Have you ever thought about writing a book? Only to pooh-pooh yourself at how ridiculous the idea is? Well, it isn’t as crazy as you might think.
As a business owner you have your own specialist subject, which you know oodles about. You have a story to tell about your entrepreneurial journey – how you made that all-important decision to start your own business, what led you to it, why you chose your niche, who helped you and how many mistakes you made along the way. You know the answers to your ideal clients’ most burning questions; some of whom can’t afford to work with you right now but who would love an opportunity to connect with you.
And still you think you can’t write a book?
But I don’t have time to write a book. Ah, okay. That’s a good one but I think you can make time.
“Suspect each moment, for it is a thief, tiptoeing away with more than it brings.” John Updike, A Month of Sundays.
What about getting up an hour or two earlier than you usually do? How much time do you waste on Facebook, or Candy Crush, or meandering through the internet with no real goal in mind? What about scaling back your clients for a couple of weeks and putting ‘book creation’ slots into your diary instead – writing your business book is an investment that will help you in the long-term? What about outsourcing some tasks (both professional and domestic) so that you can focus on your book? What about recording that new James Nesbitt drama and saving it for when you’ve finished writing your book (skipping through the ads is another great time saver)? There is time to be had, you only have to look for it a little more closely.
And still you think you can’t write a book?
But I don’t know how to even start writing a book. Okay, I understand. Let me give you a snapshot of what your book could look like…
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Chapters 1 – 10
- Conclusion
- About the Author
- Further Reading
And still you think you can’t write a book?
But I don’t know what to write about. Well, I’m going to hedge my bets here and say that I think you’ve got most of it written already. Take a look at your blogs – how many have you written, could they be put into different categories to make up different chapters, could you elaborate on them? Have you created online courses? What could you recycle from them? What about your previous lead magnets? Could you use any of those as a basis for your book? Have a read through your social media posts, your newsletters and email queries from potential clients – could you create some content from those?
And still you think you can’t write a book?
But I don’t know how long it should be. That depends entirely upon you. A 30,000 word non-fiction / business book is quite an acceptable target to aim for. Let me explain how easy it is to get there.
- Introduction – 1,500 words
- Chapters 1 – 10 – aim for 2 – 2,500 words per chapter
- Conclusion – aim for the 1,500 word mark
- About the Author – 1,500 words
In addition to this, you’ll also have your Foreword, Additional Resources/Further Reading, which could be another 1,500 – 2,000 words.
See how it’s starting to become a little more real now? It’s already crossed the 30k threshold.
And still you think you can’t write a book?
But I don’t know what to do with it once it’s written. Simple. You’ve done the hard part, so after a much-needed celebratory drink and a catch-up with James Nesbitt, you can think about proofreading it. If you’re completely fed up with your book by this point and / or you don’t feel your proofreading skills are up to scratch, then call in an expert instead. Then you need to decide whether you’re going to look for a mainstream publisher (who will pay you royalties and publish your book for you) or you’re going to take the indie author route (and publish on Kindle / Createspace).
And still you think you can’t write a book?
I beg to differ and rest my case.
Michelle x
About Michelle….
Michelle Emerson is a writer, editor and Kindle book publisher who gives entrepreneurs the impetus to write their business books, the confidence to share them with the big wide world and the motivation to keep on writing.
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