After I wrote my first book, I started suggesting people I met that they should write a book.

I figured anyone who liked writing, wrote reasonably well and had a decent level of expertise in one or more things, could write a book.

Such suggestions were based on the fact that my book had helped open gates of opportunities for me, and I figured it would do the same for anyone who did that. I still believe that a book is a great showcase of your expertise.

Since I started working as a book writing coach over the past couple of years, I figured not everyone is ready to write a book. Maybe they can write a blog post, but a book? No.

Why?

Because readers read a blog post for free and if they don’t like something you wrote, you can go back to edit it. But people pay for a book and they want a good ROI on their money and time that they spend on buying and reading your book.

They don’t care much if a blog post sucks. But if your book is bad, rushed or offers padded info – readers are free to post a poor review, which also opens you to a bigger pool of criticism. 

If you take time and put in the effort to write a book, then you don’t need to worry about criticism. But if you are in a rush and just want to get it done with, then better don’t write a book. It is like throwing yourself in the middle of the road with running traffic without looking at the red light.

Only write a book, if you have something to say which you won’t be able to say in 5-10 blog posts and if you want to create a legacy and make yourself known to the wider world. Do it if you are willing to put in 100s of hours, over a period of 6-8 months or even longer to write the best book you can, and then to edit in multiple times so that readers find it coherent and enjoyable.

It’s ok if you aren’t ready yet. You can take your time and still write a good book, even when you are not an expert.