Either you don’t realize it, or somewhere deep down, you know it but simply refuse to admit it: the underlying reason behind all of your excuses for not having begun writing your book yet is that four-letter word called “fear.” Read on to understand how fear has stifled your dreams of becoming an author and what to do to give fear the boot this year!
Fear 2: No one will want to buy or read my book.
It’s one thing to write a book, but it’s another thing for people to actually want to buy it and read it. Will the only people who want to buy your book be your mom and dad, your always-supportive aunts, and a couple of cousins who don’t even read but want you to feel their support?
When your book cover pops up under “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought,” will people look at your book on Amazon and say, “I don’t know who this author is, and this book looks like a loser. Thank you. Next!”
Also, what if you get to a holiday gathering and your friends and family ask you how many copies you’ve sold, and you freeze in place because you don’t want to admit that you’ve only sold 13 copies.
Then, there’s the money issue. What if you invest in publishing the book and never recoup your costs because of low sales? What if, instead of being able to at least cover the cost of production, you go into the red? What then? You really don’t know, and this makes you afraid.
Here’s the reality. These things could actually happen. Then again, there’s also the potential that they won’t happen. What you must face, if you plan to actually complete your writing project, is the uncertainty of it all. By this, I mean that whether these things happen or not, you’ll live to learn valuable lessons from your writing and publishing experiences that you can carry forward into your next project and increase your future odds of success. Truth is, you’ll never know for sure what will happen until you put pen to paper and get the book done. Therefore, confront your fear and move forward!
(Interested in reading more? Check out the next post in this blog series!)
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Shannon Williams, Ph.D., is the Founder and Chief Executive Nerd of Geniuscribes, Nerds with Pens. For more than a decade, she has helped doctoral students complete their dissertations and aspiring writers complete their books. She is a nerdy, fun-loving, dog-obsessed foodie who loves Jesus, unpretentious people, sunshine, and coffee. She is a die-hard Houstonian and Texas Longhorn living in Atlanta, where Chick-Fil-A sells collard greens and macaroni, and the tea is as sweet as the people, much to her delight. You can reach her through her team at support@geniuscribes.com if you like. Or not. Whatever butters your biscuit! Oh yeah… she loves those, too.