How do I go about becoming a Buddhist?

How do I go about becoming an author and publishing my first book?

• I want to become an author writing children's stories. How do I go about becoming an author and publishing my 1st book? Do I have to fork out my own money to publish my book in small quantity? How to go about doing it?

• Answer:

  First write some stories, revise and polish them. Pick the one you consider the best and submit it to publishers of children's books (there are many websites that tell you how to submit and where; google for them). Don't be discouraged by rejections, keep on submitting to other publishers, and submitting other stories. Don't worry about the illustrations when first submitting; publishers usually like to select their own illustrators. Now if you have done this for a while and gotten no results, you might want to find an illustrator of your own and design your own book. You can copyright it, self-publish in small quantities and try selling it on your own. You might even want to try submitting the self-published book again to publishers who previously rejected it, in case seeing it with illustrations could help them to visualize it in their product line. Do remember that publishing is a business. Your work might have great artistic value and yet not fit in with their marketing or commercial strategies. If your aim is to make money, you will have to adapt to the realities of the business world. Good luck!