It’s hard to admit you’ve made mistakes. However, admitting
your mistakes, at least to yourself, is the necessary first step you must take to learn from them. We all had moments
where we wish we had someone to mentor us at the start of our writing careers.
Wouldn’t life be easier and less stressful if we could learn from someone else’s
mistakes? Well, here’s your chance to learn a thing or two from someone who’s
made a few mistakes over her eight-year writing career. Below are some mistakes
I’ve made that, hopefully, you’ll never make yourself. And here is a list of 4 MORE mistakes I've made in my writing career that you can learn from.
Failing to acquire the proper editing
I’ve actually paid a couple hundred dollars to have one of my earlier books edited. When all was said and done, it turned out I got a critique of my book instead of an actual line edit that I thought I was paying for.
My Mistake: Not understanding and verifying what type of
“editing” I was paying for.
The Lesson: Make sure you understand the exact service the
editor will provide and agree to those services before paying a cent.
Waiting too long to revise a published manuscript
I’ve self-published a book (or two) at the start of my
writing career that, looking back, I realized needed a hefty dose of revision.
And being a better writer today than I was eight years ago helps in identifying
poor writing.
My Mistake: I didn’t revise and republish the book sooner.
If I tried to revise the story now, it will take time away from my recent
projects and delay the completion of future projects. I’d still be stuck in the
past!
The Lesson: If you have a project (book, article, poem,
etc.) that is published (i.e. self-published, published to a blog or other
website) that’s in need of a revision, do it now or soon. Starting more
projects before finishing current responsibilities will keep you from ever revising,
or can make it more difficult to go back and revise in the future.
Writing several stories at once
Writers have so many ideas, don’t we? Can’t wait to write
them down and start working on some. We get used to having several Word
documents opened at the same time, or a different one opened every other day.
How did I manage to finish anything if I was working on everything at once?
My Mistake: I’ve had too much going on to focus on anything.
And worse, it was hard to keep up with the many characters and plotlines. I
ended up scrapping some of the stories and never finishing others, and looking
back made me realize that time could have been used much more productively.
The Lesson: Like the lesson above, stick to one project
until it’s complete. At the very least, stick with just a couple of your very
important projects (i.e. projects with fast approaching deadlines) to make sure
you stay focus.
Not marketing my work
I used to think that if you write a book, readers would
come. That’s kind of funny now that I think about it. No, not really. That’s
sad. How would anyone ever know about my book if I never let people know it
exists?
My Mistake: I told a couple of my friends and family about
the book I was so proud of, I made a website and added the cover and back copy description,
and then I sat back and waited. Watching as I sold 4 copies this month and 8
copies the next.
The Lesson: If you want readers and sales you have to make
your book known to more than your close group of friends. You can’t only rely
on word of mouth advertising anymore. You have to get out there and participate
in some online activities, make some friends, join a group or too, be a guess
blogger, connect with your target audience, make a presence, etc. Here are some
Simple Online Book Marketing Tips you
can refer to.
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