FEAR: “I’M AFRAID MY BOOK ISN’T ORIGINAL ENOUGH.” ALTERNATE EXPRESSIONS OF THIS FEAR: • “I don’t think I have anything new to say.” • “Everything I have to say is stuff everyone already knows.” • “I’m afraid this has already been said.” • “My book won’t be any different from other books on this topic.” HOW THIS FEAR WILL IMPACT YOUR BOOK The funny thing with Jonathan Dison (from the example above) is that once he admitted that he knew something, he’d say, “But this is obvious, no one needs to be told this!” This is a common feeling. And it’s almost always wrong. Many authors have the idea that a valid book must have a new insight that no one has ever considered. That’s ridiculous. Very few books are profoundly original—and the few that are tend not to be that valuable (because true originality demands that the idea be far too esoteric to be useful for most people). A book is valuable if the knowledge within it is accessible and usable to the audience. If you can write a book on a deeply covered topic, providing a unique perspective that sheds new light on the subject and helps your audience understand something they were missing, that is very valuable. Even if you feel you don’t have a brand-new perspective on the subject, if you have a unique voice and perspective around key concepts, tailored for your audience, and can curate old ideas in a new way, you will help them see old concepts in a way that finally clicks for them. 28 · ThE SCriBE METhOD