Go where you can go to avoid idea overload to gain focus and clarity. It can be overwhelming. Everyone starts at the beginning, no matter where your beginning is. You will flounder around like a fish out of water without help and paying to have the help you need should never be an option. P T Barnum said, “There is a sucker born every minute.”
Go where you can go and do not believe the hype. Not one soul knows what you will be capable of doing in your lifetime, other than you. None of the Gurus who are living today will actually help. It is all about the Benjamins for them. Believe that to be a fact.
Go where you can go but research to determine if a book deal will be what you expect. Ask what will be done afterward. Know what you will pay to have what is proposed to be done and understand what you can expect.
Know where you want to go because even having a publisher will not have your work promoted and advertised. That is not what is done. You will have one guaranteed honest promoter, only YOU and it will require a plan and diligence and focus and clarity and perseverance and trying everything you can think of to do. Use what you can use from people who are organized to give advice that is free and to honestly attempt to help. Every dollar you spend should have no less than two coming back to you. Figure it out. That means relying on what you KNOW to be true and what will be helpful for you. Building your brand is a term someone devised that describes having your presence known. You is the key word. You will do the work of writing the best manuscript that will be possible for you. What you do after doing that work may cost you thousands of dollars, needlessly. Others have done it. A cheap editor will never give correct work and an expensive editor may not give work you desire. Money spent without knowledge will surely be money lost.
Go where you want to go as using social media will be one of your best aids. Your ranked website may be your primary source of sales. Spend part of you free time writing and a part on building your brand on social media. I did not hire an editor for Lovers Lies and Lilies Part Two. I employed different means to have the text edited. That was an estimated savings of one thousand dollars.
Go where you want to go by having your website highly ranked by Google. It should be one objective. Speed of loading was my prime cause for choosing the hosting I have now. Mutual Transitions as a story grew from the vision of a head butler listening to people brag about their child, when he turned away and said in a low voice, “Heaven Help Us”, ( https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/501420 ) was the first book I wrote and published. Your website can be simple to do and inexpensive with determination and help such as How To Build A Website in 2022 youtube https://superthemes.co/ali-abdaal/ to look at a possibility. https://www.sheengurrib.com/ for an alternate exposure. Explore and learn. Everything has a price. Be self-sufficient when you are able and save, save, save.