There are many reasons to write a book. But had you considered that writing your book is the greatest gift you can give yourself? We look at the reasons to write a book, how writing changes your focus, why many authors undergo a kind of transformation, and how the world of book promotion leads to even more opportunities for the author.
Why write a book?
When there’s a topic you’re passionate about, it’s natural to want to share it with the world. Taking the leap to write a book means you can entertain people or raise awareness of an issue and shine a light on potential solutions to the problem. But before you start writing, you need to consider your readers as well as your reasons.
- You’ve got a fascinating idea for a story and you want to entertain people. Instead of focusing on every detail about the characters in your novel, think about how you can leave room for the readers’ imaginations to take over. Author Marcus Sedgwick talked to us recently at the SilverWood Book Writing Club about how powerful it can be to describe a character’s physicality instead of defining their physical appearance.
- You’ve been through a momentous occasion or traumatic event. Instead of diving into the emotional depths within your writing, give yourself time to heal or celebrate outside of your formal writing by journaling every aspect. As life coach Becky Walsh says, "Reflection is a powerful personal growth tool. When I'm writing about something that happened in my past, I understand it and therefore me, so much more acutely." Then you can move on to explore how your readers can benefit from your experience.
- You’ve uncovered an interesting piece of history. Instead of letting that history disappear, choose whether it’s an opportunity to add colour to a novel, or whether it’s deep enough to write a family memoir, or whether it’ll be valuable to develop into a non-fiction book. But beware: if you research a topic and find that it only affects your family, you might not sell very many copies of the book commercially, although it could be an amazing legacy to leave your family!
One thing is for sure, do not write a book if your plan is to make money from book sales. You’d have to sell hundreds of thousands of copies for that to be the case. That’s not to say a book won’t help you make more money from other avenues though.
Read on to find out which we see as the main benefits of writing a book...
Benefits of writing a book
Writing a book has many benefits to the author. Which of these will help you keep going and finish your book?
- Self-exploration: in those moments you’re alone with your work, you’ll learn more about yourself than ever before. Writing can teach you about yourself, help you find your voice and speak your truths. If you’re writing fiction, it’ll stretch your imagination. If writing non-fiction, it’ll expand your knowledge. Either way, your story matters to the world.
- Resilience: the writing process changes you because writing a book is hard. It’s an opportunity for personal growth, because you’ll spend so much time alone with your thoughts to shape and hone your ideas. As you spend time developing your book idea, filling in any gaps in your knowledge, and planning how to benefit your readers, you’ll also develop new levels of resilience and determination. Once you complete it, it will have a lasting emotional impact.
- Fulfilment: Writing enables our greatest creativity; if performed in a state of flow, it can be immensely rewarding. What do we mean by flow? Flow is signified by those moments when your ideas are pouring onto the paper, your imagination is alive with the world you're creating or the knowledge you’re sharing. In his book, Deep Work, author Cal Newport explains how some of the greatest minds in history developed work habits to concentrate on their craft. He compares how some people retreat from society to enable deep work, others use routine to gain stretches of focused time, and still more have to drop into their deep work at any possible moment - by removing distractions as best as they can.
- Opportunities: writing a book can open new doors for you, especially if yours is a business book. You have the scope to position yourself as an expert in your field and do more speaking, get more media attention and market your business from a fresh standpoint. The book will help you raise awareness of your brand and that visibility can lead new prospects and clients to your door. Find out more about the tools available to help you by reading our article, How to market your business book.
- Legacy: aside from the achievement, a book is a last legacy which proves your contribution to the world. Younger generations of your family will have a timeless record of your work.
When you’re finished, you’ll realise why writing a book really is the greatest gift you can give yourself. And you might even be ready to start on another! To help you further, you might be interested in reading more on How to Plan Your Book, or Should Your Memoir Be a Novel?
Want to find out more about the publishing process?
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