Almost everyone I meet tells me that they want to write a book. “I have a great idea for a book!” she says. And it might be. You can have all the great ideas in the world, but nothing happens until you start taking action.
When you focus intently on what you really want, the results can be huge. If you’ve ever thought about writing a book, make it happen. Here are nine things you can do right now to start turning your dream book into a reality.
Step 1: Ask Your Community to Share Their Biggest Problems and Questions
If you’re having trouble deciding on a good topic for your book, you don’t need to look farther than your own community for a wealth of ideas. Ask your clients, peers, and friends what their biggest struggles are and you’ll be amazed at the answers you receive. In fact, you might be pleasantly surprised to discover how much you already know, even before you write your book!
Step 2: Start a Mind Map or List of Ideas
Once you have feedback, start brainstorming ideas for your book. Some people love mind maps. Other people like simple lists or outlines. Let your creativity flow. If you like using colored markers and a whiteboard, go for it. Or play with sticky notes. Once you start, you’ll find that you can come up with a lot of ideas quickly. (And probably have fun too!)
Step 3: Make a List of Every Book in Your Niche
One you have ideas, now do a little market research. Go to Amazon.com and do a search for books in your topic. Write down all of them and what you think makes them different. Now see if there’s a way you can fill in anything that’s missing. Go back over your ideas and see if you can isolate a different slant, angle, or niche your book can fill.
Step 4: Refine Your Topic
Armed with some basic market research, you can get more specific about your book topic. Start writing marketing copy as if the book already existed. Start plotting how you would market it on launch day and beyond.
Step 5: Define Your Book’s Unique Selling Proposition
As you’re writing copy, be sure to dig deep into the mindset of your target reader and drill down to the book’s unique selling proposition. This USP is the big idea or solution that will cause your target reader to pull out his or her credit card.
Step 6: Develop an Author Mindset
Writers write, but authors are published. As you can see, taking action on your book requires treating it like a business. Money is the big difference between people who just write for fun and those who are published authors. As an author, your book is a product. Take all the knowledge you have about marketing and apply it to your book.
Step 7: Set Aside Weekly Writing Time
Books don’t write themselves. Authors don’t find time to write, they make time to write. The key is that you don’t have to write the whole book at once, unless you want to. Most authors write books incrementally, one chunk at a time. But to do that, you must set aside time in your schedule to do it.
Step 8: Set Deadlines and Find Accountability Partners
There’s an old saying that nothing happens without a deadline. If you need a deadline to accomplish anything, find one. For example, if you’re speaking at a conference, set a goal to have the book completed before you go. If you need accountability, set up a book writing mastermind group with some writing buddies, or join an existing group.
Step 9: Learn About the Book Business
Educating yourself about the publishing industry is just smart business. Any time you are doing something new in your business it makes sense to learn more about the topic. Do online research and buy books about the publishing business.