So, You Want to Write a Book? Here's What You Need to Know
Everything I’ve learned about success in publishing.
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This week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with the literary thriller Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang. It's an absolute stunner of a novel and one that I devoured in just a few days. The central premise of the story is about a novelist who steals a friend's work and tries to pass it off as her own. But what made it particularly engrossing for me is that it's also a satire of the book publishing industry, critiquing, in granular (and often very funny) detail, how it works, what determines success, its attitudes towards diversity and representation, and the rollercoaster of emotions that hit authors when a book succeeds or flops. Reading Yellowface got me thinking about the current state of play in the publishing industry and the advice I often share with people who ask me about the process of pitching, writing, or promoting a book. So if you’ve ever thought about penning a book yourself, here are some questions I suggest thinking about first.
1. Why do you want to write a book?
Getting clear on your motivations is the most important question to start with. Do you want to write a book for personal growth, prestige, financial gain, creative challenge or to share an important story you feel isn’t being told? Is it because you want to try something new? Because you are curious about the writing process? Because you think it might make you rich? Because it might help with a promotion in your main career? All reasons are valid, but it's important to get clear on your why. Because - and I don't mean to be a downer - somewhere between 94-98% of all books published sell under 5,000 copies so making a solid income from just book sales is rare. By determining your why, you can devise an appropriate strategy as different motivations will have different process goals. Getting clear on your why also helps you understand your own metrics of success which are likely to be very different to anyone else's.
2. Does it have to be a book?
This is often my follow-up question. Is there another way of communicating what you want to say? Do you really need to write a book or could this be a long article, an online course, a newsletter, a podcast, a column, a social media account, or a series of public talks? I ask this because there are many paths up the same hill and writing books isn’t always the best way to deliver a message. Books take a huge amount of work, are very slow to create (it takes me around 2-3 years from pitching to publication), and involve a serious financial commitment from you to enable you to work on it. I coached one business owner last year who told me she wanted to write a book as she felt it would help her be a thought leader in her industry. After much discussion, she realised she could be that without the restrictions of finding a publisher and spending her time writing and promoting book and is now running a series of public talks for her industry on the topics she wanted to write about in her book. For her, it meant she could crack on with communicating her messages to her audience straight away and she's getting paid for it which was very important for her goals. I really encourage people to think about this in detail as, while I’m all for people writing books if they want to, but sometimes other mediums can be just as impactful and effective.
3. How will you financially support yourself while writing?
If you want to write a novel, you have to be prepared to write the whole book before submitting it to an agent. That means spending many months or years on a writing project that you primarily complete in your spare time without any immediate financial reward. Even if you sell a book – and most narrative nonfiction is sold on proposal – advances are getting smaller, so you'll almost certainly need another job on the side.
As well as the money for supporting yourself while writing, a huge part of success in publishing is being able to invest time and money into the book's promotion. Publicists at publishing houses can vary immensely, but even the most brilliant ones are massively overstretched, promoting dozens of books, and it can be hard for yours to be their priority. I have a background in press and media, so do a lot of my own pitching and promoting and set aside three months before each book comes out to focus just on that. I also sometimes hire a publicist to help me reach parts of the media I'm not familiar with or to work in territories where I am not based. It may seem like a lot of money to spend, but I have found that focussing on PR tends to deliver other work opportunities, so it ends up paying for itself. Still, it's a huge investment, and I got myself in quite a lot of stress when my second book Zaitoun came out, as I was working a full-time job at an NGO the time of the UK release. I'd get up early, do a few hours of pitching before work, take media calls in my lunch break and come back to pitching after work. Promoting a book is not easy and it takes a lot of hustle. I do love it though!
4. What does success mean for you?
Does success for you mean sales, awards and money? There’s no reason why it shouldn’t but I would suggest that if that's your main metric of success then you probably need to have a reality check about how the publishing industry works. Is success about connecting with new people, learning something new, finding your voice, having a sense of accomplishment at writing a book, perhaps even enjoying yourself? Then you might do a bit better, mentally. As a published author who has achieved many of the classic metrics of success (awards, getting on best books of the year lists, royalties as my main source of income), it's a cliché to say it, but I’ve found those things actually don't necessarily make you happy in the long term. If you are anything like me, you get a momentary flash of pride which soon fades as you continue to compare yourself with others or look at the things you wish you’d achieved and haven’t done yet. What does made me feel successful through my writing is the connections I've made, especially in the US, where I now have many wonderful and close friends that have only come to me through the book world. It’s also the travel adventures I've had, the meals I've shared, the stories I've listened to, the press and public speaking work which I really enjoy, the people who contact me to say my work has moved them and most of all, a feeling that I've contributed, ever so slightly, to a better understanding of Iran and Palestine. Find your own metrics of success, and you'll be a lot happier than chasing the ones you think you should.
5. Are you prepared to spend a lot of time on your own?
There's no way of getting around this; writing books is a solo effort. Yes, you'll have your agent, publishers, and publicists, but realistically, no one checks in on you; everyone's too busy to champion you, and the buck stops with you. No one can force you to sit down and write and to be honest, no one really minds if you hand books in late either, so even deadlines are a little meaningless! All of which means you have to be very focused and motivated in a world of endless distractions. I would say this is the hardest part of being an author for me. I really miss teamwork, collaborations and the conversations that come with working with other people. This is why finding other writers to connect with is so important — you need to find your people to help you navigate the tough times (of which there will be many!). There are so many writing groups you can join these days and once you find your crew they can be your motivation, inspiration, and sounding boards.
After all these questions, if you are still keen on writing a book, I offer the following advice:
Hone your skills! I took courses in both food and travel writing before I started my books and spent months reading books on the craft of storytelling. There is a wealth of information out there on how to write well and there is no excuse for not teaching yourself how to be better.
Social media isn't everything. Really, it isn't. The quality of your writing and the pitch, plus making a compelling case for why you are the person to write this book and the details of how you will promote it, are more important than numbers. I say this as someone with a humble social media following who sells more books than many of my peers with much larger followings. I wasn’t even on Instagram when I pitched my first book. It’s just not my jam. If social media is your thing, go for it and enjoy! But if it isn’t, it’s not the end of the world.
If it's your first book, you won't know the impact of it until a year later. This is one of the best pieces of advice I was given by a fellow writer when my first book came out. It takes time for people to buy your book, read it, and think about it. The opportunities that will come from writing a book only become clear much further down the line. Don't be disheartened if you are a debut author and the first few weeks are flat. I got hardly any press when my first book The Saffron Tales launched, but it was a slow builder.
The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook is packed with lots of tips and advice. Get yourself a copy!
Hope this is helpful for any of you who want to write books. Over the last few years, I've coached many people on the process of writing book proposals, finding agents, crafting stories, finding your voice, and navigating the crazy word of book promotion and publicity. If that ever calls to you and you’d like to book a session please reach out at yasmin@yasminkhanstories.com.
Right, now I’m off to continue working on my next book!
Yasmin xx
Thank you for writing this. As someone who’s emerging from the other side of several rejections after over a year of writing a cookbook proposal, this was a real comfort to read. Especially as the reason for not selling was ‘not enough Instagram followers’ 😤. It’s been disappointing but finding a new platform to get my message across (hi Substack) and a like minded community gives me a little hope that the publishing industry isn’t the be all and end all of success. While it would be nice, I can find another way. Good luck with your next book. ♥️
So much wisdom in here as I struggle with the transition of published book 1 to book 2! The more time I spend as a writer the more I value the connection it creates and conversations you get to have! I'm going to go back to my why now. Thank you for this ☺️