Book-writing is something that people have been doing for centuries, ever since the first codexes emerged in the medieval period. Before then, writing was mostly on scrolls and tablets (though a few caves show evidence, too).
Today, though, things are changing. Writing a book is becoming less about communicating information to other people (though that’s a part of it) and more about teaching oneself. A lot of people start writing books for the purposes of self-education and only later do they pass their information on to other people.
These days, there are more tools than ever to create quality books. Publishers are becoming more advanced, thanks to their printing and binding processes, and AI tools are making it simpler to structure books and put them together in a way that makes sense to the reader and audience.
Editing is also something that is undergoing a profound period of time compression. It doesn’t take as long as it used to to go through a book, weed out the awkward sentences, insert facts, and so on, so the process is actually more enjoyable at the same time.
But is writing a book the best education?
That’s what we explore here. We look at some of the reasons why everyone should write a book, even if they never intend to publish or sell it.
It Provokes Deep Research Skills
Writing a book requires deep research skills (if you want to say anything new). It means delving into the data and looking at what it says, why it matters, and how it fits a thesis.
This is true for almost any nonfiction work. It needs some sort of grounding in reality to be convincing to the audience and to offer any value.
Of course, research is a profoundly challenging skill. It requires understanding, concentration, and the ability to evaluate. It also needs a bit of creativity because sometimes it takes intellectual leaps to piece bits of information together so that they make sense as a whole for the argument or thesis.
Even the ability to find the right information is a skill. Obviously, getting hold of it can sometimes be challenging, especially since there is just so much of the stuff out there from different journals and institutions.
It Teaches Discipline And Time Management
Another reason book-writing might be the best education is the discipline and time management it offers. When you set out to write a book, you know that it is going to be very difficult and something that will take up the majority of your time most days. You also know that you need to work on it for it to be successful. You can’t take big breaks whenever you feel like it or procrastinate, as that might send you off course and lead you down the wrong path.
Therefore, writing a book teaches valuable lessons in staying focused and meeting deadlines. It also teaches you about the value of humility, especially when you get the book back from the editors. That doesn’t mean that they’re always right, but they are often worth listening to, simply because they have so much experience of what sells.
It Requires Excellent Communication Skills
Writing a book also requires excellent communication skills. You need to be able to get your message across naturally, without confusing the reader or leading them astray.
This ability is more challenging than you might think. Marshalling thoughts is not an easy process, and it is something that a lot of people struggle with throughout their lives.
As such, you’ll want to hone and refine your abilities. You’ll want to check with other people that you’re communicating your ideas clearly and persuasively.
You’ll also want to use techniques like storytelling to get your message across. If you’re writing for a popular audience, the style can’t be dull (otherwise, no one will read it).
Communication also requires some creativity to master. Cooking up new analogies or concepts is critical when you want to get ideas that people haven’t heard before across to an audience that isn’t necessarily educated in your area. You have to think about the words they want to read, not the ones that make the most sense to you as an experienced writer.
It Enables Self-Discovery
Another reason to write a book is that it enables self-discovery. You can learn a lot about who you are and what you are capable of when you marshal your thoughts on the page.
This self-discovery aspect is one of the reasons why so many people get the writing bug and run with it. This is something that you see with writers across the spectrum and one of the reasons why many people keep going back for more.
Self-discovery happens because book-writing forces you to examine your beliefs and values. It gets you to chip away at what you think is important and why it matters.
It can also sometimes get you to change your views of things, which is shocking when it happens. Somehow, you can talk yourself out of an untenable position just by writing out the arguments and considering them carefully.
It Expands Your Perspective
Related to this, writing a book also expands your perspective. It forces you to look at things in a new way, especially if you experience a paradigm shift in the way you view the world.
This expanding perspective is critical because it leads to a better understanding of how things work. You often emerge from writing with more refined concepts simply because it requires so much research and integration of ideas.
Another effect is intellectual humility. Writing reminds you of how little you know because you’re always questioning and pushing new frontiers. You can’t assume you understand anything without the right support.
It Assists With Critical Thinking Development
Another pro of writing a book is that it assists with critical thinking development. It teaches you how to approach complete problems and overcome them with relative ease.
For example, writing a book necessitates that you think through complex ideas. You somehow have to make sense of them for your audience in the most parsimonious way.
You also have to question your assumptions. Sometimes, you will start writing a book based on one set of foundations and finish it with another. Often, the writing process itself is what causes you to change your mind (and is a significant reason why so many people do it).
You will eventually find that this practice helps you make clearer arguments. You are in a much better position to get your point across because you really know what’s going on and how things work.
It Teaches Mastery
Mastery is also a pleasant side effect of writing a book. That’s because whatever the topic, you are literally “writing the book on it.”
Writing leads to mastery because you have to be clear on the explanations yourself before you can present them to other people. This reality forces you to think through what you need to do and how to present it while, at the same time, ensuring you understand it.
On the flip side, if you can’t write about a specific topic without someone else guiding you, you’re not an expert. That’s just the reality. In this situation, you need to go back to your ideas, keep thinking about them, and then return with something that’s going to deliver value to others.
It Teaches Problem-Solving
Another benefit of writing a book is that it teaches problem-solving skills. Given the complexities of most narratives, it often means hours of editing and juggling before you get it right.
This ability to solve problems can be a powerful ally in life, but it all starts with book writing. For example, you may need to deal with a factual inaccuracy on one of your pages, or your structure could be wrong, putting the cart before the horse.
When this happens, you’ll need to go back into what you’ve written and look for intelligent ways to solve it. These aren’t always obvious immediately, but you can ask AI these days if you get stuck, and it can offer a reasonably intelligent response.
Once you power through your first book, you should discover that solving similar problems for your second book is substantially easier. In a sense, you’ve already done the hard work, and it’s plain sailing from there.
It Gives You An Entrepreneurial Outlook
Finally, writing books can give some people an entrepreneurial mindset. The task often mirrors starting a business.
For example, first, you have to plan what you’re going to do (which is what start-up founders do). Then, you need to write the book (creating the value) and publish it (which companies would equate to launching a product).
Getting these series of steps right is critical and is very similar to what business leaders do in the run-up to starting their firms. They want to know that everything is going to unfold according to a plan and that, ultimately, all the hard work will be worth it.
