Authors, want to know how to publish your book? Here is a practical guide.

Deepak M R

Saiswaroopa Iyer is an author who needs no introduction. She is one of the authors who pioneered Puranic fiction in India with books exploring tales from the Puranas. Being one of the country's leading Indic authors and a well-known speaker participating in literature fests and TV shows, she is a well-known name in the literary world. After many successful novels, she is now helping other writers through her authorpreneur series.

The authorpreneur concept by Saiswaroopa is exciting. She envisages an author who uses his/her book as a medium to become an entrepreneur. The authorpreneur is one who sees the entire process of bringing out a book as an entrepreneurial activity. In this series, she plans to take readers through the entire journey from draft to becoming a successful author.

In the first book of this series, Saiswaroopa discussed ideating - the process of converting an idea into a book form. She wrote about creating the book outline, story structure, time management while writing, and other issues. After reading the first book, you should now have created the first cut of your book. You can read my review of her first book here: https://www.amazon.in/gp/customer-reviews/R1FNY7AHIGD9MA/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0C2YJNX8G

How to take this forward by editing and polishing your uncut diamond? How do you publish the book so it reaches the readers? Should you choose traditional publishing or self-publishing? These are some common questions that every author would have. The answers to all these questions are found in 'Publish that Book.'

I have personally been through this journey and faced many challenges as an Indic author. The biggest challenge is choosing between self-publishing and traditional publishing. As an author, one must understand the differences between these two forms and their pros/cons. Once that is done, the next step is to actually go ahead and publish the book.

Publishing a book is not all that easy. The process can be daunting for new authors. Thanks to Saiswaroopa, authors now have a guide that takes them through the publishing journey. In future parts of this series, authors can learn how to sell their book and make it an entrepreneurial venture. Let's now take a quick look at what this book offers.

Once the draft is ready, it is not yet ready to reach the reader. There would be grammatical mistakes and other issues in the book. Editing is the process where errors are removed and the book is finetuned, making it fit for publication. The book explains about self-editing and professional editing. It introduces authors to beta-reading and explains how it can be implemented.

Like the first part in this series, the book is practical to the core. There are no theoretical treatises but only practical guidelines that add value. For example, practical examples of editing, like structural editing, line editing, copy editing, etc., are explored in the book. A key feature of this book is that it explores the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it can help the author.

Saiswaroopa writes about using AI in the process of creating a book. Another interesting feature of this book is sections created using AI. It allows authors to understand the capabilities of AI. There is a feeling that AI will replace humans. The reality is humans can ask AI to work smarter and get better results. This book helps authors understand the potential of AI in the process of creating a book.

Once you are done with editing, the next step is to publish the book. The process of getting published by traditional publishers is quite elaborate. It is not an easy process, and most authors find it confusing. This book makes the complex process easy by explaining how to approach a traditional publisher.

To get published, you must submit a proposal to the book publisher. This book explains how to create a proposal that would impress publishers. Another way of getting published is by working with literary agents. The book explores this option in clear terms. You must bring the book out by working with the publisher's editorial and marketing teams. Saiswaroopa gives you practical advice on this crucial aspect.

In case you choose self-publishing, you will probably choose Kindle. This book explains how to get going on Kindle. It has valuable advice on how to price your book, choose the right publishing category, and finally release the book.

At this stage, you are a published author with your book available in the market for readers. It is a proud moment for every author, but it is not the final step. It is, in fact, the first step. Saiswaroopa concludes the book by telling you what the next steps would be.

I have had the honour of working with Saiswaroopa, the curator of the book, where I got first published. She also helped me get my first solo book published by a traditional publisher. I had the opportunity of getting her help firsthand. Not everyone can get such an opportunity of being mentored by a bestseller author in person.

For all of them, this series is gold! The series is a practical guide to becoming an author. The series presents all the intricacies and nitty gritty of the publishing process. Getting your book published is a tough job. The book helps make it easy.

If you are an aspiring author, then the series and this book is an essential guide. Even if you are already a published author, you will find things you didn't know in this book. The guidelines the book presents will be extremely helpful.

Saiswaroopa is doing a great service to the literary world by bringing out this service. Kudos to her. There are many other such publishing guides in the market. Why this book stands out is because it is totally practical in nature. It gets straight to the point without beating around the bush. Indic authors would find the book and series highly useful since it addresses all their concerns.

I strongly recommend this book for all authors and to-be-authors. Anyone interested in the journey to becoming an author should read this book. If you are considering becoming an entrepreneur and are interested in writing as a career, reading this book and series is a must.

Deepak M R is a professional writer and author, who has previously worked in academics, training, and consulting. He is the author of the novel ‘Abhimanyu – the warrior prince’ (Bloomsbury, 2021). He is also a contributing author in the anthology Unsung Valour (Bloomsbury, 2020) and a KDP e-book ‘Mahabharata Tales: Justice for Draupadi and other stories’. He is an avid fan of Hindi film music.