Guest Post by Jennifer David (From Writer Cosmos)

Dear new writer, we tell you frankly that you will not be able to learn how to write a book in a single creative writing blog article. Still, as experienced ghost writers, we hope to provide some ideas to help you regain lost inspiration or sharpen your storytelling techniques at the end of this reading.

Ghost writers’ tips: how to start writing a book?

You're probably wondering where to start first. To write a book, you first have to start writing a book.

You will laugh, but the first big challenge is to get to the end of the first draft, to the final point, going from scattered writings and beautiful descriptions to a narrative text with a gripping plot, a plot, solid structure and well-rounded characters. In short, you have to tell an exciting and compelling story.

Many aspiring ghost writers claim to write only when struck by divine inspiration. This would be equivalent to expecting to achieve excellent sports results by sitting on the sofa watching TV and waiting for the urge to go running.

Self-publishing a book is an easy way to bring your book to market, you don’t need to have an agent or go cap-in-hand to a publisher, but that being said, it does require a great deal of hard work in order to make sales, and as you’re doing it yourself, you’ll need to budget for everything that goes along with preparing and promoting a book.

And because the pathway to self-publishing is quite straightforward, many authors choose this option, as a result, there were over 2.3 million self-published books released in 2022 (and if you include traditional published books, the total number is over 4 million). That’s over 6,000 self-published books launched every day (over 10,000 if you include traditionally published books too).

So, there are a lot of authors writing and publishing their work, great for those of us who love to read!
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But how many authors who choose to do it by themselves are successful? It’s quite easy to get bogged down in the numbers, but self-pub authors can make break throughs and become true best sellers, here is a list of some of the best indie authors who you may not have realized self-published.

Working in the publishing world you get to meet with lots of wonderful, and very talented authors, creative individuals who have spent a great deal of their time developing an idea into a story, or sharing an experience, or writing specific details of their knowledge within a certain arena, all dedicated to bringing this to an audience of interested and engaged readers.

And for the readers, we love to lose ourselves in a great author’s work, being taken on a journey or to learn something we never knew before, there are lots of reasons why we read and there are lots of ways that we can support those self-publishing authors that we love.

So, this year, why not support your favorite self-publishing / indie author, here are TEN ways that any reader can help.

For authors, writing is not just a hobby, it’s a way of life, so if you are passionate about writing and want to make some extra money, or even cultivate a full-time career from your passion, here are 10 ways to make additional income from your craft.

1 – Writing a blog

Starting your own blog may sound like an obvious option for many writers, as it enables you to select a topic that you are passionate about and then give your opinions and thoughts on that subject, over time you should be able to grow your audience/visitors which will help you to make money.

There are several ways to create an income stream from your blog, but the first one will be from advertising, signing up for a Google Adsense account will allow you to place adverts within your content that will be of interest to each visitor to your site, when they click on the ad, you get paid.

You can also look at affiliate products and services advertised within your blog, again, when one is sold using the unique link from your site to the seller’s page, you will get a commission.

Doing what you love

The dream for most authors and writers is to make a career (or even a side hustle) from their creative talents, being able to do what you love and make money when and where you want.

But when you think of writing and making money, you may only come up with a couple of ideas and even then, these ideas may be limited.

However, with some creativity you can do what you love and make some money at the same time, here are TEN great ways for you to make money with writing.

Ten books to help every self-publishing author

Getting a book published can be a challenging task, but luckily enough, there are some great books to help fellow authors, from these you can learn from successful writers and experts within the publishing industry, here are our top ten picks for books you should check out today.

Guest post from Dean Burgess: Working from home as a writer can be a joy and a challenge. Having a productive office is key to success. The following are important aspects to focus on when setting up your workspace.
 
Furniture and Equipment

The furniture and equipment you use during your workday have a major impact on your health and comfort level. Choose a chair that is comfortable and supportive. Make sure the lighting in the area is bright enough to prevent eye strain but not harsh or headache-inducing. An ergonomic keyboard can make long periods of typing easier on your wrists. Consider investing in a standing desk. There are numerous health benefits associated with these devices, including:

Guest post from Angela Baker

Writing is a beautiful creative process that can have a beneficial effect on our mental health and inner peace. It can help us find a connection between our mind and our emotions and establish a balance that we all need. This is because writing can shape thinking. But, what does that mean?
 
There are impressive ways in which writing shapes our thinking and can help us reach depths we didn't even know existed. If you want to learn more, just keep reading. Here's how writing positively influences your thinking and helps you grow.

Writing a book for most of us is a very solitary task, in those pre-pandemic days you may have wandered off to your local coffee shop and spent a couple of hours diligently increasing the word count of your manuscript, admittedly you are now surrounded by people, but you are still working alone.  And the thing about working alone is that motivation (after a while) can stagnate.

And this is the thing, many people start off a new project, goal, or task with the best of intentions only to get three months in and slowly lose the motivation to stick with it, how many gym memberships are used like crazy in Jan/Feb and then by June have been canceled? The same goes with diets, everyone has the best of intentions and then when any roadblock is faced, they quit, regaining any weight lost and going back to unhealthy habits.

How many unfinished manuscripts are stored in long forgotten folders on laptops and PCs? Every single one of them started with the best of intentions and now they lay waiting for their authors to return and complete them?