If you’re trying to write a book, especially for the first time, there’s something you need to know.
Danger is out there.
Something truly debilitating to your efforts.
It’s not a bad habit.
It’s not a distraction.
It’s something else entirely, and it’s NOT what you think.
Stay Out (of the Bookstore)
Last week, I blamed high school English teachers for our fear of writing.
But they aren’t the only villain in this story.
Someone – or really, some thing else – has the potential to kill our motivation to write.
Published books.
What? you ask. Why?
Shouldn’t published books be a good thing?
An inspiration?
Yes and no.
It’s all about the timing.
As a general rule, you should look at published books BEFORE and AFTER your core drafting phase.
The process looks like this:
Book-writing process:
- Planning – Yes, you can look at published books
- Drafting – No, you should NOT look at published books
- Testing – Yes
- Revising – Yes
- Publishing – Yes
- Launching – No
Why the complicated list?
I’ll tell you, and it’s the same reason you shouldn’t look at other people when you go to the gym:
Comparison.
Comparison Kills
Just like the guy or gal throwing 400 pounds in the air, professionally published books create an impossible standard.
When you look at a finished book, you don’t see an author’s first draft.
You see their twentieth.
You’re also not just looking at their words.
You’re admiring the cover art (which was probably created by a professional).
You’re fawning over the layout work and font choices.
Drooling on the marketing copy on the back.
Idolizing the perfection of someone else’s editing.
See, a published book is not a book.
It’s a packaged product.
It is curated, designed, and polished with the utmost care and attention to detail by a team of diverse, experienced professionals.
You, on the other hand, are a lone wolf (unless you’re in a community like The Workshop), trying to hammer out an idea into book form.
You’re busy.
You’re fighting distractions.
You’re struggling to keep everything organized and on track.
But a finished book has NONE of those problems anymore. It’s done.
And it’s beautiful – impossibly so, at least compared to your scrappy draft.
When It’s Okay to Look
That said, there ARE times when you should look at published books as inspiration and guides.
When?
There are actually numerous steps in the writing process when I deem it “safe” to look at published books as a north star to guide you.
They just happen to mostly be when you’re NOT writing or sharing your writing with others:
- Planning
- Testing
- Editing
- Publishing
A quick word on each.
👉 It’s good to look at published books during Planning because it gives you a goal to shoot for.
You also use these books as market research so you know what kinds of books your prospects are already reading, buying, and sharing with their friends.
👉 It’s also helpful to look at published books during Testing as a way of checking whether or not the book you’ve drafted is aligned with your market research, target reader, and business brand.
You do need to defend against frustration at this stage.
When you look at a published book and compare (there’s that evil word again!) it to your first draft, it’ll be easy to cave to disappointment.
Many aspiring writers complete books, only to leave them unfinished because they fell victim to discouragement.
Don’t join their fallen ranks!
👉 Next, look at published books as you Edit.
This will help you with shaping and structuring subsections of chapters.
It’ll also help you know how to sharpen sections or passages that lack clarity or poignancy.
Good writing inspires good writing, if you have the right attitude.
👉 Finally, study published books you wish to emulate as you Publish.
Identify 3-4 comps for your book and share them with your book cover designer.
Study the back covers for ideas about layout and copy.
Scour the interior formatting for details like spacing, margins, font, and sizing.
Note the “front” and “back matter” that you will likely add in this phase.
In a nutshell, use published books as a tree of inspiration, picking and consuming only the fruit that will nourish your writing spirit.
To avoid choosing the deadly, toxic fruit, however, you must discipline yourself.
Don’t Look; Just Write
When should you avoid published books?
Anytime you will be working against the tsunami of negative energy that comes for all creators.
Those two times are primarily:
- Drafting
- Launching
The forms of negative energy are different and require their own brief breakdown.
But trust me when I say that published books are like other wishful fantasies we engage with our eyes: They may feel pleasant in the moment, but ultimately lead to emptiness and defeat.
Drafting
When you’re writing, you’re already pushing back against all forms of writer’s block:
- “I don’t know what to write”
- “I’m a bad writer”
- “I’m too busy”
- “I hate the sound of my written voice”
- “I’m nervous to put myself out there”
- “I have to do this all by myself”
Each of these self-spoken lies will stymie you in your creative efforts.
When you add Comparison to the mix, suddenly each one becomes a self-defeating judgment:
- I’m stupid
- I’m talentless
- I’m undisciplined
- I’m unlikeable
- I’m embarrassed
- I’m a failure
Looking at published books during the Drafting phase will do nothing good for you.
It will only taunt you with how far you have to go.
It will merely remind you of how messy the process is, and how badly you’d like to just skip it.
Because writing is messy.
Your sentences come out fragmented, overlong, or ugly.
The phrases don’t seem to work, and the right images never come to your mind when you need them to.
You’ll write an entire chapter, only to look back and think, “That’s not what I meant to say at all!”
And even though that draft could still be useful in ways you can’t imagine, a feeling of dread overcomes you and you’re tempted to delete the whole thing.
Comparison is the one-hit kill that wipes writers out.
You must avoid it at all costs.
Launching
We must also dodge the specter of published books during our own launches.
Why?
Because we’ll be tempted to covet the polished packaging of our rivals, rather than invest in marketing and promoting our own work.
We’ll fall prey to comparison yet again thanks to “shiny object syndrome.”
What do I mean?
Many published books look great but ultimately leave readers disappointed. A fancy cover or slick formatting job can’t make up for a terrible story or boring lesson.
But fantastic books with incredible content are often wrapped in forgettable covers. Heck, your cover will probably have a single object on it like your logo or a professional photograph of you.
It won’t take anyone’s breath away.
But does it make readers an irresistible promise?
Does it deliver on that promise?
If that’s the case, you need to put the blinders on and market this book harder than you’ve ever marketed anything in your life.
Don’t you dare think about anyone’s published book other than your own.
Avoid Comparison to Capture Success
If you’re able to avoid published books while you Draft and Launch, you will be much better positioned for success than you otherwise would.
Yet if you can keep the right 3-4 books on hand as inspiration when you will actually benefit from them, you’ll capitalize on the benefits of these books without inheriting the drawbacks.
So tell me: What is the effect of a beautiful, polished published book on YOU when you’re trying to write a book?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!