Want to write a book? 7 questions to ask before putting your passion into print

At some point, many creatives ponder the same question: is it time to turn my business or passion project into a book? Whether you’re hoping to grow your brand, yearn to share your knowledge with the world, or simply dream of seeing your name in print, writing and publishing a nonfiction book is a goal shared by many of us. Here are a few reasons to take the publishing plunge:

• To share your knowledge and ideas

• To build your business, brand, or platform

• To help others by shedding light on a larger issue

• As a creative outlet

• As a portfolio to share your work

• To reach a larger audience and connect with like-minded people

• To establish yourself as an authority in a given area

• As a path toward licensing partnerships, speaking engagements, and more

• As a “giveaway” or incentive for clients, customers, or students

I have worked in publishing for nearly two decades, first in New York and now in Sydney, and have helped hundreds of authors create publishable books. I have also met many aspiring authors who wasted time and effort on murky book concepts that led to rejection and frustration. What are the magic elements to a publishable book proposal? Why are some proposals snapped up by agents and publishers, and others left in the rejection pile?

There are many layers to book publishing. Large trade publishers, which are often accessible only through literary agents, focus on commercial projects and authors with track records and ‘platforms.’ Smaller presses are open to newer authors and niche topics. There is also academic and educational publishing, not to mention self-publishing. Finally, there is the new world of ‘partnership publishers,’ which provide editorial, design, printing, distribution, and publicity services for a fee.

Whichever type of publishing you pursue (unless you are self-publishing a book strictly for friends and family, or a monograph), it’s worthwhile stepping back and asking yourself a few questions before diving in. Note: these are for nonfiction books only.

1. What is your book about?

Can you describe your book in one sentence? Be sure to include the genre, main idea, audience, and what makes it special. Avoid generalities in favor of specifics that make us want to learn more.

• Too general: A book about collage

• Better: A beginner’s guide to upcycling discarded materials into stunning, multi-layered collage by an award-winning collage artist and instructor

• Too general: A memoir about my ex-husband

• Better: A harrowing memoir of how I discovered my ex-husband’s shattering secret - and why I kept it for twenty-five years

• Too general: A book about leadership for women

• Better: A soccer-mum-turned-CEO’s laugh-out-loud manifesto for rejecting the ‘mummy track’ and leaning in without sacrificing your sanity

 2. Is it a good book idea—or just a good idea?

Is your topic meaty enough for an entire book, or could you do it justice in a blog post or magazine article? When you share the idea with others, are they intrigued? Are there many layers to explore? Does it telescope out to a larger issue?

Most adult books have, at a minimum, 60,000 - 80,000 words (excluding heavily illustrated books and gift books). Is there that much to say about your topic?

 3. Are you a credible author?

What makes you an authority on your topic? Do you teach courses? Have practical work experience? Have you won awards? Perhaps you write about the topic for a popular blog, newspaper, or magazine, or have a relevant social media platform.

If your only connection is personal interest, it’s time to gain external credibility. Pitch an article on your topic to a small local blog and then use that post to pitch larger publications. Teach a class in a local community organisation and/or apply for speaking opportunities. For a publisher to take you seriously, you’ll need more than just raves from family and friends.

 4. Is it doable?

Will you need to travel? Conduct hundreds of interviews? Pay for permission to include famous artworks? Think about the logistics of researching and writing your book and make sure you can handle them with your schedule and financial situation. These days, it’s rare to find a publisher that will pay for expenses and most advances are small and paid in installments over time.

5. What is already in the market?

Go to the bookstore or hop online and find out what other books are already out there on your topic. For each, write down the title, author, page count, price, and publisher. Note how the scope and tone differs from yours. If you’re doing research online, look for reviews to see how each book was received. Does your book offer a fresh approach and/or fill a gap? Bookstore owners have limited shelf-space, so think about it from their point of view: what does your book offer that justifies taking the spot of another book already on their shelves?

Many authors think it’s a selling point to say that theirs is the ‘first’ book on a given topic or that there’s ‘nothing else out there,’ but if you’re hoping to attract an agent or publisher, this may work against you. Trade publishers tend to prefer books that tap into reliably popular (though not glutted) categories.

6. Who is your target reader?

Who are you writing for? If you are solving a problem, whose problem is it? If you’re sharing a story, who will be interested? Is your market women who own small businesses? Dog owners? Mums searching for healthy, kid-friendly recipes? Readers who loved Fight Like a Girl? Are there enough of these people to create a healthy market for your book?

7. What is your book’s extra-special ‘something’?

While your book should have a tight, concise concept, it should also tap into a larger idea, goal, or emotional need. For example, does it offer insight on a current trend or world event? Does it offer hope during troubled times? Inspiration? Tools for making a dream come true? Will it help your reader feel part of something larger, or give her something to share at the next office meeting or school pickup? Hone in on your book’s particular magic ingredient.

If you’ve answered all of the above and still feel good about your project, great! The next step is to write a proposal to pitch literary agents and publishers. Or if not, it may be time to rethink your idea or explore another angle. Either way, you’ll have made your process that much more efficient as you unearth the best book within you.

Good luck, and happy writing!

Julie Mazur Tribe is an editor and publishing consultant who loves working with authors, books, and creative ideas. She can be found at BrooklynBookStudio.com or on Instagram at @brooklynbookstudio.

Image from Pexels.com.

Creative Women at Work: Pip Smith, author of Half Wild

Eugenia Falleni, whose multiple identities are the subject of Half Wild

Pip Smith is a Sydney-based writer and poet. Her debut novel, Half Wild, draws on extensive research to reimagine the life of Eugenia Falleni, the so-called “man-woman” convicted of murder in Sydney in 1920. Published in July by Allen & Unwin, the book has been praised as “impressive” (The Australian) and “imaginative and adventurous” (The Sydney Morning Herald). I chatted with Pip about how she came to write her first novel, the importance of failure, and why the only risks worth taking are the scary ones.

What was your inspiration for Half Wild?

I found out about Eugenia Falleni when I went to see the “City of Shadows” exhibition at the Justice and Police Museum. These were police photographs from the early twentieth century. Most of the subjects were hamming it up, trying to look tough with a scowl and their hats cocked to the side. But then there was this one photo of a man who looked the opposite: he was trying very hard to look normal but something in his eyes looked like he was about to come apart. The description said this was “actually” an Italian woman and mother. When I looked at the photo, I could see how it could be two people: a woman as well as a man. What interested me was that these were equally true identities—Eugenia lived in Double Bay as a woman who wore trousers and had a daughter, but [also lived] in Drummoyne as Harry Crawford, a Scotsman who grew up in New Zealand and had a wife and stepson. I was intrigued that one body could maintain two different identities in the same city at the same time, and never the twain shall meet—until, of course, they did, in the horrible court case of 1920.

These days, there’s vehement discussion about “truthiness” and fake news. While I passionately defend scientific truth, I was intrigued by the idea that multiple truths could coexist for different people at the same time.

Also, the places in Eugenia’s story are places I have lived. Once you become obsessed with something, you start seeing it everywhere. I almost felt stalked by the story. This was a story about my city that called into question things I both love and hate about it.

Did you know right away that you wanted to turn Eugenia’s story into a novel?

When I saw the exhibition, I was interested in making theatre. We pitched a show based on Eugenia to the Melbourne Fringe Festival. But collaboration can be unpredictable. The show somehow ended up being about Michael Jackson and I was naked in a Perspex box filled with plastic plants! It was pretty terrible. Then I thought, maybe I’d turn it into a collection of prose poems. But when I started writing, it came out as a novel. That’s just the way the project evolved.

Everyone’s artistic process is different. I have to go the long way to get anywhere, and that’s okay. I think it’s important to get distracted, go down rabbit holes, and procrastinate by researching something strange, because it all ends up being swept back in the project in some way.

So you give yourself the freedom to explore?

Yes, and to fail. That’s important. A lot of the stuff I wrote [in the first couple years] didn’t work. It felt phony. I was scared of writing from Harry Crawford’s point of view because I’m not a man or a trans man. It was a voice experiment that went on forever. I finally just shelved it. It wasn’t until years later that I went back and looked at what I’d written. I cut thousands of words and some of it survived. It’s amazing how things can come back like that.

Given that this was your first novel, did you struggle with self-doubt? Did you ever want to give up?

Self-doubt is a big thing for me. I took about a year to get going, just trying to convince myself I could do it. One of the things that pulled me through was that it was a true story, and that Eugenia’s life—or lives—are still relevant now. With all this debate about gender fluidity and identity politics, it’s still an important idea. Also, I was on a scholarship and felt like I had a commitment to the government to finish. As a writer, you’ve got to jump at these opportunities.

What does your writing day look like?

I need to write first thing in the morning because it’s really easy to get distracted. The hardest thing for me is getting raw material on the page. It’s the most important part of writing and the scariest—and also the most fun. I feel great if I can get three hours of writing done. I leave editing until the afternoon, when that creative energy has burned up.

The thing that keeps me going is reading. If I don’t know what I’m doing, I often at least know what energy I want on the page. In the first part of the book, I wanted a larger-than-life energy, as if time was racing ahead. I was also exploring the idea of your imagination making things real. So I read a lot of books written from the point of view of children. I’d read until I got excited by a spark of an idea, then start writing.

Different kinds of writing require different processes. The third part of the novel, which is based on the court transcript, had a lot more facts to include. I made a spreadsheet of all the witnesses’ names, what they had seen, and so on. Each week I would write one person’s scenes to make sure I kept the voices consistent.

A lot of the work is trying to find the process that works for you at a given point in time. Whenever there’s a big life change it takes ages to find the way of organizing your life that’s the most effective.

What’s the best advice you’ve received about writing?

The most important thing is to do it every day, to keep a regular practice even when you’re feeling lost. You never know when it’s going to work or how it’s going to work. If I know that I’m going to be at my desk for three hours every day, then any ideas I have will be caught, like in a fishing net. If you turn up, something’s going to make it. Being disciplined in that way has been really valuable for me.

Kate Grenville recommended writing the most difficult part first, the part you’re most afraid of. I think that’s really wise, because otherwise you spend so long circling around it, you end up with tens of thousands of words on stuff that isn’t quite the thing that scares you.

Any advice about taking creative risks?

My big fear about taking a risk is that if it’s a failure, I’ll have wasted my time. But it’s only a risk not worth taking if it doesn’t address something genuinely, deeply inside you. If it is a genuine question you have, it’s never going to be a waste of time.

Then the important thing is to ask yourself: is the question big enough? Is what I’m attempting scary enough? If the question doesn’t rattle you, it’s probably not worth asking. So it’s probably not, “Is this too much of a risk?” but rather, “Is this a big enough risk to warrant committing years of my life to?”

Julie Mazur Tribe is an editor and book-publishing consultant who loves working with authors, books, and creative ideas. She can be found at BrooklynBookStudio.com or on Instagram at @brooklynbookstudio.

Author photo by Joshua Morris