evaluate it. A book shows you can commit to something and follow through. It shows you get things done—things that are hard and prestigious and require a lot of skills. Yes, asking to be judged based on your book is risky, but that’s why you get so much credit for a good book. A book puts you in a place that most people are unwilling to go—being judged—and it usually requires a lot of work to do. That’s where the credibility and authority come from: the difficulty of pulling it off well. UNREALISTIC EXPECTATION #3: “A BOOK WILL MAKE ME FAMOUS.” Lots of people want to be famous, and they think a book will accom- plish that. It won’t. First off, there are very few famous authors. Start naming famous authors, and you’ll realize quickly that 80 percent or more of your list are dead (Hemingway, Twain, Lee, Tolkien, etc.). The other people you name will be famous for something else, and you probably read their book because of their fame in another area. Writers simply aren’t celebrities in America anymore. In fact, it goes the other way around in most cases; people get famous for some- thing else first, then they write a book that becomes a bestseller. Being famous is usually why their book sells; they don’t get famous from their book. In fact, there are only about 15, maybe 20, living people who are famous only for writing (and nothing else). Malcolm Gladwell is one. J.K. Rowling is another. You can probably name a couple more. 368 · ThE SCriBE METhOD