So You Think You Can Dance Write a Book?

Writing a book seems to be the ‘in’ thing to do as of late.  With an array of people bringing diverse experiences and expertise to the table, it seems only fitting that the exchange of knowledge can and should be done through a self-help book.  Right? Wrong!  Writing a book immediately coins an author with the title of subject expert, but what happens when a book is full of grammatical cloudiness that circumvents readers from grasping the wealth of knowledge?  Perhaps the answer is in the writer; however, it will take a great deal of concise and clear idea sharing for readers to catch hold of the vision.  While it is indeed a great gesture to want to write a book, without the proper research, the book has the potential to brand the writer as a total amateur—not only in writing, but also in their supposed expertise.  Knowledge is power, but the ability to communicate such ideas is a gift that not everyone possesses.  Self-publishing has given us the leisure and convenience of publishing simply and quickly.  This is a blessing veiled in a degree of uh-oh…  The fact is, people who have no exposure to the world of publishing often fail to negate that certain steps in the writing process are unavoidable.  A quick spelling and grammar check along with letting a family friend proofread your work isn’t going to weed out the quirks that make some reading clear as muddy water. That’s right folks; some errors will take a keen eye for detail, and the task of catching even the smallest gaffes, which are often overlooked, takes the eye of an experienced editor. A solid book should be copyedited then proofread.  And depending on the level of writer you are, your book may need substantive line-editing. This means that your book is extensively evaluated on the sentence level.  Does this assail the potential or intelligence of the writer?  Not at all.  It’s just like construction. Without proper planning, a blueprint, subcontractors, designers, plumbers, and electrical experts, a sound home could and would not be built correctly.  The same goes for writing; to some things, there are simply no short cuts.  So, when approaching the prospect of writing a book, do it wisely.  The blessing in the publishing industry is, there are arrays of resources out there to bring all the information you need right to your fingertips.  Happy writing, folks!