Thinking of writing a book. Your opinions please

[traillius]

I am researching for a book I am thinking of writing. The preliminary title is “100 Famous Americans You Didn’t Know Were Catholic.” So, it will be a collection of biopics about American Famous Catholics, although not ones famous for being catholic, such as John F. Kennedy. I also won’t include any CINO’s, like Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi. What are your thoughts?

 

[empther]

Unless they’re people who did something outstanding like John Kennedy,
and I doubt I could come up with two such names,
( who has done something outstanding lately? )
I wouldn’t buy such a book.
I have plenty of other things to worry about.

 

[vincent10395]

I am researching for a book I am thinking of writing. The preliminary title is “100 Famous Americans You Didn’t Know Were Catholic.” So, it will be a collection of biopics about American Famous Catholics, although not ones famous for being catholic, such as John F. Kennedy. I also won’t include any CINO’s, like Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi. What are your thoughts?

:twocents:

If people didn’t know that they were Catholic, why write about them? Aren’t we suppose to live out our Catholic faith so much that people should look at us and say “You must be Catholic!” right?

Once again, just my opinion.

God Bless!

-Vince

 

[bluerose]

I’m impressed that you found 100. Can you tell us who some of them are?

 

[St_Francis]

:twocents:

If people didn’t know that they were Catholic, why write about them? Aren’t we suppose to live out our Catholic faith so much that people should look at us and say “You must be Catholic!” right?

Once again, just my opinion.

God Bless!

-Vince

Sometimes we don’t know enough about a famous person’s personal life to have any clue whether they are Catholic.

Sometimes finding out is surprising, like that Andrew Warhol (Campbell’s Soup painting and more) went to Mass daily

Anyway, I think the book is a great idea!

 

[vincent10395]

Sometimes we don’t know enough about a famous person’s personal life to have any clue whether they are Catholic.

Sometimes finding out is surprising, like that Andrew Warhol (Campbell’s Soup painting and more) went to Mass daily

Anyway, I think the book is a great idea!

true

 

[PietroPaolo]

I am researching for a book I am thinking of writing. The preliminary title is “100 Famous Americans You Didn’t Know Were Catholic.” So, it will be a collection of biopics about American Famous Catholics, although not ones famous for being catholic, such as John F. Kennedy. I also won’t include any CINO’s, like Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi. What are your thoughts?

I think it’s a good idea for a book. Have at it! Don’t let negative voices drag you down either - that’s what Taylor Marshall calls “lizard brain” check out these links:

taylormarshall.com/2013/05/the-war-of-faith-understanding.html

taylormarshall.com/2013/07/lizard-brain-seth-godins-christian-theology.html

 

[empther]

I think it’s a good idea for a book. Have at it! Don’t let negative voices drag you down either - that’s what Taylor Marshall calls “lizard brain” check out these links:

We lizard brains just want the guy to consider whether or not there is a market for this,
before he spends four years of his life writing it for nothing.

Here. I’ll give the name of a Catholic:
Liberace, the entertainer, “Mr. Show business”.
Think you can write something interesting about him that nobody else has yet?
Remember, you have to keep it down to about four pages. :bigyikes:

 

[PietroPaolo]

We lizard brains just want the guy to consider whether or not there is a market for this,
before he spends four years of his life writing it for nothing.

Here. I’ll give the name of a Catholic:
Liberace, the entertainer, “Mr. Show business”.
Think you can write something interesting about him that nobody else has yet?
Remember, you have to keep it down to about four pages. :bigyikes:

Read the links. “Lizard Brain” is internal not external. We all are lizard brains. My comment wasn’t directed at previous posters.

 

[Reep]

I am researching for a book I am thinking of writing. The preliminary title is “100 Famous Americans You Didn’t Know Were Catholic.” So, it will be a collection of biopics about American Famous Catholics, although not ones famous for being catholic, such as John F. Kennedy. I also won’t include any CINO’s, like Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi. What are your thoughts?

I like it. Maybe you could write a song to go with it like Adam Sandler’s Chanukah Song

 

[cinderella2000]

I think the subject is relevant…and I would be interested in reading a book of actual people born in the U.S whose extraordinary success was based in their beliefs and commitment to follow the ten commandments diligently.I just don’t know what famous means…perhaps recognized? But recognized by who? Because Tom Cruise was born Catholic,and Lady Gaga and Madonna…and they were famous in Hollywood and filthy rich…but they actually did nothing good to our beliefs,instead they did wrong to them…I would say someone who lives the Catholic faith is not even seeking recognition or fame.Thinking on Dr.Jerome Lejeune…was he born in the US? I wish he was…or anyone involved in the development of Naprotechnology…and Natural Family Planing …or anything related with the “PaulVl Institute”…surely you can put more than 100 together,and a neat black and white picture of each of them would be perfect,but “famous” needs to be clearly defined…

 

[Peter_Plato]

We lizard brains just want the guy to consider whether or not there is a market for this,
before he spends four years of his life writing it for nothing.

Why should the “current market” dictate what will be marketable in four years time?

Perhaps his creative efforts will pay off by changing hearts and minds and creating something more substantial than exists in the market today.

If your heart, traillius, is in it and God (not the current market trend) is guiding you in a definite direction, go for it! You will benefit greatly, even if no one buys what you have to offer.

The market should never be your guide, unless “selling out” is your ultimate motive.

 

[MattofTexas]

I think it’s a great idea! I’m always very interested in learning about people’s religious beliefs, in fact when I friend someone on Facebook one of the first things I usually do is check to see if they list their religion and, if so, what it is. It’s very conceivable that there could be lots people who for whatever reason either didn’t talk much about, or aren’t remembered in the secular world, for their Catholic Faith. I think such a book could be very interesting and insightful if the people chosen were indeed faithful and devout Catholics.

 

[GEddie]

Go ahead.

ICXC NIKA

 

[PseuTonym]

although not ones famous for being Catholic, such as John F. Kennedy.

I have a rough idea of what you mean, but there’s something funny about the way that the above is formulated in words. It might not be easy to fix the problem with the wording, but it might be worth the effort. After all, who would say that Benjamin Disraeli (Prime Minister of the UK and 1st Earl of Beaconsfield) is famous for not being an Anglican until he was 12 years old? That’s not much of a claim to fame!

According to Wikipedia …

His father left Judaism after a dispute at his synagogue; young Benjamin became an Anglican at age 12.

Link:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Disraeli

 

[Captain_America]

Here’s what I know about book publishing:

(a) it’s unlikely you’ll make much money as an author;

(b) it’s unlikely the book will sell more than 3,000 copies

(c) the work spent in marketing and selling the book takes much more time than the work writing it.

(d) there are more books now being published than ever before in human history. . . at the same time that Reading Participation is dropping. More books, fewer readers.

The positives are that you may be able to make something that has a real world impact on some people, either now, or years down the road.

 

[cinderella2000]

It is true,by looking for books at Amazon,it is so sad to see great books that were originally 90US being sold for 1 cent plus shipping…still many new authors decided to go directly to Kindle editions…sadly it leaves the vast majority of readers in the whole world out of reach…since kindle is not owned by every possible reader.Also, projecting some fancy “collectors edition” would be good,but also a risk.

 

[bluerose]

Why does it have to be about financial success? Why can’t he just write the book because he loves the subject and then, if he can find a market for it, no matter how small, he can publish it?

I love to write. I don’t know if I’m having any commercial success, but lack of it wouldn’t stop me from writing.

I think the topic is worthy of further study. OP, enjoy the process. Don’t worry about publication. Time spent doing what you love to do isn’t wasted. However, if you really are only writing it to make money, then you might better spend your time and research teaching a class on the subject.

 

[oldcelt]

Sometimes we don’t know enough about a famous person’s personal life to have any clue whether they are Catholic.

Sometimes finding out is surprising, like that Andrew Warhol (Campbell’s Soup painting and more) went to Mass daily

Anyway, I think the book is a great idea!

I like the idea as well and would point out to those who feel that if we don’t know they were Catholic,who cares…that for much of our nation’s history, religion was a very private matter.

I have actually written two books. One I went through a standard publisher and despite selling out the entire first edition, made very little in the way of money. This book is being revised for a second edition in all current digital formats. As I’m sure you can imagine, I’m very curious about this technique.

The second was more of a local subject , so I self-published. Much more profitable.

Good luck, and my only advice now is to try to write every day. Some days you will accomplish very little…some days you will be hot.

John

.

 

[Tarquin]

Just off the cuff, I would not be surprised if famous American Catholics would be famous as a result of their success in some secular enterprise - business, education, politics, etc. If the book is successful (in your terms of “success”), I hope you would consider a second one and a third one on famous African and Asian Catholics, where there may be a greater proportion who have been successful not through business and politics, but through church and charity.

Such books appeal to homeschoolers, readers of biographies, arm-chair historians, and list collectors, as well as serious Catholics.