WATTMAG Issue #3

Icing The Literary Cake

The world a writer has to live in makes my head spin. You'd think 'all' you have to do is get the words down. I say 'all' as that can be hard in itself. The muse needs to play nice. The words need to fall right, not be a game of literary Jenga in which they collapse on the page in an incomprehensible mish-mash.

If only.

Do you want your work out into the world? You want reads or sales or just eyes on the prize? Well, as Irene Cara once said in Fame, this is where you start working!

It can be overwhelming, actually. When once I would scan my Facebook profile, I now have two profiles and a page. One is for personal stuff, one is for my wider writing universe (if Marvel can have their MCU, I can have a WWU) and my page is for fans and information. I also have multiple twitter accounts (but one is for the barbers salon I own - there's a Facebook page for that too), Instagram, Snapchat and more. I used to play games on my phone. I used to have free time. Plus, there's the Wattpad app which I'm addicted to. I try to answer as many questions, respond to as many comments, and thank as many new followers and readers as I can.

But there's only so much time in the day, and it's not enough. Because more than anything, I want to WRITE! I am a writer, after all. 

There're a great many ways you can cast your work into your own WWU. Of course, there's the mighty Wattpad, but there's also Self-Publishing. Once upon a time, this was traditional publishing's poor cousin. In fact, about twenty years ago I appeared on Sky TV to debate traditional vs digital publishing. It was never going to take off, they said.

Hmmm... Yes... Ok...

Now, anyone and their dog can publish their work. In fact, their postman's dog can do it, if they have access to an electronic device. Phones, computers, and tablets can be used to publish your story. So why would you want to dip your toe into the very choppy sea?

There's a multitude of reasons. Making your book available on Amazon. Holding an actual, real paperback in your hand. It's a pretty cool feeling. But how do you get there? How much does it cost? How hard is it?

Well, it can cost either nothing or a fortune. It can be quite easy or extremely hard work. It all depends on how far you want or need to go.

Two important things need to be done first. You need the work to be edited, either by you or someone else, and you need a good cover. Many people get away with neither. Their story is raw and resplendent with spelling and grammar mistakes. Some just want the story up. They don't care if it's up to any particular standard. That's fine, if that's what you want. But if you want your story to be noticed, to be liked, make the effort. Have it edited. Create a cover (or have one created). They say don't judge a book by its cover, but... yeah. We're human. We can't help it. So make it the sort of book YOU would want to buy or to read.