Photo Credit: Jayme Soulati via iPhone 4S on AA flight to LA
Ever thought of writing a book? Don’t tell me you haven’t! Everyone is writing a book, and that either makes you feel left out or jazzed up.
If you have a bucket list, writing a book may be one of your yet-to-achieve items. Because self-publishing is the latest trend to hit the book world, there’s no better time than the present to jump on board and self-publish already.
Self-publish? How did that word hit you?
Some have a negative reaction to we who self-publish our first tome. My first business book has been out a few weeks, Writing with Verve on the Blogging Journey. The concern is that bloggers who write books are not legitimate authors. (I know this to be true, as I heard it from someone directly.)
Bah-humbug!
When you have an archive full of content hardly seeing the light of day, then why not compile these posts into a collection of insights?
Bloggers have keen opinions and are usually remarkable teachers. They offer vibrant thought, lead perspective and showcase talent from years of writing and perusing others’ writings. Check into your archives and see if a book is ready to pop from under the covers. Maybe you need a nudge of inspiration to help push your book into reality?
11 Book-Writing Tips and Nudges
1. Showcase Confidence. Overcome what’s challenging you about writing a business book. Business development, building your list, power for the brand, and achievement for the soul are significant reasons why authorship works. Understand that a book builds your cred; it’s an opportunity you’ll never regret.
2. Got topic? As mentioned above, start with your blog. Comb your archives and see what strikes you. There are topics you’ve tackled more frequently than others, and these posts become book fodder.
3. A blog is owned media! You own your blog and you write your posts. Owning all this content means you can re-purpose it into a business book easy enough. Add them to a document, sort, update, tweak, and off you go!
4. Do self-publish the first title. There’s nothing wrong with self-publishing; it enables a faster go-to-market strategy. It eliminates time on the front end and provides more time to market the title. Now that budding authors have the opportunity to self-publish, carpe diem! Did you know that Mark W. Schaefer self-published The Tao of Twitter?
5. Is an e-Book a book? If you prefer to launch a book online only, stop worrying that people won’t consider your e-book legit. It’s a common emotion, but guess what? You are writing the book for YOU. If people read and like it, that’s another discussion.
6. Invest in you. Write for you, write to achieve, write to invest in your future and your credibility. Printing a book on your own will require a financial investment; however, plan for it. Money is required to publish a book; but, it won’t break the bank.
7. Time is of the essence. As a professional blogger, you are familiar with time commitment. Your growth is along an ever-steepening path. Add your book project into the blogging queue. Instead of posting four times weekly, then only post two for awhile and use that writing time for your book. You learn to manage time better when it’s time spent building your brand.
8. What will peers and critics say? Ignore the naysayers. There will be people who don’t regard your work with value; others will say you’re not a “true” author. Put on the ear buds and listen to happy music! Perhaps you’re a blogger who wrote a book (like me), or you’re a bona fide writer who wrote a book…pray tell…what’s the difference?
9. Writing a book is necessary. Are you trying to monetize and earn money online? A book provides so many opportunities to help monetize from building a list, earning authority, speaking engagements, and business development.
10. Will anyone buy it? An investment in time, talent and thought to craft your first title is NOT about making a profit. You are writing a business book to accomplish so much more for your growth professionally. If people buy it, then that’s a bonus. Lower your expectation about selling hundreds of books. You can be surprised later.
11. After the first title, more follow. Mark Schaefer does not recall this email to me about three years ago. I asked him where his book was, and he said, “Why should I write a book, everyone is!” Now look at him with three highly successful business books under his belt. Once you sit down to write the first, there’s a second title just beneath the surface. I know this from experience. My first title is just published, and my second is being written in my head right now.
The experience of the experience is the biggest reward you’ll have when you allow these inspirational nudges to push you into authorship. My bookshelf and Kindle always have room for one more title, and I bet yours do, too!
This post originally appeared on Mark W. Schaefer’s blog, Businesses Grow, on July 3, 2013.
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For serious authors, this is probably a piece of cake; for first-timers like me, it’s a nightmare…time consuming and fraught with tech issues one can’t control. Did you know that each file format handles tables of contents differently? Don’t even think about having nice images, tables or bullets in your manuscript without ensuring they look decent in the final form…these don’t import well, either.
