READ: How to write a book
Many years ago now, when Graham Harvey said to me “Look Theo, either write a book or do a PhD, but either way, I’ll help you!” I decided to start a PhD because although I knew how to write, I didn’t know how to write a whole book, and I figured that a PhD would teach me.
My first book was the traditional book-of-the-PhD, Post-Lineage Yoga: From Guru to #MeToo, and it was written for an academic audience. My second book, The Yoga Teacher’s Survival Guide: Social Justice, Science, Politics, and Power was co-edited with Harriet McAtee and came out last year. My third, co-edited this time with Barbora Sojkova, is Yoga Studies in Five Minutes, coming out soon. The fourth will probably be Safe and Simple Yoga Nidras: A Teacher’s Guide, co-written with Beverley Nolan, and the fourth will be Religion and the Sense of Self, which I’m editing all on my own. If you know me, it won’t surprise you to hear that I have plans in my head for at least two more already.
So I think you can safely say by now that I definitely know how a book is written - both alone and in collaboration, for various readerships, and for different publishers. And knowing that, sometimes people ask me, shyly, for advice about writing a book themselves.
The good news is, there are more options than ever for seeing your words in print, and the old divisions between traditional publishing houses and self-publishing are starting to break down. But sadly, writers earn less than ever, and if you don’t want the whole process to be an expensive heartbreak for you, there are some things to bear in mind.
Firstly, what are you intending to do with the book once written?
By this I mean:
Is it mostly a personal exercise?
Do you believe that there is an audience that will want to read it?
Do you know that enough people will want to pay for it?
Are you thinking of self-publishing or finding a publisher?
The answers to these questions are very important. If this is mostly about getting your own thoughts in order, and sharing a few copies with the right people, then you will probably just need a little advice on copy-editing, book construction, and so on. If you think a lot of people might want to read it, then you have to ask yourself if you’re going to enter into a publishing contract, pay for the publishing yourself, or make an e-book, which is much cheaper.
If you think that there is an actual market for the book, it will still need a lot of work to be ready to share with the world. The first thing is to construct a book proposal in order to persuade a publisher that there are hundreds or thousands of people who might want to read your story. That proposal should include: what’s unique, important, and timely about the book; a summary of the content and structure; a list of comparative titles already on the market; and a professional biography and sense of your existing reach and audience.
The advantages of a traditional publishing contract are that you don’t have to pay to print or distribute the book, and a lot of other professionals that also get involved to help you, including copy-editors, designers, and even legal teams, to check the book for any possibility of being sued.
Given all that, what help do you need to reach out for?
If you just want a quick chat about what your options might be - how one goes about writing and publishing a book, who might want to read it, who might sue you and so on, that is one thing. You can probably ask someone like me nicely if they’ll do that. But what we can’t do is get you extra favours from a publisher. Your book proposal has to stand on its own merits.
If you want someone like me to help you with your book proposal, you’d better already have a draft to share. Do you know what the structure of the book will be? Do you have a title? Do you know your readership? If you don’t really know the answers to any of that, I’m going to gently suggest you come back later.
If you’ve started writing, and want someone like me to read a draft and give a little feedback on it - that is a lot of work. Can you pay me to do it, and even more importantly, how honest do you want me to be in my feedback? Am I checking for the sense and appeal of the whole thing, or the spelling mistakes?
If you want someone to help you with the editing, copy-editing and proof-reading of the text once it’s written - that is a professional role. It costs money, and it takes a significant amount of time. That may or may not be covered by a traditional publisher. When you’re thinking about your publishing options, it’s worth knowing which of these tasks is covered by your contract.
If you’ve ever thought about writing a book, this might help or scare you, but at least this way, you have some idea of how much it takes!