When you are in a rush to publish your first book, in some ways, it is a good thing. The good thing is that you finish what you start. Most authors find it difficult to finish what they started – especially when it comes to their first book.
So I was very happy when I finished the first draft of my first book. And in no time, I had finished the editing and it was ready for publishing. I learnt how to publish the book – both in e-book and print format – and in no time, I was ready to press publish.
And I did. From starting the first draft to publish in four months. I was happy with it. But now when I look back, I realise that I made a lot of mistakes that I should not have made when I published my first book.
Here I try to list a few.
Being in a hurry to publish: Make haste slowly – a famous wise proverb says, and I should have paid heed to it – a book is not ready when you think it is. When I look back at ‘The Good, The Bad and The Silly‘, I often feel that many parts of it are fairly bad. I should have paid more attention to the plot, how the story flows in a seamless manner, and how the characters evolve in the process.
Not thrashing out the writing first: The most important thing to pay attention to in your first book is the writing itself. The book is not finished without thrashing out the loopholes in the story, the plot and the characters themselves. I should have jotted it down before writing the episodes. No wonder a lot of readers enjoyed the chapters, but couldn’t quite figure out what the story was about.
Not doing a Manuscript Review: They are worth the price. A manuscript review will tell you which characters and plot areas you need to flesh out better. It will tell you if the flow is holding the reader. These are skills that can be learnt – it is the craft of writing, not the style and voice – which is your own. I did get my manuscript reviewed, but I did it after the novel was published.
Not hiring an Editor: The editor helps, based on what you hire him or her for. Even if you pay by the word for line or copy editing, you will be surprised by the mistakes that a good editor will point out. Not just the adverbs and passive voice but even if a sentence should be deleted altogether. These are things that your own second round editing may not catch, and spellcheck and grammar check in Word won’t.
Instructing the Cover Designer: I made the mistake of telling the cover designer what exactly I wanted in the cover. It might seem like a good thing, but, for a first book, I realized that it is better to leave the designer alone – at least for the first design. Spending time on optimizing a badly made cover (based on my own instructions) is not a smart thing to do.
Not Adhering to Formats: The e-book (Kindle) and Print formats (based on size) are different. I should have had more eye for detail to fix the differences required. The reader can easily see even one mistake. It is like a wicketkeeper dropping a catch – everyone remembers. It comes back again to being in a hurry. There is no rush.
Expecting Too Much: Not everyone is interested in reading your book. They are interested in the fact that you wrote a book, but beyond that, readers have to discover a book. I made the mistake of expecting too much from my first book, even though I was not writing it for money. Just the sheer act and effort in publishing a book creates those expectations. This is almost an unavoidable mistake for a first-time author.
Underestimating Marketing: It is not about some social media posts or emails to family and friends. Nor is it about doing some book launch interviews or press releases. Marketing is about finding the right audience for your writing. I had no idea how to do it, and even today, I haven’t learnt it. This mistake for a first-time author can be forgiven, I guess.
So, what would I recommend if you end up doing these mistakes anyway?
Well, learn quickly is the least one can do. The good part is I tried to implement some of these from my second book. A review, an editor, a cover designer and formats are easy to follow. Thrashing out the writing and understanding marketing might take a long time. They are always work in progress. But keeping them in mind are useful.
I still remember going to an experienced writer after my first book was published, and excitedly, telling him that my first book was published. I expected that he will ask for a (signed) copy and provide some encouragement on how well it has come out.
He did neither. In what I now understand to be stemming from experience and maturity, all he said was, “Congratulations!! Now go write the next one!!”
***