5 Reasons You Should & Shouldn't Write a Book
In this episode, I explore the reasons for and against writing a book. I'll caution against it if the motivation is solely for income or credibility, or simply following a trend. I emphasize that writing should stem from a deep need to share a story or idea with the world. I highlight the enduring value of a book as a long-term asset that reflects personal growth and expertise. Sharing my own experiences, I illustrate the transformative and challenging journey of writing. Listen and discover your unique reasons for why you want to write a book.
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Podcast Transcript
Hello there, friend. Welcome to another episode of the Art and Business of Meditation podcast. This is a solo episode. I feel like it's been a while since I've recorded one of these, maybe not so long since you've heard one. But I'm so excited to share with you today. Just a little background if this is your first time. This is a podcast to help you cultivate your artistry in your work, to help you really infuse your being into your work, to share it with the world, to share your gifts and to be supported doing so. To make this a full time living so that you can make a full time impact on the world. And today's topic is something that I know so many of us want to create maybe at some point in our life. And that is a book. A book is such a powerful way to make an impact, to have an intimate connection with someone. If you're into personal development, spirituality, this type of work, you're probably a reader. You probably have been changed and transformed from books that have come into your life. And how cool to think of us getting the opportunity to be that catalyst for another human being. And so today I wanted to talk about reasons you should reasons you shouldn't write a book. And just a little background on my story. I did write a book. It's called Find you'd Truth. It was the first thing I did on my spiritual entrepreneurial journey, which I might not recommend. And I say that because I was naive and I love naivety. I believe in this concept of healthy naivete that we don't need to know everything. That actually that naivete gets us going and gets us moving. But a book is probably one of the hardest projects that is out there that you can do. And to make that your first thing that you do without an audience to then promote and to sell the book to, has its challenges. And I needed to do that first. I'll share more of that story as we go along into these topics. I might just consider if it's not calling you to not think that you have to start with it. But if you are like me, I needed to write that book. At the time that I did, I needed to go through that. And so it was perfect as it always is. But I'm going to share with you some things in my now six years of being a published author, of knowing more in this space, of seeing the impact of my book, seeing what's happened over the years that I'd like to share with you. And maybe you find it helpful as you think about writing a book. Maybe this is your catalyst to finally start doing it. Maybe it's just a curiosity. Okay, good to know, good to know. So I get my reasons. Clear. So five reasons why you should and shouldn't write a book. Let's start with the shouldn't. Number one, you shouldn't write a book if you think it's going to be a huge income stream. Yes, that's right. You don't get rich writing a book. So I actually thought when I started writing that if I could write a couple books, get them on Amazon, start getting them to the right people, that it would be this beautiful continuous passive revenue stream. And that wasn't the case. That might be the case if at some point you learn how to dial in ads. That's something I'm actually figuring out right. Right now. But for the most part, even if you have a big audience, a book is not going to be a huge income stream. So we need to kind of also decipher if you're self publishing, if you have a published book. I'm going to keep this pretty broad. I don't want to get too into the weeds of either or. But you shouldn't do it for that reason. And then that's not to say that maybe you don't make some money, maybe it does become an income stream. But I would caution you, if that's your reason to write a book, if you're like, wow, I really could use another income stream, I'm going to write a book. It just might be something to pause yourself at. Now, books can lead to other opportunities, for sure. They can help you become more credible, which can lead to different speaking engagements. They create a level of credibility, really in that way where you might be able to charge more for your services. We'll talk more about this in a second. But I just would caution you if you think that this is going to be a way to make a lot of money and not just as the sense of like, well, we shouldn't do things for money, and not just in the sense that we shouldn't do things for money, but just the hard facts that it just probably won't make a lot of money. And so that's number one. Number two, you're doing it because of what you think it's going to give you. And this is very similar to the last one, but more specific. If you are doing it just because you want to use it as a business card, and it might be a business card, it might help you get in the door of certain places. It might help you be more credible. It might help you to have opportunities that you wouldn't have had. But this is all my opinion, by the way. But if you're doing it to get somewhere, you're doing it for the outcome rather than really the spirit of the process. And so if you're just doing it because you think it's going to give you something in the future, it's a huge project to start on, because when it gets hard, it's gonna be so easy for you to just stop because you're doing it for that outcome. And I promise you, you might get to the outcome, and it might not give you the thing that you think it's gonna give you. So, number two, if you're doing it because of what you think it's gonna give you, Number three, you shouldn't write a book because you see everyone doing it and you think you need one. Anything that you are doing because someone else is brings us back to the cliche of, will you jump off a bridge because someone else does? So whenever we're looking outside for our creative projects or we're saying, well, this is what other people in the field do. This is what I should do, that's probably a sign that that's not what you should do. Just really inverse. Anytime that shows up in your life, when you see other people doing it and think you should do it now, you might see other people doing something and you might be inspired. It might actually light something. It might in you, and then that's something to listen to. But if you think you need one to be in the door or to be, you know, credible in some ways, I promise you, you don't. So don't do it because everyone else is doing it. Find the right time for it, and there might be a right time. It's okay if it's not right now, podcasting is an example for me. I. For years, people all had podcasts, and there was a part of me that was like, oh, should I have a podcast? But it never really called to me. And I really would even say to myself, if I ever do a podcast, I'm just gonna know. I'm just gonna know what it is. And I'll be honest, I started this podcast with a little bit of like, well, it's a thing to do. It's a thing to do. So I started the Awakening to Purpose podcast, and I wasn't really into it. I was just pushing content from other places onto the podcast. There was no energy in that, but there was a moment In May, in a meditation where it all just clicked. I said I saw it, I saw the episodes, I saw what the niche will be. And here I am still excited about sharing with you. I'm recording this in November, so I know it's only a few months, but I don't see this stopping anytime soon. I'm having a lot of fun. So number three, so don't do it if you see everyone doing it and you think you need one. Number four, don't do it if you're gonna do it haphazardly. Don't waste the trees. And what I mean is some people write a 80 page double space book that looks like it could have been a 12th grade essay and this comes down back to people that maybe are trying to do it to get the business card right, to just get through it like it or it feels good. There's a lot of ego and I've been there, so, so much ego at first in the thought of I can be an author. There's so much ego in that word and I've manifested or that's not the right word. I have promoted that ego a lot, especially in the early days, especially when I was in it. I'm a little off of that and so I've shifted a little bit. But there's still, there's ego. There is some level of status in being an author. And so some people have maybe a blog post that they expand on, write double space, get a 70 page self published book on Amazon and you have a book and you are a published author and that feels good for a short amount of time. But is it something that you will be proud of 10 years down the road, is it something that you can still be excited talking about? Because guess what, that feeling is going to wear off. And then when people actually read it and there's not any positive reviews on it, there's not any energy around it, then it's going to feel good for a little bit, but you're going to look back 10 years and be like, you know what, I'm not really that proud of that. So thinking of a book as an evergreen long term asset, do not do it half hazardly. And this is not to say that there are some beautiful little books. And so if it's your full heart and you know you want to create just a little like poetry book that's 70 pages and you put your, your whole being into it, then by, by all means do that. But again if you're doing it just because you want to get the book Out. You're doing it haphazardly. Don't do it. Number five, last reason why you shouldn't write a book. You don't like writing. If you don't like writing, don't write. Now, hold on a second. In the Kahlil Gibran poem on work, he has a line that says, if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread. If you do work with this energy of like, I don't really like this. This is a struggle now. Struggle. It can be a struggle, but if you're really loathing it, that's going to come through in the energy that you're putting into the book. Now, I said you shouldn't write the book. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't publish a book. But if you really hate writing, there are other ways to share your words. You can voice note it. You can have an interview with a ghostwriter. I think that's totally okay that you're not physically writing, but your energy is still being poured into it, and you're sharing your words, your heart, and you're having kind of the creative oversight on that project anyway. So do the thing that you love. Do the thing that gives you most energy, because that's where the energy is going to be into the book. And that's what ultimately matters, and that's what's going to help you continue to do it when you don't feel like doing it. Okay, so not to be a Debbie Downer, let's shift to five reasons why you should write a book. Number one, you have a story to tell, and you can't live keeping it inside of you. When it comes down to it, this is why I wrote a book. I had this crazy experience that I went through, and I really needed to tell it. I couldn't live with it inside of me. I needed to write that story. And in writing that story, it was actually how I processed what happened to me. I didn't really realize that that's what it was going to be, but after looking back, I needed to process it through writing that book. It was my therapy. It was my spiritual guidance. It was how I was able to let go and release the energy of what the heck happened to me. And it was freeing. It was freeing, so freeing to have that story out of me. It's freeing. Now I don't feel like I have this weird secret that I can't explain. I'll never really be able to explain it. That book doesn't really, really explain it. It does the best Capacity that I could to explain what happened. But in the end it was really more about me just getting it out of me in the best way that I could. And they talk about a project of releasing something into the world. When an artist releases an album, when a writer releases a book, it is that feeling of, oh, this idea, this story came to me and I need to get it out of me. And I get it out and then I can let go of it, I can release it. So if you have a story to tell, if you have something inside of you that you need to get out, please, please get it out in some way. It can be a book. It can start as other things too. It can start as blogs, it can start as videos. But if you want to have that kind of long asset, I definitely recommend spending time working, cultivating, crafting a book. Number two, you should write a book because it will be something that keeps giving and people buy books long after they are published, which is different from an Instagram post. When's the last Instagram post that you watched? That was 10 years ago. Probably you haven't, but you've probably bought a book that was 10 years old, 20 years old, maybe 30, 40, 50, hundred, 200 years old. Books can become perennial, long lasting assets. And that's the beauty of taking the time to create a gift and a package of a book. There's a great book called Perennial Seller where Ryan Holiday talks about this phenomenon that if a book actually grows in sales after that 10 year mark, that there's actually a compounding interest in it. Which is why I come back to the last point of why you shouldn't write a book is to think about this long term asset that you are creating. I wrote my book when I was 26, 27 years old. Part of me looks back and I'm like, man, what did I know? I read it now and I'm blown away. I'm so proud of it. I mean, I wouldn't say things how I said things back then, but there's a lot of good stuff in there and I'm sure I'm going to continue to be proud of that first book for a long time and what it represents of who I was at that time and what I needed to get out. So a book keeps giving, so it's a good reason to write one. Number three, you should write a book if you want to grow in the craft of writing and the self development that comes from writing a book. Holy smokes. Was that one of the biggest growth experiences? One of the Most gut wrenching things I have ever done. From writing a whole first draft, absolutely hating every single word, throwing it out, thinking I wasn't going to write a book anymore, to then restarting from scratch to write the story again, to coming to the end of publishing, having a complete breakdown because it was about to be out in the world and like, I thought it was going to be total crap. People were going to hate it. I was going to be shamed. All this stuff came out that really forced me to look at my stuff and to develop not only the discipline to write the thing to show up each day, but also the emotional transformation of feeling the insecurities and moving through that project to actually getting it out. I believe our greatest pieces of art, our greatest projects, are also pathways to our greatest transformation. And they bring up the things, they bring up our resistances. And so it grows you, grows your development and of course it grows in the craft. You're going to learn to be a better writer if you like writing. What better thing to practice your craft? Now, if you're in that camp of I don't like writing, but maybe you learn to like writing and it kind of grows your skill in that process. Number four reasons why you should write a book. You get to sum up your life's work in one place. Maybe you have coaching programs, maybe you have clients that you've worked on. Maybe you have a body of work through articles, through different things that you've done. Expertise. And a book can become this magnum opus. It can become a representation of your body of work that is in this more bite, sizable form. And yes, there are some great books where I read and it might talk about some program that that person has and then I go look into that person more. So it can become. Some people use books almost like it's a funnel in a way. I maybe put a. Should have put that on the shouldn't. Like I wouldn't do that just to get people into your coaching program, although. But if I wouldn't do that for the main reason. But if you have some really great content in your coaching program that you want to make into a book because you want it to be more accessible, because maybe your coaching program cost thousands of dollars, but this book costs 20 bucks. And it really does have a lot of value in it. And you get to kind of put your package into this thing and show people, oh, this is what I'm about. This is what I'm about. That's a great, great way to share your gifts with the world. So to Sum up all your work in one place. And lastly, reason that you should write a book is because even though it makes no sense, something in you is calling for it. You might not even know what the story is. It's not even that you have a story to get out of you, but you just, you know that you want to write. You know, you want to put yourself into a book to share it out in the world. You want to be a writer. And if that's the case, write. Even if it's solely for your creative expression, it might just be a work of fiction that's calling to come out of you and it makes no sense. Maybe you don't even do anything related to fiction. But something's wanting to come out. Something creatively is wanting to spark. And I want to encourage you to listen to that. Even if it makes no sense to yourself, to your logical mind, or if it makes no sense to others. If you have that inner calling that a book wants to come out, let it out. We need your gifts. That was it. Five reasons why you should. Five reasons why you shouldn't write a book. Thank you for listening. You could check out my book, find you'd truth. If you're like, oh, I didn't know Lou wrote a book. Check it out on Amazon. I just released the audiobook version six years after the print version. So if you're a listener of books, like you're a listener of this podcast, you can hear my voice from 2018. I almost didn't release the audiobook. I was really again had that fear of oh my gosh, I could record this so much better. I'm so much more skilled now at speaking on a mic like I am doing right now. I could record it again, but I decided to keep my recording of it from 2018 and get it out into the world because it represents also who I was closer to that project. So check it out on all the places where you find your books online, which is really Amazon because I self publish it through Amazon. So all the Amazon places and Audible and yeah, I love to get a chance to share with you in that space. And if you're listening this far, if you've enjoyed any of these podcast episodes, it so helps to have a review to use some of the Spotify and Apple algorithm to maybe start promoting this a little bit more to other people. So it's so appreciated if you take the time to leave a loving 5 star review. If there's anything other than 5 stars, just forget I just said this. But if you feel like you want to leave a loving 5 star review, go ahead and leave it. And I am excited to share with you on an upcoming episode that is all friends. I'll see you soon.