Ever since I read Ego is the Enemy, I’ve been a huge fan of Ryan Holiday. He’s this it boy who made it big early on, only to land on his ass once his mentors turned on him, and/or imploded their own careers.
He writes:
With success comes the temptation to tell oneself a story, to round off the edges, to cut out your lucky breaks and add a certain mythology to it all. You know, that arcing narrative of Herculean struggle for greatness against all odds: sleeping on the floor, being disowned by my parents, suffering for my ambition. It’s a type of storytelling in which eventually your talent becomes your identity and your accomplishments become your worth.
As an accomplishment whore, well, that brought me up short.
While digging around to learn more about him, I came upon this terrific article in which he walks you through the entire book writing process–including coming up with the book proposal, pitching it to an agent and publishing house, creating the first draft, then revising. He uses his own book, Perennial Seller, as the example.
If you’re interested in what the process of writing and producing a book with a traditional publishing house looks like, well, you’re going to want to read it, even if it is a bit long. And you can do so by clicking HERE.
