Like many people, somewhere along this crazy journey called life, the idea of writing a book pops up. I won’t get into should you or shouldn’t you or is your subject matter right. This post will give a general overview of making the leap to write a book. The next post will focus on self-publishing.

Writing a book is work and like all forms of work, completion can be it’s own reward. If you want to write a book, why not? I can’t tell you how to make big bucks writing as that ship has not come in for me.

Art work for my ship still working through stormy seas to come in.

The intent of this post is to give the reader an idea of what I’ve experienced. It may or may not make your journey easier. To date I’ve co-authored (all non-fiction) two field guides and four books. As an individual I’ve published one non-fiction book and one novel. The novel was my first foray into self-publishing. Non-fiction, especially college text books take a massive amount of work on references and content. Not what I would suggest for your first foray into the author world.

This is the second field guide I had published. I think they are good starter projects as they are short and naturally divided.

There is a wealth of information on self-publishing  I strongly encourage the reader to spend some time learning about the process. I’ll share what I learned in the next post that will cover it in more detail. I kind of committed to writing two more.

First question to ask yourself is do I write it myself or bring in other co-authors? Four factors came into play for me.

  • Responding to emergency scenes, everyone possessed a skill set I didn’t have. I like the perspective of others as it gives better results.
  • As an educator, I know people get tired of listening to the same person drone on. Mix it up, keep the reader engaged.
  • Personally I like opposing or different views to add depth to a discussion. In the world I have lived and worked in very few things are absolute.
  • You meet people in your life who you admire and respect. Nothing better than to collaborate with them on a project.

Assuming you don’t want to self-publish you need to find a publisher and this can be a challenge. My advise is seek out a published author you admire and writes in a similar field and ask them if they would query their publisher about your book idea. They may be able to at least get you into the process to learn what publishers are looking for in new works and timing.

Depending on content, page numbers and time commitments expect that you’re looking at 12-18 months of work. You can accelerate that, but it takes a lot of time so don’t get yourself in a position where you need to rush. Content will suffer.

The biggest difference I have noticed between working with a publishing company and self-publishing is the time-line. Publishers are very strict about when things are done, submitted and ready for them to get to press. Self-publishing is all about how anxious and/or disciplined you are about getting it done. Set some benchmarks on pages or words per day, week or month.

Co-authors are your best friends and experts in their field.

Editing. Publishers will provide editors but they are not content specialists. They also may or may not give you that needed slap up side of the head. My suggestion is find someone who enjoys reading and editing and is not shy about telling you something smells like dead fish when you’re writing about roses. Don’t take anything they say personal. They want it to read well. Listen to them.

Editors can also help keep you from writing to yourself. Publishers want to sell books to lots of people, not your doppelganger. I do suggest you ask who your audience is and write for them. This is easier said than done.

I have been fortunate to get a few books published. As much work as it is, if I were you and had the time to give, I’d go for it.

If I can help, drop me a line at abetteremergency@gmail.com