As my friend Dan Poynter asks, "Do you have a book inside you?" Nurses have many stories to tell, and experience and knowledge
to share. Writing a book may be just the thing for you. It was for me.
I was working in an ED in central Florida when I decided to take the certification exam for emergency nursing (CEN). I was
certified in critical-care nursing, and I reviewed for that exam using a book by a nurse, Thomas Ahrens.
The book was simply amazing. I read it in the ICU in short sections while caring for similar patients. My clinical skills
improved, and I passed the CCRN.
I looked for a similar book to review in preparing for the CEN. When I searched the bookstores, the review books I found were
for practice exams or categorized by body system. Because they were so large, these books were too awkward to handle at work.
I purchased several, and had to buy a tote bag in order to carry them to the ED. Needless to say, when the charge nurse said, "Bemis, you have a seizure patient coming into bed six," I did not have time
to find the page on seizures, much less read it. If I wanted a peer-reviewed book that followed complaint-based emergency
protocols from airway to discharge, covered all emergency complaints, and could be followed during any scenario in or out
of the hospital, I would have to write it myself. So I did. The book is the Emergency Nursing Bible, and it's now in its fourth edition.
Options for publishing
Do you have a book inside you? To publish a book, you have two options: Use a publisher, or self-publish it. Because publishing
was new to me, I researched the publishing industry by reading books from the library and talking with authors. I chose to
self-publish because I wanted to own the copyright, be able to update the content quickly, and get it in the hands of nurses
as fast as possible.
My investment was about $8,000 (not counting my time). I recouped the investment in the first four months, and my income from
the book has been steady every month since. The book has generated a number of other products, such as a CEN review class
and an upcoming CEN practice-exam book.
After reading Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual and attending his seminar, I came up with a basic plan that I still use today when writing a new book. The steps are:
- Determine the final appearance of the book by looking at similar books (size, shape, color, and layout).
- Develop the table of contents.
- Design headings and subheadings that are the same, or similar, in each chapter.
- Research the information base.
- Write the content in Microsoft Word® or a similar word-processing program, formatted to look like the final book.
- Make a print-ready PDF file for the printer.
For the Emergency Nursing Bible, I wanted a peer-reviewed book that offered nursing continuing education, so 10 of my peers read the book (printed on my
home printer and bound in large three-ring binders), provided me with a certified time-study, and offered suggestions. The
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses approved the book for continuing education. The total writing and approval process
took two and a half years. It was worth every minute.
When the Emergency Nursing Bible was ready for print, I chose a book printer (not a publisher) and ordered 1,000 books. When they arrived, they were on several
pallets and filled my garage. I followed the marketing plan in the Self-Publishing Manual, and it worked.
Practice Tools
