What to Consider BEFORE You Begin Writing Your Book

Do you think just having a book, any book, is enough? There is some advice floating around that encourages one to just write and publish their book--in as little as a weekend or thirty days. Yes, you'll have a book, but it won't do what you want it to do for you and your business (boost your brand, help you land more business, or make you the go-to expert). The truth is, your book must be as professional as any other collateral or branded material you share. And it should be provide enough value your readers want to hire you!

Make no mistake … having a book is better than not having a book. But not by much. Allow me to explain.

Before you write your book, there are several things to consider, think through, and decide. I’m going to address three of those critical pieces here by giving you three questions to answer.

1. What’s in it for you? Said another way: What do you want a book to do for you? Examples: provide an additional source of income or replace your business card/brochure or generate income or establish you as the authority in your field or all of those.

Always start with Number One: YOU! A book requires a lot of time, money, and energy, and you must know what you want out of something before you begin (a book or anything else)!

2. What do you want the readers of your book to do, not do, or both? 

Example #1: I wrote You Must Write a Book because I want every professional to write a (quality) book, and not write a bad one which leads to them being sorely disappointed at the least and greatly embarrassed at the most. You can get a free copy of it right here! There’s a lot of misinformation out there, and I wanted to help as many people as I could with a truly informative guide (If you've read it, how did I do? Tell me!). Some of my readers take my Course of the same name, or even hire me one-on-one to walk them through the process.

Example #2: A computer services provider wants his readers to become prospective clients. They hire him because they recognize he is clearly the expert in his field after reading his book, stop trying to piece-meal their services through multiple providers, and ultimately sign a 5-year contract.

Example #3: A single mom blogger wants her book to connect her with single moms and drive them to buy her other books, take her courses, and even hire her as a keynote speaker. (Nope, for those of you who know about my book series for single moms, this actually isn’t me!)

Writing your book with a clear purpose helps to inform and influence all of the content of the book. Identifying what you want readers to do and not do as a result of reading your book prior to crystallizing the content will help inform and influence what you put in the book and what you don't!

3. How will you know your book is successful? Examples: I sell more than 25,000 copies, or I engage X more clients per month, or I am recognized as the authority in my field, or I raise awareness about my company/organization/position and XYZ happens.

Having clear objectives and goals for your book before you begin writing will ensure you’re always moving in the right direction. It’s best to define them in writing, just as you would any other business goal.

I know lots of people who have written books, only to discover they didn’t do for them what they originally intended (such as earn royalties long-term or generate new business). This is because they didn’t know to take the time to strategize the different aspects of their book before putting pen to paper. I definitely don’t want you to add yourself to that list! I do the occasional strategy session for future authors, in case that’s of interest.

I hope this was helpful. If it was, I’d love to know! Have a question? Ask me! What are you contemplating writing a book about (or actually writing about now)? Send me an email or tell me in the blog’s comment section, I’m looking forward to hearing from you!