How’s your book coming along? Which one? That one you’ve been dreaming about doing for years.
My father was a successful internist who inherited his mother’s Irish sense of humor. He mentioned for years about doing one on funny things patients did. He gathered a lot of stories together, but he never compiled them. I wish that he had. It’s too late now.
There’s been a revolution in the publishing industry in the last decade or two. It’s easier than you probably imagine to do your own book.
Especially if you are a Baby Boomer (like me) or older, why don’t you do it now?
In a sense, whenever an adult human being dies it’s as if a library was destroyed. Everyone has a story worth telling.
Completing your book is self-actualization. It’ll be an achievement that too few people emulate. If you dream of writing one, please keep reading. If not, this post isn’t for you.
I’ve heard many people express the idea that they have little to write about, that they don’t think they have a book in them. If you are 15, perhaps that’s true. If you are 55, that’s undoubtedly false.
Are you a Baby Boomer or older who’d like to redact a set of family stories to pass along to your heirs?
Are you an adult who successfully negotiated an identity crises when you were 17 and would like to share what you learned with troubled teens?
Have you beaten cancer or lost a significant amount of fat and kept it off for 5 years or broken an addiction to tobacco or an illegal drug? Why not help others do the same?
Do people often enjoy hearing your stories? Why not write a good yarn that will entertain and, perhaps, educate people? Perhaps your specialty is telling bedtime stories to children. Why not do a book for them?
Maybe you are an avid reader of romances or mysteries. Didn’t you ever have the thought, “I could write one at least as good as this?” Why not do it?
Suppose you have been employed doing the same kind of job for 10 or 20 years. What have you learned about how to do, and how not to do, work like that? Others who are similarly employed, as well as those who would like to be, might really benefit from lessons you learned the hard way.
What if you do work that involves one-on-one interaction with prospects you’d like to turn into customers, clients, or patients? Why not do a book that would educate those prospects and, so, position you as the friendly, helpful expert?
There are many reasons for doing your book. Why not pick the best and get going?
How to Proceed
Having written over a dozen books myself, let me provide you with three initial suggestions. (You’ll find similar suggestions in my soon-to-be-released book How to Become Happily Published.)
First, fill in this sentence with your primary reason for doing your book: “I am doing this book because _________.” Actually write it down.
“I am doing this book because I successfully stopped smoking pot and I want to help others do the same.” “I am doing this book because I’m a real estate agent and I’d like to help homeowners showcase their houses more effectively.” “My grandchildren love my stories and I’m doing this book for those children who don’t have a grandparent to tell them stories.”
Second, stop thinking about writing your book. That seems like counter-intuitive advice, doesn’t it? It’s not.
The reason it’s not is because we all have a tendency to put authors on a pedestal. We admire them, especially the great ones. I know that I could never write a story like Dostoevsky or an essay like Hume. Why, then, even try?
However, it doesn’t follow that I cannot write a story that someone might enjoy or an essay that might help someone. I’m not trying to beat or match any great authors; instead, I’m just trying to be the best author I am able to be.
Not thinking about your book as a book will help you do that. Start thinking of it simply as writing a story or a report. That you have already shown you are able to do!
Third, notice that I am talking about doing your book. I am not necessarily talking about writing a book. There’s no need to write a book!
Here’s why: use modern technology to help you, especially if you don’t like writing.
Let’s suppose, for example, that you are a real estate agent. Arrange an hour or two when you will be fresh and won’t be interrupted. Jot down (or record) a list of 20 or 50 questions someone who is in the market to purchase a house will or should ask about the best way to purchase one. Just brainstorm and come up with the list of questions – not the answers.
The following day, sit down in front of a digital recording device and begin answering those questions out loud. Do this for 30 to 60 minutes daily until you have all the questions answered. Just imagine that a prospect was before you asking each question and answer as if you were simply talking to that prospect.
This procedure has the enormous advantage that you’ll tend to stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about your reader.
Go to http://www.voicebase.com/ and have that recording transcribed for free! There’s the first draft of your book! It’s that simple.
Rewrite the transcript. Correct the mistakes in it. Delete what won’t really benefit your reader. Add anything important that you realize later you left out.
Here’s a link to my free list of writing resources that I myself use: writing resources. If you make use of some of my recommendations, you’ll really be able to improve the clarity (and hence the value) of your transcript.
Then go to CreateSpace and, after formatting the text, upload it and order a physical proof copy of your book. It will set you back probably less than $10 (including shipping). Revise its text carefully. Upload the revised text and have some copies printed to give to friends. Once you get some feedback from them, correct its most important weaknesses, and improve its strengths. Upload another version and there’s your book! You’ll be proud of it.
If you adopt the right attitude about getting your book done, you’ll discover for yourself that it’s a fun project. In fact, you may want to do another.
Or you may want to encourage others to do the same, as I have just done here.
Best wishes!
[Do you know someone who might benefit from reading this post? If so, please pass it along.]
Writing—Pascal Maramis (Flickr.com)
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