I’ve wanted to be a writer my whole life. When I was in the second grade, I wrote a neighborhood newspaper on my parent’s typewriter, correcting errors with whiteout, making copies of my finished product and passing them out to the neighbors. The main headline usually said something like, “Leah’s Mom Yells At Her For Messing Up Bedroom”. You know, hard-hitting journalism. In eighth grade, I spent the whole summer on the typewriter creating an unfinished story about a magical stone that transports kids to another time and place. Very fantastical. And now, finally, after 37 years of dreaming, I have published my first book.
They always say write what you know, which is why it was so easy for me to write about my football playing days at Northwestern. Even though it’s been 19 years since I walked on the team, I remember it as if it was yesterday. Our story was amazing and true – worst team in Big Ten with the record for the longest losing streak wins two Big Ten titles. And my experiences as a walk-on who struggled to play and earn a scholarship is unique. I wrote my memories with confidence, and I used many resource materials to double check my facts. It took my five years of late nights at the computer before I finally felt good about publishing it. Since then, I’ve received great reviews and a lot of people have asked me how I did it. There are many of you reading this who dream of one day becoming an author. Heretofore, I will share with you my three main tips to becoming a published author.
1) Write
Easier said then done. I can’t tell you how many nights I didn’t feel like writing, but on many of those same nights, I would trudge away to be bitten by a spark of inspiration. I tried to write for at least an hour a day, and even though a lot of what I wrote was poor prose, I knew I could edit it later to make it flow. For me, the editing process is where I really shine. I spent hours poring over every sentence to make sure it read the way I wanted it to read. If you want to be an author, you have to write every day. Make a goal of two to three pages. Get it on paper. Once it’s on paper, then you can make the necessary changes. You might want to first do an outline of the story, the plot points, and the character arcs, so you can reference your notes along the way.
2) Research
After finishing my book, I had a lot of family and friends read it to get their impression of it. I then made spelling corrections and other changes they suggested. Sometimes I disagreed with their advice and left it alone. But their advice was invaluable. It gave me confidence to know I had a manuscript worth publishing.
I then went online to look for a publisher. Since it’s a sports book, I gathered all the addresses of sports publishers and contacted them via email. The only one to bite was Northwestern University Press. I didn’t let the other rejections bother me since I knew I could always self-publish. I began talking with Northwestern but they dragged their heels. I finally decided that self-publishing would be the best route. I could control the content, the marketing and earn more in profit. So which self-publishing company to go through? I did more research and decided to use lulu.com. I just felt most comfortable with the way they did business. The e-book was free to publish and I only paid for the cost of making the book. They kept a percentage of the profits, but less than a major publisher would.
3) Market
There is no moment greater than holding your published book in your hands for the first time. Right away, I got to work in promoting it. It’s a football book, so I sent free copies to sports magazines. I promoted it on facebook and Twitter. I creaeted my own website, www.MattStewartBooks.com, where I could direct people to read more about my book and buy it for themselves. I contacted Kevin Keitzman at 810 Sports and got on his show “Between The Lines”. I contacted the KC Star and they wrote two articles. I sent out press releases. I made calls. I did whatever it took to get my out book in the public eye, and once people started reading it, word of mouth helped drive additional sales. I also offered to give talks at high schools and assisted living facilities. While it really put me out there, I knew the only way to get people to read it was to keep talking about it. And I still am, as is evidence of this blog.
This Friday, I will be in Chicago for Homecoming and I scheduled a book signing at the Barnes and Noble on the Northwestern Campus. I am also signing books after the Northwestern Gridiron Network luncheon with head coach Pat Fitzgerald, who I played with at Northwestern. I have also scheduled a book signing at the Barnes and Noble at the Oak Park Mall on December 2nd. It’s a lot of work, but it’s well worth it. It’s been quite the learning process, doing it all on my own, but it’s also been fun learning the publishing business and since I plan to keep writing books, it will help me do a better job on the next one I publish.
Good luck to you on your own publishing journey. And when you do publish your book, please let me know. I love supporting local authors and would love to read your work.
You can reach Matt Stewart at matt.stewart@wdaftv4.com
