Why Write a Book?
In an era when you can share your ideas online, using a blog, for free, why would anyone take the trouble to write a book?
As a writer offering your ideas, the last thing you should be trying to do is making money selling books. Sure, a select few authors hit a home run and manage to pull down some decent residual income from royalties, but if that's what you set out to do, you're going to be disappointed when your book doesn't end up on the bestseller list and you're going to get discouraged.
But, if you're in it for reputation, like a lot of writers are, you can disseminate your ideas for free. 12 chapters of a book can be released as blog posts, once a month, for a year. All this can be done for free, without soliciting a publisher for start-up money. (If you're currently shopping for a publisher, that's what you're really doing.)
There are some reasons. First, a book is a relic. You hand someone a book full of ideas and it conveys more authority. When someone hands another person a book, that gets more attention than a hyperlink in an email. A hard copy of a book says that the ideas contained between its covers have been tested and are generally well-researched and accepted by a bigger group of people. That might not be true, but the book still gives us that impression.
Also, it conveys commitment on the part of the writer. Blogs tend to be disjointed, short little nuggets in which people express their opinions. You can write a blog post (like this one) that doesn't require more than commitment of a few minutes of time. Consequently, blogs are everywhere, and their actual content lies somewhere between a book and a single Tweet.
Although, if you're really looking for a book deal, here's my advice: start a blog and write often. If you've got a story to share, post the first half of it online for free, using Blogger, Wordpress, or Typepad. Don't wait for one of those big publishing companies to see the value in your writing and offer you a cash advance to get started.
Publishing companies are in the business of selling books. Writers are in the business of disseminating ideas and telling stories. Make sure you don't confuse the two.
As a writer offering your ideas, the last thing you should be trying to do is making money selling books. Sure, a select few authors hit a home run and manage to pull down some decent residual income from royalties, but if that's what you set out to do, you're going to be disappointed when your book doesn't end up on the bestseller list and you're going to get discouraged.
But, if you're in it for reputation, like a lot of writers are, you can disseminate your ideas for free. 12 chapters of a book can be released as blog posts, once a month, for a year. All this can be done for free, without soliciting a publisher for start-up money. (If you're currently shopping for a publisher, that's what you're really doing.)
There are some reasons. First, a book is a relic. You hand someone a book full of ideas and it conveys more authority. When someone hands another person a book, that gets more attention than a hyperlink in an email. A hard copy of a book says that the ideas contained between its covers have been tested and are generally well-researched and accepted by a bigger group of people. That might not be true, but the book still gives us that impression.
Also, it conveys commitment on the part of the writer. Blogs tend to be disjointed, short little nuggets in which people express their opinions. You can write a blog post (like this one) that doesn't require more than commitment of a few minutes of time. Consequently, blogs are everywhere, and their actual content lies somewhere between a book and a single Tweet.
Although, if you're really looking for a book deal, here's my advice: start a blog and write often. If you've got a story to share, post the first half of it online for free, using Blogger, Wordpress, or Typepad. Don't wait for one of those big publishing companies to see the value in your writing and offer you a cash advance to get started.
Publishing companies are in the business of selling books. Writers are in the business of disseminating ideas and telling stories. Make sure you don't confuse the two.