So, You Want To Write A Book - Brian Brady - The RV Book Fair 2025

This is supposed to be a story to inspire readers; however, I’m not sure just how inspirational it is. What I want to convey to the reader or potential author just how complicated the process of writing, editing and hopefully publishing a book can be.

First there is the seemingly simple task of writing the story, and for some this is a relatively simple task. You have the idea for the story, you have crafted the plot and the sequence of events, and you reduce this to between 50,000 and 75,000 words. Don’t want to be too wordy or no one will read you manuscript.

Now you’re written your masterpiece, you’re cleared a spot on your shelf for the Nobel Prize in Literature and you just have to wait. Not so fast. You must get your masterpiece into presentable condition and by presentable, I mean edited. You cannot edit your own work and spell check and Grammarly won’t do it either. Just like college, you can’t proofread your own term paper. You need “fresh eyes”. You need a content editor, a line editor and a proofreader. Sometimes you can find a person that is able to combine these skills into a single entity, but usually you will need an editor and a proofreader.

You don’t want your masterpiece to have run on sentences or poor punctuation or misspelled words. If any of these appear in your finished product, you have discerning readers discovering the flaws and then reading on looking for more rather than reading your story. In short, you’re lost the reader.

Now you’re a computer literate author, familiar with social media and the internet, so you go to google and type in book editing. A few seconds later you have dozens of replies telling you how for a mere $2,500 they will make you a New York Times best-selling author in six weeks. They will edit you book, print your book and for another $2,500 they will even market your book…guaranteed.

Don’t do it. If it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true. New York Times best sellers are moving 10,000 copies and no new author, without an agent and a major publishing house behind them will ever hit anywhere close to those numbers. These internet miracle workers are guaranteed to take your money and leave you with a few copies of a poorly printed book. Then you try to enforce the “guaranteed money back” clause in your iron clad contract, only to find out the company that guaranteed your work is headquartered in Pakistan and is in legal term “judgement proof”. So, you are the proud owner of a couple of poorly edited and printed copies of your masterpiece, with no marketing and a $5,000 hole in your bank account. To make matters worse, if you didn’t read the fine print in your iron clad contract, you may have signed away your publishing rights to the company.

So, stay away from the internet and the one stop, too good to be true” vendors. You have to find a legitimate editor and proofreader. These people will charge for their services, but far less than the internet raiders. Potential sources are sites like “Upwork” or similar, where you can specify exactly what you’re looking for, and individuals will bid, or offer on your contract. You can request copies of their work, check references, contact the person directly and see if you’re a good fit. Then you hire them. You spread out your payments to coincide with milestones you create where the contractor delivers, and is compensated incrementally, for successful completion of each portion of the contract. You can’t rely on friends or fellow workers to do this work. While they may be well-meaning, they won’t have the skill set to do the work. That is unless you have a friend who happens to be an editor.

Now you have in your possession an edited and proofread manuscript, what’s next. Now you want to get your work published. You need an agent. Good luck. Agents are out there, but making an agent connection is next to impossible. You can go to Query Tracker and find agents that specialize in your genre and send them query letters and wait six to eight weeks for query rejections. I don’t know how to reach an agent successfully,

But you have your manuscript and hopefully the publishing rights, so you decide to self-publish. Great idea. Go to Amazon and follow the instructions and you can self-publish for very little money. The problem lies in the simple fact that you are now one of more than 1,000,000 self-published authors and you are lost in that creative mess. How do you make your book stand out from the rest; you advertise. How do you advertise? On Amazon you must have three published books and you pay for the advertising.

The next option is a hybrid model where you select a legitimate publisher and contract with them to publish your book. They will create a properly formatted,, complete with cover design, book for a price. It will go up on Amazon and be available for purchase. You are still lost in the crowd. You need marketing. You need a professional to get your work out there. You need book signings, social media, you need to be on talk shows and pod casts, you need exposure. This can be a publicist or a marketing company and they both cost money.

If you had an agent, the agent would handle all this for you. But you’re on your own in uncharted waters. It’s dangerous and it’s expensive.

So, if you want to be a writer; it’s a process. You just can’t be talented, you have to be persistent, disciplined and yes, lucky. If you can find an agent, you’re well on your way. For the rest of us, it’s trial and error, some success and lots of setbacks, and oh yes, lots of money. Good Luck!!

Born and raised in the heart of San Francisco,

Brian Brady drew inspiration from the City’s architecture, sports, traditions, and colorful characters. He began his career as a Police Officer before transitioning into Corporate Security, a path that took him from Berkeley to Farmington, New Mexico, and eventually back to the Bay Area. He later held executive roles at NBC Universal and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

These varied experiences exposed him to remarkable people and unforgettable stories. His debut novel, oh, what a tangled web, marked his entry into fiction. Following its success, he completed additional manuscripts featuring the same SFPD Homicide Inspectors. Their next cases unfold in hiding in plain sight and greed, his third book, releasing April 22, 2025, from Palmetto Publishing.

Brian now lives in Sonoma County with his wife, enjoying its calm beauty while remaining just an hour from the City that shaped him.

Find out more at: https://www.goldengatetales.com.

Article published in The Relatable Voice Magazine - December 2025 as part of The RV Book Fair 2025. Downolad the full magazine at https://www.relatable-media.com/the-relatable-voice-magazine