By Bob McCrillis
You’ve finished your novel. People you trust have read the draft and enjoyed it. Now what? I’m assuming you would like to have readers other than friends and relatives.
Setting aside the options of running down to the local copy shop, you have two possible choices. Traditional publishing or self-publishing – now called indie publishing.
Traditional publishing offers the resources to deliver a best-seller to the market. Its principal drawback — and it’s a big one — is the fine screen your book will have to get through. You have to make two tough sales, the first to an agent, then to the publisher. A secondary obstacle is the slow pace of the industry. You should plan in years. Continue reading “Self-Publishing: Is It Right For Me?”
I diligently took notes on such arcana as story arcs, critical turning points, characterization, and the primacy of points of view. According to the books, my next step — the first that called for actual writing — was to prepare my outline. The more detailed my outline, the better. The outline should include major and minor turning points, and the critical conflicts. My next task was to complete detailed worksheets describing my characters. With that done, writing your novel is mere word play.
It didn’t take long to discover that the question of genre is critically important to the people who sell books. Readers tend toward books similar to the ones they’ve already read and enjoyed – hence the popularity of a series. If you’re in the business of selling books, knowledge of the preferences of the market is critically important. 
Pearl S. Buck Writing Center 