Why did you decide to write a book?

I've heard this question a lot recently. I expect other authors get this question, as well.

I can't speak for anyone else, but the reason I wrote a book was to shoot a cannonball.

Two years ago, I was shooting bullets. The whole story about bullets and cannonballs (my original post) was based on something I learned in an episode of the Tim Ferriss show with Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built To Last.:

Picture yourself at sea, a hostile ship bearing down on you. You have a limited amount of gunpowder. You take all your gunpowder and use it to fire a big cannonball. The cannonball flies out over the ocean…and misses the target, off by 40 degrees. You turn to your stockpile and discover that you’re out of gunpowder. You die. But suppose instead that when you see the ship bearing down, you take a little bit of gunpowder and fire a bullet. It misses by 40 degrees. You make another bullet and fire. It misses by 30 degrees. You make a third bullet and fire, missing by only 10 degrees. The next bullet hits—ping!—the hull of the oncoming ship. Now, you take all the remaining gunpowder and fire a big cannonball along the same line of sight, which sinks the enemy ship. You live.

The idea we need to keep taking shots with bullets until we can fire a cannonball really resonated with me. It inspired me to keep trying new things to see what works and to not get discouraged when what I tried didn't work.

In my book, The Fast and Easy Guide to Networking For Introverts, I tell the story of how I learned a new way to network. I had been teaching others about it for a few years.

I tried creating a free email course, I tried coaching executives one on one, I wrote guest posts on other blogs, and I tried a group coaching approach.

These were my bullets.

Shots to gain experience and knowledge.

Shots to figure out what worked and what didn't.

From taking these shots, I collected stories from people who tried my approach. I figured out how to explain my ideas to other people. Successes were welcomed and with failures, I adjusted my sights and fired again.

In early 2020, I started thinking about writing a book. At the time, I didn't know if it would be a bullet or a cannonball. Honestly, I didn't know how I would write a book about professional networking in a way anyone would want to read.

Then, I read an article from James Altucher about using ancient texts to write a book. I had already written an article using the Aesop's fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper so it made sense for me to use more fables to give my book a framework.

For the rest of the year, I focused on writing and publishing the book. I learned a lot about self-publishing but that's a story for another time.

In November 2020, my book launched.

Did it bring me overnight success? No, but I've gotten my ideas into the hands and minds of more people.

I’ve also had more opportunities to speak to people about my ideas. I keep finding these opportunities. For now, I am speaking to groups virtually, and someday, if we get back to conferences and events, I will be able to speak to people about my ideas in person.

As an author, the book has made me an authority and has given me more credibility on the topic of professional networking. This was the number one reason I decided to write the book.

Was the book a bullet or a cannonball?

From where I was a couple of years ago, it was definitely a cannonball. It was a big shot into the world. It was the culmination of a lot of bullets.

But in two years, will I look back on it as a bullet?

If I am speaking, writing, and creating courses for people and coaching large groups of people on this, then, yes, it will have been a bullet, but for now, I enjoy looking back on the bullets it took to get to the cannonball.