Hey readers!
Okay, you know that I have completed my driving lessons and successfully conquer my fear of driving. Now with some time on my hands, I’m itching to do something new. Something challenging.
After much considerations and due to the fact that many freelancers have actively sought me out, I was thinking of writing a book on my start out journey as a freelancer and particularly provide tips how to be earning a steady income as a freelancer. My target audience for this book will be for anyone who wants to start freelancing and perhaps take it to a full-time job.
So my dilemma is…
I haven’t written a book. I have proven myself that I can write articles that pay well but a book is a different ball game altogether. I love the challenge and will want to take a leap at it. Well, what’s the worst to come? My book tank and fail or some critic bashing it?
So I have giving many advice out here and I would love that you can give any advice that you might have.
- What titles are attractive?
- Where and how do I start?
- Where do I find people to design the book cover?
- What should I put on the book cover? I don’t want a photo of me!!!
- What should I write for the summary?
- Should I keep it light and sweet or heavy and in-depth?
So many questions swarming around in my head!
Please do share links for me to refer to if you think they are helpful. Any thoughts you might have, please do share it with me right at the comments below.
I can’t promise if I will end up completing my book but I’ll try. If I ever do, you guys will be the first ones to know about it!
Thank you in advance!
MiddleMe 
I might begin by looking at some resource books about informational writing. Finding other books on similar subjects to yours might also be helpful to help you decide what you want (or don’t want!) to see in yours. An outline might help you organize your structure, and the summary would come after a draft of the book is written, I would think. Good luck on your project!
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Wow! Thank you so much on your helpful input. I definitely didn’t think of the points your raised. Thanks, Becky.
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Writers conferences are a great way to network with other authors, agents, publishers and editors. You also have the opportunity to attend many different workshops to learn industry trends. Blessings!
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Wow. What a wonderful advice! Now I need to Google where’s the next writer’s conference here in Kuala Lumpur, not sure if they have this here. But thank you for pointing the way, Terese.
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Any time sweet Kally!
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Book is the supreme teacher of knowledge chapters. I think that you can communicate with thousands of people at a time by publishing a book. But writing a page may be difficult in beginning.
You can not plan or decide everything before you start writing. We have everything in our brain that we don’t know our potentials of creativity. So, start writing and explore the objects of instances. You will find your pathways to make the segments of your thoughts and endeavors and shape up the pages of your book. Your brain will do everything for the chapters of knowledge, information and intuitive ideas. Thanks for writing.
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Thank you for the deep and insightful comment. I think along the way I may lose myself. If it happens, I’ll be sure to seek help here again.
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Precious Kally! Here is a link to Derek Murphy. Out of all the staggering amount of advice rampart on the NET? Derek stands for the best and only the best in honesty and integrity, and? Fun!
From Derek himself, his request:
If this template was useful for you, why not share it with your writer friends? You could even write a blog post about your book formatting learning curve, and link to http://www.diybookformats.com so more authors can get the free templates and tutorials.
Sure this is the answer to all your questions. lol Much love, thia 🙂
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Awesome advice, my lovely Thia!! Very useful indeed. I shall bookmark this right away. You are such a good dear.
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You’ll like Derek. He’s my source of amusement as well as tweaking the skill. I am using his Guide again to refresh the format for my, The Family A True Story. So detailed! One cannot go wrong. Don’t forget me when u hit the ‘Best Sellers list! lol lol lol!
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Lol! You’ll always be in my heart, Thia. Impossible to forget you in a jiffy.
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All the very best to you Kally. I’ll be interested to see whether you write it as I’ve also been contemplating the same but haven’t yet started.
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It is a huge step, isn’t it? I’d have take it very slow indeed with so much on my plate but it just keep on coming back to me that I should write a book. An itch that keeps on ticking, if you know what I mean….
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Yes I do know what you mean. I have a similar itch.
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First, many congratulations on completing your driving lessons. I’m sure now you really enjoy hitting the road 🙂
So, book writing!
An interesting but big decision this is. You are certainly doing very well by juggling your freelance job, this blog of yours and of course, your home and family. So adding another ball, in the form of book writing, is a step one should take carefully.
I haven’t written a book but those who have are out there, constantly helping out newbies like you. One of them is Mr Jeff Goins (https://goinswriter.com/tips-writing-book/). Give it a look and see if this helps you out.
And for your above queries, here’s my not-so-experienced-level replies to them:
1. What titles are attractive?
A: Short ones definitely
2. Where and how do I start?
A; Check the link above 🙂
3. Where do I find people to design the book cover?
A: People with Adobe Photoshop or any other graphic software skills can help you out on this.
4. What should I put on the book cover? I don’t want a photo of me!!!
A: Finish your book first, this part comes later 🙂
5. What should I write for the summary?
A: Read my reply for #4 🙂
6. Should I keep it light and sweet or heavy and in-depth?
A: Since you are planning to write about your freelance experiences, so light and sweet is preferred.
Wishing you all the best, Kally 🙂
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Hey Hammad! Thank you so much for your precious advice. I will definitely go to the link you gave me. I’ll bookmark it right away. Thank you and a million thank you once again. Yes, you do have a point about burdening myself with so much on my plate already. I will take it slow, bit by bit but I will always keep in mind what’s my priority!
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Dearest Kally, your articles are the best and you are giving advice to everyone all the time. I am not good at writing, so I cannot give you advice on that, still I believe you can write a book easily full of amazing advice and people will love it. (Even if you copied all articles you wrote here and put them together it would be a super book. ) I have all confidence in you, you can do it!
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Thank you, Ute!! You don’t give yourself enough credit. You do write beautifully and I always love your photos. Maybe one day you can do a picture book? I’m actually thinking of putting some of my posts in the book but maybe elaborate more and going into each post deeper. That will definitely save time.
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How is kinddle?:D
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Hahaha. I am considering Amazon.
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If you followed my suggestions, you would be writing my book, not yours… 🙂 the answers you are looking for are in your heart, so when you are ready, sit down with pen in hand and follow your heart!!… 🙂
“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe. “ Gustave Flaubert
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One fine day, I’ll be writing your book. I bet there are so many stories to tell it will fill up five books easily. Haha! I love this quote. Going to print it out and stick it in front of my laptop.
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There is over a half century of adventures, but I am sure you have plenty of your own!!… 🙂
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Kally, you already have a natural style that works for you and (works for us too). Use that natural style in your book. Do you want it to be a sort of how-to or autobiographical style book? Do you want to fashion it like a series of questions/answer like some of your articles are? The advice of checking out other similar books, writer’s conferences, and experts already listed here are excellent advice. Best of luck in your new endavors.
Pat
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Ah you have thrown more questions in my way! And that is a good thing. I need to make sure I start off strong and good especially with so many things going on in my life. So seriously, thank you for your encouragement and wonderful advice.
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hmmmm. interesting questions. I’d like to help and give you good answers, but, and it’s a big but, you have to start writing to get these answers. At least in my expirience, i never know how the writing will turn out without really writing it. once i have a draft, i start fixing the tone, adding details and stuff. about the cover, fiverr is a good page to hire cover artists, and kanva is one for with templates for you to design yurself.
Good luck.
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Thank you so much, Jina. I Guess it is time for me to stop procrastinating and start going somewhere with this. You’re right, I need to get on the road and change course as it goes along.
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many of your questions will be answered once you start down on that path. good luck.
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Reaction: The title is one of the last things to add. Start where you believe the beginning to be. You’ll likely be wrong, but at least you’ll have words on the page, perhaps an entire book. If you write 30,000 words, and you discover what the story is, keep going. Likely the first 30,000 will be related and useful to the remainder. In the end finish a draft. The book cover comes when you’re completely finished writing. Don’t write a summary, synopsis or an outline until you’ve written a first draft, however jumbled the first draft may be. At that point the summery, synopsis or outline may help you organize what you want to write, and you can efficiently edit, redraft and proof. Regarding the content, if you’re writing about elder care or death or teenage years, inevitably the text will seem heavy. If enough detail and characterization, it can also be humorous.
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Thank you so much for answering each of my questions with so much depth. I hear you and I’m going to follow through each of your advice carefully and with heart. You’re so generous to share so once again, thank you. I always thought a title is the first authors came up with and I’m so wrong. Haha. That definitely shows I’m a fish out of water in this area. But that is what makes this challenge so sweet. 🙂
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Everyone writing a novel is a fish out of water, especially the first, second, third, fourth, fifth-time novelists. Don’t worry about being lost. It may be the best writing you do.
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Thanks so much for advising me. I probably will get very lost and very off tracks. Haha.
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What a great challenge to give yourself. How about doing a book that focus around your blog post you know like a collection of employment related issues , each section of the book could have a particular work theme…
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What a great idea!!! You just put the second book ideas into my head, naughty you. Haha.
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1. What titles are attractive?
2. Where and how do I start?
3. Where do I find people to design the book cover?
4. What should I put on the book cover? I don’t want a photo of me!!!
5. What should I write for the summary?
6. Should I keep it light and sweet or heavy and in-depth?
Kally, as the author of two books
Behold the Lamb of God
Catholic & Christian… a book if essential Catholic Catechesis by Patrick Miron
I’m grateful for the opportunity to share “MY TWO CENTS WORTH”
1. Title is important; it ought to be cleverly catchy; while at the same time addressing your audience. Here are a few suggestions
FREELACNING 101…how to start your own Freelance Business
EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT FREELANCING …. I made your mistakes for you
HOW TO GET GOING IN FREELANCING … and KEEP It Going
FREELANCING AS A CAREER … how to make it happen!
2. I used Trafford Publishing for my two books; you can google them; they are pro’s and can and will guide you with whatever help you need
Begin my doing a chapter outline of TOPICS to be covered; then go chapter by chapter and begin writing it
Share it with a few friends before submitting it for publication
Maybe ask your Copy Write interview person to check it for you?
3. Trafford can do it for you; they have an ART Department {I did my own photography for both book covers} Then I shared MY ideas and let them RUN with it.
4. Let the Experts do it; NO Problem! I used Photographs that tied into what I was “selling”; and I did not use my photograph on either book
Spend some time at the Library just looking at book covers; especially of those REALLY successful authors.
5. An enticement: If you’re considering a Freelance Career this IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. I will share how to begin; Roadblocks you may encounter; ……….. And a few more such tips that you will be sharing.
6. BOTH: First light and sweet; then morph into the Nitty Gritty { make it personal and share your own experiences} Folks LOVE a good story.
If I can be of further help, just let me know.
Patrickmiron66@hotmail.com
Go GETEM!
Patrick
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Thought of another Title
MiddleME & you; How to become a successful Freelancer
God Bless,
Patrick
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Awesome titles! And awesome advice too. A great big hug for breaking down each of my questions and helping me getting the answers. I’ll take some time to digest them and follow through your advice by listing the chapters first.
I’ll be sure to reach out to you, Patrick once I get stuck. Be ready to push me! God blessings.
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First of all congratulations on getting through your driving lesson. That is a great achievement!
I hope you will write your book because you have been incredibly helpful to so many, myself included of course. I am trying to figure out how to get into freelance writing now and you have been great! Step one was to start my blog, step two is to get into freelance writing and the finally I really want to write a book. I promise once you write your book, I will be among the first to buy it. I think you are pretty incredible and share some amazing posts!!!! Best of luck to you with your project and I know you will do fabulous!
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Alyssa dear Alyssa, your words of support and encouragement mean the world to me. So a big thank you to you! If you can inspire me to do greatness, you can inspire anyone and everyone. Thank you so much again and I will look back on this comment whenever I stumble upon difficulties in writing my book to motivate me to push on. Big hugs and love you for your positivity!!
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You are more than welcome Kally!! I am so happy that I was able to encourage you. I really do think when you write your book, it is going to be absolutely AMAZING!! You are a brilliant writer, so I know your book will help many people! I will always do anything I can to motivate and encourage you!!!
Do you mind if I ask you a question? I really want to get into freelance writing, but honestly have no idea what to do. I have read many ideas on forums, but it is incredibly overwhelming. I know you are busy, so if you do not have the time I understand! If you do have any advice, you can always email me at alyssabowman81@gmail.com, but again I understand if you do not have the time!
But back on track, never question yourself about writing your book! It is going to be incredible and I do promise I will be among the first to buy it and then I will NEED your autograph!!
Lots of love and encouraging vibes to you!
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Hey Alyssa! Of course, I have time for you! Let me drop you an email later so I can personally help you and you can ask all the questions 🙂 I’m going to try my best to clear your doubts. I know starting out freelancing can be quite daunting so I’m always here to hold your hand and ready to jump in if you holler!
Haha. Let me start with the book first. I must warn you that the complete book won’t be so soon. I’ll try my best though.
Chat with you soon via email. You’re amazing! Lots of love, blessings and hugs your way!
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Thank you so much Kally! I am really looking forward to have the opportunity to chat with you on a personal level by email! I find you incredibly encouraging and believe having the chance to ask you questions will help all the doubts I have!
I am so excited for your book and know it is going to be amazing. It doesn’t matter how long it takes for your fabulous book to be completed, I promise I will be the first in line to buy it!!!
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I know you can do it, Kally! You’re a great writer.
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Thank you so much for the vote of confidence, Winnie!!
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You’re welcome, Kally!
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I wish you luck, Kally. You put out a lot of good information here so I know you will have lots to share in a book. I think if in doubt about the tone (serious or light) of the book, you can consider using the same one as you do on this blog.
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Thank you so much for throwing some light to the tone. I think I’m comfortable with the same one as my blog too.
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Stick to tips & tricks that proven to work, keep your pleasant and charming writing style and do NOT over-analyze. Just start!
You can do this, I am sure. XxX
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I need to clear my schedule to do this!! Haha. Both of you and me are pretty overwhelmed in life.
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I know, I know…choices choices 😉
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So difficult to choose!!! I’ve got your email, my dear. Will reply you soon. 😘
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A Finnish friend is an author. I was asking her a week ago about how to go about getting published. She kept it simple for me. Here are her guidelines.
Expect it to take up to a year to get punished.
Get an agent. Go to their websites, look for their guidelines for submissions.
The agent will take care of most of the rest that’s involved.
Good luck to you!
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Just now noticed my comment has been waiting for approval since the tenth of the month. Was there something wrong with it?
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Oh dear, it must have gone into spam by the WordPress system. I’ve got to dig it out. My apologies, Paul.
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No worries. Thank you for checking (I just before this responded to the wrong post).
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My English is not so fluent, but I am really excited about your decision. Your book will be surely a best seller!!. Now I try to answer
What titles are attractive? Short, easy, encourangin
Where and how do I start? Your beginnings, your inspiration, your mistakes
Where do I find people to design the book cover? A literary agency
What should I put on the book cover? I don’t want a photo of me!!! A screen and a mouse painted by you
What should I write for the summary? Which were and whinch are your goals
Should I keep it light and sweet or heavy and in-depth? so and so
My congratulations, I’m so happy for you and I’m looking forward of reading your book!
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Thank you so much, Paola! You are an inspiration to me. I truly appreciate your thoughtful comment.
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I can answer with absolute certainty only to the first question, a title must be formed by the least possible number of words, better only one, but must leave a glimpse of what is behind the title itself. Films like The Exorcist and The Shark owe their fortunes to a short and effective title.
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Ah. Thank you for the useful advice. Right, short titles is a must. Going to dig out my brain for this.
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No worries. Thank you for checking.
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