Following the success of “Why Sharks Matter,” lots of colleagues have asked me if I think they should write a popular science book, or how to approach it. I’ve shared various of this advice in various social media posts over the years, but several people asked me to write it up as a blog post so it’s easier to find and share. Here you go!
The decision of whether or not to write a book is of course up to you and not to me, but here are some things that I suggest that people consider when making that decision.
1) Do you have a clear vision for something important that you want to say?
If your vision is, for example, “I’m a sea turtle expert and I want to write a book about sea turtles,” I think you’ll likely experience some frustration without a little more focus.
2) Would your book be unique / not like other books in your field already out there?
Academic Publishers call this “competing volumes” in book proposals, you need to clearly show how yours is different for them to consider picking it up. (If there are books out there very similar to your vision, it may not be worth the effort to write a new one, and a publisher may not be interested. And if you don’t know if there are books out there similar to your vision, this suggests that you haven’t thought about this enough yet).
3) Do you have time?
Writing a book is a massive time commitment. Once my contract was signed, I spent an average of an hour and a half a day, 7 days a week over 2 years writing Why Sharks Matter. (I was working on ideas for 10+ years before I had a contract.) My second book is smaller in scope but still requires a ton of time.
4) Are there professional doors that having written a book will open for you?
An academic book is a huge undertaking and you will not get rich or famous doing it. Are the benefits you’re likely to get worth the cost to you? (If you don’t know the benefits that you’re likely to get from doing this, you should probably look into that. And “someone who is much more famous and successful than me got a benefit, therefore I will get the same benefit” is perhaps not realistic.)
5) Do you enjoy writing?
I really cannot stress enough how much time you’re gonna be spending writing (and rewriting) your book. If you hate writing, consider if it’s worth it to you.
6) Are you good at writing?
Academic experts have different strengths. Some people are excellent writers. If you’re not one of those people, writing a book will be a struggle, likely leading to many edits and rewrites, and much more time and stress.
7) Do you know what you’re talking about?
Anyone can research something, but if you’re writing a book about a topic you’re not super familiar with, you’ll have to spend a ton of extra effort fact checking and researching, as well as proving your creds here.
Conclusions
If your answer to all these (or most of these) questions is yes, go for it.
If your answer to all these questions is no, I might suggest considering not doing this.
If you don’t know the answer, you may not be ready until you do some more thinking and considering and research.
Best of luck, and let me know if I can help.