I asked friends and colleagues a question regarding a book topic. Quite a few people told me to write what I want to write about. But I want to provide something people need, not satisfy a personal desire.

In the October 2007 of Sam Horn‘s “Take Action” Newsletter, best-selling author Scott Turow (Presumed Innocent and Burden of Proof) shared a lesson he learned:

… an attendee asked, “What’s been your biggest lesson as a writer?”

Turow thought about it for a moment and then smiled and said, “I once spent 6 months writing a book that was centered around a legal precedent called the ‘Law of Inhabitability.’

“I turned my finished manuscript into my editor who got back to me a week later with some bad news, ‘Scott, you may think this topic is fascinating – but nobody else does.’”

Argghh. Scott had to scrap the project because he had violated the cardinal rule of writing and speaking, “We may care about a topic, but the more important question is will our audience care about the topic?”

This isn’t suggesting that you shouldn’t write about a topic that fascinates you. Do it. Maybe you’ll find a market. Maybe you won’t. Just be prepared for a long road in finding an interested publisher and don’t expect it to sell many copies.

I’m interested in many things, but would much rather write a book that inspires, informs, or both. Scott Turow and Sam Horn continue:

Over the years, many people have consulted with me to craft a presentation or develop a book. One of the first questions I ask is, “Why are you writing or speaking on this subject?”

Reasons frequently given range from “I want to:

• Leave a legacy
• Make a lot of money
• Establish myself as a nationally-known topic expert
• Catapult my visibility and media coverage
• Drive consulting business and attract clients

These are all decent reasons. But they’re not enough.

The more important question is, “Why will people find your information and approach interesting, useful, and worth their valuable time, attention, and money?”

Will your material:

• Save them time or make them money?
• Motivate them or inspire them to take action on a priority progect or goal?
• Prevent trial-and-terror learning and provide a short cut to success and better results?
• Connect them with people experiencing the same challenge so they know they’re not alone?
• Teach them how to acquire a needed skill?
• Point out how they’re doing something wrong and show them how to prevent it, change it or improve it?
• Expand their horizons and give them experiences they’d never have otherwise?

All of the above are valid reasons for writing and speaking on a topic because they focus on how your audiences and readers will benefit, not just you.

Clarify up front why your information will serve people and keep that in mind as you produce pages or present ideas. Your intent to serve will be self-evident and people will care about what you’re saying and feel connected to you because they’ll sense this is not an exercise in ego.

We must admit that having a book in your portfolio impresses people and can help your business. But the key reason should be to provide value to the reader.

Renegades usually don’t follow rules because that is what makes them renegades. Rules for Renegades aims to share Christine Comaford-Lynch’s experiences. She states that she started with no special advantages and that 10 life lessons — the rules — she shares will help readers gain confidence and self-esteem, build strong relationships, and become financially independent.

The book oozes Comaford-Lynch’s fiery style and rivets. This is a woman whose history consists of running away to New York to try modeling, becoming a Buddhist monk, inventing several products earning millions of dollars, and making a mistake that cost $8 million. She tells fascinating stories while interweaving advice on funding and starting a company. Reading the book is akin to reading People Magazine and getting the inside scoop on celebrities from a business perspective. Instead of reading about actors, read about an executive who meets celebrities and attempts to motivate.

What are the chances any of us will experience such meetings? Very little. The celebs with the biggest parts are Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, and an anonymous billionaire. She drops plenty of names of people she meet along the way including Connie Chung, Maury Povich, Jane Fonda, and Barbara Walters. This book qualifies more the autobiography section than for the self-help section.

The author’s writing feels loud and she sounds like she bounces off the walls. Few successful people have a personality resembling Comaford-Lynch’s maniacal and hyperactive style. Thus, her experiences aren’t something many of us can do or make happen even if we tried. Her advice seems more kitschy than insightful.

In talking about what it takes to be success, she believes a person’s GSD (Gets Stuff Done) is more important than an MBA. She doesn’t mean to slam education, but tells readers that the real world experience is what matters instead of the pile of degrees. A GSD means you know how to get your foot in the door, set goals, listening to the voice in your head, and avoiding pushiness. If you want to earn a GSD-style degree, David Allen’s GTD (Getting Things Done) is better.

The most interesting thing in the “Work Your Money Mojo” chapter is its title. The advice on raising money from outside the company doesn’t offer anything new: Prove you have a viable product, set measurable goals to track progress, and report to management. However, she does a valuable service in providing resources for getting funding. This information, though, feels out of place in the disjointed book.

Comaford-Lynch deserves congratulations for making millions, working as a CEO for multiple companies, and learning from her mistakes. Her path to all of money, career, and happiness isn’t one most people would want to take to grow and prosper. In sum, Rules for Renegades proves an entertaining read with too much emphasis on things that are bigger than they really are.

• Title: Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality
• Author: Christine Comaford-Lynch
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• ISBN: 0071489754
• Date: August 2007
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 256
• Cover Price: USD: $24.95 – Amazon: $16.47

• The Hot Button Theory: Maximizing Media Response to Your News Releases.
• 5 tips for giving feedback on creative work.
• 50 sites for book lovers.
• 8 Easy Ways to Remove Tough Stains [I need all the help I can get!]
• The Art of Writing: 10 Tips from the Masters
• Wanna be book authors: Submit a book proposal and work with a real writer. AND help your favorite nonprofit organization.
• Four types of tasks that should not be on your to do list.
• Media Request — What to do now that you have media nibbling on the line.

Books on writing often reiterate the same advice we learn over time, the reader sometimes lucks out in using a tidbit or two. Realistically, no one has time to study the advice and put it to practice. Thus, it’s not a bad thing for a book on writing to cover the things we’ve read before. The more we read about it, the more it sinks in.

But you can’t read A Writer’s Coach in the same way you read any other writing book. This one goes deeper meaning a reader may absorb the information better by reading one chapter at a time to understand and practice the concepts. Coaching an athlete to improve at something doesn’t happen overnight. Thus, this book targets the serious writer who needs to move beyond the basic books on writing in order to take writing to the next level.

I try to avoid writing general reviews that tell the reader nothing, but Hart is a master in explaining the concepts of method, process, structure, and everything else he covers. It’s difficult to capture them into a little review when I try to avoid long reviews.

Business and life coaching grows more popular because they’re effective in helping people change behavior and improve. In thinking about coaches, I reflected on my childhood years when I played sports. The best coaches point out the right way to swing a bat, serve a volleyball, or shoot a basket. They also help players review their weaker moves so they can fix their form rather than let them continue using bad form, which will hurt them in the end. “Coach” is a fitting word in the title because Hart takes the coaching approach in showing the writer the right form for taking an idea from start to finish.

The book speaks more to journalists and non-fiction writers. However, much advice works across all writing genres — so those who thrive on telling stories can glean a few valuable lessons from Hart. Expect to find high quality content that you find in the best college textbooks — except subtract the stiff and convoluted writing. Hart’s writing style makes the reading easy. A Writer’s Coach contains smart, clear and logical guidance that will take a writer’s writing skills to the next level.

Title: A Writer’s Coach: An Editor’s Guide to Words That Work
Author: Jack R. Hart
Publisher: Pantheon
ISBN: 0375423273
Date: August 2006
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Cover Price: USD: $24.95 Amazon: $16.47

Denny Hatch criticizes book reviewers proclaiming they reveal too much information. Whether you agree or not, I follow these rules in writing book reviews:

* Honest: I try to provide an overview of the reading experience including the content without the marketing speak you find on the back of the book or inside the cover. In reading reviews, I want to know whether the book is worth my time — and that’s what I aim for in the reviews.

* Shoot for the right length. A book review isn’t an abstract, but it shouldn’t take much of a person’s time. Can’t put a number of words — you just know when it’s right. The review shouldn’t be so short that the reader doesn’t have a clue what to think. “I loved it. You must get it,” a frequent type of comment in Amazon reviews, just doesn’t cut it. You loved it, great. Tell me why.

* Provide new information: I study other reviews after writing mine to ensure I covered something different. Some people don’t rely on one review to make a decision. I want them to have a variety of information instead of the same stuff. Some people list the chapter titles. Boring. I only mention them if the entry doesn’t include the details, and briefly describe the chapter.The Perfect Thing is a perfect example (couldn’t resist).

* Don’t give away anything. Had to be said.

Writing White Papers has put together an impressive list of the top ten books for writers. A list of finalists (for anything in general) often contain a couple of weak choices, but not this list. Stelzner asked readers to submit ONE favorite book, which created a strong list of finalists. I have some of these books and others are on my list of books to buy.

A writer who has some or all of these books will do fine with them and nothing else. One other book writers would benefit from having in their writing toolbox: The Street Smart Writer: Self Defense Against Sharks and Scams in the Writing World. Unfortunately, it’s common for writers — even the smart ones with good common sense — to run into bad agents, publishers and contests. The book makes a good starting place for getting help.

My vote went to On Writing Well simply because I picked up a few tips and applied them. Still do. A successful nonfiction book is one that encourages you to take action and continue doing it long after you’ve read it.

Yesterday, I talked about bloggers receiving free stuff or posting advertisements. I left out another discussion on this topic — when publishers send books, videos and other odds and ends for review without asking.

I received a book about adopting and caring for a cat. Have I ever talked about cats other than the time when everyone was putting cat heads on Dvorak and a comic for Geeks with Cats. Once in a while, I’ll review something that comes to me without notification, but most of the time I don’t because it’s not a topic I cover or it’s not closed-captioned. But I’ll review everything I ask for.

Publishers send things to everyone on their list in hopes that the recipients will review them because it’s already in their hands. Reviewers don’t have a lot of time to kill, so we need to select the things that would interest the audience. We don’t want to waste your time. Sure, we could post a review on Amazon and B&N, but I won’t read something that doesn’t interest me. Plenty of books sit on shelves waiting for my attention so I’d rather read those.

I’m lucky that I receive enough books to that I can’t touch the ones gathering dust on their bookshelves. But I also do abstracts for GetAbstract, not just book reviews. I’ve also gotten into game reviews since joining Books, Casual Games Reviews, News & Talk, Reviews

Here are the best books I’ve read in 2006 in no particular order. Beware that not all of these books published this year, but rather they’re books I read.

* Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things: I haven’t written this review yet as I just finished it. Reading Norman’s follow up to Design of Everyday Things makes me want to read the original, but got other books that have priority.

* Next to Me is a lovely autobiography about a British businessman who happens to have Parkinson’s.

* Book Yourself Solid is a solid book that prompted me to make changes to my marketing efforts.

* Metaphorically Selling shows how to take a fresh approach to giving presentations and selling.

* The Corporate Blogging Book contains everything anyone needs to know about business blogging including making the business case and case studies.

* Writing White Papers helped me feel more comfortable about doing white papers.

* Blogging for Business is an easy flowing read that also educates people about business blogging.

* The Intellectual Devotional: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Roam Confidently with the Cultured Class refreshed my memory on facts I vaguely recalled and provided details on things I didn’t know much about.

* The Street-Smart Writer provides me with security so I know where to go if I run into problems in the writing biz.

* Tie (Fiction) Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is one of few fiction books I read this year. The book enlightened me on the Chinese culture in an absorbing story. You Could Do Better is a chick-lit style story that makes a great beach read. What I liked about it was the author’s attention to detail on TV history and trivia.

Hearty congrats to Debbie Weil on today’s official release of her book, The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get It Right (You can check out a free chapter here). I’m honored to have played a small part of her special project as I helped her with research.

Debbie provides her 5 key corporate blogging tips:

Tip #5: How to uncover your story for a corporate blog

Tip #4: Who should write your corporate blog?

Tip #3: How to address *time* – the top fear factor for corporate bloggers

Tip #2: ROI of blogging is measurable but not (usually) in dollars

Tip #1: Just do it

I owe y’all a review of the book. Though I helped with the book, I always provide an honest review. After all, anyone who reads the book can easily slam me if I’m not honest. But I can honestly say it’s a valuable resource: easy to understand, no dumbed down-speak, quick and fun read, and the perfect size.

Perfect size? What’s up with that? Some books just feel good when you hold them, and this one does. The paper, the feel of the cover, the size of the pages and cover, the binding… all of these features impact how a book feels — how easy do the pages stay open, how light it feels to hold it with one hand, and how legible the text appears to the eyes.

Thanks, Debbie, for trusting me with something so valuable.

Paul has been saying that it would be a bad move for J.K. Rowling to kill Harry Potter in the last book. While it could make for an exciting and depressing ending, the publisher would lose out on potential sales as future readers won’t want to bother reading a whole series knowing the main character dies.

My 12-year-old has lost interest in reading the series, but Paul is currently reading the seventh book to my 7-year-old who is into it and even tries to read it though it’s above his level. It wouldn’t surprise me if he decides to read them again when he is ready to read at that level — but his (my three-year-old, too, I hope) and future generations won’t want to bother reading the series knowing Harry dies at the end (like no one is going to find this out before picking up the series).

Paul believes that’s why the The Chronicles of Narnia series didn’t catch on as much as it could have. Few people read beyond The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe because of what happens at the end of the series plus a couple of the books weren’t as good. A Wrinkle in Time also had this problem — the books that followed weren’t as good.

Rowling has done an superb job with the flow and making each book an exciting read. Sure, some books aren’t as strong as others, but they’ve withstood the challenge of hanging on to the reader because she planned them as a series from the start just like The Lord of the Rings.

To ensure a series of books survives for years after they’re completed not when they’re released, authors must:

* Write an ending that won’t turn away future readers
* Make each book strong
* Look at the whole series before writing the first book

Consider Six Feet Under. The main character died in the last season (not the last episode, however). I had been watching the show on DVD and knowing this fact lowered my interest. I’m still watching the series — but I believe the show won’t have as many people renting / buying the series as it would have had the character lived.

We know Rowling is killing a couple of characters, but if her publisher wants the books to become a classic like The Lord of the Rings, then Harry must live.