Hello Fellas, today I invite Sandeep Sharma for a guest post where he would share his journey of being an author. I hope you will relate to him as we all have gone through such a phase.
~Surbhi Sareen
I want to start something
“I want to start something.”
“What?”
“I want to become a writer.”
“That’s good.”
“But how?”
I once had this conversation with my father. He gave me two brilliant advices. First was that before thinking to spend ‘money’ (in this case your dedication), spend ‘time’. His advice was actually to talk to some authors and have an insight of the industry. I tried a lot but no one actually helped me back then. The reason is still unknown. Will talk about the second advice in a while, before that I’ll tell you what I did wrong in the journey of becoming author.
After reading Sydney Sheldon’s ‘Are You Afraid Of Dark’ at the age of 15, my interest in reading grew up. I then picked ChetanBhagat’s ‘5 point someone not to do in IIT’. I picked this book as someone advised me to readthe same. I loved the book. The best part of the book was the flashback thing. I never could have imagined that a book could be so good that it will indulge me for 8 hours straight. Then I inclined towards Indian Authors and picked Kushwant Singh’s ‘A train to Pakistan’. This was my dad’s choice. It was fabulous but was not as entertaining as my previous reads (my personal view as I love different kind of genre and writing style). After reading these 3 novels, suddenly at the age of 18, I decided to write a book. It took me 4 months to complete the script of 38,000 words. I was extremely happy and then I started to take series of wrong decisions.
I decided to publish it through Notion Press. Back then, I had no idea about editing. I never thought that my English could become such a hindrance. I always thought that the story backs up the book and English and writing style is just a side-line. I was so excited to see the printed form of my work that I paid no attention over cover design and editing part. Within a month, my paperback dream got fulfilled. I was in college and was confident that everyone will surely buy and support the author. ‘The Author’, I still regret that day when I thought I have become an author.
I placed 100 books in the common area and invited teachers and students to see the ‘Mammoth’ thing that I have achieved and in short buy the books so that I can proudly shout that I sold out 100 copies within an hour.
Hour passed, a huge gathering came but the sales were just 2. That was the first realization of truth. If we compare this to present scenario, you’ll see 100’s or maybe thousands of ‘likes’ on your posts regarding the book release but the sales will be just 1 or 2%. Be ready to feel heart-broken as I was not. I cried that day a lot as I knew nothing what lies in the future; future was even darker. First professional review came for the book and the unexpected occurred. The reviewer tore the book apart in his review. ‘Young Author’ died that day.
Then begins the time of self-realization. Journey of going back to basics starts and then I realized the meaning of my father’s second advice. His advice was ‘before asking how, you should ask when?’ The basic idea of becoming an ‘Author’ is to know when to write a book. Before writing a book, read at least 100 books. (I read around 200 books before writing ‘Hey Dad! Meet my Mom’ and that paved the way of my ‘little’ success in the industry.) Study the writing style of your favourite author. Try to gulp down the small elements that authors deliberately put in their write ups and after doing this, you’ll surely have a story in your mind. Once you have the story ready; stop reading. STOP READING when you are writing. While writing the book, there will come sometime when you’ll feel demotivated, that is the time to read again. Simple, isn’t it.
Now as your book is ready. Wait. Re-read and hire a professional editor. Ask some of your friends to give honest opinion about the book. During this process, just relax. Don’t panic. Now when the publishing part starts, switch from ‘Author’ to ‘Salesman’.
That’s all for today; hope that this will help.
About the author
Sandeep Sharma (23), made his debut in the writing industry with ‘Hey Dad! Meet my mom’, the book which is still a hot topic of discussion amongst readers. He is currently working on his start-up venture named ‘Author Paradise’ that works for the benefit of Authors to provide them well-organized online & offline publicity. By education, he is a civil engineer who graduated from JSS Academy of Technical Education, Noida.
He is very passionate about writing and has been writing short stories for his personal blog since 6 years and they were published various times. He has also co-founded ‘The Author’s Blog’, a platform that tries to bridge the gap between authors and readers. He is an avid reader and loves to review books on his blog. He is a well-known reviewer in the literary world.
He can be contacted through:
E-Mail: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/sandeeplochansharma
