“Writing a book for me, I expect, is very similar to the experience of reading the book for my readers.”

R. A. Salvatore, Author

Advantages & Disadvantages of Writing a Book

Writing a book can be quite interesting.

However, when I wrote my first book, I had basically no idea how to do it and what I might get into.

In order to give you a better idea about what it looks like to write a book, the pros and cons of writing a book are given in the following.

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Advantages of Writing A Book

1. You can express yourself
2. Publishing your own book is easy
3. Can have a therapeutic aspect
4. Can improve your writing skills
5. Writing a book requires you to leave your comfort zone
6. You will learn important skills
7. You can earn money by writing books
8. Can give you a boost in confidence
9. You can make a living out of it
10. You can help to raise awareness of important global topics
11. You can learn about your strengths and weaknesses

You can express yourself

One important advantage of writing a book is that you can express yourself.

You may have plenty of ideas in your mind which you want to share with the world.

Writing books is a great way to do so since it is quite easy to promote those books over social media channels.

By writing books, you can share your idea with the world, which can be quite exciting when you see the first feedback and whether people liked your book or not.

Further down the road, you may even be able to build a community of like-minded people who share similar values and interests.

Publishing your own book is easy

With all the technology which we have access to right now, it is also fairly easy to publish your book.

You don’t necessarily need a publishing house anymore for that. You can just publish your e-book at Amazon or at other popular platforms.

The good thing about those platforms is that they are basically free and you only have to give away a share of your revenue but don’t have to make any payment in advance.

Hence, self-publishing is a great way if you have a limited budget and still want to share your thoughts with the world.

The internet is a real blessing when it comes to publishing books since you do no longer need a publishing house that acts as a middle man.

Can have a therapeutic aspect

Writing books can also help you to deal with your emotions.

Like other artists, authors also often write about things they experienced in their lives and for them, it is often like an emotional relief to write about their problems and sorrows.

Thus, if you currently go through a difficult period of your life and feel that you need some valve to release stress and pressure, writing a book may be a great way to do so.

Yet, make also sure to get proper psychological assistance in case your emotional condition gets really bad. Just writing a book will often not be enough to cure yourself.

Can improve your writing skills

Sure enough, by writing a book, you will also significantly improve your writing skills over time.

There is much more related to writing a book than just typing in letters on your computer.

In fact, writing a book is not easy at all and especially if it is your first book, you will likely make plenty of mistakes like I did.

However, although many people think about mistakes as a bad thing, they are actually not!

Mistakes always bring us forward and by learning from those mistakes, you will make a step forward in your career as a professional writer.

Writing a book requires you to leave your comfort zone

Especially if this is your first book, you will also have to leave your comfort zone.

We as humans are not used to openly expressed our opinions since our society often tries to suppress us through several social norms.

Hence, for many people, it is also a huge step to share their idea with the world.

However, trust me. Once you have overcome your insecurities, you will really grow in character and leaving your comfort zone can really help you to mature.

You will learn important skills

Apart from just writing, you will also learn additional skills that can help you later on in your life.

You will learn to stand up for your opinion.

Moreover, you will also learn how to communicate with the world, which is quite important, not only to become an important writer but also in various other parts of life.

You can earn money by writing books

Whether it is just a side hustle or you want to become a full-time writer, writing books can give you the opportunity to earn some money from it.

Yet, many authors are not able to make a living and you should have a backup plan in case your career as a professional author fails.

Can give you a boost in confidence

Another benefit of writing a book is that it can also greatly boost your confidence level.

Even though it might be quite exhausting to write a whole book and to stick with it, you will be pretty proud of the end result and chances are that you will also get plenty of positive feedback.

All this may greatly improve your overall confidence since you will realize that you can actually achieve things in life if you work hard for it.

You can make a living out of it

If you are a really good writer and have a little bit of luck, you can also make serious amounts of money from your writing career.

In fact, some people even got billionaires by writing books.

Yet, those cases are quite rare and not many people are fortunate enough to make a really good living out of writing books.

You can help to raise awareness of important global topics

Writing books can also give you the opportunity to raise awareness of serious problems that we as humanity have to solve somehow.

Those problems can only be solved if people get aware of them since only then will the political pressure on decision-makers become high enough to deal with those issues.

Hence, by writing books, you can have a significant effect on how our world will look like in the future.

You can learn about your strengths and weaknesses

When you write a book, you will soon realize that it is not an easy task at all.

During the writing process, you will have to deal with several difficulties and you will also learn in which areas you are good at and where you still have significant weaknesses.

This is crucial since only if you know about your weaknesses, you can really try to improve on them.

Disadvantages of Writing Books

1. Writing a book can be time-consuming
2. Can be quite difficult
3. You may suffer from procrastination
4. Feeling of insecurity
5. May lead to conflicts between you and your family
6. You may have to deal with shitstorms on social media
7. Can harm your corporate career
8. Your friends may make fun of you
9. Some people also don’t like writing in general
10. Many people are too afraid to write a book
11. May not be feasible for some people

Writing a book can be time-consuming

Apart from the advantages of writing a book, there are also some problems with it.

One disadvantage of writing a book is that it can be quite time-consuming. In fact, many writers spend months from starting to finishing a book.

Therefore, especially if you have never written a book before, make sure that you have enough time for it.

Otherwise, either the quality of your book will be quite poor or you will simply not finish it.

Can be quite difficult

Writing is a skill that you have to learn over time.

This also implies that your first books will likely not be that great, unless you are a natural talent.

Hence, you may feel overwhelmed from time to time and you will also question yourself.

However, keep in mind that writing will become easier over time and you should not give up if you face some difficulties at the beginning since this is quite normal.

You may suffer from procrastination

Some people also have the problem that they simply do not continue to work on their books on a continuous basis.

They often convince themselves that it is a good idea to take a break and that they will still have enough time to finish their book later on.

Yet, please notice that this attitude will not get you closer to your goal and once you started, make sure to stick to a regular writing schedule so that you get your book finished in a reasonable timeframe.

I know that this can be hard from time to time, especially if you have many other things going on in your life. Yet, it is crucial to becoming successful as a writer.

Feeling of insecurity

Some people also feel quite insecure if they have to write a book since they have to express their feelings and many people simply do not want to make them emotionally vulnerable.

However, it is crucial to overcome this feeling of insecurity since only then will you be able to produce the best work possible.

May lead to conflicts between you and your family

If you express thoughts in your books that are not in line with the family values, you may also get into serious trouble since your family may not like your books at all.

Quite often, your family may even try to prevent you from publishing those kinds of books.

However, this is part of being a writer and you have to develop a strong character in order to be able to deal with these emotional attacks.

You may have to deal with shitstorms on social media

Since everyone is able to use social media, chances are that you will also have to deal with shitstorms sooner or later.

People often feel quite brave when they can express their opinions in an anonymous manner and times will come when you have to deal with those people.

Therefore, make sure you are emotionally able to deal with those things before publishing books.

Can harm your corporate career

Depending on the thoughts you express in your books, you may also have a quite hard time to find a job in the corporate world.

It is quite sad but our society is not tolerant at all, even though many people claim the opposite.

Therefore, if your books contradict the mainstream social norms, chances are that this can greatly decrease the chances to find a job in the corporate sector.

Your friends may make fun of you

Even your friends will make fun of you from time to time if you publish a book which states opinions that are rather exotic.

Yet, if your friends make fun of you, they are actually not friends and you should not care about their opinion too much due to that.

Some people also don’t like writing in general

Some people also don’t like the writing process at all.

Hence, if you are one of those people, writing a book will obviously not be for you and you should not aspire to a professional writing career under those circumstances.

Many people are too afraid to write a book

Since they fear to get emotionally attacked by other people, many of us also do not have the courage to write a book.

However, note that you should not let other people dictate how your life looks like and you should develop the sort of mental stability that is needed to ignore those people who want to bring you down.

May not be feasible for some people

Some people will also simply not be able to write a book due to disabilities or other conditions that prevent them from doing so.

In such a case, a writing career is obviously not the right way to go.

Top 10 Writing Books Pros & Cons – Summary List

Writing Books Pros	Writing Books Cons
Writing books can help to express yourself	Writing books can be exhausting
Can boost your confidence	You may get harsh critiques
May help to deal with your emotions	Can be time-consuming
You will learn about yourself	Procrastination can be an issue
Writing a book will teach you perseverance	You may feel quite insecure
Publishing books is easy	Your family may be disappointed
Therapeutic aspects	Your friends may make fun of you
You can earn money by being an author	Many people may give up
You can raise the awareness of people	Writing books can hurt your corporate career
You can improve your writing skills	Some people don’t like writing at all

Should You Write A Book?

As we can see from the previous analysis, there are many advantages and disadvantages of writing a book.

If you consider writing a book right now, I definitely recommend that you at least give it a try.

I learned a lot from writing my first book in various different ways that also benefited me later on in my life and I hope you get similar experiences out of it.

Sources

https://becomeawritertoday.com/how-to-write-a-book/

https://goinswriter.com/tips-writing-book/

https://blog.reedsy.com/how-to-write-a-book/

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.

As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.

After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.

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