Ten years from now, when someone picks up your book, what will they think of you?
The woman on the other end of the phone line paused for a long time. Then she said, “No, I’ve never written a book before.”
“Well,” I said, “there’s a book out there by someone with your name. I came across it when I was doing my research for our meeting.”
She was silent again. Then she told me it was her book, but she was so embarrassed that she didn’t want to tell me about it. She didn’t want anyone to know about it.
That’s a common story that isn’t told often enough.
The Real Problem
Ads, books, and blog posts promise that you can create a book quickly and with little effort. They’re right. You can have a book with your name on it without working too hard or too long.
The problem isn’t that you can’t do it. The problem is what you wind up with when you’re done. You can make dinner by microwaving canned spaghetti and getting your salad out of a bag. That’s quick and easy, too, but you wouldn’t want to base your culinary reputation on it.
Books live forever today. Once your book is out in the world, people will find it and judge you by it. If you want that judgment to come out in your favor, and you want to write a book you can be proud of, plan on doing some work and taking enough time to produce something good.
There are no shortcuts.
Everything worthwhile you’ve ever done took hard work. Did you finish your college degree? You had to do some hard work. Raised kids? Hard work. Why should a book be any different? Here are some things you must do to create a book you can be proud of.
Take the time and put in the work to plan your book well. Before you start writing the book, you should know who you are writing it for and why they will buy it, read it, and use it to make a difference in their lives. You should also know why you are writing the book and what difference it will make in your life.
Establish good writing habits and a steady writing rhythm. Then, show up for every writing session prepared to write. End each writing session knowing what you’ll write in the next session.
Do the research and fact-checking you need to create a credible book. I can almost guarantee that someone will spot it if you get something wrong. They may not tell you, but they will tell others. Get the facts right. People are watching.
Plan on several complete revisions of your manuscript. Expect to revise some chapters several times. Keep revising until you are making things different but not better. Very often, what makes your manuscript a book you’re proud of is one more revision.
Use well-chosen beta readers to get important feedback. Use other content experts to get feedback on your concepts.
If you are self-publishing, invest in a professional edit. Professional editors save us from ourselves and make our books better. I don’t care how big your brain is; you’ll write a better book when you get helpful, usable feedback and make changes accordingly.
Writing a book you can be proud of is hard work. You will put in the work day after day, week after week, month after month until you are done. The saying is, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” That’s especially true for writing a book you can be proud of because people will judge you by your book for years to come.
You can have a book you’re proud of but creating it won’t be easy or fast. It will be rewarding.
Takeaways
Ten years from now, when someone picks up your book they will judge you by it.
You can have a book with your name on it without working too hard or too long, but it’s not likely to be a book you’re proud of.
There are no shortcuts to creating a book you’re proud of.
Take the time and put in the work to plan your book well.
Establish good writing habits and a steady writing rhythm.
Do the research and fact-checking you need to create a credible book.
Plan on several complete revisions of your manuscript.