Even if your book never changes the world – let alone influence other authors in its genre – your writing still can make a difference just by affecting the lives of a few or even of a lone reader.

Suppose you publish a book about how you survived cancer. Your trauma can let readers know they are not going through their fear and radiation treatments alone, that someone else has suffered the same despair, the same “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” Your triumph can provide the hope and inspiration that they desperately need.

Or perhaps your book gives the reader an idea that becomes their life passion. Maybe the character of your book volunteers, stirring a reader to help at a food pantry and work to end world hunger. Maybe the science fiction story you wrote contains some device that is so cool – portable phones and desktop computers, for example, appeared in many futuristic stories published during the mid-20th century – that a reader works toward inventing it and in doing so changes the world for the better.

You need not write a profound book to make a significant difference in another’s life. If penning nonfiction, your book may help others better manage their money, get a date and find love, improve their parenting, discover a new delightful dish to prepare, organize their home, plan their vacation, understand how the world works, and much, much more. In fact, often nonfiction directly affects peoples’ lives for the better because it provides valuable information that they’re seeking.

Even fiction with no profound message and that serves solely as an escape can help people. Sometimes people need just a few minutes a day to get away from the world’s crushing troubles and responsibilities, and your mystery novel or space adventure short story might just be the turn of the valve they need to release some pressure.

Once you publish and get out in public to promote your book, you’ll likely meet many readers who will want to share their story of how it affected their lives. You’ll be surprised by their stories and the unexpected ways that your words made a difference.

Indeed, for every reader who had the courage to tell you their story, another dozen never will, as they don’t know how to contact you or are too shy to tell their tale. The truth is your book will have a much greater impact than you ever will know.