CC Chapman wants to write a book. I’ll probably buy it when it comes out. Not just out of support; I like the way he thinks enough to acquire the souvenir.
CC, very determined, put the intention out in the smoke on a recent episode of Managing the Grey. But why write a book? Why put in all that extra effort to create a souvenir for people to host dust colonies on, or download onto their kindlePads? Why expend so much effort on such a huge timesink that may, or may not, make you any money, or get any attention, or even succeed enough on the long tail to get a second printing?
I want to write a book. I hope people buy it when it comes out.
Not just out of hubris, I legitimately hope the work I do excited people enough to earn their dollars. Even if most of those dollars go to other people, the owning of the souvenir, the ability to say I did something that made a splash with people enough to garner a near-permanent spot on their shelf. And that’s just the souvenir version.
What about the other options? Are they less viable?
There’s not really one way to write a book any more. More people are publishing eBooks, free or not. More people are creating serialized blogs. Scott Adams released a collection of his blog posts as a book a while ago. I’m publishing The Dowager Shadow roughly three pages a day as a blog, mostly because getting the writing out there is more important – to me – than getting the publishing deal. I’m well aware of authors’ lack of wages just from published books.
So why publish a book? Hell, why write one in the first place?
Writing a book is a massive collection of effort. When I set out to do my first NaNoWriMo in 2008, I had no concept, no story, no idea what was ahead. I chose the Maredran setting which would eventually become The Dowager Shadow mostly because a bunch of the work was already done, and the NaNo project would be collating and expanding on very rough outlines and game posts from a forum community. It made a logical choice. But I still struggled, producing 2500 words a day for a month. I still struggle, producing somewhere around a thousand a day for this blog and others now, mostly because I limit my time to an hour a night. It’s a hobby.
Beware of turning hobbies into jobs.
Blogging is a hobby for me. It’ll remain so. Even doing creative writing for a job will not be blogging – the process is completely different. The same thing with fiction writing. I don’t know how I’d behave, having to produce on a deadline as contract novelists do. So I’m pumping out my work at my own pace, as it’s completed. The volumes will each get released as eBooks once they’re done publishing, as will the entire book at the end of the thing. Sure, I’d like to make money on it. Why not, right?
But, bigger than making money, I want my stuff read. Isn’t that why any of us writes in the first place? Such big work is a great way to start off a conversation with a bang.
Why write a book? Because the method of publishing is irrelevant, the work itself is an amazing thing.
About This Post's Author - Ian
Hi! I'm Ian. I'm an online marketing specialist with Modern Earth Web Design. When I'm not working, spending time with my family, or puttering about in various spaces online, I write here, as well as at Thoughtwrestling and Unspeakable Media.This is my blog.
Pingback: Ian M Rountree
You are correct that writing a book IS a lot of effort. Doesn't matter how short or long it is either. To do it right takes a ton of work.
But, you raise an interesting point. While I do want it printed and bound, for me it is about MUCH more then being on a shelf. I look forward to people being able to consume it on their iPad, Kindle or eReader. I can't wait for them to listen to it on their stereo or MP3 player or read it as a PDF.
For me, I want to collect my thoughts into one central place and share them with the world. THAT is why i want to write a book.
I absolutely grok that. Blogs are great for single ideas, but books – that kind of huge, non-serialized collection of perspective on a broader topic. The work is daunting, but, I'd say, well worth the doing.
I'll be watching for your book, dude. Thanks for stopping in!
As you're probably aware, Seth Godin wrote a post recently about writing books. He was focused on the tangible asset/artifact that's produced by writing, but your point is well taken.
I think I may have missed that post, actually. I've spent the entire last week talking with friends about the “total insanity” of writing a book for the sake of writing it, rather than in order to get published and quit your day job. It seems like a common enough thing to consider – Chris Brogan recently made a reference to how he wanted to be a fiction author, and I heard about CC's goal on his podcast. All within a week of launching Dowager Shadow. Seemed timely to put some consideration into the idea of collecting so much work into a single volume.
Pingback: Jeremy Byron
You are correct that writing a book IS a lot of effort. Doesn't matter how short or long it is either. To do it right takes a ton of work.
But, you raise an interesting point. While I do want it printed and bound, for me it is about MUCH more then being on a shelf. I look forward to people being able to consume it on their iPad, Kindle or eReader. I can't wait for them to listen to it on their stereo or MP3 player or read it as a PDF.
For me, I want to collect my thoughts into one central place and share them with the world. THAT is why i want to write a book.
You are correct that writing a book IS a lot of effort. Doesn't matter how short or long it is either. To do it right takes a ton of work.
But, you raise an interesting point. While I do want it printed and bound, for me it is about MUCH more then being on a shelf. I look forward to people being able to consume it on their iPad, Kindle or eReader. I can't wait for them to listen to it on their stereo or MP3 player or read it as a PDF.
For me, I want to collect my thoughts into one central place and share them with the world. THAT is why i want to write a book.
I absolutely grok that. Blogs are great for single ideas, but books – that kind of huge, non-serialized collection of perspective on a broader topic. The work is daunting, but, I'd say, well worth the doing.
I'll be watching for your book, dude. Thanks for stopping in!
I absolutely grok that. Blogs are great for single ideas, but books – that kind of huge, non-serialized collection of perspective on a broader topic. The work is daunting, but, I'd say, well worth the doing.
I'll be watching for your book, dude. Thanks for stopping in!
As you're probably aware, Seth Godin wrote a post recently about writing books. He was focused on the tangible asset/artifact that's produced by writing, but your point is well taken.
As you're probably aware, Seth Godin wrote a post recently about writing books. He was focused on the tangible asset/artifact that's produced by writing, but your point is well taken.
I think I may have missed that post, actually. I've spent the entire last week talking with friends about the “total insanity” of writing a book for the sake of writing it, rather than in order to get published and quit your day job. It seems like a common enough thing to consider – Chris Brogan recently made a reference to how he wanted to be a fiction author, and I heard about CC's goal on his podcast. All within a week of launching Dowager Shadow. Seemed timely to put some consideration into the idea of collecting so much work into a single volume.
I think I may have missed that post, actually. I've spent the entire last week talking with friends about the “total insanity” of writing a book for the sake of writing it, rather than in order to get published and quit your day job. It seems like a common enough thing to consider – Chris Brogan recently made a reference to how he wanted to be a fiction author, and I heard about CC's goal on his podcast. All within a week of launching Dowager Shadow. Seemed timely to put some consideration into the idea of collecting so much work into a single volume.
Pingback: Publisher Guide
Pingback: Work is not a dirty word * | Broadcasting Brain - different thoughts about thinking differently