Writing can be a wonderful career, allowing you to share your creativity and expertise with the world. You can inspire thousands of people with your words and contribute to society by sharing some thought-provoking ideas and social commentary via books and articles. Yes, writing can be a very rewarding career choice, but it is also notoriously hard to get started. Whether you want to pen the next great novel or bring forward new, ground-breaking political movements, here are a few tips to help you begin your journey as a writer:
Create a Professional Website
As a writer, you will need somewhere to share your work with people easily. Creating a professional website that includes a bio, contact details, and plenty of fresh content written by you will be the best way to do this, especially if you’re yet to secure an agent or get a publishing deal. It’s also a brilliant way for your fans to get to know you better as a writer, and you could even sell some of your work through this platform if you wanted to. There are plenty of website builders you can use that are low-cost or free.
Self-Promotion
Another thing you need to be doing a lot as a writer, whether you’re established or not, is self-promotion. This is even more important when you’re starting, and you don’t have a marketing or PR team at a publishing house organizing these things for you. Make the most of social media, and share your new content via these channels by linking them to your website. Tell people about what you’re currently working on, the books you’re reading, and give shout-outs to other writers, too. This will help you forge connections in the writing community, and people will be willing to help you out as well.
Self-Publish or Traditional Routes?
Getting an offer from a publisher is an incredible achievement and a fantastic opportunity. They will have better resources to market your book and get it into bookstores, and you might even get asked to write more for them in the future if your book is a commercial success. However, it can be difficult to get your work seen by publishers as they have so many manuscripts submitted to them every week. This is why self-publishing, when you’re starting out as a writer, might be the better option, and you get to keep all of the money from the sales of your books. You can use Amazon self publishing services, which are very popular or explore similar organizations that have been set up to help writers get their work out into the world.
Keep Honing Your Craft and Stay Up-to-Date
Finally, if you want to give yourself the best chance of success as a writer, you need to keep honing your craft. Keep writing, whether that’s working on a novel after novel or creating fresh content for your website. You should also stay up-to-date with what is happening in the publishing/writing world and any other industries that are relevant to what you write about.
If you want to start your career as a writer, consider the tips above to help you get noticed and become a respected, established member of the writing community.
