Barbara Bentley
Want your mobile site ads free?
Upgrade to a premium mobile site to remove this ad
Ad Placeholder
Writing Your Story
Many women express an interest in writing their story for publication. I have put together a list of items to be considered when embarking on such a project. It comes from my experience of how I got published, but each person's journey is different and one must adjust for her own circumstances.
TO SELL I learned to write beyond my experience in business writing. You can read my writing journey on this websites Writing page. From my experience, there is not a lot of money to be made in having a book published, unless you hit the NY Times Bestselling List. If you made $20,000 that would make you a mid-list author and not many authors even attain that level. Many authors, traditional or self-published, do not sell more than a couple of hundred books. An agent will not even consider a manuscript if it is not well-written and edited. One way to learn to write is to join a writer’s club where you can meet other writers and hear speakers on how to write and publish. In California the California Writers Club is a statewide organization with branches throughout the state. Colleges also offer writing classes. GET BETA READERS Once you have your manuscript finished, you need feedback to get your manuscript in its best form. Use beta readers, preferably someone who is not a good friend or relative. You should not pay for this, but you could offer a free book when it’s released.
IS YOUR
ABUSER DEAD?If mine had been alive, I would not have been a able to get my story published. Antisocials (psychopaths, sociopaths, narcissists) love t sue. So I think it's prudent for all authors to make sure that they will not be drawn into court over something they might publish. Even if you change names and locations, sometimes you can still be held liable if the abuser can prove that he could be identified in the way it was written. If you self-publish, you will
want an attorney to review the manuscript (a cost to factor into the budget mentioned below). If you have a traditional publisher, they will have an attorney review the final manuscript well into your further editing that you will be doing for them.
HAS THE STORY BEEN WRITTEN? There are many stories of abuse out there. For an agent to take notice there must be something unique about the story beyond survival. So a lot of thought ahead of time is required before spending many, many hours on something that may go nowhere. Check out other abuse and survival memoirs and see how they how selling. What makes your story different from them? What would make your book sell? This is not said to discourage you from writing….it’s just a reality check on the process.
LEARN TO WRITEABUSER DEAD?If mine had been alive, I would not have been a able to get my story published. Antisocials (psychopaths, sociopaths, narcissists) love t sue. So I think it's prudent for all authors to make sure that they will not be drawn into court over something they might publish. Even if you change names and locations, sometimes you can still be held liable if the abuser can prove that he could be identified in the way it was written. If you self-publish, you will
want an attorney to review the manuscript (a cost to factor into the budget mentioned below). If you have a traditional publisher, they will have an attorney review the final manuscript well into your further editing that you will be doing for them.
HAS THE STORY BEEN WRITTEN? There are many stories of abuse out there. For an agent to take notice there must be something unique about the story beyond survival. So a lot of thought ahead of time is required before spending many, many hours on something that may go nowhere. Check out other abuse and survival memoirs and see how they how selling. What makes your story different from them? What would make your book sell? This is not said to discourage you from writing….it’s just a reality check on the process.
GATHERING DATAIf you feel you need to write a book, you can start by gathering your data and recording it in chronological order. Then you can
decide where to go from there. It may be that just expanding the facts
into a rough draft will be enough for you to process what’s happened in
your life. Some may have already done this step.
WRITING CAN BE CATHARTIC
Writing your story may help you process what happened. So even if you choose not to publish, you may benefit from putting the words down on paper (or on the computer screen).TO SELL I learned to write beyond my experience in business writing. You can read my writing journey on this websites Writing page. From my experience, there is not a lot of money to be made in having a book published, unless you hit the NY Times Bestselling List. If you made $20,000 that would make you a mid-list author and not many authors even attain that level. Many authors, traditional or self-published, do not sell more than a couple of hundred books. An agent will not even consider a manuscript if it is not well-written and edited. One way to learn to write is to join a writer’s club where you can meet other writers and hear speakers on how to write and publish. In California the California Writers Club is a statewide organization with branches throughout the state. Colleges also offer writing classes. GET BETA READERS Once you have your manuscript finished, you need feedback to get your manuscript in its best form. Use beta readers, preferably someone who is not a good friend or relative. You should not pay for this, but you could offer a free book when it’s released.
