When Two Books Become One
On books that refuse to stay separate.
I had in mind that after The Art of Unwriting, two others would be written: The Art of Unmarketing your Book, and The Art of Unfolding a Book Trilogy.
I saw myself alternating between those while things were being shared here on Substack. Two books surfacing simultaneously. But they became alive once brought together. Without each other, they had gaps.
The books decide, really. How many they want to be.
This idea of merging them came when both books felt least alive. And with it, a fire lit again.
A single book often seems to require our full attention to come through. I’ve worked on different books at the same time before. If they’re not distinct enough, they might be waiting to get consumed by one another.
Sometimes what feels like three (or even ten) separate books is actually one book trying to find its form. The gaps between them can be the book asking to be whole. When you pour two fields, dimensions, whatever, into one package, it gets a shape that’s quite different from what can be read already. It makes it more characteristic.
If you’re working on multiple books and they both feel stuck, maybe bring them into one room. Let them talk and see what wants to merge.
