On Writing (6): Writing a Book

Introduction

For those struggling with their first meeting abstract or journal manuscript, writing a textbook must seem like climbing Mount Everest. Agreed, book writing is not for the faint-hearted, and like marriage, should not be undertaken lightly. Why would one write a book? Fame, perhaps? Certainly, it is a way to disseminate your name and establish a reputation as an expert or authority in your field (provided the book lives up to expectations!). Having a book (or two) in your curriculum vitae (resume) doesn’t do any harm when the promotions committee reviews your work. Some people write because they feel that they have ”a book in (them)”. If you have a bookful of thoughts and experiences to share on a particular topic, good for you - go for it! A word of caution, however, for anyone who thinks textbook writing is financially lucrative: it’s not! Authors of textbooks see relatively little return on the typically huge investment of time and effort. Indeed, there are ”invisible” costs of major writing projects, such as the evenings and weekends you sacrifice to the great god Word Processor (and take away from friends and family). Unless you are a very boring individual with no social life to speak of, you will certainly give up a lot of recreation time to work on your masterpiece. It’s a good idea before starting out to write a textbook to talk to someone who has done this already. And you should declare your intention to your spouse or ”significant other”!