How to Succeed at the Author Business
with
Lucy Martin
Every year, thousands of aspiring authors approach agents and publishers with a dream of having their book published.
Yet, despite the incredible numbers of new books appearing on book shop shelves every single week, there will always be more writers seeking publication than publishers will ever be able to handle.
When you factor in the tough market conditions of recent years and publishers’ aversion to risk, it is easy to understand how many writers go from rejection to rejection.
So how can you avoid such a situation with your book?
The answer is to realise that becoming a successful published author requires a business-like approach to the whole process of writing a book for publication.
If you were going to start a business, you would probably spend time on the following areas:
- getting clear about your ideas & making the decision to commit to success with your business
- establishing practicalities & your ‘dream team’ of people who will support you
- learning the basics of what it means to be in business
- building your brand & engaging in marketing & PR so that your clients or customers know all about you
- developing & managing your business over the long term
All of these stages are comparable to the Writer’s Journey where the same principles can be applied to your book ideas, the preparation involved in presenting your work professionally and supporting your book through its full life cycle.
Lucy Martin is an ex-city lawyer who has run her own successful business alongside writing and promoting her first book Make It Your Business: The Ultimate Business Start-Up Guide for Women, described by Nicola Horlick, CEO of Bramdean Asset Management LLP as, "A comprehensive introductory tool for any woman looking to take the first steps in establishing her own business ..."
Her business-like approach to each step along the path to publication – and beyond – has successfully led her first book into reprint and herself into a contract for a second book to be published in 2009.
In this interview, Lucy will share what she has found to work most effectively in her experience of becoming a successful published author including how to:
- think along the right lines when considering a business-like approach to writing your book
- get started & work with the right people – your ‘dream team’ - to help you to capture your ideas on the page
- navigate the highs & lows of writing your manuscript and deal professionally with blocks & rejection
- understand the basics of what you as an author really need to know about publishing
- apply the principle of branding, marketing and PR in addition to anything your publisher may do for you
If you are serious about wanting to be published, ask yourself this question, "are you prepared to ‘raise the bar’ on your writing from a personal hobby to a more business-like activity?"
If so, join us to find out how your journey can be both rewarding and successful, and discover all about exactly what worked – and what didn’t – on Lucy’s writing journey.
Lucy Martin is an ex-city lawyer, business owner and prolific writer. Both her business - Gina's Nannies, which helps working parents find childcare - and her first book Make It Your Business (How To Books, 2006), reflect her commitment to getting women to achieve their full potential in work and life. Lucy holds a First Class Honours degree in Russian and French, is a qualified solicitor and for the last two years a columnist for a local magazine. She is a member of the Small Business Forum at the Department for Business, and campaigns for women's rights at a political level. She has just written her second book, The Childcare Bible, an overview of all childcare options for today's parents, to be published by Ebury Press in Spring 2009.
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