Do You Feel Compelled to Write and Publish Your Book?

In addition to writing and evaluating your author bio and platform, Step #8 in the Author Training Process, Weigh Whether You Are the Best Person to Write This Book…Now, involves looking at how passionate you feel about writing and publishing your book. If you’ve gotten this far in process, it’s time to check in on how you feel about your project now and see if you still feel inspired by your idea and the prospect of writing your book. Do you still feel passionate about it? Do you feel inspiration—creativity and the impulse to write—flowing through you?  Do you feel you must write your book or compelled to do so? Does writing and publishing your book feel like a personal mission or a soul purpose?

If so, that’s a great thing. That type of passion will help you convince a publisher to take on your project, and it will help convince readers to buy your book.

Why Write a Mission Statement

Writing a Mission Statement is an optional part of a business plan, but it can be an important part of book proposal. I encourage you to take the time to write a mission statement for four reasons.

1. It clarifies for you why you feel the need to write your book.
2. It clarifies for your readers why you feel the need to provide this information for them.
3. It becomes the foundation for your book; the book takes on your purpose and you must make sure it fulfills, or carries out, that purpose by the time you have completed it.
4. Publishers will see your purpose and passion as a commitment to help the book succeed.

How to Evaluate if You Have Passion

When you are done writing your Mission Statement, which need only be a paragraph or two long, read it to yourself and consider if it sounds like you have passion for your topic or story. Do the words sound like you are on a personal mission or have a sense of purpose you feel compelled to fulfill? Will readers or an agent or acquisitions editor read it and “get on board” with your cause or your sense of urgency—your need to fulfill this mission? Will they understand why you are writing your book? Will they feel this statement shows your commitment to helping the book succeed through your promotional efforts?  Does it make you feel confident that you will carry through on making your book a success?

Your sense of mission needs to come across the pages of your book. It needs to underlie everything—the benefits you listed, the table of contents (TOC) and all the content you write. Look at the work you did in Step #5 and #6 to see if the TOC and Chapter Summaries or synopsis you produced carry out this mission. If not, something remains missing from your book—possibly your passion or purpose. If so, your book may not come across to readers as inspired. If you really feel “called” to write your book, make sure your passion and purpose comes through in every part of the business plan you have written as well as the manuscript you plan to produce.

Note: You can read additional blogged draft excerpts from my new book, The Author Training Manual (Writer’s Digest Books, March 2014) here. Only select pieces from the manuscript, a “working draft,” were posted—not the complete manuscript. Read the next post in the The Author Training Manual blogged-book series by clicking here. Purchase the book on Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com or at Writersdigestshop.com.

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