It was the month of May. I was feeling extremely low. My self-confidence was at its bottom; I was keeping myself busy with creative distractions.

But the month should have come with happier hues because in April I got my first two books released as their paperback editions and submitted my third book’s draft to my writing mentor for her feedback.

So, as a budding author, I was on a roll! I must have been celebrating my literary endeavors.

But surprisingly, I was dwelling on the other side of happiness. However, when I was looking for something new to keep myself engaged with, I came across a notification from Blogchatter, our very own blogging community.

An email followed the notification and ta da! I found my next junction.

I shared with my writing mentor that I was going to participate and she wished me luck. But the story wasn’t smooth in the next few days.

Although I was excited to enroll in the Ready to Publish program, a part of me kept myself insisting to explore new facets of the publishing industry, however, the other part of me kept discouraging me not to participate as it could become an overwhelming experience altogether.

About Ready to Publish:

The Team Blogchatter asked the authors to submit 4 assignments that include the Manuscript (The first three chapters or first 1500 words of the MS) along with a bio and synopsis. This assignment was sent to the team for a thorough evaluation.

So, this program was meant to help the newbie authors to convert their ideas into books. In addition, they organized exclusive workshops and activities to hone our ideas and equipped ourselves with better outcomes.

The program duration was from 1 June to 30 June 2023.

My Experience:

It was a matter of stress for me as I wanted to send a fresh manuscript (the first 3 chapters), and starting to write a new book seemed like the toughest job at that time because I was suffering from writer’s block after working relentlessly on my third book.

So, at first, I thought of sending the first three chapters of my recently written MS which is my third book. But again, the other part of me told me to explore a new genre of writing.

It was the time when I started searching for a new theme to start writing my fourth book; and voila! I found the theme, as it was something that I am very passionate about.

Mental Health.

Along with this, I also realized the fact that we often ignore.

As soon as I found the solution, I started writing about my experience with mental health problems and how I found a solution that gave me relief from the stress or anxiety. Thus, I submitted my first assignment and then waited for the workshops conducted by Blogchatter to learn more and submit the other assignments.

I would like to say a big Thank You to Sona Grover from the A-Team, who patiently heard and answered to all my queries during this program.

About the Workshops:

The team has done an outstanding job to bring some experts on board. We had 4 workshops:

Workshop 1: The Right Publishing Platform for you with Neil D’Silva

Workshop 2: The Ins and Outs of Traditional Publishing with Dipankar Mukherjee

Workshop 3: Book Marketing with Andaleeb Wajid

Workshop 4: How to publish through Kindle Direct Publishing with Shilpa Suraj

About the Assignments:

Apart from the workshops, we had some assignments to submit to the Team Blogchatter. The four assignments included:

Assignment 1: Identify the publishing platform that’s best for you

Assignment 2: Write a query letter

Assignment 3: Create a book launch checklist and post-launch marketing activities

Assignment 4: Design your book cover

So, from these assignments, I came to know the practical aspects of book writing and the marketing aspects of book promotion.

My Learnings:

In today’s world, writing a book is not enough; you need to manage the promotional side as well. This is a harsh truth but relevant to this age of publishing careers.

Although young writers find it adventurous, many times, aged writers find it difficult and confusing to get help in their book editing, proofreading, publishing, promoting, and marketing procedures.

Therefore, it will be great if we can register for such publishing initiatives or programs to know the nitty-gritty of publishing like a pro. And this is why, we are grateful to Team Blogchatter for coming up with this wonderful program to help and support the newbie authors.

Flaunting my Ready to Publish 2023 certificate to give myself some dose of motivation:

Here are the areas of my learnings from Ready to Publish 2023:

1. How to get help from the local publishers
2. When to choose self-publishing and when to choose traditional publishing
3. How to seek promotional help from your community
4. The important aspects of using marketing tactics to promote your book
5. What you should keep in mind while pitching to a publishing house
6. How to tweak your writing style to turn the ordinary write-up into an ‘extra-ordinary’ narrative
7. How to ‘align’ your book’s theme/plot/body to the ‘marketing’ perspective
8. What are the factors that help you reach your book to the target audience
9. How to get help from the literary agents
10. How to choose the background color and the other elements to design my book cover

My learning didn’t stop there. Recently, I received my RTP certificate and feedback from Team Blogchatter. They have minutely examined my assignments and shared their insights as much-needed improvement tips.

For example, their suggestions regarding my author bio helped me understand my fault as I elaborated it unnecessarily. I learned from the feedback that it’s better to keep your author bio short and crisp.

Concluding Thoughts:

Overall, it was a great experience to take the plunge into the learning ride with Team Blogchatter. I am happy that I gave myself a chance to explore the new aspects of writing a book and started writing my fourth book, sailing myself on the boat with my fellow authors.

However, it will take around six months to one year to bring out the book. But as of now, I am waiting to read and review the books of my fellow authors who onboarded this program.

What a zeal to give a shoutout and promote their books as their success feels like mine.

Here are my best wishes to the budding authors from the Blogchatter community and gratitude to Team Blogchatter for organizing such a nice publishing program for us, the budding authors.

Although we are yet to reach our literary goals but with all the enthusiasm and encouragement from the community, I believe the day is not far.