There have always been creative people, but the rapid advancement of mass communications and information technology means that there are now opportunities to announce our creativity to the world like never before. Whether you are a musician or still life artist, composer or graphic designer, there is a vehicle through which you can share your work with your target audience with the click of a button in a search engine.

Probably no area of ​​creative expression has been as revolutionized by recent technology as that of the written word. Writers, even some very good ones, have long been hostages to the whim of the traditional publisher, whose instinct to cast off the blood and sweat of those who seek to make a living by printing their life’s work for someone, somewhere, may have the opportunity to do so. The opportunity to appreciate it sometimes seems almost gratuitous. The list of important works, some of them even classical, that were initially rejected by publishers is long and would continue to grow, were it not for the timely arrival on the stage of Print on Demand, or desktop publishing.

There is no minimum requirement

Desktop publishing is pretty much what it says on the tin. You write a book first, then you upload it, and then it appears on a publishing platform like Amazon for anyone to buy and read. Some platforms, like Amazon’s CreateSpace, provide templates to help with the formatting process or things like cover design, but for better or worse, the end product is yours. Modern printing technology allows the publishing platform to make a profit from a single sale, which is printed only if and when an order arrives, so no minimum number of orders is required before the project is viable.

Better yet, we now have the eBook. Many self-published authors record the majority of their e-book sales. Because it’s not about paper or physical printing, the royalty to the writer is higher when a buyer downloads their book to read on their laptop or Kindle.

You are the proofreader and the promoter

To manage expectations, creative writing is not, for most people, the realization of all of their financial dreams. It’s a source of income, something like a freelance job, a sports betting speculation bonus, or a response to online surveys. No more. However, it is also a unique opportunity to announce your creativity to the world, to put your talents in the showcase for others to see and appreciate.

There is a downside, of course, as is often the case. With no editor involved and no one else with a financial interest in your endeavors, no one will help or advise you unless it is someone you know or someone you pay. If your book contains spelling or punctuation errors, this is what the unwitting reader will look like. And, it goes without saying, it is up to the writer to promote the work, in the face of competition from literally millions of people around the world who will have followed the same path.

However, with careful planning and faith in your creative abilities, you can finally realize your dream of writing a book with full knowledge that it will end in print, and then use your contacts and social media portfolio to advertise and sell. . that. Working from home as a writer is now, finally, a totally realistic option.

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