25 Ways to Begin a Career as a Writer or Author

So you say you want have a career as a writer or you want to become an author? Stop talking about writing and publishing, and take some solid steps toward those goals.

Becoming a writer or an author is not as difficult as it might seem. These  titles are not unattainable, although you might need to chunk down a few larger tasks  to actually achieve them.

Here are 25 concrete steps you can take to help you achieve your goal of becoming a writer or author.

To develop a career as a writer:

1. develop a list of article and book topics you can or want to write about
2. make a list of the subjects in which you are interested or are an expert
3. compile a list of magazine and book publishers who might be interested in your work
4. find time in your schedule to write daily
5. write daily
6. have deadlines–and meet them
7. join a critique group
8. register for a writer’s conference (and follow through on what you learn there and the connections you make)
9. submit one query letter, article, blog post, book proposal, or essay per week (or per day)
10. don’t give up

If you want to become an author, also:

1. begin a blog
2. speak on your topic
3. get active on a minimum of two social networks
4. pitch to the media
5. go to events where you can meet and pitch agents, like writers conferences
6. submit one query letter or book proposal to an agent or publisher per week or per month
7. write for major magazines
8. start a radio show of your own
9. meet the major influencers in your book category
10. write your book and publish it yourself if you can’t land a traditional publishing deal or don’t want a traditional publisher
11. learn how to promote your book
12. guest post for other bloggers
13. learn about self-publishing
14. become a good self-promoter
15. don’t give up

Each one of these tasks could be a blog post in and of itself–and maybe it will be (or maybe I’ve already written about it before–please check this blog’s search engine as well as the search engine at www.writenonfictioninnovember.com and www.howtoblogabook.com). You can’t do all these things at once, but you can begin doing some of them. If you do, you will become a writer and/or an author. I promise.

 

by imagerymajestic at freedigitalphoto.net