You’ve caught the fever to write a book. Great! Or at least you have set yourself the goal and you have a vision—clear or a bit fuzzy—of what your book could be. Your business or personal audience keeps suggesting that you put your message into a book, as if you hadn’t thought of that. All the consultants say you should write a book to establish yourself. You’ve had people close to you encourage you in the effort. You have done your brainstorming and scribbling and the “High Concept” has taken root in your imagination.

Now it is time to run your idea through the refiner’s fire. (Cue the sound of a furnace igniting.)

Who is your audience? Every author who has worked with me knows this is always the first question I ask. It is not a simple question to answer! Will your book idea grab the individuals and groups you want to reach? Can you identify that audience clearly enough to attach real numbers to it? Is that audience large enough to make the monstrous effort of writing a book worth the effort? Do you imagine you can reach that audience, or do your have concrete-paved access to the audience? If not, market analysis is more important than writing at this moment—it might save you months of work.

How original is the idea? As there is nothing new under the sun, how original is your approach to the idea? Is there too much writing already on the subject so that you are following a dusty trend? Is there a lot of human interest in it, connecting the idea far beyond yourself? Have you read “your” idea other places? Probably yes, so is your approach honestly fresh, powerful, and creative enough to stand on its own? This inquiry requires brutal honesty with yourself.

Can you write it? I mean, can you manage an entire book of it? Have you already written the magazine articles (certainly the blog posts) on the big ideas—with relative ease? But is the formal literature on the subject sufficient but not too arcane? Can you reach the people you will need to interview, and will you? Do you have a reliable grip on the subject so the highlights and best anecdotes already feel familiar in your hands? That is not to say getting your message onto the page won’t still be like the proverbial pulling of teeth.

Is the time right for your idea? Is it just beginning to be talked about? Or, is your approach potentially in great demand? Take care to not tie your book heavily to a current event, trend, or person. Whatever or whoever it is will be yesterday’s news before the ink dries or the pixels hit the wires. Ask yourself (and perhaps your loved ones) whether the time is right for you, personally, in your life and career. If you are reading this, good chance the answer to this one is, “yes.” But be clear about your commitment.

How important is the idea to you? Can you see yourself spending one to five years of your life obsessed with it? Is it an idea you will be able to tirelessly carry as a banner long after you’ve declared the manuscript finished? (There are ideas that need to be shared; there are also many ideas that only need to be expressed for oneself, then shelved.) Will the material fascinate you next year?

Ultimately, there may be only one burning question to answer: Is the idea so important to you that your passion for it will  overflow to your audience? In other words, must write it, no matter what?

If your idea and your fortitude survived all this, then get to work! All writers of all time stand approvingly over your shoulder blessing you with silent, steady, sacred encouragement.