“I want to keep publishing books, and writing and spreading my heartsong through the world.”
—Mattie Stepanek
The entirety of publishing your first novel step-by-step is a bit lengthy, so I'll be splitting it up into three parts.
Part 1: Research, Planning, and Writing
Part 2: Self-Editing, Beta Readers, Getting a Professional Editor, and Choosing a Publishing Path
Part 3: Cover Design & Blurb, Formatting & Distribution, and Marketing & Promotion
Think of this as your roadmap to publishing and beyond.
Part 1
I believe in lifting others up so that we can grow together. That’s why I freely share my publishing journey so that others can flourish.
My writing journey began in high school with inspiration borne out of naiveté and an idea for a book that evolved as I wrote. I didn’t know where or how to publish. I didn’t even know where the book idea would take me.
One book turned into two and then eventually three. I edited these manuscripts off and on over the next fifteen years until finally, enough was enough. Last year, I got serious, sticking it out until the first two books in the series were ready for publishing—at least as ready as they’d ever be.
I spent countless hours researching how to edit, format, and publish. And while I’m far from a bestselling author, at least now I’ve reached my goal of being a published author.
1. It starts with a concept, and an idea develops.
My published book is drastically different from my initial concept. I sat down to write one story, and somehow this new world opened that I didn’t know existed until I began to write. I found a girl, Alaira Hughes, who discovered a world beyond our own, and slowly, bit by bit, that world began to take form.
In hindsight, I missed a step when I sat down to write: research. If you’re looking to traditionally publish, this step is crucial. You need to research market demand and write to genre accordingly. Find out what’s marketable to agents and what they’re accepting.
Even if you plan to self-publish, research is your friend. This will help you narrow down your genre if you’re on the fence. It’ll also help you change gears early on to avoid an unmarketable flop.
Unless you’re a celebrity or survived something extraordinary like war or famine, your personal memoir probably isn’t going to sell. However, if you take inspiration from your life and write a fictional account, now it’s a more palatable genre. (This also gives the added benefit of taking artistic liberties to rise above the confines of sticking strictly to what actually happened.)
2. Planning: To Outline or Not to Outline
I was what’s called a pantser—that is, I wrote by the seat of my pants, making up the story as I went along. A pantser is the opposite of a plotter—someone who outlines and plans their novel. While every writer is different, we all fall somewhere along this spectrum.
Looking back, it’s hard to say whether I would have benefited from an outline. Outlines can save time, as I’ve had to go back and change plot elements in the beginning as the story evolved, but I also didn’t know the story until I wrote it.
For those who outline, it doesn’t have to be rigid. It can act as a springboard, a loose starting place that’s flexible to change if your writing takes a different turn than initially expected.
At least some planning before you write will save you time when you get to editing.
Consider your theme or main idea that will guide your writing.
Decide your character’s purpose or object of desire. What are they trying to accomplish? Keeping this in mind will keep the story on track: how they fail, grow, and eventually obtain this desire.
Make character arcs: define your characters’ physical, emotional, and moral characteristics and how they change through the story (maybe the physical attributes don’t change, but something should—positively or negatively).
Research and build the world/setting: Is it a real place? Is your story set in the present or a historical setting, and what does that look like? If you build your own world, make a list of attributes for the setting, climate, socio-economic conditions, geographic extent of the world, and rules. If you have a magic system, you need rules and limitations. The reader doesn’t have to know all of this, but you do in order to keep your world-building consistent.
3. Writing the Manuscript
I spent hours writing alone in my room. But as many of you may relate, this wasn’t lonely. My characters sprang to life. They had backstories (that I wove little snippets and hints of into the story), hopes, plans, desires, shortcomings. To me, my characters felt like real people, and I had to write in such a way as to convince readers the same.
Some of my difficulties lay with motive. I had to balance having a character perform a certain action or make a certain decision to advance the plot while also keeping it believable for the reader. Why would a typical high school-aged girl follow a stranger to a land she’s only gained a glimpse of? But if her object of desire is answers to her questions, this may be more believable.
If you want more writing tips, check out a previous post: 8 Tips for Writing a Novel.
Next week we'll delve into part 2: Self-Editing, Beta Readers, Getting a Professional Editor, and Choosing a Publishing Path.
Happy Writing!
Janine Eaby
