Books have been the key source of knowledge, inspiration, as well as a means of personal and professional development for many amongst us.
Since ancient times, great leaders have also been reported to be fond of books to the point where they would dedicate a study room for themselves to ponder over the various notions and ideas presented within them. Even today, we find researchers and enthusiasts reaching out for books as their primary source of information for various subjects and topics.
According to a recent report by The Guardian, around 1000 people surveyed were found to spend almost twice as much time reading books during the recent lockdowns. However, it has been argued several times that reading books actually pushes one to write better.
Critics debate that one who is exposed to written materials that use different styles and voices are then able to improve their own writing skills. Hence the idea that consumption leads to production.
In light of this information, let’s take a look at some of the reasons why writing a book can be much better rather than searching out for one.
1. Boost Your Self Confidence
In numerous ways, book writing can effectively boost one’s confidence. Writing a book can be considered an incredible activity where one directly approaches the most straightforward fashion of the learning process.
To become the progenitor of your work, as a writer, you go through a tremendous form of research and study on the subject itself in a self-scrutinizing manner where the margin of error is simply not there begin with.
As such, you try to produce the very best of the work you can possibly deliver as whatever you publish is going to be irrevocable as we all know that a message in black and white is virtually impossible to retract. Considering your responsibility and realizing that your reputation can be at stake, writing a book can be like an inner battle in which they must emerge victoriously.
As such, a writer is infused with a fighting spirit that can only be visible through the work they produce and which seldom can recognize. Nevertheless, as a writer, you put yourself at the forefront when confronting subjects and topics that might receive unexpected feedback.
Hence there is almost a feeling of you going against the entire world to prove yourself and your self-worth, which in return gives you the confidence to challenge previously-understood concepts and themes.
2. Commercialize on Your Efforts
Perhaps one of the best returns and incentives you get for putting in your efforts to write a book is commercializing your intellectual property. We have incredible stories that become an instant hit and reach the Top Seller’s Shelf. As such, in recent times, the story of J.K. Rowling from rags to riches is both enthralling and quite emotional. Many would consider this as a fairy tale event that occurred in real life.
However, writing books and selling them can actually be extremely lucrative. While earning royalties on a single book sold may be as little as $1.25, publishers are always on the lookout for audiences rather than big-name authors.
While this certainly means that you have to sell a ton of books to make a decent living, however selling just about 300 books can make you a best-selling author on Amazon, even if it is just for a couple of hours.
However, technology these days is making it extremely easy to sell your own books by yourself. Online domains like Kindle Direct Publishing, Barnes & Noble Press, Kobo, and Apple Books are just some of the few self-publishing websites out there. Then there is social media and various other sharing platforms where you can introduce yourself and your work to new audiences and capture their attention.
Reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and word of mouth marketing through your friends and social circle can significantly enhance your chances of bulk selling your book. Instagram, Facebook, and even YouTube are considered some of the best platforms to create awareness and market your book.
3. Proving Wrong Needless Biases
Life, as it goes, is not at all simple. People go through various hardships and overcome troubles to reach a state of peace. Even then, there are numerous uncertainties involved, including things like the weather that impacts all of us and more severe accidents that can prove fatal.
Nobody can predict what the future would be like, and science doesn’t explain everything. In fact, knowledge itself is an ever-growing pool. The more you explore yourself and your surroundings, the more you get to learn. As such, you will find hardly anyone out there who proclaims themselves as the ‘All-Knowing” or declaring themselves as omniscient beings.
This leaves much of the world to be interpreted through perceptions, and as far they go, they can be ridiculed with countless biases and prejudices. Take into consideration the topic of racism and the current events that are happening within our nation.
As a writer, you have the power of putting your voice out there and prove these unnecessary and unrealistic biases wrong and putting them to an end.
You can stand up for what is right and support a cause to enlighten your readers and bring about a change in how people think and behave. This is where you can be most powerful and hence prove that the pen indeed is mightier than the sword.
4. Self-Cleansing & Free Therapy
The act of writing itself can be extremely satisfying and healing in nature. In fact, writing as a form of therapy has been researched by numerous people in the past. James W. Pennebaker was perhaps one of the first to discover the idea where expressive writing would induce self-healing in people way back in the late 1980s.
According to his findings, people who were instructed to write about their past trauma found the exercise to be deeply meaningful and valuable for their lives. Therapeutic writing has since been studied extensively by various medical professors and has proven to reduce stress and anxiety in people.
According to John Fox, who is the author of Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making, poetry itself can also be defined as a form of natural medicine, which is also confirmed by Bruce Weigi, an award-winning American poet.
These interpretations have also given rise to practices like Journal Therapy as well as where individuals are asked to write down their most noteworthy thoughts and feelings.
You can also find several studies on the US National Library of Medicine and the PMC (PubMed Central®) that not only support writing therapy but also infer on it as a relatively cheap and easily accessible option that could require minimal input from healthcare professionals.
5. Tremendous Self-Learning Opportunity
Last but certainly not least, writing is also a great form of learning itself. In order to write anything meaningful pertaining to a particular subject, the writer has to develop a certain degree of command and control over the topic and the theme of their work.
This requires them to go through several materials to ascertain their perspectives and back them up with reasonable justifications that imbue their writing with credibility and trust.
Writing gibberish and nonsensical things is totally the opposite of when it comes to writing a book since it is a considerably much more valuable piece of work that caters to a broad range of audiences.
Hence, the writer’s conscious effort is made to make sure that whatever they write is relevant to the prevalent times and current scenarios happening across the world. Plus, making sense of their work is also crucial as, without it, they will be unable to deliver the impact they wish to achieve with their readers.
Furthermore, no one can produce an absolute masterpiece in one sitting. There are several retakes, revisions, and editing that sees drafts upon drafts being rehashed to improve quality and the overall narrative that the book follows. It is indeed a tedious process and requires maximum effort to make sure that their work lives up to the struggles that were involved in its creation.
Hence one can surely expect that writing a book includes a lot of research and the inclusion of exclusive language skills and knowledge of respective field that the writer came across in their life and would like to share with their audience.
Personal stories, life lessons, real-world examples, current events, a slice of life, and a lot of other inspirations also find a way to be a part of the book that indefinitely makes it more valuable for the readers.
Conclusion
When you study the very nature of writing, you will find that it is very much introspective and thoughtful. Wiring a book hence takes it to the next level as it has many intrinsic as well as extrinsic benefits for the writers themselves.
It is a highly stimulating task. It can bring about significant changes into your own perspectives that can, at times, be spiritually enlightening and somehow find a way to complete the missing links in your own life.
Furthermore, it can also be an excellent opportunity to reach out to the world and share your ideas with them that could result in both negative and positive feedback. Nevertheless, writing a book now will undoubtedly teach you much more about yourself as whenever you look back, it will be there to remind you all about your journey and accomplishments.
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