Reasons Not To
I hope the reasons to write and publish a book are obvious: being a published author makes you an authority, which helps you build your business. That’s the whole point of Thought Leadership activities.
Let’s look at reasons you might not want to or not be able to write a book.
I Don’t Know Enough
This is the number one reason I hear. Well— I should call it the number one excuse, really, since it’s a terrible reason not to write a book.
If you’re a chiropractor, a plumber, a personal injury attorney, a church pastor, music teacher, an A/C technician, a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker, or any other profession, you know more about your subject matter than almost anyone else in the world.
If you’re a hobbyist of any kind, from piano playing to role playing, from scrap booking to crossword puzzling, you know more about that hobby than most of the people on this planet.
You don’t have to write a book directed at other people in your industry. Write a beginners guide. Write an introductory manual. Write a bunch of opinions.
And if you really don’t know enough, maybe you ought to spend some time and energy learning. If you read three books on a subject, you’ll know more than almost anyone else. Read five and you can probably put “expert” after your name on your business card. Block out a certain amount of time each day for reading and studying. After a month or two, start writing during some of that time.
I Don’t Know What to Write
Try “(Whatever) for Beginners.” I know you think that hundreds of versions of that book exist already, but that’s okay. If ten million diet books all make money, ten million and one will also. It doesn’t matter that someone else has already written a beginner’s guide, a dummy’s guide, a guidebook for the complete novice, a manual for the total moron. There continues to be no shortage of beginners, dummies, novices, and morons who need your book.
Beyond that, you may have a unique way of doing your job or looking at your industry. That point of view can probably be leveraged and lengthened into a whole book.
I’m Not a Good Writer
This is almost a reason, but it’s still really an excuse. Mostly because I’m reminded of Robert Kiyosaki’s statement: “I’m a best-selling author, not a best-writing author.”
You’re not writing literature, you’re writing non-fiction. Get over your hangups and the crap they told you in English class (well, not all of it) and start writing.
Have a smart friend who reads a lot go over your text to make sure it makes sense and communicates at least reasonably well, and then hire a good editor when you get close to publishing.
And you know the two best ways to improve your writing?
Read more.
Write more.
I Don’t Have the Time
Shut up.
Do you watch TV?
You have time.
There’s No Point…
Publishing is too hard and too much trouble…
Ah, yes.
This was actually my big hang up. The whole idea of working with an agent and selling my idea to a publisher and all of that has always been really unattractive to me. And I know what the odds are like for getting accepted by a publisher (they’re not good).
I have a natural aversion to rejection, as well as a pretty strong anti-establishment streak, so…
what exactly is the point of trying to get a book published through some major publishing house?
But then… if the book is never going to be published, what’s the point of writing it in the first place.
Better to blog a bit and then watch TV.
But then I discovered that you don’t need a publishing house and an agent.
Book publishing has finally been democratized.
