Has anyone successfully published a book? I’d value your opinion!

[bitgs]

I have something I want to write about. I’m reasonably good at writing. Am I being deluded in thinking I could do this? I don’t know if my passion for what I want to write about is clouding my judgment.

That’s very vague, especially given that you don’t yet have a first draft. Many debut authors are published each year, so publishing a book is possible. Whether your book will good and marketable enough is a different question.

Publishing is hugely competitive, because there are many more manuscripts out there than publishing slots to be filled. There aren't many hard numbers out there for a variety of reasons, but last time I looked into it the best guess was 1 in 4,000 debut manuscripts submitted to agents will eventually be published.

The only way to know if you're the 1 in 4,000 is to write it and submit it to agents.

What's the book about?

There is a published author in my family and I can tell you it is very very difficult to get an agent let alone get published. Not all his books have been taken up for publishing.

You could self-publish if you could afford it?

Otherwise you write your book and submit it to literary agents. Your manuscript will then be looked at by readers for the agent who may flag it up to their agent as a possibility, or will more likely return it to you with a No Thanks.

Write it and see! Good luck!

It is very, very difficult. It's certainly almost impossible to make a liveable career out of it.

But I've had a couple of books published. I made about a year's salary out of the first book and half a year's out of the second. I'm now back in my day job.

I've also had eight books rejected. That sort of publishing journey is pretty normal- certainly more normal than those who get published and make loads of money out of their first book.

It is possible, and I'm being negative just because I'm having a bad day. But I think it's worth bearing in mind that the process requires isolation and dedication- both of which you might be cool with. The financial payoffs at the end for that level of commitment are not great.

But go for it! Everything worth doing is hard. It is hugely exciting every time I see one of my books in a shop!

I have self published two books, which are doing really well. I don’t have the patience for trad publishing and am a bit of a control freak so I didn’t even attempt to go down that route

No idea! It depends what you're asking. Could you write a reasonable book about a subject you are passionate about? Maybe
Would other people find it interesting enough to buy it therefore making it financially viable? Doubt it but maybe.
Write it anyway for your own satisfaction then try and get it published, if not consider self publishing. Don't ask your friends and family to read it and give feedback though, and don't pressure them to buy or worse still sell copies.

Yes, I have, and now write full-time.

Without meaning to sound like an absolute dick, my journey to writing as a career was really smooth, and I didn't struggle to find an agent or a publisher. I'm sorry, I know that sounds obnoxious when so many people do struggle. But I came to writing very late in life after decades in a different unrelated career and fell into writing by accident.

I think it's important to be realistic but also to let people know that it IS possible, and you never know what potential you might have unless you try.

But don't write with the intention of being published or making money, write because you love it. People get hung up on the practical stuff about agents and publishers but the actual process of writing is much, much harder than most people think. That's why tons of people start books or have ideas for books but only a handful actual complete a book. So don't worry about the business side until you've actually completed writing your book, and then even if you don't get trad published you'll still have written a book (which is a massive achievement in its own right) and you can explore different options from there.