The Secret to Writing a Book is to Build an Incredible Team
It’s not about the idea, it’s about the people
When I heard successful author Gregg Hurwitz speak around a year ago, he made one comment that surprised me. I used to think of a successful author as someone who sits in front of a computer and types all day. Almost magically, I pictured the perfect story just pop out of the computer. All the writer had to do was hit print and the perfect story appeared — typed, printed, and bound. But I was wrong.
Gregg writes one book each year. He’s kept that pace for 20 years. Here’s what he said that surprised me.
He said that he can only produce as much great content as he does, because he has built an incredible team of people to help him. Editors. Publisher. Agent. Lawyer. Publicity.
I used to think of writing as a completely solitary experience. Now one of my favorite authors was telling me I was wrong.
When I heard Gregg, I had written a first draft of my own book. It was a children’s book. But I didn’t have a team. I was the solitary writer, who was hoping something great would appear as soon as I had typed a few words. Now, as my first children’s book has been released, I realize that Gregg was right.
