Paving the Way: 3 Exceptional Tips to Kickstart Your 2024 Book Journey

Hi community!

Thinking of writing your first non-fiction book in order to position yourself as an authority and grow your personal brand and/or business? It can be an exhilarating yet nerve wracking process. You might be thinking about putting together a title, outline, and how to publish. You’re probably not aware that you might not be prioritizing your time well or following a strategic roadmap.?

Before you dive in, I’m thrilled to share three unusual—yet essential—tips that were game-changers for me, as well as our authorpreneurs at Ripple Impact, that can transform your authorship journey too!?

1. Define Your “Why” Before Your “Where”

Before you even think about where to publish, ask yourself why you're writing this book. Then ask yourself “why” a dozen more times until you get to a clear, desired outcome. Picture where you want to be in a few years. How will this book help you get there? How will it position you for future success?

Many authors come to me saying, “I need to write a book as my proof of expertise in order to level up as a speaker,” or “I want to grow my platform and reach beyond my sphere of influence,” or “I want to position myself as an authority and the book will do that for me.”

The issue is, writing and publishing a book alone, probably won’t help you get to those goals. You’ll need a comprehensive strategy. You also need to know your target audience—it has to be specific before it can become broad. For example, to level up as a speaker, the book can definitely help, but if you start the book process without having message-market fit, you’re going to end up with a book that your audience doesn’t care for, or you’ll end up having to rewrite it when you get some objective feedback from your audience. If you want to grow your platform, you’ll need to be starting “yesterday” and invest resources towards growing strategically and be crystal clear on your target market. If you want to position yourself as an authority, you’ll need so much more than a book alone, and if anything, the book is a cumulation and iteration of a lot of content you’ve already tested in different places.?

Consider these scenarios. Are you:

• Aiming to establish thought leadership through your stories and experiences?
• Looking to build and grow your audience and community?
• Seeking to establish your expertise and credibility for more corporate consulting or speaking gigs?
• Wanting to use your book as a practical guide or toolkit in your consulting and coaching programs?

Reflect deeper, and think about the bigger picture. What is your personal vision for yourself? How will this book help you get to those desired outcomes??

Your core purpose will fuel your writing process and guide your decisions in your book-business strategy, branding, marketing, and publishing. Understanding what you want to achieve provides direction and passion to your writing, creating a genuine connection with your readers.

For me, I knew that I wanted to be able to get my story, insights, tools and frameworks out to a broader audience in an accessible way. I had planned such a strong pre-launch period that I was already speaking several times per month and had thousands of books pre-ordered through bulk book orders and an Indiegogo campaign. My team and I exceeded our goals and ended up investing in other entrepreneurs and authorpreneurs by creating Ripple Impact while I took extra time to rework the book. I wrote a book about reinvention, and of course reinvented myself through the author journey—if you’re an author, you know what I mean. Writing a book is transformative.

2. Cultivate Your Audience Before You Even Start

Here's something first-time authors often overlook: start building your audience now. Now meaning yesterday. Don't wait until your book is a few months away from publishing to start marketing. It takes approximately two years to have a successful pre-launch period and powerful launch. I know it sounds insane. If you’re putting so much effort into the book, you need to be putting twice as much effort into expanding your target audience (more on this in a future newsletter!) and getting out there. Unless you’ve got thousands of followers ready to buy your book on launch date, or customers on a waitlist for your coaching programs, you’ve got ways to go.?

I learned this through experience. It’s painful to hear. I didn’t want to postpone my launch so far ahead because I felt like I was letting down my audience, constantly pushing out the date. But it not only led to a higher quality book (yes, I rewrote it multiple times!), it also enabled me to get incredible endorsements from Arianna Huffington, Adam Grant, Seth Godin, Dan Pink, and several others, and plan a global book tour, and get featured in the media, and speak on multiple (mostly virtual) stages.?

When I wrote my book Innovation Starts with I , I shared (or rather, tested!) small snippets of my content, asked questions about my topic, and invited my audience into the journey so they could feel invested and that their feedback was valuable in shaping the book. I truly believe in the 1000 True Fan theory and implemented it—it does have a ripple impact.

This approach transformed followers into cheerleaders in my writing process. They became invested in my book’s success. By the time my book was published, I had a community of readers who were as excited about the book as I was. They were instrumental in spreading the word, leading to a much more successful launch than I could have achieved alone.

If you happen to be in New York City and would like to get some solid strategies on building your author platform, I’ll be speaking at the National Speakers Association New York Chapter Meeting on May 10th, 2024 at the Scandinavia House in Manhattan with Book Business Strategist, Cathy Fyock . You can register here.

3. Do Your Research

Research isn’t just about collecting facts by doing research on your own. It’s about connecting with others, both in and outside your field.

Reach out to experts, join relevant groups, conduct workshops, and attend industry events. These connections can offer valuable insights and may lead to collaborations or even book endorsements.

When writing my book, I embarked on a 100 Coffee Challenge, where I interviewed 100 incredible entrepreneurs and business leaders, such as Vanessa Van Edwards , Arianna Huffington , and Alex Osterwalder . This experience was insightful, helping me step out of my bubble and learn not just about my topic, but also about myself. I found myself through all those interviews and developed my thought leadership—exactly where I was stuck when I started. The interviews along with other places to share my insights, such as landing a TEDx talk and getting featured in various publications such as Forbes , validated my book's title and topic. I had so many doubts along the way, it wasn’t easy. I had to shut all the negative voices out and focus. These interviews also helped build relationships, and despite my pivot, they developed into long-term friends, collaborators and customers.

Writing your first book is an extraordinary journey of self-discovery, connection, and growth. Keep these three tips in mind as you write your book in 2024—don’t get lost in all the details and tactical stuff. Have a clear roadmap connected to your why. Do your research, even if you feel you know it all. The first draft is just for yourself, and won’t be what you publish (and rightly should not) if you want a quality book. And whether or not you want people to read your book, unless you’re writing this book purely for yourself as a fancy journal, you’re going to need to build your platform if you want business or audience growth from it.?

I’m excited to hear from you—what tip resonates most with you?

P.S. If you haven't signed up for my FREE masterclass on February 29th at 1 pm est on 5 Key Strategies for Becoming a Paid Professional Speaker in 2024, you can grab your seat here!