I had just done my best to present a proposed book, and now I was sweating it.
This has to be one of the most nerve-wracking duties of an acquisitions editor—presenting book projects to pub board and then responding to colleagues’ onslaught of comments and questions.
All fifteen or so people in the room understand that if we say yes to a book and publish it, we will invest significant time and energy, not to mention company dollars, into making the book successful. And if a book is not successful, we all feel like our efforts were for naught. We mope around depressed and cranky.
We don’t like to mope, so we resist saying yes to a book unless we are confident it will be successful.
I had given my best presentation, and now it was my colleagues’ turn to speak up.
That’s when the question came, a question I had better have a good answer to for any book I present.
“Yes, but what need is being met here? Why would anyone want to pick up this book and buy it?”
You thought the key to your book’s success was Oprah or fifty thousand Twitter followers or a foreword from Tina Fey.
But in many cases it’s this: purpose.
Hence this post’s title. Not very sexy. But the importance of knowing your book’s purpose and delivering on it cannot be overestimated.
In other words, what’s the why of your book? What end does it serve? What need does it address?
Reasons for having a firm grasp of your book’s purpose are numerous. Doing so:
- Makes it much more likely others will want to read (i.e., purchase) what you’ve written
- Will provide a guiding principle from chapter to chapter, paragraph to paragraph, sentence to sentence, so everything holds together and flows well
- Gives you a “north star” to return to when in the course of writing you get stuck in the weeds
- Will help you stay motivated when the going gets tough
- Will make it that much easier for you and your publisher to market what you’ve written
- Will make it easier for your readers to talk about it with other readers
In other words, defining and adhering to your book’s purpose (you could call it your book’s “mission”) can well make the difference between mopey failure and mind-blowing success.
So tell me: What need is your book meeting? Or: What need of yours is being met in a book you’re reading right now?
Very helpful article, Chad. I haven’t written a mission for my book yet. I’ll try now. I intend for my book to:
“help adoptive families use film as an accessible entry point for difficult, often-avoided, but vitally important conversations.”
That’s clear and succinct, Addison. Good work. Now to make sure it’s incorporated throughout your book!
Chad, thanks so much. This has been helpful and encouraging! God bless you!
Excellent counsel, Chad! This has been one of the most challenging aspects of every book proposal I’ve written … and I suppose since I haven’t yet gotten a traditional publishing deal, it’s the thing I need to work on the most!! 🙂
Teri, I’m glad it was helpful. You might find my post on the 3 things you simply must do to get published helpful too.
My book is Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History’s Best Teachers (IVP, 2012). It’s mission is to help people find ways to pray that are deeply rooted in the history of the Church and really fit their own personalities and life circumstances. I want people to take prayer more seriously than they ever have before–as the heartbeat of their discipleship.
Thanks, Gary. Your comment reminds of another reason to have a clear sense of why. It helps the author and publisher come up with a really clear title and subtitle!
I’m sure that’s daunting to bring a proposed book to the publishing committee! If only the authors could sit in on that…I’d love to have a chance to articulate my novel’s purpose! I’ll just wait for Oprah, though! (totally kidding there.)
Daunting indeed, but like anything, you get used to it. Proposals are a great place to articulate your purpose! And you can try a video too. Sometimes an editor will use a video of an author in a pub board meeting, but keep it brief!
An interesting (and important) concept here. Discussions about new businesses have focused on meeting wants, not needs. We all need food, but we want pizza, so maybe I’ll sell pizza.
Maybe books are the same, but I guess not, taking this post to heart (and who better to know?!).
So…the need to feel connected to family, living or dead, having hope for the future, finding how to love again and making decisions to move forward, even if it means leaving others behind…those would be the needs my book fills.
Or maybe, just a great place to get lost for moments of time along the way.
Dean, I like that distinction between wants and needs, and I suppose different books serve one or the other or both.
I hope everything I write encourages others to place themselves in the proximity of need and in doing so, become a part of God’s story of renewal.
I read non-fiction books that make me smarter about what I love. I read fiction books where characters perseverance inspires.
And of course a foreward by Tina Fey would be the very best thing ever.
Lisa: So obviously one need your writing addresses is that of poverty and injustice, but what’s the reader’s need that you’re addressing? Is it the need for meaning in one’s life?
Yes. I provide resources, ideas, and encouragement for readers to engage in the work of poverty and injustice through the context of faith. I write from my own need for renewal in my life. I find that in serving others. I think my readers long to bring that meaning into their own lives in deeper and deeper ways. Hopefully each day I am learning better through my writing to equip and encourage others to be a part of God’s work to the hurting.