20 Great Ideas for Writing Your Book

20 Great Ideas for Writing Your Book

It’s your book. What you write about should be relevant to you, your business, your clients, and your prospects. Or, if a novel, it should be relevant to the readers you want to read your book.

So exactly why do people still come to me and say, “I want to write a book. I’m just not sure what to write about”?

It’s because they get too caught up in their own thoughts about books. They think about the books they’ve read recently  – and yes, business professionals I talk to do read books, they know that leaders are readers, as StartUs magazine explains at this link – and they start to compare their ability to write a similar book to those books. 

To their detriment.

Don’t compare your apples to someone else’s oranges, as the saying goes. You do yourself and the other person a disservice. Your story is not their story.

Your ability to write your story is not the same as theirs, either. The ability to write the story you want to tell involves much more than putting words on paper. It involves heart. In other words, be prepared to put your all into the book. Effort. Persistence. Determination. Passion. All things your readers will want to see in the book.

I tell people to ‘bleed on the page.’ Because all of the people you want to reach are bleeding a little. Show them you’re one of them by bleeding a little on the page.

For those of you who are thinking of writing a book, I suggest you start now.

Start today. And if you’re unsure of what to write about, choose one of these 20 AMAZINGLY GREAT IDEAS FOR WRITING YOUR BOOK NOW… that I have listed here. If this list inspires you, I encourage you to start writing something from the heart – something authentic and genuine, right now. . 

Here we go – yes, you should take notes:

1. Write a memoir. Don’t make it about all the tragedies in your life. Make it about the day the sun broke through the clouds. Tell the truth. Be emotional. But respect your reader’s heart. 
   
2. Write about your business success. Not all of it. Save some for the speaking circuit and your next book. Tell a lot of stories – both those that will make us laugh and those that will make us cry. 
   
3. Write about your business success, but start in the middle. Don’t reveal the beginning yet. Make the book a “how-to achieve great success” by using a process you’ve created. 
   
4. Write about a specific experience that changed your life. Tell us what it was, why it changed your life, and how it could change ours, too.
   
5. Share insight into leadership – what it means today and how it’s changed. Demonstrate your own leadership skills in the book by telling good stories.
   
6. Share a “Once upon a time” story. Yes, the format of fairy tales is a great way to compose a story. Put yourself in the role of the prince. The princess who needs rescuing is your client. How do you rescue her?
   
7. Offer 20 Tips on how to … be the best in the industry you’re in. Each tip can be a chapter. Chapters can be two pages, five, or ten pages. It’s up to you. 
   
8. Interview successful people and share your insight into why you think they succeeded.
   
9. Go on a retreat. Talk about it. Write about it. Give people a reason to do the same. Why does being away from everything help bring ideas into focus?
   
10. Gather all your blog posts and organize them into chapters for a book. Write additional content to make them relevant. I did this with Mary O’Sullivan, in her book, The Leader You Don’t Want To Be.
    
11. Review past speaking engagements and your content for them. How much of that content can be the start of your new book?
    
12. Ask your network what they would like you to write about. People are always interested in giving their advice. Their insights may spark a new idea for you.
    
13. Create a list of questions people ask you all the time. Answer them in a book.
    
14. Collaborate with a few other business professionals. Create an “all you ever need to know” book, with insight from 3 or more people.
    
15. Write a novel based on your life. Change all names to protect the innocent!
    
16. Take your inspiration from headline news. What’s happening in the world that YOU can write about and offer solutions to?
    
17. Take a stand for or against something you know people care about. Be prepared to do your research about the subject. Who can you interview about it?
    
18. Create a book of affirmations. Each page can feature one affirmation and why it’s important for people to have. That’s what my friend, Cindy Cohn did in her book, More Joy – 52 Weeks of Moving Forward Joyfully.
    
19. Pretend you’re an alien from another planet. Describe your first impressions of this world. Be creative in how you relate it to business or just keep it as a novel. 
    
20. Write as if you’re a new entrepreneur from the future. Or the past. What’s new and different? What isn’t? Why should we care?
    
    And, for a bonus entry,
    
21. Keep a journal for a few weeks and let that inspire you. Many good books came from journal entries.

Maybe you can combine several of these ideas into one book. Which ideas strike you as most ‘like’ you?

Innovate. Give your book idea serious attention. Be that author who cares so much about his audience, you put your best effort into your book. 

One of the best ways to do this is to work with us at Master Book Builders because Tom and I take ideas just like these and work with our authors to craft a book they can be proud of. A product that showcases their leadership skills and their writing talent.

A product that stands the test of time.

We put all of our energy into each project. Which is why we only work with a select few each year. And for those tasks we’re not the best in, we bring in trusted experts we know will give you the best service anywhere.  

Don’t let this year go by without finally writing and publishing your book. I know so many people who keep saying, “Yes, I need to write a book.” Or, “I plan to write a book.” But they let the need and the plan disintegrate over time, and the book they might have written gets published by someone else.

▶ Your competitors are writing books.

▶ Books that get them speaking engagements.

▶ Books that help build communities and masterminds.

▶ Books that bring in new clients and more business.

▶ Books that help them be thought leaders in their industry. 

▶ Books that matter – that leave a legacy.

▶Books create authority. Authority is what gets you noticed.

I’m ready to work with you. Just DM me on LinkedIn.