I finally broke down and asked Sam what he thought of a book idea I’ve been thinking about. Sam is the most market-savvy person I know– a marketing God. It’s what he does for a living. He looks at a piece of writing and tells you in five seconds flat whether or not it has any selling potential and how much money you might be able to make from it.

Talent, that.

Fortunately for me, he thought my idea has huge sales potential. This is new to me. Usually, my book ideas fall flat, because even I know, deep down, that they’re not going to appeal to a mass audience.

The reason I’ve been resistant to books so far, is that I haven’t been able to find something that I would want to write AND that would sell. I’ve come up with a lot of book ideas that I’d love to write, but I’m not the writer who wants to write for an intellectual audience or a feminist audience. I want these issues to be presented in a format that appeals to a mass audience.

One of my friends has a fascinating life story. He’s been asked several times by several big publishers to write it. He’s resisted so far, because he’s uncomfortable sharing his deepest thoughts with the world. I explained to him how his book was going to bring the issues of his country to light, how it would give other people who’re struggling and hopeless, strength. I think it was the first time he’d thought of it in that way. If it was going to help and inspire others, then maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to do it.

He came over yesterday and we got to talking about our writing careers. He said I should consider writing a book about a certain topic I’m interested in.

“Who would read that?” I asked.

“Well, maybe it won’t be on the NY Times bestseller list,” he said, “But it will be read.”

And that’s my problem, I guess. I can’t go in already knowing that it’s not going to appeal to a mass audience. What’s the point of talking about things that matter with people who already know they matter? Feminists talking to feminists. Human rights activists telling other human rights activists what’s going on. What’s the point? What’s that going to achieve?

Instead, now I’m thinking of this new idea, this new book that I could write. It’s something that I’ve always been interested in talking about, and something that, if done well, could certainly be widely read.

Now if only I could sit down and write it.