The main series of “My First Publication Story” concludes with the last post. In this part I have covered the entire process from publishing proposal to post-publishing, but today and next week, as a side story, I would like to tell you a story that I couldn’t tell before.
Since this is my first time publishing, I was able to successfully publish a book with the help of many people, including the publisher. While I was working during that time, I was so busy with the things I had to do that I couldn’t see them overall. I was busy completing the missions assigned at that time. However, in hindsight, there are many regrettable aspects that make me think: “If I were to publish a book again, it would have been better to do it this way.”
I hope this will be helpful to potential published authors who read it, and today we’ll continue with the first story of the spin-off, “Things I Wish I’d Known Before Publishing.”
First, do proper planning first.
Usually, in the case of scheduled publication, the publication process proceeds through two paths. The first is to submit it directly to a publisher, the second is to receive a proposal from a publisher and proceed with publication. In the first case, the writer sends the publisher a draft and a sample of the manuscript. During the submission process, you write a proposal and think about the target audience, planning intent, summary, etc. If a publisher is interested in the proposal and sample manuscript submitted in this way, a meeting will be held.
This was my second time publishing after receiving my first offer from a publisher through Brunch, so I didn’t write with publication in mind from the beginning. Of course, I had been thinking about the big picture while publishing the brunch book, but it wasn’t on a large enough scale to work on a book. Therefore, when publication was decided and work on the manuscript was underway on a large scale, I had difficulty deciding on a planning direction. Therefore, if you have a story you want to publish, it would be best to have a rough idea and planning direction in advance before writing it, assuming it will be published as a book. If you think about the planning direction to some extent, you can complete the manuscript with less effort during the actual work.
[기타 꿀팁]
– Place important or important parts at the beginning of the manuscript: consider the “preview” function of online and offline libraries.
– Consider the publication period when choosing a theme: e.g.) Essays on healing during a recession, books on football during the World Cup, etc.
Secondly, don’t worry too much about trivial things.
What bothered me most while writing the manuscript was the fact that it would remain “in a book forever.” If you post something on the Internet, you can upload it once and then remove it if you change your mind, but because books are printed, it’s difficult to get them back. I felt burdened by even choosing a single word, wondering what I would do if in the future I felt embarrassed when I removed the blanket. While I was thinking like that, my heart felt heavy and I couldn’t make any progress. However, what I heard reading reader reviews after publication is that each person’s thoughts are very different. There are also several sentences that I find impressive. There were many instances where there was no reader feedback on the parts that worried me as I wrote the manuscript, and many of the sentences saying it was good were completely unexpected.
While working on a manuscript requires a certain level of responsibility, I also think you need to lighten things up a bit. It is best not to hastily predict the reader’s reaction. Thinking that “if there are 100 people, there are 100 different ideas” can help ease the burden. The more you focus on trivial things, the more greedy you become. As they say, a handshake is at the end of a book and handwriting written with great care will be marked. Rather, the writing is simple and light and has the beauty of empty space that leaves the reader space to think.
Third, don’t rely too much on the advice of others (trust yourself).
Working on your first manuscript brings up many fears and worries. Mental breakdowns happen often. At some point you may regret signing a publishing contract and want to cancel the contract. At that time, there are cases when you become overly dependent on the people around you. Of course, it’s natural to want to rely on someone due to extreme loneliness and anxiety. At this moment it is good to receive help from those around you, but you must not lose concentration. To stay centered, you need to listen to your inner voice. If you only ask for advice from those around you without your standards, your anxiety will worsen and the manuscript will go to the mountains due to the heavy feedback. If you need advice, it’s better to communicate with your editor rather than the people around you.
It’s a cliché, but I think the most important thing is to believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, your anxiety and loneliness will be greatly alleviated. As they say, peace is not something you seek from the outside, but something you find inside, so I think if you believe in yourself more, you will be less likely to be shaken unnecessarily.
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I wonder if the job would have been easier if I had known the above beforehand, but I also think that since it was the first time, it was inevitable that I would have had to go through trial and error. Even though I promised myself that I would do better in the next book, I also thought that I might make the same mistake again. Perhaps there will be incorrect response notes in each publication. Yet, isn’t this how we get to know each other and grow little by little? Just like everything else in the world.
I hope this article can be of help to potential published authors.
In the next post I will be back with the second (and last) story of the spin-off “First Published Story”.
Well then, have a nice day today!^^
#episode #released
