I wrote a book

I was first inspired by Torrey Podmajersky on the Designed Today podcast, talking about when she decided to write her book, Strategic Writing for UX. She was sitting at a table with UX writers for lunch at a broader content conference, and heard them consulting each other on problems her team had already solved. She realized UX writers needed to get organized, share knowledge through documentation like books to stop reinventing the wheel and move forward instead. She talked about her process, how she wrote around the clock for 3 months to churn out the first draft. I reached out and she graciously agreed to meet with me to give me advice.

Torrey made me feel like I could do it and Sarah Winters made me feel like I should. She spoke at the last Button conference about how we should all write more books about content design to get more voices out there. She shot down myths like, “It’s all already been written.” Seriously? Have you seen how many visual design books are out there? Compare that to content design. We haven’t scratched the surface of what’s possible.

Katel LeDû and Lisa Maria Marquis wrote You Should Write a Book about how adding your voice to the conversation leads to a stronger, more inclusive tech industry. So now we have books about writing books. I find that meta message hard to deny.

The vibe in the air is that we need more content design/UX writing books and that no one should be afraid to write one. So I did.

My book is about the ROI of UX writing and was incredibly fun to write! Thank you to Patrick Stafford for reviewing an early manuscript, and to A Book Apart for publishing it.