Time for Reflection

It has been a difficult time in the Ink Tree office. Linda, our Office Manager, recently lost her Father to a severe illness and a week later I lost my Father-in-law (Joni's Grandfather) to old age and illness. We are now in the process of trying to heal. The loss of a loved one causes one to think more about the important things in life. This time of loss and healing makes one focus on why we do the things we do and what are the results of those actions.

This might be a good time to ask you, a person who is interested in writing and/or publishing a book an important question: "Why do you want to write a book?" There are reasons too numerous to even discuss, but you need to be very clear about why you want to write and most importantly why you want to publish.

From my observations, most people don't really know what a publisher is. Briefly, it is the person/company who edits, designs, has printed and sells the book. Sometimes that person is even the author. The publisher is the one who actually owns and profits from the book.

In our publishing course, we emphasize the "Why?" question so that people are clear about their goals. This time of relection has brought this question to mind again so I ask it of you once more, "Why do you want to write a book and what do you hope to gain from it?"

Take a moment to write your answers down. They might surprise you.

Denise