Some Home Truths About Writing Your Own Book and Self Publishing

Writing your own book as an opportunity to make millions overnight can be seen as either a glass half full or glass half empty scenario in this days of the internet (pardon the cliché). You see, when I was a much younger writer, we held names like Charles Dickens, and fiction writers of the caliber of Sidney Sheldon in pretty high esteem. I think in a small way, everyone who ever sat in a writing class held the hidden fantasy that one day, some day, they too would rise to the echelons of famous writers.

But then alas, along came the internet, and I am sometimes not sure if that fantasy was shattered or made that much closer to a reality. You see, there are tons of people, and you may well be one of them, who woke up with the dream of writing your own book, and that dream is so achievable. What once was a feat only for the very courageous, is now only a ghostwriter away, software away, or just simply, some quiet, pen, and paper away.

Though more an encourager than a 'discourager', I would like to share a few home truths about the journey to writing your own book.


1.    Self Publishing is over-rated.
I recall days when we used to call writing your own book or self-publishing in all its versions, vanity publishing and that was like the lowest anyone could go ever.


Well, today we are way more magnanimous, and we like to separate the two, but really, there is still quite some ‘looking down the nose at you’ in the bare-knuckles publishing world towards anyone who even dares tinker with the self-publishing idea.

Typically, every publisher worth the ink used to sign their company checks will tell you, they do not pick up any material out there and make it into a book. To make sure they prove, more to themselves than to the world, that they sifted right, they will make sure your journey to the shelves is made grueling by adding a sprinkling of malice and some evil. 

2.    Writing is not easy – it is as much a skill as skiing or driving
Writing is work; it takes focus and determination to get your book out from your heart to the page. If a day dawns and the page and the mind are both blank – do not worry. Take a walk or visit a friend – inspiration usually comes when you are not even thinking about it.

3.    Do not expect applause
Not everyone will applaud your project. Decide – I am writing my own book and no one can stop me! Make your inner drive your single loudest cheering and motivation source, and you will make it.

4.    The millions come from marketing – not from writing
This is the greatest lesson the online generation has taught us. The money is not in the writing, the money is in the marketing. To say it differently - it is not how well written a book is that makes the money, it is how many copies are sold.

As an ardent reader, and having been very excited at first about all these affordable e-books available all over the place, I can tell you I have spent my precious dollar here and there on a horrifyingly horrible e-book.

Yes, the double was deliberate – there are some really badly written books on the digital shelves and yet the ‘authors’ are making a pretty dime. This is not to present a case for shoddy work and poor writing, it is to remove the romantic glaze from the process of writing to make money off your ideas. If what you want from this journey is money, hire a ghostwriter to do the dog-work and pay a marketer well to make writing your own book a paying effort.

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More information: answers to frequent author questions
•    Advantages and disadvantages of working with a ghostwriter 
•    Six steps to find and hire a ghostwriter for your book or ebook
•    What documents will I need to give my ghostwriter?
•    Components of the written agreement with your ghostwriter 
•    The most efficient way to author your own book