I went overboard character-wise in my last post...and I liked it. It has me thinking that I want to try my hand at writing a book. Not a terribly long book, but a book nonetheless. I found a cool site called Smashwords that makes it easy for independent authors and publishers to get their work out to a larger audience. They do this by taking a plain text file and converting it into an ebook in most of the different formats (epub, pdf, mobi, etc). Then they sell your book, on their site and on other major online retailers like Barnes and Noble (of course, they keep a percentage for themselves...only fair). I could make my book available for free or I could charge as little as 99 cents for it.
Of course, it takes more than a website and an electronic format to convince people to buy a book. You have to have a solid idea, one that is not being covered by every other author out there. One idea that I have been pondering for some time comes from a television show I saw in 2004 (It stuck with me). It was called John Safran vs. God. The clip that's had me thinking is this one:
I should add that I don't find this video particularly offensive...after all, Safran is a comedian. I'm not sure how serious he was when he made this comment, but I do know that this attitude is prevalent among believers. I want to write my book about atheism from the perspective of the average Joe (literally). You obviously don't have to be a genius, or even know that much about science to not believe in a god (it does help a little). There aren't a lot of books on atheism being written by guys who flunked out of college and work blue collar jobs. So it will be with this video in mind that I begin the process of crafting my first book. I also want to expand on my last post about the what, who and why of I, and recount my path to atheism (or my return to atheism, since I was born one). I will do my best to provide updates on my progress. I don't often stick to commitments like this, but THIS TIME I think I'm serious (just like every other time, right). So to make up for the length of my last post, I'm cutting this one short...after all, I've got a book to write!!
I wish you all the luck in the world! I've thought myself about writing a book, but never managed to take more than a handful of ideas further than a few pages of rough notes. I guess because I tend to be a bit "all over the place" with the varying projects I busy myself with, I'm not disciplined enough to devote time to it properly (it's not that I don't finish things, I do - it's just that I tend to be doing 10 things at once and keep switching between them, edging each forward a bit at a time :))
ReplyDeleteMy dad had problems reading "The God Delusion" because he would have to keep stopping to look up words in the dictionary and has often suggested a version for the "average person" who didn't go to university and doesn't know what "epistemological" means :) As such, I shall be cheering you on with your endeavour and hoping you can get it out in time for christmas (I've really got no idea what to get him this year!) :)
All the best with it ...
If you do ever decide to write a book, I will be the first to purchase it. I love your blog and think that you are a fantastic writer. I will knuckle down and try to finish in time for the holiday.
ReplyDeleteWell, if you need someone to pop up occasionally and nag you to get on with it, I shall do my best :)
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