For an Author, It Really Must Be about More than the Money
A few days ago, I commented on Seth Godin’s creation of a community for his new book, Tribes. I mentioned that it is more than about selling books; it’s about creating a community around the ideas in his book.
His recent post affirms that as his motivation. He writes, “I smiled a bit when I saw a few posts from people who suggested I started the Triiibe group as some sort of grand scheme to sell books. I’ve gotta tell you, there are far easier ways to sell a few thousand copies of a book than to build and run an online community.
“No, people (most people) don’t do things only for money….”
Seth, I agree! (Even though my earlier post might have implied you were starting TriIibes to sell books.) Most authors don’t write a book only for the money, because frankly, most authors don’t get a lot of money from their books (at least, not directly. As I mention in my Special Report, “14 Ways a Book Will Boost Your Business,” there are lots of indirect ways a book can increase your revenue stream.)
What authors do get from publishing a book is
the opportunity to share their unique vision, their specific knowledge, their hard-won lessons with the world, to better other people’s lives. They get the honor and prestige of having pushed through all the obstacles to actually write and publish a book.
Some polls indicate that as many as 82 percent of people say they have a book in them. Most get no further than that.
Others do. According to Susan Driscoll and Diane Gedymin in Get Published!, some 14 million adult Americans engage in some form of creative writing in a year. Finished manuscripts for an estimated 8 million novels and 17 million how-to books are lying in desk drawers all over the country, waiting to be published.
Those who actually get published have made it through “the Dip” that Seth Godin talks about in another of his books, and are worthy of the prestige awarded to authors.
Influence, and the honor of being an author (”authority”) on a subject, are the real payoffs for us authors. And truly, these things have more power to motivate than money.
(Agree or disagree? Please share your comment!)