How Illumination and Medium Helped Me Write This Book

Here’s what they did for me

First, let me tell you about the book ‘Philosophy of Life Instinct’. Many of my followers read its chapters serially as I released them in Illumination on Medium between November 2020 and August 2021. I’ve now published the physical book through Notion Press, and it’s available in hardcover and paperback editions worldwide in Amazon and other bookshops.

For those new to the book, it addresses the problem of locating the seat of life and human nature then using it to construct a practical guide for living well as individuals, together, and with the planet. It’s the first time the instinct that manifests as life and makes us what we are has been viewed and applied in this way.

It’s a book for everyone, and I believe it’ll not just be interesting for you, but help in many aspects of living well. So get it, absorb the philosophy, talk to me if you need to understand it better, use it, spread the word, and leave a review, my dear reader.

Click and get:

Philosophy of Life Instinct on Amazon USA, Australia, India, UK

Now let’s turn to what the title of this story promised. I’ve been writing and re-writing this book for many years. In 2020 I was finally satisfied I had my thoughts in order and covered all the territory I wanted to. But I was apprehensive I may not have written it well enough, despite all the work I had put in simultaneously to hone my writing skills. By well enough, I meant simple, engaging, and clear writing that’s easily understandable and useful for any layperson with essential literacy.

I contemplated how I could achieve this, with the assurance it would work. Fortunately, I wasn’t writing only this book but articles on LinkedIn regularly since 2017. As my interest moved from technical and leadership topics to mind, body, life, meditation and such, I sought a platform more suitable for them and discovered Medium in 2020. I began writing on these topics on Medium and found the experience and community pleasurable. This move was serendipitous, as it was the answer to my need for a platform where I could write my book out in chunks with a specific and relatable audience in mind and get feedback from it.

Voila, serialisation of the book on Medium! And in the publication where I had happily settled, Illumination. It has worked like a charm for me, whether the finished book sells a hundred or hundred thousand copies.

I believe non-fiction book writers will find this method of Serialisation-before-Publishing more compelling, but I would be glad to see it’s suitable for fiction writers too. Charles Dickens used it by serializing many of his books initially through London newspapers or progressively printing chapters in book format. So you will be in good company if you write fiction this way.

Here are some of the benefits I experienced with this approach as a book writer:

1. Focus — We can concentrate on the form and function of each episode without the distraction of reaching for the end.
2. Flow— We can look back and connect the story across chapters for readers who could take a break between them even with the physical book, through context setting, recapping, and referencing.
3. Independence — We can make each chapter self-sufficient and valuable in itself if the reader has acquired the primary motif.
4. Balance — We can make sure no chapter is too long or short and spread the material evenly.
5. Conciseness — As the average reading time of Medium posts is about eight minutes, we can aim for chapters of about ten to fifteen minutes reading length at most. It drives the simplicity and brevity of language from which all writing benefits.
6. Aware revision — We can imagine the reader reading the chapter before and after we publish it on Medium and revise, revise, revise until we are satisfied with what they are hearing.
7. Broadened audience awareness — Medium and Illumination have many varieties of members, and imagining the different people who follow us or may read the chapter broadens our thinking. It makes our writing more valuable, even if we aren’t aiming to cater to everyone.

So, consider the Serialise-before-Publishing strategy via Medium and Illumination whether you are an aspiring or accomplished book writer.

I’ll be happy to read your series and give you private feedback if you contact me (please note that I prefer non-fiction).

Cheerio, I wish you a nice day.

Shashi on LinkedIn and quality-thinking.com

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