Lecture one. Why should you write a book?

A lot of people start to ask this question when they get deep into the writing and they start feeling exhausted by it. Why a book, why is a book important, how can it help, especially if you are writing as an entrepreneur? Books are a phenomenal way to convey larger meaning than a workshop or one on one work could accomplish within your company. It also establishes authority for your expertise. Books stick around longer than humans, so they're a great way to create a legacy. And, definitely, books are passive income. It takes a lot of work to get a book out the door, and certainly, there's going to be work that we're putting in once we've published in order to have the success of a bestselling author, but for the most part, books are passive income. Books can sell in your sleep.

Just a reminder that writing a book can work in tandem with your business plan, so if you have a strategic plan, it would be a good time to take a look at it and understand exactly what you're doing with the book and what you're doing in your business so that you can time the launch. If you're a fiction writer, we'll get into a plan for you in the next lecture.

So why should you write a book?

Let's process some of these questions in order to really get clear on what the point is.

First of all, why now? Why this moment in your life, or this moment in your business? Why is now the time to write the book? Have you had a "come to Jesus" moment? Have you experienced something that needs to be shared? Do you need a leg up in your business? Is there an idea that the Muses has bestowed upon you that is budding in your mind, that just must be put down on paper? Get really really really clear as to the why — why now — because the writing process and the sales process can sometimes be disheartening can sometimes be difficult. And if we aren't driven by our clarity of purpose, it's going to be that much harder in order to keep going. So take a second now to brainstorm your answers to these questions.