Dodging the Scarcity Trap

Today’s post is by author and book coach Anne Janzer.

When I landed on the idea for my first book (a business book), I couldn’t believe that no one had written it yet. The gap in the market looked glaringly obvious to me. So I rushed to fill it, focusing all my energy on getting the book to market quickly, publishing myself.

Once it was published, I started the hard work I had deferred: sharing the ideas, blogging, speaking, defending the framework, and learning from others. I began to build the audience.

As a first-time author, I had tried to “own the space” before someone else did. A mindset of scarcity made me rush.

I was not alone. As a nonfiction book coach, I encounter prospective authors who worry about guarding their ideas. Scarcity has many voices:

• Would you sign a nondisclosure agreement before we talk about my book?
• What if someone steals my idea?
• I don’t want to share this idea/framework/concept until the book is out.

It’s only natural. After pouring your heart into a book, losing it before you’re finished would be heartbreaking.

Of course, someone could “steal” your idea. We hear news stories that only reinforce the problem—some author stealing another’s plot, for example. These things happen, but rarely.

In protecting your ideas, you may just be hurting yourself. Instead of experiencing the relatively uncommon problem of someone stealing your ideas, you live in the much more common condition: no one knows about your ideas in the first place.

What we can, and can’t, protect

Let’s be clear: I am not a lawyer, but to the best of my understanding, copyright applies to the expression of ideas — the words that contain the thoughts. That’s what you protect. Your words. Book titles, though, are not protected by copyright in the U.S. It’s possible you could trademark a title, however, and nonfiction authors might want to trademark a framework or license a system. (Learn more about trademark from a lawyer.) But before you lock everything up, let’s look at the underlying assumption of scarcity and loss.

As anyone who has written a book can tell you, the gap between the idea and finished product is huge. That’s why skilled ghostwriters charge a lot. Your idea is just the starting point.

If you and I both write a book on the same topic, I can guarantee the two books would be quite different, especially if we really bring ourselves to the writing process.

Many people worry about getting credit for their ideas. But credit is rarely guaranteed. Creative work, like science, simmers in a global soup of ideas bouncing and colliding with each other, generating new ideas.

Can you remember the origins of your ideas and beliefs? Do you cite the textbooks you studied in college, the essay by the author you love, the article in the paper? It’s hard because once ideas enter your mind, they react with each other and your experience. They become part of your worldview.

Hoarding ideas rarely pays off. Like money stuffed in mattresses, unshared ideas don’t earn interest.

Do you want to keep your ideas from entering the mix, or do you want to make an impact? If it’s the latter, start right away.

Ideas aren’t scarce

If a plate holds three cookies and I eat two of them, there’s only one left for you. (Sorry — you should have acted faster!) Unless one of us buys or bakes more, those cookies are a finite resource. They belong in the realm of scarcity and so do the following:

• Sports (only one team can win the big game)
• Time (you only have 24 hours in the day — the number is unknown, but decidedly finite)

But other things in life play by different rules.

• Love: You don’t love a child less when you have another one. Your time and sleep may be constrained, but love grows.
• Smiles: If I smile at you, you might smile back and both our spirits will be lifted.
• Yawns. (We’ve all experienced that.)

Likewise, an idea doesn’t get “used up” if it reaches more people — instead, it grows in impact and value.

Good ideas multiply when shared.

When we treat ideas as scarce commodities, we fulfill the prophecy and make them smaller and scarcer.

Writing and publishing with abundance

What would happen if you approach writing with a sense of abundance and share your ideas well before the book is out?

• You might deepen your understanding by testing your concepts in the world.
• You would start interacting with people interested in those ideas, building your author platform.
• Your book would have a ready audience when it appears.

If you’re pitching a publisher, imagine if your book already had a bunch of pre-orders. That would strengthen the pitch. (Hat tip to Jeevan Sivasubramaniam of Berrett-Koehler Publishers for suggesting this … I think it was in a LinkedIn post. See what I mean about remembering where you encounter good ideas?)

The lessons of abundance

That first book (Subscription Marketing) turned out pretty well in the long run. In hindsight, my sense of scarcity led to an unnecessary rush. So I wrote a second edition reflecting the lessons learned in conversations about that book. It eventually found a larger audience who appreciated its ideas (and it had a great run with a business publisher in Japan).

But I wished I’d shared my ideas in writing and speaking before the book came out, learning from conversations and building the audience by offering useful insights. I am grateful to my first book for teaching me lessons that I have tried to apply to my books about writing.

Not only is it more effective to believe in abundance, it’s more fun as well. You can let go of fear and anxiety and lean into serving others.

Your ideas don’t live between the covers of a book—they come to life in people’s minds. The best way to support your book, especially in the nonfiction world, may be setting those ideas free long before the book appears in print.

Anne Janzer

Anne Janzer is a nonfiction book coach and the author of multiple award-winning books on writing, including The Writer’s Process and Writing to Be Understood. She is fascinated by the science and mystery of writing, and is always searching for clues to better communication. Whether she’s dissecting a brilliant explanation or revealing the secrets behind memorable writing, Anne’s insights offer a deeper appreciation of the nonfiction you love. Find her books and blog posts at AnneJanzer.com.