Writing a book is hard without the right help. Without someone who’s done it before, you can end up making crucial mistakes. Show
You decided to write a book. Maybe you have a perfect idea (so you think, but we’ll get to that), have always wanted to write one, and just aren’t sure where the heck to get started! The process of writing and publishing a book successfully is so much more than just writing and pushing a button to publish on Amazon. One of the easiest ways to start, is with an outline. (Heads up – You can grab a free outline template below. I cover more about how to use this tool in Step 9 of this post – but go ahead and grab your outline guide now. It makes everything easier, later). Anyone who says learning how to write a book is easy has never actually tried. If they did, they’d know writing a book takes a lot more than a helpful piece of grammar software. It takes help from someone who’s done it before. This is why I’m weighing in, having written and published 6 bestselling books and replicated my process across thousands of students through our Become a Bestseller program. Let’s save you a ton of time, and many headaches, and dive into how to write a book. If you’ve ever tried to write a book, you know how it goes… You stare at a blank page for 5 minutes, but it feels like hours. To combat the boredom, you stand, stretch, and brew yet another pot of coffee. And…a week later someone asks how your book is coming, and you think, “Book? What book? I haven’t even come up with a book idea yet!” But now you’re ready to start writing a book—and we’re going to help make sure you do. Here’s how to write a book step by step:
Ready to get started as a serious writer right now? Check out your free training below before reading the rest of this post! How to Write a Book Despite ProcrastinationThere are plenty of reasons why writing a book, whether you’re writing a fiction novel or a nonfiction book, puts most writers directly into procrastination mode. These are some common reasons you procrastinate when writing a book:
Take a deep breath (but no more coffee, you’ve had enough). Remember that all authors have been exactly where you are right now. Every successful writer—from William Shakespeare to Walt Whitman to Stephen King—began by staring at a blank page. You’re in illustrious company! Ready to learn how to write your first book and go from blank page to published author in just 90 days? Then let’s get started! Phase 1: Think Like a WriterBefore you sit down and type a single word, it will pay off if you take some time to address a few attitude questions and adopt the right mindset. Successful writers know, before your write a single word simply writing and getting words to flow isn’t the hard part. It’s so much more about being organized with the same structure and writing voice for the particular story they need to tell. This is one of the most frequently overlooked steps in becoming a published author, which is a big reason why so many people fail to finish their books. Take it from me—it’s worth your time to complete these steps. They will make the rest of your book-writing experience much, much easier, and more satisfying. [Pssst! Want to see some of our students’ published books? Check out the SPS Library here!] Step 1: Find Your “Why” for Writing a BookBefore you open your laptop and start daydreaming about which photographer should take your best-selling author headshot, or about getting interviewed on Oprah, you need to answer one question: What’s your reason for writing a book? It’s not enough to have an inspiring book idea. Before you put pen to paper, you need to know your purpose. It might take writing a blog post to begin a journey that has you self-published in less than a year. Remember most likely you’ll want to approach this as a writing career rather than a single book you put out. How do you begin writing a book?I won’t lie. Writing a book is rewarding, but it requires hard work. It requires emotional labor, long nights (or early mornings), extended weekends, and facing a constant self-critical process that is unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Solidifying the purpose of fueling your book will carry you through this difficult process. Ok, you’re thinking—“Don’t worry, I know why I want to write a book. I want to write to feel important!” That’s an interesting thought, and feeling important may be a byproduct of becoming a self-published author. However, feeling important isn’t the same as your purpose—your WHY. Feelings are fleeting, whereas a purpose is a deeper, intrinsic motivator that will keep you burning the midnight oil to power through Chapter 23 when the rush of feelings has long dissipated. And this is a huge reason why so many of our Become a Bestseller students end up starting and finishing their drafts quickly—in 30 days in most cases!
There are no wrong or right purposes for writing a book. Your WHY will be unique to you. Once you’ve honed in on your WHY, let that purpose help focus your writing. By keeping your purpose at the forefront of your creative process, you’ll make the writing process quicker and smoother than you thought possible. Step 2: Stop the Excuses for Not Writing the BookYou’ve figured out your WHY and articulated your unique purpose for writing a book. And right on cue, something is going to try to derail your progress already: your writing excuses. When there’s nothing standing in your way, it’s sadly typical to start letting excuses for not writing your book become the obstacle to your success. But you can overcome it. It’s worthwhile to spend a little time addressing some common excuses many of us make to prevent us from writing. Once you’ve cleared out the cobwebs and smashed those mental roadblocks, you’ll be better prepared for the writing process ahead. Getting your mind ready is one of the first steps to producing valuable work, whether than publishing an ebook, the next great American novel, or a passion project. Excuse 1 – You don’t know what to write.You may not realize it, but you have a story worth telling. In fact, you may be pleasantly surprised to find as you write that you have more than one story and you’re having a tough time narrowing down the content. The easiest way to start writing your first book is to choose a topic you’re comfortable with. You can literally write a book about anything, so go with what you know. Here’s how you can figure out what to write about:
Once you have an idea narrowed down, you can go ahead and start your mind map and outline. (Psst… If you missed your chance to grab your outline earlier in this post, here you go again. Inside the template are more detailed instructions for how to use an outline, and how to go from “no book idea” or “too many book ideas” to the “perfect first book idea” using a mind map. Don’t worry, I show you how to mind map your book also – inside the Book Outline Template instructions.) Excuse 2 – You don’t have enough time.Today, we’re all busy. I get it. Plus, how long does writing a book take in the first place? But I have some good news: Writing a book takes less time than you think. Find an hour a day you devote to something mindless—social media, video games, internet, or TV—and start writing instead. And if you don’t have an hour, try 30 minutes. Even 5 minutes 3 times a day can be a source of massive writing productivity. Think about it. The average person can type 60 words a minute. 60 words x 5 minutes = 300 words. Do that 3 times a day and you’ll produce close to 1,000 words a day. You’ll amaze yourself at how an hour per day adds up to something productive! Excuse 3 – Good writers spend all their free time reading.Think you need to read all day long to be a writer? Think again. In fact, many prolific writers cut down on their reading—at least temporarily—in order to give themselves enough time to write. Besides, you don’t need to be a literary connoisseur to write a great book. Your writing style and voice is your own. And the best way to discover your own natural writing voice is by sitting down and writing (not reading what others have written). Here are some tips to use reading to help you write a book while reading less:
Excuse 4 – You’re “not an expert.”A lot of people get tripped up on this. They think, “Oh, I’m not really an expert on ___. I can’t write about that.” The truth is that the whole concept of “expert” is very subjective. An amateur astronomer wouldn’t seem like an expert to Stephen Hawking…but to 99% of the rest of the world, they would be an expert. You don’t need to know everything about your topic. As long as there’s a knowledge gap between you and the reader—and as long as you’re helping to fill that gap by teaching them the things they don’t know— you’re expert enough to write a book. So stop worrying about “not being an expert!” If you’re passionate and knowledgeable about a topic, then you are 100% qualified to write a book about it. Excuse 5 – Your first draft must be flawless.A draft is a work-in-progress, and the goal is simply to get it on paper. A draft will have mistakes and that’s okay—that’s what the self-editing process is for. Even experienced professional writers who finished a book that ended up covered in the red pen of an editor or numerous red changes in a document, just like the one pictured below. As Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said, “Done is better than perfect.” If it works for a multi-billion-dollar company, it should work for your first self-published book. Don’t get me wrong, as I’ve already said, writing is hard work. But shedding these excuses should help get you into a positive frame of mind for the writing process. Realize You Don’t Need to Be PerfectThe thought of writing a book causes many people to think, “I’m not a good enough writer. I need to do _____ before I start writing.” Well, I’m here to tell you that you don’t need:
All you need is one thing: a system for finishing your book. There’s no such thing as a perfect book or a perfect writer. When you get down to it, the most important distinction is between authors who finish their books and authors who don’t. Don’t worry about being perfect. Just focus on your book, and your writing will get better and better over time. As with anything we learn, writing is a skill. It requires practice to hone over time. So let go of the idea that you’re not good enough and work to improve by reading expert writing tips and practicing daily. This will help you make the mindset switch from “I can’t” to “Let’s get this done!” Phase 2 – Set Yourself Up For SuccessNow it’s time to start your prep work. Before you start putting any words onto the page, you need to focus on a few important preparations. Take the time to complete these steps and you’ll be setting yourself—and your new book—up for success. Step 3: Schedule Your Book Writing TimeHere are 3 things you can do to create your own customized book writing plan. Without a plan, it’s too easy to let your book writing goals get pushed to the background, eventually fading into the soft mist of “someday.” Develop a writing habit and plan it outDon’t let your book end up in the graveyard of dreams. In order to realize your end goal, you need actionable steps to follow. Assess what’s going on in your life in the next 30 days, then block out when you can write, and when you can’t. It’s common for new writers to set unrealistic time goals, which in turn generates stress when it’s impossible to meet those arbitrary deadlines. Avoid this and stay realistic, since developing a writing habit is most important at this stage in learning how to write a book. Thirty minutes (or even 5 minutes) spent writing is better than nothing, so resolve to make it happen and find the time. Look at Omer Redden, a Self-Publishing School student. He was working full-time at one job, had another part-time job, raising 3 kids, and moving across states—busier than most people—yet he found the time to write his book Give and Grow Rich: Change Your Mind, Change Your Money in 3 months. Using the Self-Publishing School process, he’s gone on to write 5 books, and his wife and kids are publishing books now too! If Omer could make it happen, then writing your book is certainly an attainable dream. Choose the time of day you plan to writeYou might decide to get up early and write before the obligations of your day crowd out your writing time. But if you’d win the gold medal in the Olympic sport of snooze-button slapping, then choose a different time or make sure you get to bed earlier so you’re fresh in the morning. If your evenings are free, but your brain is mush and you’re only good for sinking deep into the couch cushions, then choose a different time or rearrange your schedule so you aren’t so burnt out in the evenings. Alternatively, you can grab some time on your lunch break, or sneak small blocks of time into your workday, such as when you’re transitioning between activities or waiting for a meeting to start. Whatever time of day is convenient for you, stick with it so that it becomes a predictable part of your day. This will establish a writing habit. Set a deadline for writing your bookSetting an end date forces you to stay on schedule and keeps the forward momentum going. So consider giving yourself a deadline for your book. You may be wondering: How do you choose a deadline when you have no idea how long the book-writing process will take? One month is a good benchmark to start with. Self-Publishing School recommends writing until you hit a daily word count of 500-1,000 words, but this ultimately depends on how many words are in your book. If you can commit to an hour a day, you should be able to reach that goal. After 30 days of daily writing sessions, you will have completed a 30,000-word draft. If you’re not sure how many words you should be aiming for, fill out the calculator below so you’re shooting for the right word count for your audience and genre based on industry standards. Valuable Asset Alert!!You can check out our word and page count calculator here to determine the target word count for your industry in order to work backward to plan your writing schedule! Consistency is key. Small, consistent actions toward writing your book are how it comes to life. If that schedule doesn’t work, then commit to a time period and a daily word count that does. It’s okay if that’s 15 minutes per day. The ultimate goal is your rear end in the writing seat for that allocated period of time each day. Share the end date of your first completed draft with others so you have an extrinsic motivation to keep moving toward that finish line. It’s a good idea to choose an editor for your book (before you finish your first draft) and schedule when you’ll have the completed first draft of the manuscript in that person’s hands. That way, if you’re tempted to flake out and put off a writing session, that looming deadline can help keep you going. Step 4: Create Your Writing SpaceThe physical space where you write your book is important. A dedicated writing space allows you to “flip the switch” and get focused on writing. If you try to write in an environment that’s too loud, too busy, or too cluttered, and you’ll find yourself getting frequently distracted. However, some get their best work done at coffee shops and love the ambient noise. True, some authors can write in a disheveled environment… …but I suspect that most of these authors would become even more focused and productive if they cleaned up their writing space to make it easier to focus on their writing. There is a common myth that a dedicated writing space can make the task robotic or take the “art” out of crafting your work. This may be true for some, but I’d say arrive at that conclusion after first mastering the basics of successfully publishing a few books. However, that’s just my opinion. The truth is that the “best” writing environment is going to be personal to you. We all work well in different settings, so with that in mind, consider these general guidelines to boost your productivity:
(To get the sound of a cafe from the comfort of home, check out Coffitivity.) You might need to experiment to find the writing environment that allows you to focus and write freely. Bottom line: Find the writing environment that makes you comfortable and go with it. Once you find the best creative process for you, you’ll even look forward to writing! Would you try to construct a piece of furniture without a hammer, nails, or wood? Of course not! You need the right tools for the job. Well, the same principle applies when writing a book. And when it comes to writing, your most important tool is your choice of book writing software. If you’re wanting to become a New York Times bestselling author but don’t want to consider the best tools, you may be doing yourself a disservice. Unfortunately, most people don’t really put much thought into which program they use to write their book. They just use whatever word processor they’re most familiar with. Trust me, you want the right book writing software to make the process as frictionless as possible. But doing this can cause you to really miss out—especially if there’s another program out there that would work much better for you. There are countless options out there, but most people end up using one of the “big 3” word processors:
We’ll cover all of them for you below. Microsoft WordIf you just want a time-tested program that works, Word might be the program for you. It’s the most widely used word processor in the world, which means it’s highly reliable and consistent. It also provides a lot of formatting options and even has a navigation pane you can use to easily find the chapter you’re looking for. One of the biggest downsides to Word is that it’s fairly expensive as far as word processors go. ScrivenerIf you like advanced features, definitely check out Scrivener. It was created specifically for authors, and it contains all sorts of tools that are really helpful for those that write fiction or nonfiction. For example, you can use the corkboard view to organize how you’ll write your book using virtual notecards: The biggest downside to Scrivener? Because of all the advanced features, it has a steeper learning curve than other word processors. If you do decide to go with Scrivener, it’s the professional writer tool I personally use and suggest. Google DocsYou can think of Google Docs as sort of a “Word Lite” program that you can access online, for free. While it doesn’t boast as many features as Word or Scrivener, it’s the hands-down most convenient program out there for sharing and collaboration. Because everything is stored online, you can access your work from anywhere. And it’s easy to share your work with others and collaborate by leaving comments in the margins: The big downside to Google Docs? It lacks the more sophisticated features of Word and Scrivener. Of course, these are only 3 options—there are many more great writing tools out there. Phase 3: Actually Write Your BookOK, we’ve got the preliminary stuff out of the way—time to sit down and actually write this thing! Contrary to popular belief, writing books doesn’t have to be this huge task. If you’ve been following along, this is the moment you’ve adequately prepared for! This is an exciting part of the process…unfortunately, it’s also the part where many people get overwhelmed and give up. But there’s good news: actually writing a book can be a lot easier than you think—if you have the right system. A system that guides you from your idea through your outline and all the way up to your final, polished, publication-ready draft. Here are the most important things you need to do when writing your book. Step 6: Come Up With Your Book IdeaBefore you can start typing, you need to have a topic. That might seem obvious, but it can still be a stumbling block if you don’t know what to write about. This is an opportunity to do market research and come up with fresh ideas. Fortunately, there are countless book ideas that could turn into bestselling books. I recommend brainstorming a long list of book ideas. This way you’ll have a lot of options—giving you the freedom to choose the best possible book topic. You can even utilize lists of writing prompts found here to get your mind moving in the right direction. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to come up with a book idea:
These are all great ways to come up with bestselling book ideas. In a nutshell, you’re trying to find topics that you’re knowledgeable or passionate about. Because these are the topics that you’re going to do a great job writing about! Can anyone write a book?Yes, anyone can write a book, even if they can’t think of an idea right away. Notice that I highlighted the question, “What do you get paid for? What’s your expertise?” That’s because this is a particularly useful question for coming up with book ideas. A lot of people seem to forget that there is usually at least one topic on which they are a bona fide expert—and that’s their job! It might not seem that exciting or special to you, because you’re so used to it, but to someone else who’s trying to learn what you already know…your job-related knowledge can seem very valuable indeed. Don’t Censor YourselfWhen you’re brainstorming ideas, don’t censor yourself. Just let the ideas flow. Realize that there is no such thing as a crazy idea. Anything can make a great book topic. So don’t ever let yourself feel silly or start to judge yourself—doing so is a surefire way to stop your creativity in its tracks. On the other hand, don’t feel bad if your topic sounds too commonplace either. Even if you’re writing about an age-old topic—like a weight-loss book or a romance novel—that’s OK! The truth is that there are no “new” ideas. Everything has been written about before. When you’re brainstorming ideas, don’t censor yourself. Just let the ideas flow. Realize that there is no such thing as a crazy idea. Anything can make a great book topic. So don’t ever let yourself feel silly or start to judge yourself—doing so is a surefire way to stop your creativity in its tracks. On the other hand, don’t feel bad if your topic sounds too commonplace either. Even if you’re writing about an age-old topic—like a weight-loss book or a romance novel—that’s OK! The truth is that there are no “new” ideas. Everything has been written about before. But it hasn’t been written from your unique perspective. And that’s what really matters. Realize that a writer’s job isn’t to come up with never-before-seen ideas. Doing that is pretty much impossible in this day and age. Instead, a writer’s job is to explore topics from their own point of view. To lend their unique spin on them. Take a Reader-Centric PerspectiveWhile thinking of your book topic, here’s a piece of advice that I strongly recommend you follow: Think from your reader’s perspective (not your own). The reader’s experience is what you should care most about. Essentially you’re not asking them to only purchase and read your book, you want the reader’s attention. I can’t tell you how many books I read, lectures I attended, where I didn’t put my attention into it. Many people are too self-centered when they write. When I say “self-centered,” I mean that they’re thinking only of themselves: their interests, their hobbies, their passions. Yes, it’s true that those are great topics to explore when coming up with your book topic. But during this process, you’ll need to switch from a self-centered perspective to a reader-centered perspective. Ask yourself questions about the reader:
When you start to think this way, it becomes much easier to write your book in a way that provides immense value for the people who matter most—your readers. Step 7: Figure Out Which Book You Should Write FirstBy now you should have a long list of book topics. And you might be wondering, which topic should I write about first? Here are a few tips to help you choose the best starting project:
With these tips in mind, take this assessment, then choose the topic for your very first book before proceeding to the next step. Step 8: Fill Out The Book MapThe BookMap is a free downloadable book outlining template you can use to quickly gather all the important information you’ll need for your book — fiction or nonfiction. Essentially, the way it works is you’ll create a mind map—sort of a brain dump with a line connecting related ideas together—on your book’s topic. Start your BookMap by writing your intended topic in the center. From there, answer the questions and add as many related ideas as you can think of. (Again, connect related ideas with a line.) The BookMap gives you the benefits of writing in free form and creating structure from all the connections you make. Click here to learn more about the Book Map and download a free PDF template. Step 9: Turn Your BookMap Into an OutlineOnce you’ve completely filled out your BookMap, the next step is to group all the related ideas into categories. There’s no hard and fast rule for how to do this; just combine your ideas in the way that makes the most sense to you. One way to do this is to rewrite each idea on a fresh piece of paper, this time grouped together in related topics. Or, you could simply use different-colored highlighters to categorize your ideas with different colors. Either way, the result is the same: when you’re done grouping your ideas, those categories will form the outline for your book—each category is a new chapter. So now you know exactly which topics to write about, and you know which points to cover in every chapter of your book. If you want a really easy book outline template to use, we’ve got one for you! Enjoy a made-for-you book outline template complete with chapter-by-chapter structure assistance too. Capture More Notes with The Sticky Note MethodYou can use this method instead of the BookMap, or as a supplement to it. For about a week, carry around sticky notes and write down anything and everything that crosses your mind regarding your possible book topics. When the week is up, organize all your sticky notes into sections and themes. Then, organize these themes into the patterns that would make sense in the context of chapters of your book. You can then elaborate on areas where you notice missing pieces to the puzzle, and use all of the material you’ve gathered and organized to create an outline. This method may be helpful if you’re struggling with the notion of committing to writing a whole book since it lets you break down the process into manageable pieces. The ultimate outcome of using this method is deeper thinking, clarity, and concise organization of thoughts and patterns. Step 10: Write One Chapter at a TimeYou now have a chapter-by-chapter outline for your book. The only thing left to do…is to actually sit down and write it! There’s not necessarily a right or wrong way to write your book. But there are some ways that are easier, faster, and more successful than others. And in my experience, there’s one writing method that works better than any other. Here’s how it works:
Steps 1 & 2 should be familiar by now—they’re the same steps you followed to create your overall book outline. You just repeat those steps on a smaller scale for each chapter. Then in step 3, you have a choice: you can type out your chapter on a computer, or you can use a recording device & transcription service to dictate your chapter. If you like the idea of dictating your book, rather than typing it out, here’s how to do it. Step 11: Speak Your BookThis method works well if you’re a strong speaker and you prefer speaking to writing. The ultimate outcome is that you can create your book draft as quickly as possible, with no actual “writing” on your part. Cool, huh? Once your chapter outline is complete, the next steps are:
As I mentioned, one of the benefits of this method is its speed. Just how fast can you write a first draft using speech dictation? If you’re writing a nonfiction book specifically, this method will work great for you. Well, if the average book is 15,000-25,000 words long, and if the average person speaks at about 150 words/minute, then you can easily speak your entire book in approximately 2-3 hours. Of course, your spoken & transcribed book will need some polishing and revision to get it publication-ready. But it’s still the fastest way of writing a book I’ve ever come across. Speed Up Your WritingWriting faster means getting to publication—and to profits—that much sooner. Try these pro tips to maximize your daily word count:
Phase 4: Avoid Potholes Along The WayIf you’ve been following along with steps 1-3, then you’re in the process of writing your book. You’re working from a solid outline, which means you know exactly what to write in every single chapter. So nothing could possibly go wrong… Right? Unfortunately, no. Even when you have a solid plan, a proven system, and a detailed outline, you can still get tripped up by some of these sneaky book-writing roadblocks. Luckily, I’ve got some tips to help you overcome the most common book writing problems. Step 12: Avoid Writer’s BlockWriter’s block can rear its ugly head in many ways. For some, being blocked means no words at all, while for others, it means trying to nail down a functional draft in the midst of a tornado of swirling ideas. Most of the time, writer’s block is a symptom of a paralyzing fear of others’ opinions. The harsh reality is, if you write, at some point you’ll be on a first-name basis with a bout of the block. The only way to deal with it is to beat it. Here are 8 methods I’ve found personally useful when fighting writer’s block:
Step 13: Don’t Edit While You WriteTell me if this sounds familiar: You sit down to write and you bang out a page or two. Then you stop and reread what you just wrote. And instead of continuing, you go back and start editing those first few pages of writing. In your mind, you’re just fixing up your work. You want everything to be just right before you continue on ahead. But in reality, you’ve just stopped all your forward progress. You spend the next hour trying to make those pages PERFECT…and when perfect doesn’t happen, you get frustrated and stop writing. Usually, when this sort of thing happens, it becomes very difficult to do any more writing. Why? Because writing and editing use different parts of your brains—and when you allow yourself to slip into a more critical/judgmental frame of mind, it becomes almost impossible to start creating again. That’s why, even though editing is an important skill, you need to resist the urge to edit your work while you’re still writing. Don’t start editing your book until AFTER you’ve already created the entire first draft. When you are ready to edit your book, check out this advice from writing coach and editor Tiffany Hawk. Step 14: Push Past The “Messy” MiddleNow you know not only how to get started writing your book, but how to complete your book project in a mere 90 days! Remember to keep your WHY at the forefront of your mind, and you’ll be able to crush any and all obstacles that get in your way. If any of the common challenges or obstacles we’ve mentioned rear their ugly head, you’ll know how to deal with them. Staying motivated is the key here, becoming a successful writer means not getting stuck on first drafts. It sounds obvious, but writing habits lead to good writing. Don’t lose interest, you’re on your way to becoming a great writer, don’t let self-doubt creep in. Get your entire manuscript done, remember to finish writing. A daily word count goal can help get your draft completed. With just a little bit of time and a lot of determination, you are on your way to officially calling yourself an author. Phase 5: Launch Your Book SuccessfullyBy this point, your book is completed—congratulations! You’ve done something that most people will never do. You’ve written a book. But you’re not done yet. Not quite. Because you still need to launch your book in a way that sets it up for success; in a way that maximizes your readers, your income, and your influence. Unfortunately, most people who succeed in writing a book never get this whole “launch” thing figured out. They throw their book up on Amazon without really having a plan, and as a result, they get very few sales, make almost no money, and are frustrated at the lack of response to their work. It’s true that self-publishing your book on Amazon is a great way to go. But you can’t simply publish your book and expect people to find it. Instead, you need to dedicate some time to mastering the publishing and marketing processes on Amazon to sell more books. This is the only way to make sure that your book makes its way into the hands of the people who will benefit from reading your words. If you follow this simple launch plan, you can rest assured that your book will come out with a bang and will generate steady sales right out of the gate and for years to come. Step 15: Hire A Good Editor to Edit Your BookFinding an editor is important work. Having someone on your side that understands your writing style and the purpose of your book is essential. Additionally, the best editors remove unnecessary sentences in order to leave the reader feeling they understand what they should and get a clear line into the writer’s mind. Several people, including myself, create tests in order to hire the right editor. There definitely is an art to it, consider the post linked above to find the process we recommend you use. Step 16: Format Your Book ProperlyFew things are more irritating than having to go back through your entire book to fix the formatting. If you missed our free outline template earlier in this post, here it is again. Because fixing your formatting really is that much of a pain in the butt. The take-home lesson? Think about how you want to format your book before you write it, and then be consistent. It’ll save you a lot of time in the long run. And take the time to figure out how to format your book for publication. For example, did you realize that fiction and nonfiction books typically use different indentation styles? Nonfiction writers tend to format their paragraphs, like this: Whereas fiction books, like The Savior’s Champion by Jenna Moreci below, use indentation instead: Here are a few more book formatting tips:
Step 17: Come Up With A TitleThe most important words of your book are the ones that appear on the outside cover: Your book title. You don’t have to decide on your final title at this point, but your title is so important that it’s worth thinking about up-front. But knowing how to write a book title can be tricky. Here are a few tips on creating standout, marketable titles. For a nonfiction book, your title should…
And for a fiction book, your title should…
It always helps to do a little research on Amazon. To do that, just head here and select your book genre on the left-hand side of the page: Then you can take a look at some of the best-selling titles in your genre. You can even sub-niche down several times: “History > Ancient Civilizations > Mesopotamia.” Now pay attention to the titles and look for common themes or trends to use for your own book. Remember that you’re just starting, so you can always change the title later. But for the time being it can help to have a “working title” (a temporary title that you may change before publication). Step 18: Get A Good CoverWe all know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. But in reality, people do exactly that—all the time. And that’s why, if you want your book to sell, having a powerful book cover design is important. Really, really important. And a good book cover does 2 things:
Here are a few examples from some of my own books: Notice a couple of things. First of all, it’s orange—which helps it to stand out and grab attention. Second, it’s super clear what the book is about. The title is in the upper third of the book in large print, so you can read it even in a thumbnail. Both covers were designed using the same basic principles. They’re simple, bold covers that stand out. They also have subtitles that clarify exactly what the book is about. Now, this style of cover works great for my niche, but it won’t necessarily work for every type of book. For example, it would make a terrible cover for a romance novel! Why? Well, in short, it doesn’t look like a romance novel. Remember that part of a cover’s job is to tell people what the book is about. And in many genres of fiction and nonfiction, readers have come to expect a certain type of book cover. In order to clearly communicate what your book is about to your ideal readers, you need it to fit in with their expectations—while also standing out enough to grab their attention. This is another reason why it pays to head over to the Amazon bestselling books list and study some of the most successful books in your genre. What do those covers look like? Do they share a similar layout? Color scheme? Font style? For example, if you were writing a romance novel, you would want to study these covers: Find out what the most successful books in your genre look like, then imitate that look—but change it up just enough so that it stands out and grabs your readers’ attention. If you do not have the design ability to effectively do that, then consider hiring a professional cover designer from various places like 99designs or 100Covers. Or, book a call with our team and learn how we can get some of these things done for you, including book covers, formatting, keywords and categories, and more. Step 19: Build a Launch TeamOnce you’ve chosen whether to go with self-publishing versus traditional publishing, the real key to a successful book launch is building and leveraging a launch team. So what is a launch team? In a nutshell, your launch team is a small team of people who are supporting your book. They could be friends, family, associates, online affiliates—anyone. At first, your launch team might be limited to your immediate friends & family. That’s OK! Launch your book with their help, and work on continually building your launch team every chance you get. When you build a launch team, you need to make 2 things clear for everyone:
Part 1 is pretty simple: You want them to read your book, leave a review, and share it with their own friends and family. This is how you spread the word about a brand-new book when you don’t have an email list or a social media following. Part 2 can vary from person to person: What do your friends & family get in return for helping you? In many cases, they get things like:
As your launch team grows bigger, you might need to offer more than that. For example, maybe another person in your niche agrees to promote your new book to their email list—but in exchange, they want a percentage of your profit. (This is called affiliate marketing, and it’s a great way to grow your audience and your revenue while letting somebody else do the marketing for you.) But don’t worry about that for now. Just reach out to anyone you know who would be willing to support your first book launch and ask for their help. Step 20: Get Ongoing ReviewsIf there’s one thing we know about the Amazon algorithm, it’s this: It loves reviews. One of the biggest indicators of success with self-publishing is getting Amazon reviews. If you want your book to show up in search results and as a “Recommended” book when people are looking at similar products, you need to continue generating ongoing reviews to keep the algorithm happy. When you do, your book will start to show up at the top of Amazon results: Reviews are a fantastic form of social proof. They’re a credibility sign that lots of people have read your book and loved it—and that makes other people more likely to want to read it, too. But you have to be careful about how you go about trying to get Amazon reviews. For example, you can get in big trouble if you try to pay for reviews, swap reviews with other authors, or offer free gifts in exchange for reviews. You can solicit reviews, but they cannot be “incentivized” reviews. So how can you generate more reviews without offering people something in return? Well, I’ve discovered a few tips that work incredibly well. Click here to learn my 8-step process for generating more Amazon reviews. Step 21: Get Help From a Mentor Who’s Done It BeforeI’d like to leave you with one final message: The best way to learn how to write a bestselling book is to get help from somebody who’s been there before. People often ask me how I was able to make so much money and sell so many copies of my very first book. And I always tell them the same thing: Because I sought out a mentor. Someone to teach me a proven book-writing process that had been tried and tested. A book-writing system that was almost guaranteed to work, as long as I followed it properly. Well, that’s the real secret to my success as an author. I sought out the help I needed to give my very first book a major head-start. My Final Tip on How to Write a BookAnd now I’m sharing the opportunity to learn from someone who’s mastered writing and self-publishing books with you. To learn from a mentor who can help you achieve your dream of writing and publishing your very first book. If you want to finish your book, you need a roadmap. That’s why I’m sharing some of the best strategies and tricks other bestselling authors paid thousands of dollars to get — yours FREE in this training→. Want to learn more about Self-Publishing School? But now you’re ready to start writing a book—and we’re going to help make sure you do. Which of the following does your textbook recommend for narrowing a Google search to make it more effective group of answer choices?16. Which of the following does your textbook recommend for narrowing a Google search to make it more effective? Develop a strategy to search for specific terms you want to find.
Which of the following is recommended by a textbook as a way to enhance the effectiveness of your examples?11. Which of the following is recommended by your textbook as a way to enhance the effectiveness of your examples? Practice delivery to enhance your extended examples.
Which of the following is recommended by your textbook for effective online speaking?Which of the following is presented in your textbook as a guideline for online speaking? all the answers are correct: Control the visual environment; Adjust your pacing; Adapt your nonverbal communication.
Which of the following is discussed in your textbook as a good way to adjust the pacing of an online speech quizlet?Audiences tend to be more forgiving of poor delivery in online speeches than in speeches they attend in person. As your textbook explains, using visual aids can be a good way to vary the pacing of an online speech.
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