As You Think About Your Next Book
“It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Dear S.:
As you finish up our first book (proofreading, cover art), it’s natural to begin thinking about book #2.
Like a leaf on a tree, there’s always a new leaf behind the one you see, but the first leaf (the green leaf) has to turn color, die and fall off first. Then a bud emerges, and then out of that bud, a new leaf in spring.
I always start with the Why. Cue Simon Sinek.
Why are you writing the book?
Why are you writing this book? Why are you the best one on the planet to tell this story.
Why bother? Why is this book necessary?
Who is it written for?
Marketing a book is half the effort, maybe more. Start thinking about your audience Day One, even as you tell me what you’re going to write about (book topic and themes).
It’s helpful to have an actual reader in mind. Picture them buying your book. Picture them reading your book. What will they do next? Will they recommend it to a friend? Will they recommend it to their book club?
I also find it important to imagine fully several distinctive readers. Walk through the exercise above with each reader. They don’t have to be fictional people or composites. Maybe you’re writing for your best friend Keith, who just lost his job, or his wife, or he’s just living a normal uneventful life and there are several new ideas you’d like to introduce him to.
Or, maybe you’re a storyteller. Maybe this life story is deep within you and needs release. The purpose of the book is pure entertainment. Picture that reader.
Know that writing matters.
Books matter.
Books are a special form of social currency. Hopefully, the creation of your second book is a unique experience, and not a rote rehash of writing book one. And hopefully, there are more books to follow, more leaves on the tree.
