Did you know? Over half of Brits would like to write a book! Luckily for them, and all other aspiring writers, it has never been easier to write, self-publish, and share your literary creations thanks to digital publishing platforms like Calaméo. Today, we will share our quick guide on how to write and publish your first novel with Calaméo.
How to write a novel
Writing a novel is similar to writing a novella or short story, the main steps are the same. However, it will require even more preparation, writing and proofreading time.
The main steps for writing your novel
To write your novel, you need to follow a few major steps. As you will see, it’s not the writing that will take the most time, but rather the preparation and proofreading that will be the most time-consuming tasks.
Preparation
- Choosing the genre of the novel (crime, historical, fantasy, etc.)
- Reflecting on the narrative
- Character sheets
- Detailed chronological plan of the different scenes and actions
- Researching places, dates, events
- Reflecting on the main themes to be addressed
Writing
- Writing each scene
Proofreading
- Initial proofreading (several times)
- Corrections
- Rewriting scenes
- Final proofreading
Our tips
The process of writing a novel can look very different depending on the author. Here are a few general tips that may help you:
- Think carefully about the type of narrator and point of view (first person, second person, third person, etc.)
- Base your imaginary locations on real locations (use photos as inspiration)
- Make sure to respect the different characters: their choices and reactions must correspond to them
- When writing the first draft of your novel, never go backwards. Always go forward and do not correct or rewrite anything. Save it for the rewriting stage. Otherwise, you may never finish!
How to self-publish your novel with Calaméo
Publishing your content on Calaméo requires only a few steps and offers many advantages.
Page layout
In your word processor, make sure you choose a layout that is comfortable for your readers to read. Think of your design as a real book: the font must be legible. Avoid serif fonts and ensure that the font size is large enough to read on a screen (including mobile!).
💡 TIP: Make sure you export your document in a format accepted by Calameo.
Uploading to Calaméo
Putting your novel online is quick and easy on Calameo: it’s just one click away! Thanks to our unique technology, your documents are transformed in just a few seconds into superb flipbooks suitable for reading everywhere.
Enrichments
Our Editor tool enables you to enrich your publications with multimedia. Easily add videos, audio tracks, images, and both internal and external links to turn your novel into a unique reading experience!
Sharing
Once your novel is published on Calaméo, you can share it with the entire world. Embed it in your website or blog, create a digital library, share it on your social media pages, send it via email…you have so many choices!
Share all your literary creations with the world today by creating your free Calaméo account!
