Is Your Book Good Enough?

Celebrities, professional athletes, and those considered newsworthy or controversial aren’t generally shy when it comes to having their stories published. Being popular has a way of boosting one’s self-confidence, even if their greatest life accomplishment is being a professional basketball player or an actor who plays the part of a comic book super-hero.   

But everyone has a story, and many of those I’ve heard over the years are every bit as interesting or important—many more so, in fact—as those of the rich and famous, produced and promoted by Madison Avenue publishing houses.

ALIVE Books has published autobiographies with first-hand accounts of daring family escapes from Nazi and Soviet-invaded countries during WWII, and of courageous individuals who, when struck with a life-threatening illness, fought like hell to overcome, then wrote about their experience hoping to help others going through similar challenges.

I am often struck by the humility of people with rich life experiences that could and should be shared, and of those with an amazing, creative talent for writing, drawing, or painting, who ask, “Do you think it’s good enough for a book?” I suppose, sometimes, we all need someone else to believe in us before we do.

Granted, sometimes authors need a bit of professional help to take their stories and put them into a book, but that’s what publishers do. Our ghostwriters, editors, and graphic designers work to organize and polish an author’s work into a packaged form—a marketable book—one that ultimately communicates the author’s intended message. We then make it available to the world. And while it is true some books have more commercial potential than others, authors often sell themselves short because they are too close to their projects. Part of our job as publishers is to help the author discover or see possible markets for their work that they haven’t considered or possibly even recognized.   

After working with hundreds of otherwise “unknown” authors over the years, a few points come to mind that I hope the authors and writers reading this will find useful…

1. Your story has value. It is yours alone, so, by definition, it is unique—one of a kind. No one has ever walked the same path, nor does anyone see things exactly as you do.
2. Don’t compare your work with anyone’s. Because your work is unique, it is, by definition, incomparable.
3. There is no “perfect,” so don’t get stuck. Do your best, give it your all, then let it go. As Teddy Roosevelt said, “The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never makes anything.”       
4. Life on Earth is relatively short. You don’t need anyone’s permission. Do it now.
5. Having a “Best Seller” isn’t the most important goal. Leaving a legacy is.

If you are an author or writer wondering if your work is “good enough for a book,” I hope you’ll come in and share your idea with us. Allow us the opportunity to believe in your project, and let’s see if that helps you believe in it too.