What If You Did Write That Book This Year?

What If You Did Write That Book This Year?

What if you did write your book this year? That book? The book you’ve thought about for so long? The story of your journey to success?

What if you made the decision to sit at your computer for one hour every day, and write that book?

What if you wrote 500 words a day, or 1000 words a day, or even 3000 words a day?

What would happen?

Here’s what would happen…

You’d write that book and become a better writer, in the process. You’d have chapters, and ideas, and advice, and teachings, and experiences, and sharing, and as you wrote the book, you’d remember so many important things you need to share and add to the book, that in the end, your book would be a dynamic product for your business. It would become the best marketing tool you have ever created.

Writing that book this year

Writing your book, becoming “the author of” as people introduce you to other people, will bring you riches beyond belief.

Here’s how you’ll get rich:

• You’ll be recognized as an expert in your field. Writing a book brings this accolade with it. People expect an author to be an expert in her work. 
• You’ll be invited to speak more often, introduced more often as “author of” to great applause.
• You’ll be asked to be on podcast shows everywhere. You’ll talk about your book and your work and people will want to work with you.
• You’ll attract more clients. People want to work with experts. If you have a book, you must be an expert.
• Your mastermind groups will soar! Don’t have one? Start one! 
• Your workshops will be overflowing. Don’t have one? Start one!
• Your webinars will be attended by people from all over the world. Haven’t done a webinar? It’s not hard. Use Zoom.

The dollars and the sense of It

Notice I did not mention money anywhere in that list. Riches are more than dollars in the bank. Riches come with being an author because people love associating with authors. The truth is, most people won’t write a book. Most people don’t have what it takes. Most people are amazed when a friend, colleague, or relative comes to them with a new book they have written. To them, writing a book is a mysterious activity, one they cannot comprehend for themselves.

Your book may sell many, many copies, thousands of copies, but that will not be what make you rich. You may use your book in your work as a giveaway, and it may not bring in thousands of dollars in sales. But, it can bring in dollars in clients who want to work with the “author of.” 

In my most recent book, The HOW TO WRITE A BOOK Book, co-authored with my husband, Tom Collins, we talk about the process of book building, as in, building a book like you would build a house. 

I came to this comparison one evening when we were watching HGTV. I thought about the parts of a book; the writing, the chapters, the introduction, the preface, the foreword, the index, the cover design, and all the parts in-between and they matched up to the task of building a house quite nicely.

As I wrote the book, I realized it might be helpful to have stories of writing experiences from other authors, and I reached out to a number of people who kindly sent me personal stories of how they wrote their books.

I wasn’t thinking of dollars and cents, while I wrote. I was thinking of dollars and sense. The dollars I would invest by self-publishing and the sense of pride and accomplishment I would have once the book was completed. And, the sense to know the book was not going to make me rich and famous.

It’s because I know how to write a book and publish a book, that I make it a point of reminding new authors that riches do not come only in the form of book sales.

Yes, you can ‘create’ a best seller. There are folks who promote their services as experts in that, but in the end, the book isn’t about creating a best seller. It’s about the pride and accomplishment of sharing your knowledge with the world, with people who need it, people who are searching for answers you have.

The sizzle and the sense of It

We’re talking business books, here, not novels. I encourage people to read fiction to sizzle their creativity, but my work is primarily with non-fiction writers. Once, I worked with an amazing woman on a memoir, but that was far out of the ordinary.

Yes, you can have sizzle in your non-fiction book, too. Your book is a story book of sorts, much the same as anything put out by the latest best selling author. In your book, you will tell the story of you. Your sizzle will be in how you describe different experiences that led you to write the book. People don’t want a report. If they just wanted a report, newspapers would still be popular. Even then, good journalists in newspaper writing create a solid story for the reader to follow.

The sizzle and the sense of it come down to building a book that people will find answers in, but that also leads them through the story by offering surprises here and there. It helps to study the hero’s journey a bit, I think.

In the end, it makes sense that your book will serve both you and your reader better if you write it to serve them, not to serve you.

I ask again, what if you did write that book this year?

What would happen?