Publishing a Book is a Personal Process – Interview with Writer and Publicist Dr. René Kanzler
I often see that authors lack two things: Content and craft. Writing is a craft that needs to be learned and practiced. The biggest challenges for authors are the authors themselves. If you work with a good proofreader, you get a fresh look at your writing and can see where there is still room for improvement – advises the successful writer and publicist, Doctor of Philosophy René Kanzler.
Dagmara Nawratek: You are the author of several books: “Tageszeitenwanderung”, “Der Kairos”, “Ein Abgesang auf die Stadt” and “Über das Wesen der Kunst” Which of them gave you the most satisfaction in writing and why?
René Kanzler: I think I felt the greatest fulfillment and satisfaction in writing while I was creating the book “Der Kairos”. I wrote this book while studying philosophy at the University of Erfurt. There I came into very close contact with Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy and his literary writing style, as well as with German Romanticism. At the same time, I received a lot of inspiration during my appearances on reading stages and in discussions with the audience after the readings. During this time, I began to write literary texts not just to be read silently, but to be read aloud or recited. Stylistic influences from Nietzsche or Romanticism were combined with impressions from my philosophy studies and my life in Erfurt. I included all this and so much more in the book. With “Der Kairos”, I was able to show myself for the first time that I can write complex poetic texts with a high degree of linguistic power. That is why the book still makes me very proud today. And when I occasionally read the texts again, I quickly notice how good I felt back then when I was writing the texts and conceiving the book. I cordially invite the readers of our magazine to read my book, which can be found under the ISBN number ISBN 978-3981635126. It can also be found on Amazon: Link.
Tell me, please, what are the three most important tips you would give to people planning to publish their first book?
My three recommendations are:
1, Think carefully about what you want to write as an individual in your book, that is, write something that consists of your thoughts and feelings and do not repeat what many have repeated before.
2, Find the right genre for your thoughts and feelings, for example a novel is not always the most suitable genre for everyone, and each genre brings different challenges.
3, Learn about the economics of book publishing and the book market, as this will help you to successfully get your book to many readers.
As a proofreader with many years of experience, you help writers find the right way to express their thoughts and put their valuable knowledge on paper in a clear way. What are the most important problems writers face?
I often see that authors lack two things: Content and craft. Authors are often driven to publish something because they associate different values and objectives with the publication. This quickly leads to them not paying enough attention to what they want to say in the first place and whether what they want to say has not been said countless times before. Here, I always try to at least highlight the places where the author begins to say something individual and new in order to motivate them to go into more depth with further comments. Furthermore, writing is a craft that needs to be learned and practiced. Authors often neglect this. I am not so much concerned with spelling and grammar, which of course can often be improved, but with a basic understanding of how language works. With appropriate comments, I then try to help the authors realize what effects formulations can or cannot have, whether their statements are conveyed clearly enough linguistically and whether everything results in a consistent overall picture. To summarize, I can only say from my experience that the biggest challenges for authors are the authors themselves.
What advice would you give to writers before they start writing their first chapter?
In my opinion, the structure of the entire book should be completely outlined at least once before the first chapter. Of course, you change a lot in the writing process, but I recommend not writing the first chapter without an overall plan, otherwise contradictions and breaks in the narrative can quickly be found in the book, which more than just harm the reading experience. Special attention should also be paid to the first few pages. After all, the first chapter is the text that is read first and decides whether the entire book is devoured or put down again straight away. It should be adapted to the selected reader group in such a way that it immediately appeals to them. It can therefore be advantageous to draft different versions before finally tackling the first chapter, to let them sink in or, if necessary, to invite people to test-read them in order to recognize which formulations and introductions to the book make sense.
Publishing your own book not only allows you to take care of the prestige of your own personal brand, but also helps you reach a dedicated group of your desired recipients. What else can you get by investing in book publications?
First of all, you learn a lot about how a book should be structured. In concrete terms, this means that you learn, for example, how the layout of a book, the book cover or the order of the texts should look. At the same time, if you work with a good proofreader, you get a fresh look at your writing and can see where there is still room for improvement. A good proofreader can also help you to gain new perspectives on potential readers, for instance by pointing out that certain wording is better suited to certain groups of readers or that written ideas can be better emphasized in an alternative way. Depending on how much you promote your book and whether you organize readings, for example, you learn a lot about the effects of language and marketing. Readers give you feedback and so you find out what of what you actually wanted to communicate was really received by the readers or not. You also learn to understand the processes that determine whether your book is noticed or not. Ideally, you will know how to use these processes to make your book even better known. Ultimately, publishing a book is also a personal process. You deal intensively with a topic. You develop your thoughts, optimize your writing skills, think things through, discard ideas, come up with new ones or simply feel desperate or euphoric. All such events, moods and processes are ultimately immortalized, so to speak, with the publication of the book. Readers can now hold the result of all this in their hands or read it digitally. And as an author, you also see your own work, the entire creative process and all your own thoughts and feelings captured in the book. For me at least, that is always a very fulfilling experience.
It is no wonder that so many people and various professionals in different fields use this tool to create their professional image. Writers can not only publish their own books, but also participate in inspiring group projects, thanks to which they can not only share their own stories with others, but also gain new business contacts, an example of which is our new project – a book entitled “How to Achieve a Master Level in Business and Art. Inspiring Interviews with Successful People”, in which we cordially invite our successful and ambitious readers to participate. LINK Thinking about projects such as this, however, the question arises of how to prepare the text for such a project, so that the text stands out from the stories of other authors.
Above all, it is important to write authentic texts that tell one’s own story and personality. Especially for Masterclass Business & Art, it is always a benefit when the authors and interviewees tell their own personal story, because the individual thoughts and passions that they share with the world give readers the opportunity to learn and gain new perspectives. Only what you think and feel yourself is of value. This needs to be written down in the text. If this is done by all participants in a group project, the result is something that is more than the sum of its parts. This is precisely one of the many hallmarks of Masterclass Business & Art. And that is why I would like to cordially invite you to participate in the magazine, as well as in the book “How to Achieve a Master Level in Business and Art. Inspiring Interviews with Successful People” LINK.
Interviewed by: Dagmara Nawratek, www.masterclassmagazine.com, pr@masterclassmagazine.com
Answered by: Dr. Rene Kanzler, www.rene-kanzler.com, info@rene-kanzler.com
Pictures by (top down) Dagmara Nawratek, Ron Lach on Pexels, cottonbro studio on Pexels, Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels, Thought Catalog on Pexels.
