How to Write a Book in a Month
No offense to any Star Trek fans, but Space isn’t the Final Frontier.
SPEED is.
If you want to change the world, you’re going to have to do more in less time. That’s why this week’s Flight Brief is focused on how to dial in the most important piece of content you will ever create...which is your book.
According to a recent study, over 200 Million people want to write a book (in the U.S. alone). But last year only 304,000 books were published. That’s 191,695,000 people who didn’t get it done. Why not make this the year you jump into the 1%.
A big bonus to this content is this EdTalks LIVE show is dedicated to answering your questions about this topic.
Simply put, a book is the single best promotional, marketing, and branding tool on Planet Earth.
You could tell someone how popular you are on Instagram and there is a chance they have no idea what Instagram is
Not so for books.
If you tell anyone (anywhere) that you are a bestselling author, they immediately get it.
That makes writing a great book a high priority. The good news I’m going to show you how to do in fighter pilot style...with a checklist.
Your Book Launch Checklist (aka...How to Write a Book in a Month)
Hook
Great books have great hooks. Think about the most popular books of all time. They all have great hooks.
But here is another secret that (literally) no one will tell you: the best books are always “repackaged” versions of time-tested ideas. By “repackaged” I’m not saying that the content was plagiarized. Quite the contrary, it’s a brilliantly ethical way of putting a new spin on an old idea.
For example...
- The Purpose Driven Life is a “repackaged” approach to setting goals. Goal-setting isn’t new. The “newness” is the hook of setting goals around your purpose.
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a “repackaged” way of understanding success. None of the 7 Habits were particularly innovative on their own. They’ve all been around forever. The innovation was the “packaging” of all 7 together into a simple system.
- Miracle Morning (by my friend Hal Elrod) is a “repackaged” take on getting up early in the morning. Farmers (and everyone else) have been doing that for thousands of years. The innovation is in the process and the packaging.
- The 21-Day Miracle (by your friend Ed Rush) is a “repackaged” way of accomplishing big goals in record time. Boom.
You get the point.
If you want to create a movement, you don’t need something new, you need a new way of doing something old.
Pretty great, right?
Content
I’ve taught this in a prior Flight Brief, so I’ll get to the point and then get to a free resource.
You can write a 200+ page book in a week or less if you are willing to work distraction-free. Most people spend their days in fits and starts, randomly trolling social media or the news...and then they wonder why they don’t get anything done.
With focus, I wrote a 288-page book in a week and another 200+ page book in 8-days. That’s fast. Plus, I type like a chicken on amphetamines, so there goes your excuse.
Ready for a shocking statement?
The reason why people don’t write their book is because they don’t write their book. Duh.
So, if you want to have a book...THEN...WRITE...IT.
This article is my Magnus Opus on how to write a book fast (with original art too).
Cover
Sad to say: most people will never read your book. But they WILL see the cover. And in that critical 3-seconds, they will make about 100 judgments about you, your business, your book, and your brand.
In other words, they’re going to judge your book by its cover, so you might as well make the cover POP.
There are 3 keys to creating a great cover:
- Tip #1: Your Title MUST Make a BIG, BOLD Promise So it Gets Attention.
- Tip #2: The Best Book Titles (or Subtitles) Start with “How to…” in the Title.
- Tip #3: SIZE Matters
The great news is (once again), I have a great resource for you on how to create great book covers Right Here.
BTW - my favorite cover design services are 99Designs and Fiverr. (in order)
Editing
Bottom line: If you dno’t eidt your book, you look unprfossional.
It takes someone else’s eyes to catch the things you got wrong. I’ve run out of fingers and toes to count the number of times I accidentally mispelled a word and didn’t catch it.*
So your best bet is to have at least 4 editors...
- Editor #1 is YOU. Do at least 3 editing passes on your manuscript before giving your book to an outside editor. (Hint: your final editing pass should be you reading your book out loud. You’ll be surprised how much you catch.)
- Editor #2 is a Content Editor. This person reads your draft for continuity and flow. Their job is to make sure your good book becomes a great book.
- Editor #3 is a Manuscript Editor. This is the person most people think of when they say “editor.” They read your book and correct your bad spelling and grammar.
- Editor #4 is a Proofreader...who normally comes in when your book has been laid out for publishing (more on that below).
I personally loath editing.** But it has to be done, so get it over with so you can get on to the good stuff, which is...
Your Book Launch
Your final book comes in 4 files:
- Your Kindle book cover file (.jpg)
- Your Kindle book interior (.epub or .mobi)
- Your paperback cover (.jpg or .pdf)
- Your paperback interior (.pdf)
There are professionals who do the 4 above for a living. Do yourself a favor and hire one.
Best Seller
Becoming a bestseller on Amazon is a matter of knowing how Amazon’s algorithm works and choosing the right categories. It’s massively complicated at first, but then formulaically simple (once you know how).
It would take me 4 emails to explain the process, but suffice it to say, I know what I am doing. To date, literally, hundreds of my students have used my process to become bestsellers (most became #1 bestsellers). The trick comes down to creating the right number of sales in a certain time period. That is (as they say) why I get paid the big bucks.
Which is why this week, I am launching my new class in my Top Gun Book Mentor Program. This is my mentorship program where I coach you personally on writing and publishing your book.
My personal guarantee is that you’ll be a best seller (and probably a #1 best seller).
I’ll also promote your book to my audience.
(We start this week, so if you are on the fence, let me know so we can answer any questions.)
Come join the community and go deeper into these tips.
* In fact, just to show you how bad of an editor you are, I purposefully misspelled the word “misspelled” in that sentence and you didn’t even notice.
** Loath should be Loathe. Did you catch that? If not, make sure you get a good editor.