If you have ever been held hostage by an idea which will not set you free till you work on bringing it into a concrete form of existence, you probably know why the act of blogging is serious painful work and at the same time an addictive; highly rewarding and fun filled exercise.
Having said that, for me, writing blog posts is pretty much like free form dancing or bathroom singing.
You don't have to worry about every single idea resonating with your readers. If one doesn't work, they will show up; again; the next day for a completely new idea; a completely new perspective; this time, they may agree to agree and absolutely love your post.
Writing your own book however, is different.
For a book to succeed; or for you to even attempt to write a book; you need to be hit by a a single insanely strong idea and then work your ass off at it. You need to put the idea on a test of its limit as you probe deeper with a coherent yet remarkable stream of thought.
If your idea is flawed; or not remarkable; you are basically screwed; big time.
You end up making a fool of yourself; after days of writing, editing; re-editing; proof-checking and toiling.
Put simply, if writing a blog is like bathroom singing; writing a book is performing for a live concert.
True it has its glamour associated with it; but along with the glamour; it involves a lot of work; risk of making a complete fool out of yourself and above all, some serious commitment.
Google the topic of writing your own e-book and you'll get a gazillion articles; describing the glamour associated with writing your own e-book and how you can be an overnight success and an instant millionaire by writing your own e-books. Only a minuscule number of these articles talk about the hours of hard work the usually go into this sort of an initiative before anything you write is read by more than an audience of one called you.
Amongst the hundreds of boring self article which are not even worthy of being linked of plugged from this post; I happened to bounce on one that resonated with me or moved me positively. It was a post by Seth Godin and his advice on writing your own e-book.
| It's technically easy and when it works, your idea will spread far and wide. Even better, the act of writing your idea in a cogent, organized way will make the idea better. You can write an e-book about your travel destination, your consulting philosophy or an amazing job you'd like to fill. Seven years ago, I wrote a book called Unleashing the Idea-virus. It's about how ideas spread. In the book, I go on and on about how free ideas spread faster than expensive ones. That's why radio is so important in making music sell. Anyway, I brought it to my publisher and said, "I'd like you to publish this, but I want to give it away on the net." They passed. They used to think I was crazy, but now they were sure of it. So I decided to just give it away. |
Writing; is much like singing or exercising your mussels. The harder you work at it, the better you become. That dear reader, is the only true reason why, if you write for your blog and if you have an idea which you believe is worth sharing, you should try your hand at writing a book. You should do it because it gives you an opportunity to do more writing; which is what you love doing.
That, dear reader, is why you need to write a book.
Not because of the five figure income or that celebrity status the millions of readers who go gaga over your book are going to bring you.
You should write a book because you have an idea that will not let you rest in peace till you work on bringing it into existence and the idea or story demands more than just an isolated blog post in order to conveyed articulately.
Writing an e-book is easy. Writing a good one is hard. It's like climbing a mountain. You should try writing an e-book because it lets you see if you 'can' climb the mountain; and once you know you can; you should do more of it.
Why?
Because you can.
It is really that simple dear reader; it's that simple.
No, you are not going to have a million users drooling over your book. No you are not going to be a best selling author with a five figure income.
Wake up time. I hate to break the news to you but, that overnight success you might be looking for through your book doesn't exist.
To be honest, you'll be lucky if you don't end up making a fool of yourself with zero downloads.
If you've never done it before chances are high that you'll get sick or tired of it and quit in the middle.
Remember, there are only two reasons why you should write your own e-books; because you really want to; and because you can.
Now; do you want to write your own e-book?
If you said yes, you probably know what it is that you are getting into.
If you said yes, chances are high that I am going to enjoy your reading your book after it is done.
If you said yes, you should write an e-book.
I wish you good luck.
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