You're a CEO and you want to write a book?

So you want to write a book. It makes sense after all. For three reasons.

1) KEYNOTE CENTRAL: You know it will help you win paid speaking engagements around the world. Your book is an Equity Card for keynote speakers. (Especially in the USA.)

2) CREDIBILITY CENTRAL: Your book will also build your authority in your specialised market. When every single one of your competitor CEOs is super-smart you have to have tangible proof of how super-smart you are. (And writing a book adds the word 'author' to your resumé.)

3) SPOKESPERSON CENTRAL: Don't forget that your book automatically brings constant invitations to speak to the press, on podcasts and the mainstream broadcast media. (Your book is a blazing neon arrow pointing straight at you – 'This CEO knows what they're talking about'.)

But as CEO, while you know everything there is to know about your own specialist area, when it comes to writing a book there are 3 challenges facing you.

3 CHALLENGES FACE YOU

1) WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA? To be frank, you don’t really know if you’ve got a good idea. (Not yet, not without testing it.)

2) WHERE DO YOU START? Honestly, you don’t really know where to begin with this. (Yes, there's a ton of information on the web about writing, but very little is relevant to CEOs.)

3)?WHO WANTS IT? Forget finding readers for a minute. You have absolutely no clue how to find a publisher who'll get your book published. (Thanks to the web you’re drowning in information, but lacking in wisdom.)

If this sounds like the challenges facing you, then here’s a 3-point checklist to help you address those challenges, create a proposal and then pitch your book to agents and publishers.

It’s a strategy that my wife Jacqueline Moore (ex-Financial Times) and I (ex-London Business School) use for our own and our clients’ books and we’re happy to share it with you here.

STEP 1: KNOW YOUR READERS

First, identify the exact readers who will benefit from your book. I know what you're thinking. 'Is that all you can say, Sonsino?' Well, no, not exactly.

A great way of thinking about your readers is to ask what’s the biggest problem that your best clients have? Because I want you to write that book. It’s who you know and what you know better than anyone else.

Secondly, list exactly where you’ll find communities of those people – people with problems – both physically and online. Are you thinking of your customers here, whose names you have? For the record, how many names are there? (Make a note of that, you’ll need it later for your proposal.)

Beyond the names you already have, ask yourself this. In the real world are there trade associations or professional associations that your ideal readers belong to or might belong to as members? Write them down.

Thinking about online communities now, which blogs do they read? Which YouTube channels do they watch? And which podcasts do they listen to? Roughly speaking how big are those audiences combined? This number is important for the agents and publishers you’ll be talking to shortly.

And later on, by the way, you can also approach those associations, channels, blogs and podcasts and offer to partner with them to share your lessons from the book. (But that comes later.)

STEP 2: KNOW YOUR BOOKSHELF

Now you need to position your book in the market. Why? Publishers want to know where your book will sit on the shelf. So ask yourself another question: which are the amazing books that already exist, that you’d like your book to sit next to, on your bookshelf?

Why do this? Well, in your proposal you’ll need to highlight the strengths of your idea against existing competitors. You’ll have to know what books have already been written, who by and when they were published.

As part of this section in your pitch you need to craft a working title and subtitle for your book. You’ll also need to draft a back cover blurb and a press release.

That’s a bit previous, you might be thinking. Why now before you’ve even written the book itself?

Well, first it helps you make the book real for the agents and publishers you might want to approach.

Secondly, it gives you a clear target of who to write your book for. Because planning your book makes it far easier to write and – bluntly – it's far more efficient than flying by the seat of your pants. (Big hint: be a planner not a pantser.)

Next, draft a working table of contents. It’ll ensure your book flows logically throughout by helping you craft your book structure. And to craft a killer table of contents, write a line to spell out what goes in each chapter.

Charles Dickens does this brilliantly, by the way. So check out Oliver Twist or Nicholas Nickleby for a brilliant template for writing a table of contents. (No, I’m not joking.)

STEP 3: KNOW YOUR PUBLISHER

Grab three of your favourite non-fiction books off your bookcase. Books that you wouldn’t mind your book sitting next to on the shelf (virtual or IRL shelves). Look inside on the copyright page to find out who published those books. Check out their websites and see what resources they have for authors.

Sometimes they’ll have a note on how they like to be approached and they’ll usually tell you what they’re looking for, what they want to see in your proposal.

You can also check out this year’s edition of The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook to find other publishers that might interest you. Then check out their websites, too.

Although you’ve already got most of the things you need to go in a pitch, by doing this you’re also figuring out if there are specific things you've missed.

You’re also trying to find out whether the publishers you’re most interested in are open to your approaching them directly.

Gotta tell you, some publishers won’t even look at your proposal unless it comes from an agent. But some of them will.

Once you’ve got a sense of everything your target publishers want – which will include how many people you can connect with in workshops or conferences, and how big your social following is – then slam it all in a punchy proposal. (You’ve done thousands of these things, I don’t need to tell you how to do that.)

And then? Just do it. The faster you get your pitches out the faster you’ll see your book in print.

This 3-step strategy should be all you need. And the very best of luck to you. Write if you have any questions and I'll do what I can to answer them for you. ?

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME HELP WITH THIS??

If you’d like our help to get you up to speed and – frankly – to short-circuit the whole process, then you might consider applying for an invite to the CEO Book Retreat.

During this week-long Retreat your hosts Jacqueline Moore (ex-Financial Times) and me, Steven Sonsino (ex-London Business School), will personally help you:

• identify the exact readers who will benefit from your book and where to find them,
• position your book in the market, highlighting the strengths of your idea against existing competitors,
• create your title and subtitle, back cover blurb and a draft press release,
• ensure your book flows logically throughout by helping craft your structure and by outlining a table of contents,
• we’ll help you create a back cover blurb and proposal that gets your book noticed,
• schedule the most efficient writing plan for you when you get home, with all your deadlines for the writing time ahead,
• and we’ll help you get feedback on your ideas at the end of the week, when you pitch your book to a panel drawn from agents, ghostwriters and publishers that we know personally.

In short, on the Retreat, you’ll spend five complete and very full days with us and your CEO peers. We’ll live and work together at a rural wilderness retreat somewhere in the UK.

So there’ll be lots of screenbreaks and walks to the beach, as well as time to work in private on your book.

GO OFF-GRID TO GET THIS DONE

You may need to stay in touch with home, we understand that. But this Retreat is intended to get you off-grid to focus on crafting your amazing book.

And there’s an awesome Partners Programme if you’d like to bring someone to share the experience with you.

After five intensive days you’ll be mentally exhausted – we guarantee it – but you’ll leave knowing everything you have to do to write a great book efficiently and well.

And while we can’t guarantee that you’ll have a publisher after your pitches at the end of the week, we can guarantee you will have everything in your power to win the right publisher for your book. We guarantee you'll see your book in print faster than you ever thought possible.

And you’ll look back on the CEO Book Retreat as a powerful experience that changed your life. You’ll say ‘That was when I truly became an author.’

Discover more at ceobookretreat.com .