3 Simple Steps to Start Your Book Today

*Are you a speaker or consultant who wants a book to increase lucrative speaking and consulting engagements?

*Do you have pages written for your book but don’t know what to do with them?

*Has a book been on your to-do list for a long time?

In this article, I’ll show you how I:

• offer a collaborative process to start the book (it’s like building a concrete foundation for a house),
• help you move ideas from your head to paper,
• draw from your unique blend of skills, knowledge and experience to develop your book content (so your next client hires you and not that other person).

The main book writing challenges I see among speakers and consultants are:

• they begin writing without a content map,
• they haven’t found time to finish,
• they hired the wrong person (an editor only) who couldn’t consult with them on the business purpose and vision or on their target revenue goals.

The result?

• They have 50 pages of content they can’t use.
• The completed book contains embarrassing typos.
• The book may not be finished at all.
• The book doesn't help their business grow.

If this happened to you, it's not your fault!

Why?

No one taught us how to write a book. We know how to write sentences, right?

A book? That’s a whole different banana. (I like fruit.)

To write a book, we have to go through certain steps in a certain order for the best outcome, which is a book we’re proud to show our grandma.

On top of that, we want that book to generate some new business, right?

These steps all involve answering questions.

Let's dive in!

When I work with clients, we work through my Book Activation Method, which includes the two of us discussing the following.

Step 1: Clarify WHY you want a book. What will the book bring you and your business that other methods can’t?

Books give you bragging rights on your child's soccer sideline and at cocktail parties. Nice! Yet you want to know what's in it for you beyond that? That's normal.

You have a business to run and a family to feed after all.

Your answer to this question helps you know how a book will improve your business. If it won’t help, then it might not be the best way to spend your time, and that’s okay.

If a book will help, your goal may be to increase your business by 10% or 20% or to generate two more $10,000 speaking engagements for the year.

Did you notice something?

None of my examples include sales from the book itself. I've been doing this work for years. From experience, I know the real revenue rests in the consulting and speaking engagements--and not in the book sale alone.

A project this time intensive should be an investment, so you need to know the expected return.

ACTION: Write down your revenue goal for the book.

Step 2: What do clients appreciate about you?

You uniquely serve your people (aka target market). What did the last few say about you?

ACTION: Jot down what you remember. Most of my clients are surprised at what they learn once they see all of this in one place.

Step 3: Write a letter to your best friend or a dear person.

A French novelist thought he couldn't write a book. As a last ditch effort, he wrote a memo to honor the "death" of his book idea. Once he started writing the memo, he surprised himself with new ideas and finished his book.

ACTION: Be honest. Go deep. Finish this sentence and then keep writing a few minutes:

My book will help…

Focus on you and what you want from your book.

Done? You now have a start on your book project and how it works to support and grow your business. You have a foundation!

Ready for more?

Join my Free Write the Book email course for mini lessons to start and finish your book.

https://radiantmedialabs.com/writethebook/

Deborah Ager is the author or co-editor of three books published on presses large and small. The largest is Bloomsbury (New York | London). She is a sought after business book ghostwriter and collaborator. Her marketing efforts generated $104M in 3.5 years for a billion-dollar nonprofit and 11,000 orders for a book in three days for a US government agency called the National Institutes of Health. Yale, Brown, and Harvard subscribe to the magazine she founded. Deborah now combines her marketing, business and writing experience with her proprietary book creation process to help speakers and consultants finish business-building books and copy.