Just about everyone I know wants to be an author and write a book? But the vast majority of them never get that book out of them.
Like the old OWH quote…
Most people have an idea, and even make notes, but it never turns into an actual thing to hold in your hand or pull up on a device. But, wow, the joy when a new author holds their book in their hands for the first time!
I’ve been publishing my own books, books by family, and books by clients for years. I was blessed to be able to publish my mom’s books. She did all the writing and everything, but needed help on the publishing side of things. Now ten years later, she has a series of redneck fairy tale series, a horror novel, and a grief counseling book on the market.
But here’s the thing about books. They won’t make you rich. They make some people rich, but those folks are outliers or already have a huge following, and a book just makes them more rich.
Let me tell you about my book numbers, as I just did the analytics for this month. After I tell you the numbers, I’ll give you a few reasons why you should still write your book and get it out there.
- Books sold overall: 14,115
- My biggest seller: An Informal and Unofficial Preppers Guide to James Wesley, Rawles’ Patriots at just over 3,000 copies. It’s a resource guide about another book, meaning I didn’t even come up with the original creation it’s based on. But I’m an expert in that field. Keep this in mind for you too. What fields are you an expert in?
- Total books in my publishing catalog: 105
- Books I wrote: 33
- Books by others: 72
- Foreign sales are about a tenth of the US sales overall, although some individual books sell way better in the foreign markets.
- Digital sales are at least quadruple the print sales.
- The books I write for income sell way better than the books I WANT to write.
Don’t let those numbers make you sad. There’s some even better reasons why you should still write your book.
- You won’t be happy until you do.
- There’s a story inside that needs telling.
- It will serve as a business card for you.
- It will establish you as an expert in your field.
- There is a slim chance it might make you rich, become a movie, and you’ll be famous.
- It’s for historical purposes, to preserve a story for family, a museum, or others.
- You need a resource for your main occupation, like a workbook or something.
There are other reasons, but those are some of the best I encounter.
So…quit reading right now! Open up a document, organize your notes, and start writing. Let me know how you do. If you write something because I encouraged you, and get way more famous than me, I’ll still count that as a win.
Dr. Redbeard, just a guy who absolutely loves writing and reading books
P.S. Mike- I’m thinking about you as I write this post!
