Two very different questions with very different answers.
First, of course, writing a book has numerous benefits.
Having an author’s credit brings you immediate credibility with your audience.
If it’s a cookbook, you’re an instant chef. If it’s a business tome, you’re
suddenly a financial expert, or a marketing guru, or a mover and shaker. If
it’s a medical treatise, you’re in the same ballpark as Drs. Benjamin Spock,
Mehmet Oz, or Andrew Weil. If it’s a novel, you become part of the pantheon of
Mark Twain, John Grisham, J.K. Rowling.
That’s if you write a book, and if you get it
published.
So the second part of the question comes into play. You’ve
got a great idea, but how do you put it into play?
In the article “How Long Should You Keep Trying to Get
Published?” from Writer’s Digest, Jane Friedman notes several pitfalls to
getting published. Friedman is an editor, author, blogger, professor and former publisher of Writer’s
Digest, so she knows whereof she speaks.
First, she identifies four mistakes that can prevent you
from being published: Submitting manuscripts that aren’t your best work;
looking for major publication of regional or niche work; focusing on publishing
when you should be writing; and most germane here, self-publishing when no one
is listening.
What she means by that is publishing without researching or
developing an audience. Bowker, the agent for issuing ISBNs and providing other
information to the publishing industry, reports that in 2011, nearly 150,000
new print books were self-published, as were more than 87,000 e-books. That
represents growth of nearly 300 percent since 2006.
And that’s only for those books with ISBNs. Authors who
publish through the Kindle Direct Publishing program don’t need an ISBN.
So it’s obvious that
there are A LOT of books out there. Now, does that mean you shouldn’t write a
book if you fail to land a deal with a Random House or the like?
Not at all. Friedman herself notes that it’s more viable
than ever for a writer to be successful without a traditional publisher or
agent.
But not without some effort.
Where does the effort start? There are two keys. One is
identifying your audience and then cultivating it. Second is actually writing
your book.
We’ll talk about the second part in our next post. But even
before you write your book, you need to make sure you’ll have an audience
beyond your relatives.
Friedman says that if your goal is to bring your work
successfully to the marketplace, it’s a waste of time to self-publish that
work, if you haven’t yet cultivated an audience for it, or can’t market and
promote it effectively through your network.
So how do you nurture your audience? There are many tools
with which to do this. Start with the web. Creating your own website and
working with social media are almost no-brainers. But make sure you’re using
them correctly. Facebook is great for keeping up with your old high school
pals, but that’s not going to help you sell your book. Instead, or at least in
addition, create posts about your area of expertise, and start dropping hints
about your upcoming book. That will both whet your friends’ appetites and force
you to really write it.
And don’t just lean on Facebook. Tweet regularly. Use
LinkedIn. Post videos on YouTube. And send people from all those sites to your
website, where you can totally position yourself as an expert in your chosen
field.
Just like you’ll need an editor for your book, make sure
someone else signs off on your online efforts as well. Another set of eyes is
always a good idea, whether it’s to critique the design of your site or to
suggest that maybe posting those photos of you and your friends at the bar
isn’t going to showcase your expertise and might even turn off some members of
your potential audience.
Then there’s the world beyond the web. Joining local groups
or boards, from charitable organizations to business groups, can offer numerous
benefits. Not only will you be expanding your circle of influence, but you’ll
in all likelihood learn new skills and even meet new friends. Win-win!
