Friday, April 22, 2016

Writing A Book For Only The Author To Read



I bought my daughter her very first book.  No, not the very first one that she’ll read.  The first one that she will write.

I was in Barnes & Noble the other day and I decided I would buy my two kids presents to reward them for producing very good grades. I found a technology-based toy for my 11-year-old boy, and for my eight-year-old girl, I bought a book-creator kit.  She’s given the tools to write/draw her own book – and then it gets printed.

My daughter has made a lot of progress this year with her reading.  She now gobbles down 300-page chapter books.  She also enjoys writing and recently got very involved with her second-grade class assignment to write poetry.  The do-it-yourself book could be just the right tool to propel her into not only loving reading books but to create them.

Making your own book is a growing business segment.  Companies like Blurb allow users to go online and upload anything – photos, drawings, writings, maps -- and create a book of any size or length.  Many of these books are personal and not intended for sale.  People create scrapbooks or books to honor an event, anniversary, birthday, or special moment. Some people create a legacy book and share it with family, friends, and colleagues.  I wonder what my daughter will do with her very own book.

It would be nice to print books of one’s blog posts, best FB posts, or funniest tweets. So much of our lives is documented online through our social media exchanges, but much of it gets forgotten or lost in the maze of digital bits and bytes.  But a printed book gives structures, shape, and relevance to even the most innocuous tweet or silliest Instagram shot.

The first book, so to speak, that I ever wrote, was my journal.  I began making entries as a young boy in these small notebooks.  Some were official diaries with a lock and key. How naïve kids are to think the lock can’t be picked or broken.  Now people think or hope their texts don’t get hacked.

I wonder if kids keep diaries now.  My generation encouraged kids to keep a diary.  Now kids are encouraged to go on FB.  But the nature of confessional writing changes when you operate in a very public forum.

It would be cool to print your own book as a kid.  She will feel special.  She may end up looking at this book 30 years from now. Maybe I will too.  Her special mementos mean something to me as well, especially if it has something to do with books.

Families should create annual books – not just of photos – but of ideas expressed through writing.  

What will your next book be about? 


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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2016

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