By Jennifer S. Wilkov, Host of the “Your Book Is Your Hook!” Show on WomensRadio, Book Business Consultant & The Literary Agent Matchmaker™
To listen to the show: http://bit.ly/zSpFrC
Today let’s talk about why publishing a book helps you help others.
Many people do a variety of things to help others. Some work professionally as teachers, trainers, consultants and coaches. Others work in the healthcare field. Some work in a non-profit organization. Others volunteer, and still others find ways to support their local communities in some meaningful way. Everyone wants to make a difference somehow some way.
Writing and publishing a book about an area you have a specialty in helps so many people in a lot of different ways. If you write a novel, you help people learn through stories about the expertise you have in an area affecting their lives. If you write a nonfiction book, you can strut your stuff in a how-to type of book, a cookbook, or a step-by-step guide to whatever your specialized insights apply to. If you write a children’s book, you help parents and children foster their relationships while supporting the child with an essential skill for success – reading.
I’ve met a lot of people in different professions who say they don’t have time to write a book, much less figure out how to publish it.
Options abound for those who want to write a simple book these days. With the advent of self-publishing being more available through venues like today’s show guest, LuLu.com, and with e-publishing being easier than ever to do, it’s never been a better time to be a writer! With so many avenues to get published, all you really have to do is want to.
Understand this: your book is your hook in your area of expertise. The most important thing you can do is write it. The second most important is to get it published.
If you’re not sure what to do, try this:
Sit down and think about what it is you have to say about a particular subject that you’re an expert in. It doesn’t mean you have to write a how-to book in that area. You could also fashion a fictional story about it that leads the reader to the same conclusion through storytelling.
Consider whether a writing career is really for you. Perhaps you could start with a short story and see how it feels. Try it on like a sweater and see if it fits you.
Whatever you write and publish, know this: books heal, help and haunt the reader. They make people laugh, cry, think, gasp and scream out loud. They touch our hearts. They heal our souls. They entertain us. They educate us and they enlighten us.
But the only way they do that is when you write one.