yourself, or whether you want to either collaborate with a known writer, or hire a ghost writer.

It's a big decision. Because this is an autobiography, it really has to be up to you to make that decision, or be prepared to spend a lot of time with a writer who will tape conversations with you and convert them to prose.

If you are well known or have some remarkable life story it will be easier to find a collaborator or a ghost writer.

The alternative is to approach one of those companies that actually has writers on staff whose sole job is to turn your ideas into a finished manuscript. I have no idea what that costs, but it will cost more if the writer is working from scratch, as opposed to the preferable situation where you bring them a manuscript of some kind as a stepping off point. What you bring them doesn't have to be a finished manuscript, or a masterpiece, but it would need to be something tangible that is thorough enough that a ghost writer can get a sense of your literary voice. (Because a ghost writer's job is to adopt your voice and tell your story from your perspective).

With a manuscript that is mostly finished, you would probably be assigned an editor rather than a writer.

Another thing you can do is write an outline, or better yet a proposal--maybe in the 20 page range or so. That could also serve as a working basis to open discussions about how you might go about this.

Please keep us posted if you decide to proceed. It's an exciting process to write a book, to reach the milestones of having a completed final draft you are happy with and to see that manuscript turned into a finished book.

The first two used a publisher that went out of business in 2009, Third was self-published.
ASK me anything. LOL

What kind of books did you write?

Illustrated…
@susanzoondevlin on insta. Book links in bio.

I was considering it for some time, attended a small group of published writers. One was nationally known, a talk show guest, one published several Amazon titles and then found a publisher for the next one, one self-published on Amazon.

Amazon is a niche market.

I attended a lecture by a business author who claimed 92% of books never make a dime.

In the 1980s everyone wanted to write but few were word processing. Today everyone writes, everyone has software, many have advanced degrees, so there is plenty of supply in the publishing market. I suspect we have a lower percentage of readers than 35 years ago.

Interested in your reaction and feel free to disagree.

I am also a fine artist and, forgive me, but I think the opportunity to break through in the arts is over.
Unless you have someone in your corner with influence, or if you are picked up by a major publisher, there is very little money to be made.
For me, this is a personal achievement project.
Also, my writing is ‘ speculative fiction’ Horror.
A niche for sure.
Anyway… they can put it on my tombstone right?
If you want to check me out: @susanzoondevlin on Instagram. Book links in my Bio.

Pastels, interesting. Thanks for letting us take a look, bookmarked for reference.

Yes the guy who wrote 6 novels asked us, "Do you want to spend 3,000+ hours writing a book with no guarantee of audience or payoff?" Maybe authors were always struggling artists too, but we didn't notice because bestsellers kept the bookstore lights on.

You are not wrong about best sellers keeping the lights on.
In 2005, when I was actively marketing my book, I became friendly with the regional manager of Barnes and Nobel in New York and he told me, that they were going to stop having author signings.
He said that costumers DO NOT BROWSE. They come in with a book in mind that they want to purchase and that’s it. He said that if I was not on TV I didn’t stand a chance of getting wider readership and he was not wrong.
Thanks for giving me a look.

Science Fiction, Crafts, Art, some Science, some History, Nature, and Magazine racks.
Seems unless you're looking at ?piblishers' listing's, and book reviews- how are you find new items, other than word of mouth?

But for instance; there's a few books by one of my favorite authors that I need new copies of; since I fully, or partly reread my favorities. Will get over timfavorites. So I'll buy one, or two, and then I'll go browse.

It's a pretty straightforward process as long as you have a good word processor and graphics app. I used MS Word and Paintshop Pro. With MS Word I generated the properly formatted docx file and selected a blank cover template that I filled in with a jpeg from Paintshop Pro, but you can select one of Amazon's cover templates that you just fill in the text yourself. I needed MS Word to customize my incipits and have graphic dinkuses but it's probably simpler if you don't need that level of control.

And yeah, don't expect to make money.

It is fairly easy to do. Just follow their templates and stuff and you will get there. I cannot tell you the weird feeling I got when I opened that first test print. To actually hold a book that you laid out, edited, and proofed is something. I don't know what, but it is something.



(Forgot to add that I had never done anything like that before. I write things, but I have ever had them published before.)

The only good reason to write a book is because you want to write a book. It best if you feel you have to write a book, that you must do so to feel complete. Few books make money. If money is your object, there are many easier, more lucrative ways.