Some of us write and don’t allow ourselves to even think we will publish because it seems out of our reach; others of us worry about publishing way too early, and, therefore, don’t write what we might.

Writing comes first, of course, and that means writing what you have in you to write and need to write. When you write from what concerns you, what captures your attention and what compels you to find out more than you ever thought you could, your work will be meaningful and will have an audience. It will take more to find that audience, though, than just having your book done. Gone are the days when the writer was only writing. Today’s writer is also often the publisher and the connector for their work, the live presenter at times, the blogger — at least a guest blogger, if not full-time — on their subject, the teacher if called to teach, and the, oh, right, writer of her next book. Sounds daunting? Yes, but you unnecessarily limit your writing life by shying away from even thinking about reaching an audience for your work and/or thinking too narrowly about your options once you are ready to publish.

Self-publish or find an agent? Electronic only or in print, too? Social media or in-person promotion? I’m an advocate of gathering information well before you absolutely need it, so you can rest assured that when you do absolutely need it, you can revisit the information and sharpen your focus. Reading the material offered at the following links will provide enough of what you need to know to see that publishing is possible and that you will be able to make the right choices when your writing is ready. You’ll be able to go back to your writing without the distraction of wondering what you’ll do when it comes time to consider publishing.

Jane Friedman is for me the go-to source for information on today’s publishing climate. Her experience, know-how, connections and ability to digest the information and share it widely are unparalleled.

Here are links to articles she’s written or invited guest writers to submit for her readers that will answer your questions fully, clearly, and succinctly:

• Start Here: How to Self-Publish Your Book by Jane Friedman

• After your read what she puts forth, you may want to read the Writing It Real article in which member Ronda Wiley-Jones tells us her publishing story in Writer Tells All: A Narrative About Self-Publishing.

• You might also benefit from re-reading Navigating the Online Publishing World, in which I have provided links to publications that might be interested in your work.

• Why Authors Walk Away from Good, Big 5 Publishers by Harry Bingham.
  Read what this author, whose been publishing regularly for 15 years, says about the past and next era in publishing — it’s uplifting!

• How E-books Have Changed The Print Market Place, Digital Book World, Day 3  Here Jane Friedman shares facts, statistics and ideas that will inform you about the use of social media to promote authors and books. At the end of the article with information from the Digital Book World conference, there are links to Day 2 (Amazon’s presentation) and Day 1 (about the status of the children’s book market).

• The Age of the Algorithm
  You’ll have to sign in and register for free to read this article on what’s ahead for those who publish and need to promote their books. You can then also read other free articles from the preview issue of Scratch, Jane Friedman’s new publishing endeavor. After the preview issue, the magazine costs $6 an issue. The mission statement is:

Very few people or publications speak openly about the economic realities of the publishing business. In our bare-it-all media culture, frank talk about money remains taboo. Writers often lack the context or insight to understand our own industry, even as that industry undergoes massive structural and economic changes. Scratch provides a home for open and sustained discussion of these experiences through high-quality content. Yes, we publish advice for writer—but we also go further, investigating the nuances of writers’ relationships to money, work, and publishing.

Ready to go ahead and approach an agent or a publisher with your book manuscript? You’ll need to write a query letter. Here are a few very good sources for figuring out what to write and how to organize what you write in the letter:

• How to Write the Perfect Query Letter by Brian Klems

• How to Write a Query Letter from AgentQuery.com

• Overwhelmed with where to go for finding more resources? AgentQuery.com maintains an easy to navigate database of literary agents and helpful sites about avoiding scams and more.

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Take a week or two and make learning about publishing a feature of your writing time. When the mysteries are cleared up, you will find even more energy for writing. You won’t be bogged down wondering how in the world you will learn the next steps. You will have a foundation. Hooray for the Internet!