathe them or love them. When you’ve achieved that, you know you’ve written a page turner, and that your book will probably have a lasting effect .

It takes guts to write a book and put it out there. I remember when my first book was published and the nerves overwhelmed me, as I wondered if I’d done the right thing. Will they love it, will they hate it, will they read it, will they not… So many questions went through my head because I was entering into a world of the unknown. I didn’t class myself as an author back then; hell, I didn’t even class myself as a writer. I was just peddling along, hoping for the best, knowing how much work I’d put into that book and knowing how disappointed I’d be if it flopped. It didn’t, as it so happens, and I continued to peddle into my second book, then a third, fourth, fifth and sixth. And now, I help other authors get their work out there and I try to tell them how hard it is and how committed they need to be and how a thick skin is paramount if they want to succeed.

I’ve worked with some incredible authors over the years - am working with one right now - and I know how hard it is to crack on and remind yourself, ‘This is worth it.’ But if you can keep saying that, daily, then you really will believe it. Because take it from me, it is Always Worth It. You can find a lot more about the services I offer on the Editorial Services page on this website. Contact me anytime!