I Should Write a Book!

Your job search is slowing down and you’re thinking, maybe I need a different kind of job. Then the lightbulb clicks on, “I’ll write a book.”  Okay, good idea.  But as one who has written a book, knows several people who have written books, and read lots and lots of books, please allow me to give you some free advice.  (Remember, you get what you paid for.)

1. Don’t plan on getting rich. While Stephen King and Patrick Lencioni are getting by on their royalties, don’t write to make money.  It takes multiple best sellers to truly generate cashflow you can live on.
2. Don’t do it yourself.  It is now possible to write a book, publish it and have it available an Amazon all by yourself.  But, many (if not most) of those books are bad.  You need a good editor. You need a good proofreader.  You need someone who understands the business and can advise you on content, cover art, etc.  I was fortunate to get associated with Lighthouse Point Press and my book is 10 times better than if I had done it alone.
3. Don’t think it’s easy.  Good writing is a skill that takes practice.  It is a craft.  You need to write a lot to practice your craft, to find your voice, and get comfortable with the process.  Start with blog and see if you can generate content that people want to read on a consistent basis.  Work your way up to writing a book.
4. Don’t neglect your competition.  Let’s say you want to write a book on leadership.  If you search Amazon for books on leadership, you’ll get over 60,000 hits.  Books on Job Search – 20,000, Job Networking – 3,000. There is a lot of competition – and again, much of it is bad – but you can’t tell that from looking on Amazon.
5. Don’t think it ends with publishing.  Finally, the reality becomes that writing the book was the easy part, now you have to sell it, and you will be the one who is in charge of marketing.

I don’t want to discourage you from a life-long dream to be an author.  I did it, I’m proud I did it, I think I did on okay job, and, I’m thinking about doing it again.  But, I’m not getting rich and it was a lot of work.  So, keep looking for your day job, and make time to write in your off hours.  If you are struggling to find that day job, this might help.  https://im-fired.com/about-the-book/