The three reasons why you would write a book – and why you ought to!

If you have thought about writing a book you belong to either one or two of the three main groups of writers – each with different motivations and their set of reasons. And, also different ways to undertake the writing – especially if you are seeing yourself belonging to the second or third writers group.

1. Write for you – for the act of writing, for self-reflection, and for percolating ideas and getting them out. Here it is all about the process, you, the pen and paper, keyboard and screen…
   
2. Writing for someone – be it for you to hold your book, capturing the life story of your parents, or sharing your learned, lived, or studied experience with others. Here you will write with the reader somewhat in mind, meaning you will think of the reader as you write 
3. As a marketable message –  either a book or content to reach more people, help them, and make money on book sales or on the back of the book through programs, courses, services, or the like.

With the first two, the process is more about you as the author, and secondly, the reader, albeit many people who fall in the first category don’t want anyone or just anyone to read their work. Whereas, the second writer and definitely the third actually are writing for the written word to be read. And, while this may sound like a logical conclusion, it brings up two thoughts:

1. If you are not concerned about your writing being read – great!  You are definitely more free from any inner critique, self-judgment, or filtering during the writing process or what to do with the words once they are written. 
2. If you are serious about writing for the reader – well, you will have to write for the reader, consider who you are writing for, your audience, and, last but not least, what process will you use to get your message from your paper to in front of the reader’s eyes. And, this is where it starts – you have to look well beyond the writing and having your book published.

Many writers and budding authors are so focused on the writing of the book, and getting it published that they overlook what it takes to actually market and sell a book and that there are considerations that start while you are writing that might make all that comes and is required after the book has been published easier.

Really, one has to consider oneself as the author and your book as marketable and as a commodity that is to be sold. When this side of having a book is really considered, then when it is time for the real work to start, yes after its published, you will be leaps and bounds ahead.

For most writers and budding authors the biggest challenge, apart from the inner critic of course, is actually the how-to of book and author marketing and how to get the book to the right readers. This is why identifying which sort of writer and what sort of written work for what purpose are you writing is so important. And, if you were thinking that you are a one and two but also a three, and you just write it and the editor and publisher will do the rest…  much like in acting where you have thousands upon thousands of unheard actors working three jobs to audition for roles for every one actor who actually does it professional.