Writing Your Book in 2025 – A Few Bits of Advice on Writing and Marketing to Start the Year Off Right

Writing Your Book in 2025 – A Few Bits of Advice on Writing and Marketing to Start the Year Off Right

I’m not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I find them overrated and understated. People write down their so-called resolutions on December 31^st and vow to lose weight, get up earlier, work out more, eat fewer cookies, whatever it is, and then they don’t do any of that.

Or they start but never finish.

It’s because making a resolution is merely playing the game.

According to Merriam-Webster, our good dictionary friend, the idea of resolutions has existed for more than 350 years.

“A 1671 entry from the diaries of Anne Halkett, a writer and member of the Scottish gentry, contains a number of pledges, typically taken from biblical verses such as “I will not offend any more.” Halkett titled this page “Resolutions” and wrote them on January 2^nd, which would possibly indicate that the practice was in use at the time, even if people did not refer to it as a New Year’s resolution.”

However, National Geographic has another spin on the tale. They maintain that resolutions have existed for thousands of years.

“New Year’s resolutions aren’t a fad—they have endured for thousands of years

“From Babylonian kings to 21st-century gym memberships, the tradition of starting fresh on January 1 has ancient roots—and surprisingly familiar goals.

“The Babylonians were among the first civilizations to celebrate the start of a new year, marking the occasion with festivals and rituals. “There is a lot of written documentation about New Year festivals in ancient Babylonia, Syria, and other places in Mesopotamia tied to the notion of the start of the new year,” says Eckart Frahm, a professor of Near Eastern languages and civilizations at Yale University.”

Regardless of where it started and whether or not you’ve made those resolutions I’m sure you’re sure to keep this year (or if you’re merely reusing last year’s list), it pays to look at the start of a new year as an blank slate to create new opportunities, even if that means realigning old ideas to a new way of thinking.

Given that, I would like to offer some advice – in the form of open-ended questions – on how to think about tackling that book you’ve been meaning to write. And/or tackle the promotion of the book you wrote last year. As your 2025 New Year’s Resolution.

Writing Your Book in 2025

In this list, I offer some advice and pose some questions you should be asking yourself if you’re determined to become an author this year. I recommend using pen and paper to write them down and fill in your answers.

1. Gather LinkedIn articles and posts you’ve written over the last six to twelve months and look for a pattern. If you find several, and you may if you post a good bit like I do, separate your patterns into groups and choose just one group to focus on.
2. Look at the books you’ve read throughout the year. Which ones left you feeling unfulfilled?  What could you add to them that would be better? Outline the salient points.
3. If the topic and the purpose are not holding you back, what is? Time? Effort? Investment? What do you need to do to approach and slay the demon holding you back?
4. If you know what you want to write, you are prepared to write and invest the time and energy necessary, but you aren’t sure how to start; who can help you? A coach? Belonging to a writer’s group? Who else?
5. If you need more information about the publishing end of things, after all, you do want to publish your book, correct? How can you find answers to your questions? (Maybe in this blog post, “The Magnificent Power of Books,” which talks about publishing books of all kinds) Are you following the right experts on LinkedIn, or do you prefer one-on-one meetings where you can ask questions face-to-face?
6. Don’t forget design. Your book needs interior design and cover design. This includes having a website. This includes creating an author brand. Who will help you with that?
7. Do you have a timeline? When will your book be done? When will you launch it? How will you launch it?
8. How will you gather testimonials? Beta readers? Amazon reviews?

Remember, no one does this alone. You can sit in your drafty attic and write your book all by yourself if you choose to, but you cannot edit it, design it, or publish it by yourself. Well, you can, but like representing yourself in court as your own lawyer… it’s not recommended. You’ll end up wasting a lot of time and energy.

As a business professional, recognize the value of having a talented team on board to help you make your book the success of the year. And by success, I mean serving you beyond making you a published author.

Promoting Your Book in 2025

You’ll notice that this list is longer than the one above. Why? Because marketing is more involved and takes longer, so be prepared for that! All of our authors learn that marketing and promoting never ends.

1. What social media channels will you use? Do you have them now? Will you manage them or hire someone to manage them? Here’s a blog post I wrote in 2023 about getting your book noticed on LinkedIn – it’s still good advice.
2. Do you have a newsletter? Should you have a newsletter?
3. Have you thought about a PR professional? What would you expect from such a person? What is your budget?
4. Who will manage your Amazon KDP account? Your Amazon Author Central account? And any other accounts you have for your book?
5. Will you sell books from your website? Who will fulfill them? Who will distribute them? Who will print them?
6. Will you give away free copies? Mike Capuzzi believes in free copies. Get his book, The Magic of Free Books: A Guide for Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, and Corporate Leaders on Making Money By Giving their Book Away.
7. Podcasts. Are you prepared to be on them? How will you find them? Who will keep track of your appearances? Will you have a podcast of your own? How will you manage that? Will it be about the book or about your business? Will you interview people on it?
8. Will you do blogging book tours? In-person events and book signings?
9. Will you seek out speaking at local and regional events? Will you keynote?
10. Will you seek out gift guides and online book fairs?
11. How will you get reviews of your book (preferably on Amazon) when friends and family are done writing them?
12. Will you have book trailers? How many? Who will make them?

Ultimately, it’s up to you, the author, to answer these questions. I urge you to use these two lists as a guide to beginning to understand the process, the investment (time and $$), and the time needed to produce – we say ‘build’ – that book you’ve always wanted to write.

 Yes, you can find the answers online and by reading our LinkedIn pages – Tom is here and I am here. You can follow other writers and see how they’ve done all these things. You can and should be on Reddit and Quora where other writers gather to talk about their books.

But by far, the best thing to do is work with a company that will work with you on answering these questions and that have your back throughout the process of writing, publishing, and marketing your book.

We are that company. However, we only work with a small number of authors each year. The good news is, we know who to refer you to if we can’t be the ones you work with.

What did I miss in my lists? What questions do you have that aren’t here? Leave a comment – don’t be shy!