August 4, 2019
First to write a non-fiction book, one must be well versed in a topic. That is pretty much it. Oh, but you then must create the passion in order to put your knowledge to practice. And with that dedication its reward brings, one comes to write paragraph after paragraph, chapter after chapter. In the end, it forms a book and you can be proud of what you have accomplished. Was it good or bad? Does it benefit society or harm it? There are ethical landmines all over writing non-fiction work and I recommend you produce work that will benefit society.
You really need a good motivation to write a book. You don't need an editor because you are its editor and you know it is good because you 1) spellcheck, and 2) record audio after to make sure it all flows well. If it is difficult to say, you might want to change it up a bit. Doing this caught me some important mistakes in Living Neverland... being fixed tonight but it doesn't matter, no one buys my books so it isn't like there are any out there except the ones I left in Mexico... Wonder what happened to those.
To write a book one needs to get obsessively obsessed with a particular field of study. You learn and learn and learn and eventually you gain the ability to walk around that subject. As a result you begin to see things that others can't. Those are the points you write about, in between the lines. And if you are to write, write with blood. Put your heart and soul into it, that way people will pick up your passion.
How could a robot write a book? If programmed well, it could probably learn heaps, digest relevant topic, and potentially paraphrase its back's blurb, but what would be its output? I would say writing books would be a rather difficult task for a bot to do. It would be nonsensical output. It would need to learn over time and be capable of paraphrasing a great deal of material. However, I won't say that it would be impossible for a bot to write a book. Because in the end language is only one thought after the next. Let's break it down.
I write word after word. My sentence structures are what is most important though because the linked ideas are what conveys meaning. But here is the question: can my sentences act independently of their paragraph structure? If each of my ideas (sentences) are both capable of working independently and as a whole, then that content can be used in many different chatbot applications. And if my sentences can be used elsewhere and similar ideas grouped together, then I could see it feasible for a bot to write a book. And if it can write a book very quickly, then that would put a lot of authors out of work. And if that happens, the only ones who will stand are the ones who based their ideas upon solid foundations. Because robots will also one day take over our media. And we need to be prepared for mass redundancy, but the only way to do that is to make yourself irreplaceable. And how do you do that? I am showing you right now.
Any good book consists of three parts: beginning (protasis), middle (epitasis) and end (catastrophe). The ideal topic you want to convey must have been contemplated for a long time before you start writing. To start with, keep an online journal or something and try your best to write almost every day. What you write about in the beginning, will stand as the end of its series... this is to say that your foundations will result in how high you can build the structure.
As a writer, I recommend you also do video work. It will give you more exposure. It is hard in a world of self-publishing to get your book recognised. Do not worry about a potential lack in sales, for that journey is behind you, only dormant until all actions align. Eventually past toils will become future rewards, but think ye not of this; for your mind is on the current project you are on, your past ones now archived in your memory just in case you (or anybody else) wants to view them. Running a decent website is also an important aspect when self-advocating your work. You are trying to get your presence out there as much as possible, and any publicity, bad or good, is good publicity. Love your haters.
Not everybody will be capable of writing a book. Remember, you are its editor and its publisher and if the quality is not up to standard, then I recommend to keep writing journals until your writing improves, then you can move on to books. However, maybe thinking of them as only essay after essay, then maybe it will be easier for you. My writings work both in and out of context of the books I write; meaning each chapter is an essay. Focus on your strengths and use effective methods to improve upon your weaknesses.
There is more than one way to write a book. You could write many different genres and therefore require those skills in order to effectively write that type of book. Study those you admire in the genre in which you are most attracted to. Careful analysis will eventually bring that which is being studied into instinct. But the main tip I have for you is write a paragraph. See where it takes you. Follow along with another paragraph. Take a break at any time if you wish. Just remember, paragraph after paragraph. There have been times when I started a paragraph and didn't finish it and it sounded good but I didn't understand where I was going and I lost it all because of that error: deleted, for none of it made sense without further explanation which I only had at the time of writing. This is why I recommend to try your best to finish paragraphs before you get distracted with something else. If you have to get distracted with other things, just quickly type the main points you want to get across in shorthand and the layout will be there for you when you get back.
If you self publish, then you might not get sales for a long time or find yourself needing to advertise to obtain sales. I have not yet sold a single book of mine and I started publishing at the end of 2013. This industry can be very bittersweet and if you are solely writing to make an income, then I advise you to save yourself the effort and not write a book. However if you have a burning desire to share what is inside of you with others, then I encourage you to write and write often. If you are to commit yourself to a task as huge as writing a book, then you need to first ensure that your intentions are in the right place. Just remember that not getting any sales doesn't mean your book is bad. It just means that people do not know about it yet.
If you are to write a book, make it your baby. Get very used to the tools that you will be using and format everything really nicely. Ensure that you have not made any spelling or grammatical errors such as using "then" when you should have used "than". Write whenever you are inspired. Don't let your writing take over your life but instead use writing to understand all that has been presented before you in this world. Freely go between writing and other tasks and let the events of the world be your inspiration for your writing. And just as each book has a beginning, middle, and end; so does each chapter. And if we want to further break it down, each paragraph. You have a story to tell? How can you tell it and reach the right audience for it?
Being a non-fiction author is no easy task. You have a lot of work to do and you will get many haters that will discourage you from the work. But your haters mean that you are doing something right, so their ignorant feedback is your reward and not punishment. Do not let their idle hands destroy the work of your active hands. There has been so many people who have attempted to get me to remove all of my work off of the Internet. But it has never worked for good because I am smart. I saved the work so that when you censored it, I was able to re-upload it using alternative non-mainstream methods. You need to be secure in your work. You need to ensure that nothing anyone else does against you will break what you have made: including your death. Therefore, keep lots of backups both online and offline. And don't worry about what others say, good or bad. Write for yourself and no one else. You are your audience and your work's success depends on your ability to entertain yourself.
Writing a book is a journey. I never know exactly how it will turn out, although I have a good idea. Don't worry if it becomes something different than you originally planned. The evolution of your book is merely the output of the evolution of you. As you change, your perspectives will change. That is not to say what you previously focused on was wrong but merely was taken from a different perspective. Learn well how to talk to yourself through your work because that output will determine the possibilities of your future work. To talk to yourself through your work, you need to be pointing at where you are striving to arrive at. That way, after one finishes their book, they will be able to read the beginning and the end and see a clear pathway that was shot straight through the book. Smart readers will be able to pick up on this and admire your skill in performing such a shot. In this way, your writing is transparent and clearly demonstrates your intentions, from beginning to end.
How will you licence your book? Your answer to this question will determine the future possible technological integration into your work. If you have a license slapped on your book then that means that it is not freely available and that means that robots will not be able to read your book. If you want your book to be a secret undiscoverable gem, then put a license on it. If you want your book to be widely available to not only the public but also bots, then slap a CC0 - No Rights Reserved licence on it and unlock the future potential of your book and the human race. Doing this does not mean that you can't sell your book. It just means that it is also freely available on the Internet.
Finally, I want you to understand how writing a book will dramatically internally change you. It is not a year or two of your life. It is foundations about who you are as a person that are being laid. It isn't the time it takes to write a book; it is the rest of your life. Once you write and publish a book, that book will follow you around all of the days of your life. That is why you shouldn't worry about fast income. Instead worry about the quality and longevity of your book. Because that will also determine the quality and longevity, of you...