The other day I happened to see that James Altucher retweeted someone named Steven Farmer who was inspired to write a book as part of some #30daybookchallenge. The book is called 90/10 Fitness: How to get a great body fast, simple, and for life. I don't have a problem with a challenge like this. Someone sets a goal to write a book in 30 days and they complete it. Great. My question is, do I want to READ a book that's been written this way?
A book is an investment. It's an investment of money and more importantly an investment of my time. I don't consider non-fiction books casual reading like other media, e.g., blog posts. Perhaps I have an outdated expectation of books, but I expect more than a month or two of work for my investment. If I find out that a book was written in a very short timeframe, it gives me pause.
Would your opinion of a book change if you find out that it only took 30 days to write it? What if the author says it took ten years or twenty years? Does that have an effect on how you approach a book? Am I missing out by dismissing books like this?
A book is an investment. It's an investment of money and more importantly an investment of my time. I don't consider non-fiction books casual reading like other media, e.g., blog posts. Perhaps I have an outdated expectation of books, but I expect more than a month or two of work for my investment. If I find out that a book was written in a very short timeframe, it gives me pause.
Would your opinion of a book change if you find out that it only took 30 days to write it? What if the author says it took ten years or twenty years? Does that have an effect on how you approach a book? Am I missing out by dismissing books like this?
With non-fiction? Absolutely, I'd dismiss it, too. What are the chances an author of non-fiction can gather up all the in-depth research, make sense of all the notes and put them together in a organized manner, write the number of drafts that ensures words aren't wasted - or missed - and finally, produce a finished work that is digestible and helpful without being superficial? 0.0005%
There is the exception of the memoir, maybe, but that's closer to writing fiction.
Dickens wrote The Christmas Carol in about a month and that's one story that's never going away - too many truths. So, for the gems of wisdom they might contain, I don't see a reason to dismiss a work of fiction over the duration of its authorship.
I like the idea of a 30 day challenge to write a book. It could be the first draft with little editing but actually working with a publicly declared deadline could work. I would love to try it if someone can take care of the bills for 30 days.