Ramit had a great post a while back on how everyone (81% of us) wants to write a book. Well, it has been over a month since my first book launch and over this week, I thought I'd share some of my lessons learned.
Today, I'm covering the Why. Why did I want to write a book? This is important because writing a book and getting it published is a long, rejection-filled process. Without a strong enough why (or better yet, multiple why's), I would have quit along the way and that would have been a waste of any of my time previously invested.
I had multiple why's. I've always enjoyed writing. I loved reading romances and wanted to give back to the community I have taken so much enjoyment from. I noticed the lack of romances about business people who loved being business people and I knew with my experience, I could sneak in real business lessons into the novels (my favorite feedback has been from romance readers who knew nothing about business). This would further my larger goal of helping to educate other women about business (as I was educated by my own mentors).
I was in a great place to test this concept (jury is still out on whether it will be successful though my publisher seems happy with the results). I didn't need the money and could devote the time to promotion.
You see, there isn't a lot of money in writing books. There are some exceptions but those exceptions are usually because the books have been sold to film (like Harry Potter). Money is a poor motivator anyway (for business start ups also). There has to be something bigger.
