The Role and Job of an Author, by Tracy Kauffman

The Role and Job of an Author

Ÿ  What it means to be an Author 

As a new author, I have learned that there are more things to know about becoming an author other than just writing the book.  Imagination and research play a big role in writing books;  Depending on what type of book you want to write.  If you want to be successful, you need to write something that will interest readers.  Finding a niche market is good because you write for that specific group.  Examples are young adult romance readers verses just fiction readers.

Then of course, you need to be published by a publisher. 

     There are two types of publishers.  Traditional publishers which pay for the whole process and self publishing.  With self publishing you can choose a vanity or subsidy publisher that will help with part of your expenses.  There are some self publishing companies that will publish your work, but at a fee.  Even if they say they are a free publisher, you still have to spend money for different things, including marketing, and buying the books up front. 

     The traditional route is the hardest and  you have to send out numerous queries to agents, books publishers, in hopes that they like your manuscript.  This process takes longer and is more time consuming.  Although Kg Books is accepting new authors.

Ÿ  The Many Jobs of the Author

1.       You not only have to write a book, but edit it.  This means that is takes a great deal of time, looking over your manuscript, making sure that the sentence structure is sound; that there are no grammatical errors including punctuation, word usage, subject verb agreement, use of modifiers and so on.

(Yes you can hire someone to edit your book, but they are going to expect you to clarify things in the book.  They cannot rewrite your book for you, they are going to need you to write your own sentences.

2.     Next thing about being an author is that you have to devote time to marketing your book.  Yes,        Publishers will help you with this when your book is released to the public, but there is a three month time in which they expect you to promote yourself before the initial release date.

Marketing is the worst thing for me.  I hate spending countless hours on marketing.  Unless you are extremely wealthy and can hire a large staff or publicist to take care of this, you are going to have to market some yourself. 

There are several ways to market your book. 

1. Through social media avenues

2. Through cold call sales

3. Through newspapers, word of mouth, and post office mailings.

4. Through blog tours, book signings

5. Meeting people at Writers conferences

6. Handing out flyers, business cards.

7. Setting up a Email Contact List and using it.

8. Making a book trailer and putting it on Youtube.

9. Interviewing with other authors through blog interviews.

10. Starting your own blog or website to present your books.

These are just a few suggestions I have that might guide you toward being the best author you can be.  It has been a great job for me to write and to be published.  My books are at: http://Tracykauffman.com 

Written by Tracy Kauffman- Fiction author of Young Adult Books