What
should your goals be, as a writer, for your book?
You
may answer this a number of ways:
·
To
make money
·
To
become famous
·
To
land a movie deal
·
To
get a multi-book contract
·
To
be a best-selling writer
·
To
win awards
·
To
receive critical acclaim
·
To
become a classic in 100 years
But
those are all about you, the individual. What about your book – what hope do
you have that it will impact others, or change or save lives? Will it inform, inspire, enlighten, and truly
help others? Will it entertain readers
or give them hope or comfort?
Maybe
you don’t have any goals as a writer or for your book. You just write, because
that’s what you know to do. It’s what
you love and it comes naturally. In
fact, if you didn’t write you’d feel like you are missing out or not fulfilling
a purpose. Writing books is a two-way-street – it’s both a benefit to the
writer and reader. Society needs books and writers want, no, need to feel they
must, write them.
·
Do
you tear up at a certain movie scene?
·
Do
you get choked up when you hear a particular song?
·
Do
you marvel at natural wonders, such as sunsets?
·
Do
you feel ecstasy when entangled with a lover?
·
Do
you feel utter satisfaction when eating chocolate?
·
Do
you feel excited when you win a bet?
This
is how writers feel when they write. Not all the time, and not throughout the
entire writing process, but writers get a high or sense of satisfaction when
pen touches paper, finger strikes keyboard.
The flow of ideas can exceed our blood flow; the mind moves faster than
the body. But writing is a workout of
our brain, our feelings, our soul. It’s
medicinal and maddening. We write to confront the ugly truths of life, but we
also look to correct them, even escape from them by re-writing the world.
Writers
want their books to be read, not just praised or purchased. They want to impact
lives, for their words to live beyond their time. They want to make the world better or to help
others find a better way to live. They write to confess, to challenge, and to
lead. They write out of pain, confusion, loss, and anger. They also write out
of hope, joy, love, and a vision for the future. They write to record history and preserve the
reality that they may also want to alter or change our perceptions of.
All writers
don’t write for the same reasons any more than they write about the same things
or choose the same form and level of vocabulary to express themselves. But writers do have many things in common and
are much, much more alike than not. Once
we’ve chosen to take to writing to make sense of life and to use it to
communicate our desires, dreams, and passions, we’ve committed to a certain
path.
Where
do you want your path to lead? What do you hope will become of your book? Even
if you luckily breakthrough to earn good money and some notoriety from your
writings, what do you truly want to see happen with how your book is read and
lived by others?
Find
out what your answer is and then begin to write in a way that leads you to
achieve that metric. Put in the time and effort to become who you want to
be. Filter your writings through a prism
that zeroes in on the content and style that you believe will get you closer to
achieving your dreams. Even if you fall short, you’ll appreciate the journey
that much more, and who knows, maybe your words will move another.
I
hope I stirred your mind, made you think. I hope I moved you to take action,
not just reflection. I hope you share
this with another and help me live my dream.
To learn more on how to promote books, read my greatest
blog posts from the past five years and 2,000 posts:
2016 Book Marketing & Book Publicity
Toolkit
2015 Book Marketing & PR Toolkit
2014 Book Marketing & PR Toolkit
Book Marketing & Book PR Toolkit:
2013
Brian Feinblum’s
views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of
his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him
at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the
third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2016.
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