Dear WritingForums.com Members, I wanted to get everyone's opinion on this. Should I write a book about how to live a great life and live in true harmony with the Earth and with God? I really want to get some important messages out to the people of the world. Basically, should I go through with writing and publishing this book? I would appreciate comments on what to do. Thanks! Have a great day!
If you want to write a book, go for it. No one but you can make that decision. If you think that your ideas are unique and original enough on your topic matter, then you should go for it. There are LOTS of self-help books on living a great life, living in harmony with God, etc.
i agree with em all...^^above me ...write it if you want if not then its not up to anyone to tell you diffrent
Go for it You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, and may find you can write many books there after with strong messages. Go for it.
I think you should go for it. Just focus on having fun while doing it and making the book uniquely yours.
WritefromtheHeart, I respectfully disagree with the recommendations above. I do not think you should "write" a book. There are several reasons for my feelings: - First, "writing" is a skill born out of thousands of hours of study and practice. Good will, or noble intentions, do not assure that your finished product will convey your message. If you are already a successful author then you possess the requisite skills to accomplish the goal. If not, you will need to engage the services of a "ghost writer"...no, the Holy Ghost will not do! LOL! - My second reason for suggesting against your idea is practical. The current abundance of religious, self-help books means that your work is unlikely to get significant penetration into your intended market. What good will it do if it gets "lost in the woods among all the other trees" in book stores? I assume from your question that you have a strong desire to help people live a more fulfilled life. Why not take a more active approach? Rather than a book, you should start a motivational speaking tour. Go to your pastor and offer such services. If your message is received well, then use that success to approach other religious groups. If it does not "take off", then that is a pretty good indicator that the book would receive a similar reception. The good news is, it costs you very little time or money to "test" the premise for your book in this manner. It will accomplish several things: 1) It puts you directly in front of people to learn if your message has enough appeal. (This will also be a good indicator if the book would be well received.) 2) You are addressing your most likely audience...in writing, every book has a target audience profile and it is important for a writer to know the minds of his or her intended readers and write accordingly. 3) After you've proven the public interest by creating demand for your speaking engagements, then a book becomes a logical expansion of your ministry. It's a cart & horse issue. Spread the message by word until there is such great demand for your wisdom that a book makes sense. No matter what your decision, I wish you well with your endeavour. .....NaCl
If you really feel that you could write a successful book, and if you've written a lot already, go for it. If not, you can still go ahead with it, but bear in mind that writing a book takes hours of practise.
i have to respectfully disagree with much of what salty has to say... here's the thing... by writing his book, regardless of what he does or doesn't do with the result, he'll be refining his ideas and, seeing them on the printed out page and/or computer screen will help him to get a better idea of whether his opinions and 'message' are really strong enough and make sense enough to pass on to total strangers... in your post, nacl, you seem to be assuming he can't write well enough to pull it off, which is doing him a disservice, since you could be wrong and he could be a brilliant, natural writer... sure, the odds are heavily against that being so, but stranger things have happened, right?... so, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and advise him to go ahead and write it, while seriously considering your negative advice, 'just in case'... from his post, I can see that he can at least put a decent sentence together and writes much more coherently than many who actually fancy themselves 'writers'... so, I wouldn't assume he can't pull it off... that said, please notice that all my post said was that he was the only one who could make the decision to write or not write a book and I didn't address the 'message' aspect, or his ability, in any way... yes, there are oodles of vanity-publishing traps that are set for folks like him and i do hereby warn him about the down-side of self-publishing and strongly advise he take a long careful look at all the threads here that deal with same... but, in the final analysis, that's up to him to decide, too... many people are totally satisfied with spending some 'extra' money on having their own books 'published' or, as I'm doing, just having them printed, to give away... admittedly, my motivation is fairly unique, but the action is the same... I found a fine printing firm and am having 100 copies each of 6 collections of my writings printed, so I can give them to some who have been begging me to do it for years, along with anyone else who wants to see the results of my lifetime of studying the human species... if I hadn't taken a vow to never do anything for money again, I'd have sought traditional publishing, but since I had, this is the only way I can satisfy my more or less 'modest' following and get my work [and 'messages'] 'out there'... so, to you, writefromtheheart, i say again, it's up to you to decide whether you will write that book or not... and if you want any specific advice, please don't hesitate to drop me a line any time at all, as i mentor many like yourself who have something to say and are not quite sure how to go about saying it... as for nacl's rather negative-seeming take on the subject, i know him well enough by now, from his many very helpful posts here, to know that he meant well and was only trying to help you to focus on other ways you could 'spread your word'... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
My post was in no way intended to be "negative". Rather, I am encouraging you to test your message in a friendly environment before investing all the time and effort developing a book. On the other hand, Maia, offers a very good point...the process of "writing" a book is in itself a vetting of your message. I had not thought of it that way. Again, no matter what you decide, I wish you success. I also have considerable experience in self publishing if you end up considering that approach. (Self-publishing is NOT the same as POD or Vanity Press) Good luck, .....NaCl ps I love that people in this forum can disagree while maintaining complete respect for each other! It's not that way in some internet places I visit. Love ya maia!
This is going to sound repetitive, and for that I apologize, but in keeping with what many of the others have said, I advise you to simply make the decision yourself. Before writing, however, you need to map out how the book will work itself out. Although this method is often criticized by authors, I think that when the issue concerns self-help/ motivational messages, you need to think clearly about how to structure the chapters and whatnot. Assuming that you can write reasonably well (Shakespearean technique is not exactly required for self-help novels), you should go over once again your message. First, is it relatively new and original? In other words, are there countless other books about already, or will it stand out somewhat? Then, will it sell? This seems rather shallow, I know, but it is an important thing to note. Will it reach people enough spiritually (or whatever the book's point is) to earn money? Finally, can the message be conveyed successfully in a book format? Following Nacl's advice, some messages are better expressed in speeches, etc. Moving on to the book: You must adequately prepare yourself for the process (especially if you have not started yet). Writing is a long and arduous process. I know from experience, having started and not finished countless "books." Think of a way to make it not sound like one of those annoying infomercials. Vague, I know, but hopefully it makes sense. Hope I helped.
