Author’s Insight

What kind of writer are you? Journalist? Lyricist? Poet? Satirist? Short story writer? Librettist? Or novelist? There are many types of writers but we are not obliged to be bound in one criteria.

If you don't mind, I would like to share my thoughts in writing a book. (though writing articles is also fun ^^)

Here goes,

• Platform to consider and tips for career

I recommend starting with Wattpad because it has already billion of users across the globe. It is a free app with free books so it was well used. I tried Webnovel and Dreame but publishing your book as a new writer on several platforms would be detrimental. Why? Because plagiarism is rampant and starting with one platform is the be best option for budding career. Wattpad has plenty of opportunities but it has also lots of competitor. Billions of books and the ratio with a new writer is one is to billions. Competitions is stiff so you should first focus on finishing one book and enter it in competitions afterwards.

Also, be careful with spammers. They message you and encourage you to write on their platform with exclusive contracts. But beware, because exclusive contracts will swipe you from the ownership of your own book. When publishing, copyrights are already automatically tagged on your book and by entering contracts for measly sums would snatch the opportunity for your career to bloom.

Take this for example, if you happen to received offers like this, it is only right to respond politely. Of course not all offers are a scam so there's no harm in trying. In order to avoid danger for your book, you should also do your part as the author and search feedbacks on the net. Find out if the platform you decide to sell your book is legit. There are already lots of writers who experienced it so they have already posted their thoughts in order to protect their fellow writers from getting scammed. Some platforms are legit but please do a double take before deciding to make a contract with them.

But if you decided to take the risk, I will tell you my experience. I tried Dreame and received a pending contract for my book but the editor wanted me to change my plot. She told me that adding more romance would widen my scope of readers so I tried to comply. But as we exchange more emails, her demands increased and I just don't have the patience to respond anymore so I politely rejected her advances and deleted my book on their platform. It's a bad idea to change plot in the middle of writing your book because doing so is as good as changing the whole book. I love my books so I decided to pace myself slowly and finish it. It is much better to finish the books first before complying on tweaking some changes.

So finish the book first before taking the risk to form contracts.

• Completed books

If you happen to have a completed book, consider editing it and passing it on traditional publishing houses. If you have penny to spare, then you can hire editor but take note, editors are also picky. They don’t just edit, they gauge if your book has potential. So the most you can do is doing major self-edits before giving it to an editor or passing it to some publishing house. There are lots of tips on youtube so I recommend you watching them.

It is hard to be a writer with no background so I could only encourage you with writing my measly knowledge that I gathered in my eight months of venture on the writer’s world.

• Experience as an author in Wattpad

Writing a book is fun. I am elated when readers give continuous votes on every chapter of my novel. It really boosts my confident into believing that I also can be that someone who motivates others. Being acknowledge by someone gives a positive feeling. I really appreciate it when readers give me continuous votes.

In truth, I am a dreamer. Dreamer and visionary is a similar word but worlds apart in reality. Being a visionary makes one walk their talk while being a dreamer is more like thinking of success without doing anything. It has always been my dream to make my book into reality but I am too lazy to walk my dreams. Passion can only boost me on the short run.

Receiving ranks motivates me to write more and be lost on the zone specially when I was given single digit numbers. But in truth, I am not an awesome writer. I just rode the current to have more reads and rank. Being an awesome writer is one of my goals. Take J.K.Rowling as an example, she made the trend "fantasy" popular. She didn’t ride the current like I did (Historical-Fantasy is popular today so I wrote my genre into that) Someday, I wish to be the trend setter like she did.

Those are the 2 books I created, as you can notice, the other one has more recognition. The first reason is that, VW (Villain’s Will) is written in English while 8SR (8 Seconds Rule) is written in my local dialect, Tagalog. The next reason is the trend. I mentioned earlier that VW is a fantasy-romance-historical genre while the 8SR is a Fantasy-thriller-supernatural-high school genre. I believe that in time, 8SR will be discovered but it was almost 7 months and it has been stuck with 500 reads. As an author I need to reflect on the why’s in order to have my book more readers but it is difficult because I have to change the language in order to broaden the scope for my readers. But I will not do it, because there are jokes that can’t be translated in English so I guess I’ll just stick to it and wait for the genuine readers to notice it. The only path for the 8SR to succeed is to complete it because readers want completed books more than the on-going ones. So this will be my last strand of hope hehe.

Receiving comment and messages is also fun. Being added in their reading list is awesome but as an author, I will be saddened if my book will be labelled in derogatory terms.

As a person, I am ashamed that I retaliated in the spur of a moment. I can’t help being defensive because the reader has labeled her other reading list with awesome ones but my book was classified on her “normal” reading list and has even a “sh*t” on it.

So that is my feedback on her message board. I knew that I am being childish and it was only a small matter but I did pick a fight nonetheless. I am ashamed for myself. I knew that I still lack plenty of things in my writings but I would try my best for this not to happen again. I am aware that I can’t please everyone so the best move for me is to improve and improve so that I could confidently say "my book is the best and I believe that we only have different tastes in genres".

Sometimes, acknowledgement is all it takes for amateur writers like me to continue writing and improve. Small feedbacks are really helpful on the writer’s career. We write for free and being bashed is not the most likable on our situation.

Writing in hopes that you also read my books, EvilWillow ^^