Whew! It’s done! After a year or more, your manuscript is done That’s a big deal.
Celebrate, but not too long. You’ve achieved a major milestone, but there is still a lot of work to be done to make your book successful. A great book will define you in the marketplace for a decade. It can be the most important career move you make. So, get ready for some more hard work to turn your manuscript into a successful book.
Work with a professional editor.
Whether you think so or not, you need a professional editor. Not your friend who was an English major. Not your aunt who’s good with words. You need a pro.
A professional editor gives you a fresh set of professional eyes on your book. You will work with him or her to review and revise what you’ve done so that you make it better.
Work with the folks who create the book from your manuscript.
Whether you self-publish, go with a legacy publisher or do something in between, you’ve got work to do. There will be more edits. You’ll review page proofs. You’ll probably work with a proofreader.
Work on the book launch.
You may have written the best book in the world, but unless people hear about it no one will buy it. A book launch is a key part of making your book a success.
In this blog post, working on the book launch comes after the manuscript is done. In real life, you should be thinking about your book launch and other promotions from the time you start to write.
That’s one reason I have every new client write the marketing copy for the book they intend to write. We do it early in the planning process. That starts us thinking about what should be in the book and how to promote it. We can also do a better job of identifying endorsers and picking up their statements along the way.
Work on exploiting the book with products, services, and events.
You probably won’t make much money on book sales. That’s okay because there are dozens of other ways to use your book to increase revenue. If you want to increase your fees, you must let the clients you want aware of you and what you do. A great book launch can be part of how you do it, but only a part.
Think about regular relaunches to introduce your book to prospective buyers. Develop an array of products and services that will generate cash.
Writing a book is a big achievement, but it won’t mean much unless you do the hard work of making it great and promoting it relentlessly.
Takeaways
When you’re done writing, you’re not done.
Celebrate. Then get back to work.
Work with a professional editor.
Work with the folks who create the book from your manuscript.
Work on the book launch.
Work on exploiting the book with products, services, and events.