Many of my clients come to me after years of thinking about writing a book. It’s been their goal for a long time, yet despite having a good idea of what they want to write about, they’re not sure how to get started. They get stuck.
People around them keep telling them, “You should write a book!” And even when these business leaders agree, they don’t know what to do first.
While there are many ways to approach writing a business book, here are the 5 steps I help my clients complete to get their book done:
1. Zero in on the Core Idea
The first step is making sure your idea is clear enough to attract buyers and deep or broad enough to fill a book; some ideas are terrific but can be covered in a feature-length article, rather than a book.
Ask yourself, “What, exactly, is this book about?” If you can articulate it in a sentence or two, like an elevator pitch, you may be on to something.
If you can’t, your idea may not be fully formed yet. Most business and thought leadership books have a thesis or make an argument for something. It might be a new approach to a problem or a new perspective on a situation. Are you challenging a long-held assumption? Are you offering a framework to help improve how something is addressed?
What is the big idea here? You need to get clear about that.
You also need to be clear about your target audience. Who are you writing this book for? Is it for fellow CEOs, age 40-65? Is it for retirees? For young moms and dads? Who you’re writing for will shape how you tackle the topic and the examples you use.
Sometimes, when clients struggle here, they’re trying to say too much — to squeeze everything they’ve learned through their career into 55,000-65,000 words, and in doing so, the main message gets diluted.
Choose one argument, a clearly defined reader, and be able to articulate that book concept in one or two sentences. If you can do that, you’re ready to move on to Step 2.
2. Confirm You Have a Viable Topic
Now that you’ve clarified your idea, it’s time to make sure there is a market for your topic.
However, if you are writing and publishing a book as a marketing tool for your organization or personal brand, and your primary goal is to claim the title of author, this step is less important. You want to produce a well-written book that gets people in your industry or market talking, but you’re not expecting a bestseller. In this case, you’ll want to become familiar with your author-competitors, if you aren’t already, but finding a market for your book is less important.
If you are writing a book to create a new revenue stream for yourself or to open doors to new opportunities, validating the market is an important exercise.
To do this, the best place to start is Amazon. Search your topic to find comparable titles. When you do, take note of how the author positions the book. Is it a guide to doing something better? Is it for a particular niche? Is it primarily a memoir? Study each book.
Then look below the book’s description in its Amazon listing to see its publishing details. Which publisher produced it? How long ago? What’s the cover price? How many pages is it? What’s its Amazon rank and category rank? These details will help you understand how well it’s selling.
Ask your friends and colleagues if they have read any of the competing titles. What did they think of them? What did they do well? Where did they fall short? This last question can help you improve your book by addressing shortcomings in some existing titles.
3. Design the Structure
Armed with an understanding of how other authors have approached your particular topic, you’re ready to start organizing all the information you want to share. This structure is the backbone of your book; I also call it a roadmap.
Your structure, which is your book’s outline, can make or break your project. Depending on how you plan to write about your topic, you can make the content easy to follow and digest, or confusing and frustrating for the reader. In that case, it’s unlikely they’ll bother reading the whole thing.
Your outline is like an architectural blueprint in that it lays out how you’ll address each element of your topic. A strong outline demonstrates how your argument builds from chapter to chapter, and your reader’s understanding evolves. It helps you plan how you’ll connect your sections so they flow seamlessly. That’s the goal.
As you’re designing your outline, consider what your readers know at the outset, as they’re opening the book. What are their assumptions? How deep is their background knowledge about this topic? And what should they know by the end?
Are you making a linear argument here? Are you explaining how to do something in a particular sequence? Or are you sharing a story?
Investing time up front to plan out how you’ll develop your idea pays dividends once you start writing, because your path will be clear.
Since we’re focused on writing here, I won’t digress into publishing, but at this point, I strongly urge my authors to decide how they’ll publish their book. If they’re planning to pursue a traditional publisher, they’ll need to pause writing and work first on finding a literary agent to represent the book, and then crafting a compelling book proposal.
Authors opting to publish through a hybrid or independent publisher, or to self-publish, can proceed to the next step, as a proposal and agent are not needed for those publishing paths.
4. Write Your Book
When I work with clients, I always prefer to start writing Chapter 1. We save the introduction for last, once we’re clear about what’s in the book, and we dive into setting the stage with the first chapter. By drafting the chapters in order, it’s easier for my authors to see how the argument is building, or the picture is developing, but if you’re writing your book on your own, you can start wherever you prefer.
Some authors start with the chapter they think will be the easiest for them to write. That way, they can build some momentum quickly. They may switch back and forth between chapters as they write, or decide to progress in a linear fashion.
There is no right or wrong choice this way. What matters is that you write consistently, so that you’re making steady progress.
Some authors set a deadline for their book, so they can reverse-engineer the process and set chapter deadlines to keep them on track to deliver a manuscript by their due date. Knowing that you only need to write 250 words a day, every workday (Monday through Friday), to craft 55,000 in a year can help reduce the pressure to perform. And if you write 250 words a day every day, 7 days a week, you’ll generate more than 90,000 words in a year.
One thing you do want to avoid in this step is editing what you’ve already written. This stage is for creating new sentences and paragraphs, not going back through what you created yesterday to correct and polish it. That’s editing, and it’s an entirely different step.
If you opt to work with a ghostwriter, your ghost will take responsibility for asking you questions to pull out the details of your story during this stage. They’ll interview you, read any background materials you provide, and then draft chapters for you to review and approve.
5. Edit and Polish Your Manuscript
The last step in the book-writing process is editing, which involves going over what you wrote and making it better.
During the developmental editing phase, which is the first, you’re looking for big-picture issues. That includes statements that don’t make sense or are incomplete. You’re reading paragraphs to make sure one naturally flows into the next. You’re verifying statements made or tracking down research citations. You’re filling gaps or holes with more detail, stories, and examples to liven up the text. You’re correcting structural issues here.
Then, once you’re happy with how information flows, you’re going to shift to copyediting. At this step, the focus is on structure at the sentence level. Does each sentence make sense on its own? Are there awkward phrases? Can you make the sentence clearer or more interesting? That’s what you’re doing now.
Finally, when all the words, sentences, and sections make sense, it’s time to look for misspellings or errant commas. Proofreading is the last step before turning in your manuscript to your publisher. Your manuscript is your pre-published book.
Some authors then opt to hand over their manuscripts to beta readers, who agree to read your book from start to finish and offer feedback on what they liked and what they didn’t, to help make the book stronger.
Once you feel confident in your manuscript, you hand it off to your publisher. Most publishers then have their own internal editor go through your manuscript with a fresh set of eyes, to see if they spot anything missing or unclear. If they do, they’ll come back to you with “author queries” to address.
When those are turned in, your writing is done.
Now, there is certainly plenty for you to do to help promote your book and build interest in it, but your book is written.
Breaking your book-writing process into steps makes it much more manageable and less overwhelming.
Thinking about writing a book and curious how a ghostwriter can help? Email me at marcia@marcialaytonturner.com to request a copy of my guide to working with a ghostwriter and getting your book published.