Publishing a Novel Is Not Risk-Free, but Writing One Is

While publishing a novel will never put you in any mortal peril, there are still risks associated with the practice that can have some aspiring writers second-guessing their decision offputting their pen to paper and sitting down to write their novel.

If you're one of these writers you're in luck!

There are zero risks when it comes to writing a novel. 

The Risks Of Writing A Novel 

Financial Risks: There's no guarantee that the money you put into making your book publishable (editing, formatting, marketing) will come back to you in sales.

Risk of Rejection: If you plan on traditionally publishing your work, there is always the high risk of rejection and if you plan on self-publishing the risk is still there. Only with self-publishing, the rejection would be from readers or from the stigma surrounding self-publishing where some look down on it. 

Risk of Bad Press: Some traditionally published books flop and some self-published books flop as well. Head on over to the big A->Z online store and scroll through the books. You'll come across books that have five stars as well as many that have only one or two stars, this can be devastating to see if the books are yours. 

Mental or Emotional Risk: Some books are written by stories we thought we would never tell. They can be the darkest moments of our own lives we are reliving and immortalizing on the page. This can cause strain or even damage to the writer. 

But when you are first writing your novel none of these matter.

Why You Should Write One Anyway 

Because there is no risk in just writing. 

There is no risk when it comes to writing a novel especially if it's written without the pressure of - "Well what will I do with it after I write it?" 

Leave that problem for later you to figure out. 

You don't have to spend money to write a novel.

You can't get rejected if you don't submit it anywhere. 

You also can't get negative reviews if you don't allow anyone else to read it. 

If your novel is too emotionally draining or negatively impacting you, then you can always change course. Or write it once just to release its hold on you and then never look at it again. 

Write first and foremost for yourself and then if you decide that you want to share it with the world you can build your pro and con list about traditional publishing versus self-publishing. 

Nothing should stop you from the beginning. 

Write. 

With love, 

B.K xoxo

Want to write with me live? I'm now on Twitch! Come join me in some writing sprints most days at 10:00 pm EST

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