Writing a Book? Purpose, Mission, and Vision!

You want to write a book. That’s wonderful!

Regardless of genre, what is the purpose, mission, and vision of your book?

You can figure this out as you journey through the three phases of writing:

1. Writing for yourself (to discover your message and yourself)

Purpose: Why am I writing this book?

What is my rationale?

What have I discovered about myself through the writing process? What have I discovered about my message? Did anything in my message change?

2. Writing for others (to learn about your audience)

Mission: Who am I writing this for?

What do they think? What do they need to know? What do they need help with? What are their beliefs, concerns, and expectations? What information, knowledge, and value can I provide to help and reach them?

3. Writing for commercialization (to be attractive to agents, publishers, big or small house, and self-publishers)

Vision: Who will buy this book?

Where do they find out about books and where do they buy books? Do they like print books or eBooks? How far do I want my outreach to be? What are agents are looking for? What would make a publisher or book buyer want my book? How is it different from the rest?

While writing, it may seem overwhelming to keep all of the above in mind.

This is why we first write to discover our message.

Once we move to the second phase, we may shift and adjust our message.

Lastly, many of us also want to profit from the sale of our books, not just monetarily, but also by bringing in new clients, or just helping those who read our book.

Of course, profits are nice, too. Profits often show us how big our outreach really is.