When you were a child, if you followed the crowd that were your friends, you may have encountered questions like, “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you too?”
The sensible answer would be no, as that would clearly be a silly thing to do. But if everyone is writing a book, is there a good reason that you aren’t?
The Need to Tell Stories
As humans, there is a compulsion to tell stories. They are often factual, or at least close to factual, such as what you did over the weekend. Every time you talk to someone, there’s a strong chance you’ll be telling a story, so putting it down on paper is the next logical step.
Not every book has a story, and many are how-to guides are information about places, objects, people, or skills. Perhaps you know how to paint a room – you could turn that knowledge into a book.
We tell stories all the time so if everyone is writing a book, you could join in easily as you probably have something to say.
Everyone is Writing a Book About Zombies…
There are certainly trends that happen regularly, so you may be concerned that your book won’t fit into the current landscape. If you want to write a non-fiction book, this is still a concern.
Fiction has taken a leap towards a dystopian future in recent years, meshing in zombies after several years of vampires (thanks Twilight). Before that, it was wizards. For non-fiction, the health sector has become quite large recently, and the keto diet is amazingly popular. Previously, it was paleo, and before that, it was the Mediterranean Diet and Atkins even earlier.
As the trends change very regularly, there’s no need to worry about what is particularly “hot” at the moment if you want to write a book. Books tend to be successful through the quality of content and the marketing skills of the creator or publisher, rather than the current trend. If a new Harry Potter book came out today, would it feature zombies on a keto diet? Probably not, but it would likely be successful due to marketing.
Is Everyone Writing a Book to Publish it?
The majority of people who write a book will never finish it. It starts as a good idea, but life gets in the way. It’s hard to dedicate the time needed regularly to a pet project, and while everyone who writes a book may have dreams of it being published, an unfinished manuscript won’t hit the bestseller lists.
Everyone really does have a story to tell or knowledge to impart, but not everyone can make the commitment to write an entire novel or how-to guide. Sharing a story or giving out information can often be achieved more easily by talking to friends, posting snippets on social media, or even recording yourself talking for a podcast or video.
People will start writing with good intentions, but will not have a structure for their book, and will not have a strategy for getting to the end. This leads to confusion, annoyance, and a million unfinished manuscripts.
Everyone is Writing a Book, But Few Have a Plan
To successfully write a book, you need to have strategies and plans in place. The time you write, the location you write, even what you use to write with, all need planning. How your book begins and ends needs planning.
Failing to plan is planning to fail, and there’s no other way to put it – everyone is writing a book, but the writing process can continue ad infinitum. Very few people are finishing writing a book, and even less have fully completed their book.
If writing a book isn’t your passion, don’t worry about everyone else writing a book. You’ll be doing things they never will.
But if writing a book is what you want to do, make sure you plan the process carefully – a few hours dedicated to getting everything in order can help you cross the finish line days, weeks, or months from now.