Want To Write A Book? Here Are 4 Important Things You Need to Know
Authoring and publishing a book can do wonders for launching a business.
You are providing knowledge and information to people. Also, a book is a low-ticket item for clients to get started with. It’s part of them developing trust in you.
Unfortunately, most people go about book writing the wrong way or for the wrong reasons. If you love writing and just want to write, then write! But if you’re looking to make money off of a book, then that’s a whole different game.
Here are four things you need to know before you even think of getting started on writing a book.
1. Don’t shift focus away from what you mainly do in order to write a book.
Potential authors tend to think, “I’ve got to have a front-end piece, and the book is a good idea, so I’m going to take a year off to write and then I’m really coming back strong.”
That’s dumb. Do you know how I know? Because I almost did that.
It put nothing but stress on me. Do you know what the writing was like? Crap. Why? Because it had to work right away because I was broke and wasn’t making any money.
Don’t put stress on yourself. Whatever you’ve got going, keep it going. Don’t quit your day job until you are financially free enough to do so.
2. There’s no such thing as spare time.
Find me someone who’s got spare time, and I’ll show you someone who’s got broke time.
There’s no such thing as spare time. You have to make the time for writing as if it’s another job, so you say, “Instead of a vacation this year, I’m going to do a book writing vacation.”
Or make Friday book writing day. Or on Wednesday’s, instead of watching four television programs, you watch two, and then you take two hours to write. Make quality use of your time and you can get this done in a reasonable amount of time while attending to your other responsibilities.
3. Writing a book is useless; selling a book is useful.
If writing a book is healing for you–if you simply enjoy writing, that’s great. Do it. But if you actually want to do something from a business side, writing a book is basically useless.
Selling a book is a whole different matter as far as being useful and effective. Writing is one skill; selling and marketing another. The beauty of it is, you can combine both no matter what field you’re in!
If you’re selling fricking lighting and furniture, write a book about that! You’ll be known as the expert and people will come to you to buy furniture and lighting. People want to do business with experts.
4. Test the Topic First.
Why don’t you start with something shorter and easy to market? Test whether people like and want what you have to offer with an e-book, for example.
Instead of writing a 180 or a 250-page book and speculating on whether or not it would sell, why don’t you start with a 25-page report and try to sell that for $5, $10 or $20?
If your report can’t sell speaking and coaching, for example, then guess what? Your e-book and your book won’t either. You might as well start with something you can write in one freaking night and market tomorrow instead of a year and a half of fooling around, writing a book, and getting a publisher to find out you can’t sell it and nobody buys off of it anyway.
This advice isn’t meant to discourage, for example, purely creative writers from pursuing an ambition to make lots of money off of that. Most of these principles still apply.
Still, you don’t indeed have to be the next Stephen King in order to get stuff out there now no matter what business you’re in. Just do a little thinking and planning before you start something that could end up being a waste of time, effort, and money.
Do you have experience in writing that sold? What kinds of ideas can you or have you come up with to use written material as tools to promote or sell your business or service? Any successful (or even semi-successful) creative writers out there? What’s your experience in that area financially speaking?
Share your stories…we want to hear from you!
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Encouraging toward writing; that if we have a mission/passion/business, and we focus our lives in it or have a good amount of research/practice..then, we have something to say: a perspective that will matter & resonate (and relate with/help?) a person or various “tribes.” Most of all, the takeaway of “not giving yourself the stress” of leaving what you do (this passion area) OR decrease your living revenue —- whether to start a business, write a book, or write e-articles —- is an important message : ) I tried living on partial revenue/decreased hours in order to ramp up a side business, and it was not only stressful, but put me into situations that did not honor my core person..and actually put me in harm’s way, actually! (whew! that was close! haha) I like Harv’s advice of “Be The Best” at what you do, be in a place (whatever that means for you) that allows maintaining the high vibration of love/appreciation/joy (and fewer challenges which take time to re-jigger your personal well-being)..and, just like baking with love, you’ll *really* enjoy baking your book or side/upcoming business/passion. Great advice! I find this to be true through personal experience, and am narrowed down to 2 micro niches I can write about. Note: Until I lived this painful experience lol, I did not acquire the reference point or mastery for these two micro niches! 😀 hahaha
my dad wrote a book i do notknowhow to publish it
You really made me think this time, Harv, I admit it. You definitely do it at all times but this time is a bit different. I have already written a book, a few years ago, which is resting in the drawer in my office whilst I’m posting this, and it’s been there for years… and I think you just pulled the trigger. I only have to publish it as the most difficult work is done!
The thing is I tried a couple of publishers and didn’t get the right feedback, so I will publish it myself and sell it myself to my clients or give it for free as an e-book to my students so at least the book will start going around and would make its purpose, to be read and spread its knowledge about learning languages effectively.
Thanks once again Harv!
Writing is the easy part! 🙂 I’m kinda curious – what feedback did you get from the publishers you tried?
Self-publishing is great because you don’t need the “approval” of a publishing company, but you have to have a system for self-publishing, otherwise nothing will happen!
You have to have your end result and goal very well defined, because everything you do while self-publishing has to build towards it. There are many different ways to self-publish, for example if you want to give your book for free as an ebook, then you can simply do that on your website. If you want to sell it, you can also do that on your website – provided you market your website. If you want to sell it to a bigger audience, you can self-publish on Amazon, but there are different rules, so it’s important that you know where you are, what your end result is (how you want to utilize your book in your business), and then you create the self-publishing plan. 🙂
As an author, you are a leader, so YOU set the tone for your readers and how they utilize your book. 🙂
Great insights. Thanks a lot. I particularly love the last item, and will surely test my title for my next book before it’s launch this Novembre.
Уважаемый Т.Харв Экер благодарю !! Вашу книгу я купила , очень нравится.Еще и скачала в цифровом формате. С уважением – Е К
Harv, I do so enjoy the succinct way you cut to the chase with solid, authentic language. Real is practical. This puts book writing into context and certainly gives me a great source of reflection as I journey along the writing of a book presently. Basically there is no flowery bullshit and that rocks. Thank you!
Excellent and practical advice! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you very much Harv. GREAT advice here! What’s it like to be perfect, harv? LOL!!! jk! I just really really appreciate you, Harv. You make my puzzle pieces click right into place!
yes i want to write one
This is really food for thought, as I am trying to sell three items at this time to get out of debt! Two parcels of land; 19 acres lot #4 and 16 acres lot #5, Buskirk, New York and a retail building at 431 Main Street Bennington, Vermont! All are listed with two different realtors and I am having a hard time to find any buyers! I think if I think of a way to write stories about each to give people ideas why they need to purchase them, I might just get lucky and they will sell! Thanks for inspiring me this morning!
a book can be a summary of informations that otherwise ‘d need to be gathered by readers from several sources ; which include stories ; or can be about inventions or vision of something new. Both serve as guidelines to readers. The latter ‘d need a deeper thought and ‘d take longer time to complete.
Hi Harv, Thank you for inspiring me to write my book which i wanted to do for many years. I have so much in my brain to write i just have to start doing it. you are truly an inspiration.
Thank you
K’lon Ottley
What are some great ways to test interest in a topic, that we can all brainstorm? I’m thinking: blog post, FB post, keyword search; amazon “most sold” or “hot selling” searches.. Maybe sending an email with someone else’s “offer” on a topic as an affiliate, and see how the subject resonates with your email group? Maybe also bringing up the topic within a “niche” fb community without the intent to sell, but rather, to locate a need and serve? Also: popularity of a youtube video, when promoted on fb & with Twitter? Any other ideas? : )
I basically did what Harv suggests in his post. I wanted to get my feet wet with something small, so I wrote a ‘small pocket guide to big success’ called ‘Survive Life and Live It UP!’. I made it available as an e-book and paperback. I created a website and an author’s platform, I ran free giveaways, I gave a TV interview with the local station, I arranged a book launch party, I arranged a book signing with a large chain bookstore, and I do speaking engagements and readings whenever and wherever possible. I took Harv’s course ‘Million Dollar Business Secrets’. To date, I have sold less than 100 copies. I am committed and will not stop, but I can tell you, the writing is the easy part!
Hi Annette! I just googled your book! You are right, the writing is absolutely the easiest part! 🙂
What is your end result with your book? Because while getting your feet wet might seem like a good idea, one still need to have an end result for this action, besides getting your feet wet.
You set the tone for your success, so if your vision isn’t clear, and you just want to try to self-publish and see what happens, then nothing happens – because you haven’t decided what that is.
There are many things you can do to market your book, and while what you did looks great on paper, I suspect the timing was off, that’s why your book didn’t gather the momentum if should have.
You have to decide what your end result is – what do you want to accomplish in your business? And then, you must answer: how can your book help you achieve your goals? And then – you create a self-publishing plan or you get a self-publishing coach to help you self-publish your book to success!
With self-publishing – it’s not only about what you do, it’s also about the timing, and there are MANY other things you can (and should do) to be successful, besides the really great ones you mentioned!
I used to write mini-books on topics that interested me and were my hobbies, such as cooking, pet care, beauty, fashion, design, and crafts. I also made a lot of crossword and puzzle books. As well as a book on everyday legal advice. They would all sell out in 1-2 days after they hit bookstores, and people would ask for more. So, I would do a new book on a topic each year, including an updated information in it. Now I plan to write a book on my specialty (law in general, and tax law in particular), and see how this one will go. I have always tended to turn my hobbies into profit-generating businesses, most likely because I have always loved them a lot and been very excited about them. Apart from being a co-founder of an international law firm, I am also a Top Rated Plus eBay seller (where I sell craft supplies), and an award-winning designer.
Anna, your energy sounds amazing. Can I ask how you went about getting the mini-books published and into bookstores please?
Harv, just heard your talk on the Self-Publishing Success Summit. Challenging, inspirational and helpful information and advice!! Thank you!!!
I understand that you are visiting Singapore sometime in September 2016 for a similar millionaire mind intensive training.
Welcome to Singapore. As I had previously attended previous year session, I will not be there for this round.
I would keep in view the NY best selling book from T. Harv. For the future reading and sharing with my business associates.