The "Ordinary Person" Myth
Myth:I'm an ordinary person, just like my readers. That's why they will buy my book.
Reality:Readers are looking for writers who have authority and expertise.
In the hundreds of query letters that agents and editors receive every year, one of the most common themes is this: "I’m-an-ordinary-person-and-that's-why-people-will-buy-my-book." Many aspiring authors who have written books out of their personal passions or interests believe that their informal credentials are an advantage. They may say something like, "I care deeply about this subject. I've studied it for ten years, and now I want to share what I've learned. The fact that I've giving the layperson's point of view will make my book distinctive and successful in the market."
This assumption is that it's false. Agents know that publishers are looking for writers who have authority and expertise, as well as passion. Otherwise, how can they be sure that the book is valid, that it's not just one person's opinion?
We all have opinions, but they are just that unless we can back them up with some sort of expertise and credibility. In publishing, lack of formal professional expertise is almost never seen as an advantage, except perhaps in creative nonfiction writing - memoirs, for example. But even there agents and publishers are looking for excellent and evocative writing, which is another form of expertise and craft.
It's not hard to figure out why this is so. When you go to a bookstore - the bricks and mortar kind or online - you can find a number of books in almost any category that interests you. If you're looking for a book on personal finance, there are probably 50 books vying for your hard-earned dollars. Will you buy the Motley Fools? Peter Lynch? Suze Orman? Those are at least names you might have heard of. You probably know that Peter Lynch runs a gigantic and highly successful mutual fund, while Suze Orman has written best-selling books and is an experienced financial planner and former stock broker. If you're an Internet junkie, you probably also know who the Motley Fools are.
When you see a book by someone you've never heard of, you might not even pick it up to check out the author. If something about it intrigues you and you do take the book down from the shelf, but see that the writer's only qualifications are that he or she has had a successful business career and has managed to become wealthy, you might just put it back thinking, “How do I know this is not just one person's ideas? How do I know it would work for me? How does this author know what's what?”
If you're an "ordinary person," avoid the mistake of trying to sell your lack of expertise as an advantage. Instead, you will need to increase your own credibility and get endorsements from well-known experts in the field who will vouch for your work. That will reassure agents and editors that you are to be taken seriously. Or you might consider self-publishing your book and try to make it a grassroots phenomenon.
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