The Page & Podium Podcast with Dr. Amanda Nell Edgar
Sep 1, 2026 · 28 min · 10 segments
Are You Expert Enough to Write a Book? Who are you to write a book? It’s a question I hear all the time from smart, accomplished people who have spent years—sometimes decades—building real…
Amanda Nell EdgarHostI have been so fortunate in my career to get to chat with people that are sometimes very, very well established in their expertise.
Of course, I think a lot of you all know that I used to be a member of the Academy.
And as part of that work, I was speaking with the leading experts on so many issues in media, culture, politics, and other major, major sources of information out there.
And you know what is common to all of these types of people is that every single type of position I have met someone who did not think that they were expert enough.
And that's why I wanted to tackle this topic today, because this is a very tricky place to be.
And I find that oftentimes people have a lot of trouble separating their inner critic from a logical voice of reason.
the inner critic being kind of that mean bad guy that's often telling you that you're not good enough you have a lot further to go often it's comparing us to other people and a logical voice of reason that says well maybe if you keep working at this a little longer you'll be an even better expert you'll be even more qualified And unfortunately, oftentimes those voices sound very, very similar.
And that's why today I wanted to really dig into this and talk about what I see as two competing thought patterns that very often can convince us that we should not write a book now or ever when actually we're much, much closer than we think we are.
So as we're diving into this, I really want you to bring a critical eye, not only to whether you deserve to write a book, whether your stories and or knowledge really merit a book.
And rather, I want you to really think about why it may be that you are trying to step back from something that you are really wanting to do.
One of the hallmark things that I identify in authors that are ready to start is that they really want the book.
And I know this doesn't seem like something that would qualify anybody for anything.
And what I often find is that if you are somebody who has been sitting with this idea for any amount of time, it's not going away.
You might as well lean into this impulse to write because more often than not this is not just a little inkling more often than not this is an actual calling this is your deepest most authentic self telling you that this book is part of what you are supposed to be doing here on earth to get a little woo-woo on it So let's break down what are these two competing forces, because I think as we talk through these, you're really going to see how these two things fight with each other.
And once we get through that, I want to give you three really practical tips for kind of breaking through this fog that can happen when we get these two pieces of ourselves in conflict like this.
I have been so fortunate in my career to get to chat with people that are sometimes very, very well established in their expertise.
Of course, I think a lot of you all know that I used to be a member of the Academy.
And as part of that work, I was speaking with the leading experts on so many issues in media, culture, politics, and other major, major sources of information out there.
And you know what is common to all of these types of people is that every single type of position I have met someone who did not think that they were expert enough.
And that's why I wanted to tackle this topic today, because this is a very tricky place to be.
And I find that oftentimes people have a lot of trouble separating their inner critic from a logical voice of reason.
the inner critic being kind of that mean bad guy that's often telling you that you're not good enough you have a lot further to go often it's comparing us to other people and a logical voice of reason that says well maybe if you keep working at this a little longer you'll be an even better expert you'll be even more qualified And unfortunately, oftentimes those voices sound very, very similar.
And that's why today I wanted to really dig into this and talk about what I see as two competing thought patterns that very often can convince us that we should not write a book now or ever when actually we're much, much closer than we think we are.
So as we're diving into this, I really want you to bring a critical eye, not only to whether you deserve to write a book, whether your stories and or knowledge really merit a book.
And rather, I want you to really think about why it may be that you are trying to step back from something that you are really wanting to do.
One of the hallmark things that I identify in authors that are ready to start is that they really want the book.
And I know this doesn't seem like something that would qualify anybody for anything.
And what I often find is that if you are somebody who has been sitting with this idea for any amount of time, it's not going away.
You might as well lean into this impulse to write because more often than not this is not just a little inkling more often than not this is an actual calling this is your deepest most authentic self telling you that this book is part of what you are supposed to be doing here on earth to get a little woo-woo on it So let's break down what are these two competing forces, because I think as we talk through these, you're really going to see how these two things fight with each other.
And once we get through that, I want to give you three really practical tips for kind of breaking through this fog that can happen when we get these two pieces of ourselves in conflict like this.
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