Tips on Writing a Book

Make it great, no matter how long it takes. There’s no such thing as too many drafts. There’s no such thing as too much time spent. A great book can last forever. A great book can change a person’s life.

Get feedback — loads and loads of it. Along the way, show pieces of your book to lots of people — different types of people. Find out what’s missing, what’s being misinterpreted, what isn’t convincing, what’s falling flat. This doesn’t mean you take every suggestion or write the book by committee. But this process will allow to marry your necessarily-precious vision with how people will actually react.

Let some of you come through. You’re obviously not writing a memoir here, but this book is still partly about you — the world you see, the way you think, the experiences you have with people. Readers are interested in who you are. So don’t be afraid to let bits and pieces of your personality and even life details seep into the text. It will breathe a lot of life into the book.