Writing Your First Book

I. Subject Matter Experts Without a Leave-Behind

A book is a must-have for a thought leader. It validates your authority.

Unfortunately, most subject matter experts, industry gurus, successful entrepreneurs have a blind spot and barrier to entry when it comes to creating a first book.

They have the talking points in their head, but they don’t know how to express those Power Point bullets on the page in narrative prose. They don’t know structure and how to shape a book, or how to get it to the finish line from a manuscript production standpoint.

A paperback business book is 60% production and 40% promotion, and I’m starting to lean toward a 50/50 split. Promotion starts Day One, as soon as you start to think about your main topic and the book title.

Subject matter experts don’t necessarily understand the economics and mechanics of self-publishing (a.k.a the Amazon Superstore) or the business case of a traditional trade publisher. And even if you do land a trade publisher, the burden of market promotion and sales hustle is on your shoulders. Seth Godin argues that only .02% of publisher titles get sufficient promotion.

I also hear the pushback of “I’m too busy” or “I’ll tackle it next year.” Like the peak in January gym memberships, I’m betting a lot of first books are started on New Year’s Day.

Yet most first books go unwritten. They exist as a line item on to-do list or a bucket list.

II. Frictionless Publishing is Here
I started writing Big Splash the day after teaching a day-long writing workshop at a community college. I decided to write a series of writing guides for first-time authors.

Like many of my editing and ghostwriting clients, I have tremendous expertise, knowledge and insight trapped in my head, and it needs to be shared.

I wrote the entire first draft of the 114-page book in 12 days, at a clip of 8 pages per day. I had the book up on Amazon within two weeks of the initial idea. I knew exactly what I wanted to say.

If you write at an average of one page a day (7 pages per week), you can have a 150-page book up on Amazon in less than 6 months.

That’s book speed these days.

III. A Book is Social Currency
I’ve called my book “Big Splash” because that’s how I see an author’s first book. You can make a big splash when you finish it and then enjoy the ripple effect from all the editorial products that flow naturally from a completed book (which is why Amazon owns Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle and Audible)

A book is social currency. There’s nothing like handing a copy of your book to a friend, to a prospect, or a new contact. There’s some kind of Author juju, that happens with a physical book that you give to someone. It’s disarming and it opens doors.

As I mentioned earlier, writing is only half the job. There’s also:

*project management

*designing and formatting

*editing and proofreading

*packaging

*budgeting

*publishing

*marketing and relentless promotion.

Plus the creation of ancillary products like audible books, podcasts, videos, blogs, speaking presentations and even software.

You may be building a consultancy or speaking business based on your book, what Jesse Tevelow has cleverly termed an “authorpreneur.”

Or you may just be writing this book as a vanity project, a birthday gift for your mom or a legacy to leave to your children. You may be motivated purely by the act of creating the book itself, with no thought to sales or additional utility. And that’s totally acceptable.

IV. The Book Whisperer
I respond to several posts each month on LinkedIn ProFinder, from prospective authors looking for someone to help them as editor, ghostwriter or even just a writing coach. The relationships I’ve built from these ProFinder engagements have been extraordinary, not counting the subject matter I master along the way in my assistant/midwife/coaching role.

Book whisperer is an even better way to describe it.

It’s my livelihood these days. It’s also very high in work satisfaction, seeing a book all the way from a blank first page to a published paperback you can hold in your hand.

Since 2008, I’ve worked on 16 business titles as a ghostwriter, co-author and editor, on topics ranging from artificial intelligence to agile development, social selling to project management. In three years’ time, I put 15 of my own books up on Amazon, mostly creative work (memoir, essay, short fiction, poetry).

I’m happy to help you get started and get your first book to the finish line.

Note: This post is adapted from the Introduction to Big Splash, an authoritative “outfitter’s guide” for first-time authors developing a business title, or thought leadership piece to establish credibility with prospects, retain customers, support a product launch, or launch a speaking business or consultancy.

Photo Credit H. Michael Miley