Have you been a freelancer or hobbyist for a couple years and you are starting to wonder what’s next? How do you grow your business, continue to set yourself apart, and stay excited about writing when you may not always be writing about topics that are personally exciting for you?
- You could start your own blog or get back to your blog you started already. Be more consistent with your posting schedule.
- You could look at your social media presence and attempt to be more visible and active.
- Or, maybe you’ve been wondering, “Should I write a book?”
7 Reasons You Should Consider Writing a Book
Now before you laugh, say you don’t have time, or say something about having no good ideas (or too many ideas!), stop for a moment and consider what writing a book could mean to you and your brand – both now and in the future. Writing a book could open you up to more business in the future, could open doors for new streams of revenue, and could be the creative outlet you need to be better at everything else. We compiled a list of a few reasons that might entice you to give book-writing a try.
Writing a book will stretch you as a writer and improve your skills
Writing a book will help you become a better writer. The time you spend writing your book will also stretch your language and writing skills as you write more than you’ve probably written in the past.
Because writing a book requires you to be more organized than you have been with smaller projects, it will also just require more from you in general to get it done. You will need to outline effectively, organize your chapter concepts and storyline, and you will need to write cohesively and consistently throughout the book.
Managing a project of this size also forces you to take hold of your time so you can plan ahead and meet your deadlines, both internal ones you set for yourself and any external deadlines you have with publishers or editors. When you have finished, you can look back and clearly see all you have accomplished and grown from the process.
Give yourself a creative outlet
If you are like many full-time freelance writers, it can be a struggle to find time for a creative outlet of your own. You are focussed on using your writing for making money and not necessarily for getting your own ideas out or letting your own voice be heard. But if you devote a little time each day to getting out of your business space and instead let your mind imagine, design, and then craft a book, you are exercising a creative piece of you that needs to be exercised. Our minds benefit from switching things up, and a book is the perfect outlet.
You can carve out time for yourself creatively and then continue to work on the freelancing work that might become easier when you know you have a creative outlet to get back to.
Write about a topic you love
Speaking of creativity, not only does writing your own book give you a chance to use your own voice, but it also gives you the chance to write about a topic you love. Choose something you are already passionate about and write a book about it.
This passion you write about might be a hobby of yours you can turn into a book to inspire others to pursue. It could be stories that you reflect on from your past that you turn into a memoir. Or you could take a look at a fiction genre you are obsessed with and then consider crafting a story in that genre yourself.
Don’t limit yourself to what you think people will want to read, but instead choose a topic for your first book that you can be excited to tell a story about and that you know you can complete.
Make a little passive income when it’s all done
While most first time book authors don’t make millions from their first book, you can start to create some passive income once you have a finished book to sell. It doesn’t take a major book deal to distribute and make money from a book. Instead it takes a few good tools, the right avenues to sell your book, and a few fans that love you and love your book.
Selfpublishing.com is a great tool with tons of resources to help you with every step of the book-writing process, from the writing and brainstorming itself to the publishing of your finished product. You don’t need to be a household name already to write and publish a successful book.
Build credibility for your writing brand
The next time you are talking to a prospective client for freelancing work, not only will you have current blog posts and writing samples to send over, but you will also have a completed book to show them. This puts you in another league over the average freelancer. You can market yourself beyond what you were doing before and show the amount of effort, hard work and dedication you bring to a project. Don’t be afraid to go after projects that require a more senior writer than you considered yourself pre-book, since you will have pushed yourself in a more advanced writing position than you were in before.
Prove you can ghost-write
This may go without saying, but having a book to show a prospective ghost-writing client can only help you win the contract. You will have a better idea of the time required for a project of that size, the amount you should charge, and the scope that you can expect and be ready for. You will be more prepared for the editing process and the organization and design of the book. Doing it all for yourself is great practice for landing those types of contracts and will give you better clarity about which types of projects are right for you.
Cross off an item on your bucket list
Outside of all the practical pieces that might come with writing and publishing a book, keep in mind the big picture of book writing and what it would mean to you and your family once you have completed your first book.
Most people do not write a book in their lifetime.
It is instead a small group of devoted people that sit down and have the dedication and desire to put the time and effort into writing a book and then turn around and see that book published. It is something to celebrate while you are doing it and something to celebrate once it is complete. Just take a moment and picture yourself telling people about the book you wrote and holding a copy of it in your hands with your name as the author. It is a huge accomplishment and is something that is completely possible if you choose to tackle it.
So, now that you are considering writing a book, what do you do next?
First, take this assessment to figure out which book you should write first.
Second, make a list of your own reasons for writing your book. It might be business-related, it might be more personal, or it might be a bit of both. Keep that list available so you can stay motivated and then dive into it.
Third, take a look at this article How to Write a Book in 12 Simple Steps to get thinking and planning what you need to do to get started and to succeed with your book.
