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The publishing industry has never had it so good. The introduction of the computer and the internet has led directly to great new developments in book publishing. As a result, the best selling Author/Publishing House must smile to the bank.

As a writer, you can benefit from this multi-billion dollar Industry. But first, you have to learn the ropes, pay your dues and know your onions - not necessarily in that order.

The first step to being a writer of best selling books is the most obvious step. Understand the publishing business. This means that you must have knowledge of books and the book world. You need to understand how the publishing industry works. Fin out all you can about e-books and audio-books, C.D.s and traditional book publishing. You must know what it is all about.

The next step is to know what the market wants to read. Notice that I have not mentioned being a good writer yet. For the guy that wants to publish best selling books, learning the business aspect of things is the pragmatic approach. After all, if you are a good writer but you publish books that people would not usually buy, how on earth will you ever get to become a best selling author?

Choose your niche. As you probably know, being a jack of all trades usually means you won't be a master of any. Do you want to write romance, adventure, horror, mystery, children's books or inspirational books? Make up your mind and become a specialist in your field.

Study. An observant individual once described success as "When preparation meets opportunity". You have to study the craft of writing very well and develop your writing skills. This does not necessarily mean you should be an egg head with a Master's Degree in Creative Writing. No, just take a writing course, attends seminars and work shops and generally hang out with writers.

Read:

This is a very obvious step for anybody that wants to write best-selling books. Read books by other best-selling authors. Study the plot, characterization and the writing style of these authors. Study the story line as well and try to figure out why these books are considered best-selling books.

Practice:

No matter how good you eventually become at the theory of writing, you won't ever get any where unless you practice writing consistently. You can begin with article writing, short stories, poems and features. In time, you will graduate to writing bigger volumes. Writing is a difficult and lonely profession. But, like everything else, it gets easier as you work at it.

Have an Agent:

Most reputable Publishing Houses won't talk to an unknown writer. They prefer to deal with literary agents. So get one and find a way to make him or her believe in you.

Be Daring:

If you have paid your dues, and you believe that you have a hot property on your hands, you have to be bold display an innovative self-belief. Take the risk and self publish your book. Give it publicity and market it yourself. If the book is good enough, it will get you the attention of the big Publishing Houses and then, you can name your price.

Finally, keep your eyes wide open and keep learning new trends. Writing best-selling books is a journey and not a destination. You have to keep working at it and hopefully, you will get there.

Learn more about this author, Emmanuel Osondu.
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