Ep10- What you Must Do Before Writing A Book

[00:00:00] As someone who wants to make a personal and professional impact, there is a wealth of knowledge that you have to offer. And as far as a book goes, before your first words hit the page, there is a crucial phase that sets the stage for writing and delivering what you want to be a powerful, groundbreaking, inspirational book.

[00:00:19] And essentially you want to change lives. And here's a step by step process that That really I believe helps you hit the ground running and develop that author mindset when it comes to writing your book, but knowing that the words that you write are going to be powerful enough to change lives and to make a big difference.

[00:00:39] So let's get into it now. Step one. You really need to ask yourself, why are you writing a book? You need to clarify your purpose, but also the audience. What's the audience expecting from you? And what would you expect your audience to get out of this book? And asking yourself, why will I write a book? Your answer should be an indication of giving you that purpose of the book and writing so a book without a clear purpose is like a ship without a destination. You really need to clarify what message do you want to convey what transformation do you want to take your readers on. Is it to provide guidance inspire change or is it to share your insights from your own experiences. Your purpose and ideas should be told to potential readers Prior to writing and whether that can be in the form of email outs building anticipation before your book.

[00:01:32] And, you know, if you follow my journey of publish to impact you, you'll know that I sent weekly updates for. I think it was about 14, 15 weeks up until the book was ready to be read and published. And it kind of gave people an insight as to what it takes to write. But I also gave my purpose and built that anticipation through the whole process.

[00:01:53] And that was really beneficial for me because I could really connect with the writing I was doing and the feedback I was getting from other people. So you really want to clarify the purpose you have when it comes to writing a book and your audience too. Step two is to craft your book concept.

[00:02:13] Creating a book concept is like drafting up a roadmap for your writing journey. The concept should capture the essence of your book. Essentially it's the core idea. For example, When I wrote Evolve Your Skills, the premise or the concept behind that book was to evolve your skills and it was essentially how to learn whatever it is that you want to learn, whether that's creating a business, whether that's cooking in the kitchen, playing tennis, the concept was how to learn with passion and purpose. And that was the concept. And then I developed those concepts into three parts. And those concepts was learning, applying and performing.

[00:02:51] So essentially you need to learn the basics, apply the basics. And then perform the basics to continue improving and scaling at a higher level. And how I did that, or how I wrote that was Before I even wrote the book, those were the concepts that I was going to focus on. So when it became time to write the book, I knew what stage of the book writing process I would be at.

[00:03:16] I had to really focus on one part at a time, because there was three parts to the book. You have learning, I was focusing on the learning side of the of the skill development phase, then applying, and then performing. And that really helped. Not only for the reader, but for me personally, writing the book, it just really, really helped hone in on the specifics to, to each part of the book and make the overall concept as powerful as can be.

[00:03:41] So when it comes time to think about your concept and roadmap, think of the journey and the transformation that you want your reader to go through, to go on, and that will really help fall in line with how you write your book. And the third step when it comes to what you must do before writing your book is to look at the structure of your book.

[00:04:00] And this is just a little bit different to what I just mentioned before about the concepts and developing the concepts. The structure of your book is what does it sort of look like? Cause you know, it could be a memoir, it could be a, an autobiography or it just could be your conceptual design, which is your self helps, you know, the four hour work week, atomic habits, those kinds of books.

[00:04:24] And the conceptual design is what you may lean towards. If you have a story to tell, but a problem to solve. Conceptual design is generally the most popular one, but you may look at writing a memoir or you may look at writing something. different whether it's a, an autobiography as well. The fourth step is to gather all your content together because your experiences and insights are really unique and valuable and they are yours.

[00:04:52] And one of the challenges before you start writing a book is to gathering is to gather everything that's in your head and organizing. your book concepts into a manuscript that's going to flow, that's going to be convincing, but also it's going to take that your reader on that journey that I've been speaking about.

[00:05:09] And mind mapping is, is one of the easiest ways to really turn that chaos that's in your mind and into an organized, powerful outline. Step five is to set a realistic timeline of how you're going to spend One, what's the goal in terms of how many months you want to write your book? Two, is how many hours per day are you going to write?

[00:05:33] And writing a book is a significant undertaking and I will always believe and I'll always push that small regular wins as opposed to trying to achieve your goal overnight. Is the way to go. One or two hours a day, I find that's always a sweet spot for me personally, and it might be the case for you, but you might be different, but to be consistent, I find that's a sweet spot in not only maintaining motivation, but really kind of refresh your direction, confidence, and your attention on the book when you show up consistently to do that, because if you do that, when you write for one or two hours a day, It's always going to be fresh in your mind and you will find that when you get to that last hour and you may want to write that little bit more and that's always an exciting feeling because you know that when you come back that following morning or that next day, you know exactly what you're going to be writing and in your mind you're like, Oh, I can't wait to start writing.

[00:06:29] It's a crazy feeling, but it's something that can happen and it's happened to me plenty of times because if you write for one hour a day, five days a week, you can have a completed manuscript in four to six weeks. I did that for Publish to Impact and, it's because I had a clear timeline and how that happened was I was really keeping myself accountable by sharing my journey each week to readers and people who were interested in this book.

[00:06:53] And that really helped keep me accountable. So having a clear timeline is really valuable, and we tend to underestimate what we can achieve in a short period of time, but, you know, of course we're all going to have other commitments, but if you can work on writing your manuscript for one hour a day, you'll have it ready to go within a couple of months.

[00:07:12] And, you know, when I, when I wrote Publish the Impact, my rough draft, it was completed in five weeks. That was through a European holiday where I would write on the trains for one hour. So set yourself a realistic timeline and one that's really aligned with your lifestyle. If you have a business, align it with your business and don't think you have to sacrifice needle moving activities to get your book done because you should really enjoy the process.

[00:07:40] And you can do that by working on your book for only one hour a day. And the sixth step is to find your productive writing environment. Consistency is key when you're building a writing habit. So, decide on a specific time each day when you'll dedicate uninterrupted time. Whether it's early in the morning, during lunch breaks, or in the evening, having a consistent schedule makes writing part of your daily routine.

[00:08:03] So, what time of the day works best without any distractions? And find that time, and how I implemented this. It actually came from reading Atomic Habits quite a few years ago, and how I achieved this was James Clear wrote I will insert specific time in, insert the location, and then insert how many times per week.

[00:08:24] It would look like this. So when I wrote evolve your skills, I wrote, I will write at 6am in my office four times per week. That really helped me just because it got me into the mindset of This was exactly the environment that I'm creating to dedicate time to writing my book. And when you write down your specific actions, it helps you rewire your mind into knowing that that's all you need and you're essentially creating a ritual which signals to your brain that it's time to focus on writing. So considering incorporating a brief pre writing ritual, it could be like making a coffee or listening to a productivity playlist because where there's always going to be times where you will lose focus and you don't want to show up, but really just putting yourself into that zone and doing something that feels good before doing the act of writing that can really help you get back into the zone.

[00:09:20] Now, let's go over the six steps that we went through because before you write your book, it's really important to have an idea of how you're going to get from A to B. Step one was to clarify your purpose and audience. It's asking yourself, why will you write your book? And one of the things I would recommend is to share your journey and really share that commitment that you are going to start writing your book.

[00:09:45] That's how you can help keep yourself accountable. Step two was to create your book concept, and that's sort of really validating your message and the transformation that you're taking your reader on. So how would your reader again get from A to B? Step three was the structure of your book.

[00:10:06] Are you going to be writing a memoir? Is it an autobiography? Or is it a self help or how to book? You could really look at other books on your bookshelf and you'll know, yep, that's the kind of book that I want to write. You really know that kind of style. And for most of, us, it's conceptual design because of the expertise that we want to provide.

[00:10:26] We want to not, not only share our stories, but Also provide solutions to readers. So conceptual design is always that, and some examples of those kinds of books are, again, four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, atomic Habits by James Clear, published to Impact by Blake DeVos. Start With Why by Simon Sinek.

[00:10:46] The list goes on. So have a look at those books in your bookshelf and you can really understand of. Step four was to gather all your content. The easiest way to do this is to, during the mind mapping stage, write down every single idea that you have on page, start to organize them in terms of your concept and your transformation.

[00:11:05] Step five was to set a realistic timeframe, because when you have a timeframe and you're keeping yourself accountable, this is when you can really show up and make a difference in your writing your book, not only writing your book, but writing it in an effective time. Then it's step six, finally, which is to find your productive environment.

[00:11:25] So really looking at the actions that you take and rewiring your brain and tricking your brain into knowing that sitting down to write, is what's required. So whether it's putting in on a productive productivity playlist on Spotify or just doing a little pre writing ritual, something that you enjoy that can really make a difference in getting your words down on a page, not only consistently, but really effectively too.

[00:11:50] Finally, I want to end this podcast episode by letting you know that building a writing habit for your book is all about the preparation, and that's what allows you to continue writing so your book can come to life. I want you to commit to the process, show up for your scheduled days, embrace the inevitable challenges that will come your way.

[00:12:09] But mainly celebrate your successes too, whether, whether or not that's hitting a chapter or, you know, hitting the 5, 000 word mark, celebrate the successes because your nonfiction book, it's waiting to be written, but with a clear and defined writing habit, you're really well on your way to making it a reality.

[00:12:27] So what I want you to do is send a text message to 10 people in your network about your book idea and get their input as well. This text message will do two things. One, you're deciding to make a commitment, but two, you're also getting feedback and that will really develop the ideas and confidence in how you approach not only a book writing process, but also it will help you with your outline.

[00:12:51] Because when you're writing a book, your outline is going to be your best friend. They're going to have to be there every step of the way with you through this journey, and they'll be supporting you. So. Send a text message to 10 people, get some feedback, and really look at how you can create that outline.

[00:13:07] But that's all I've got time for today. And, if you don't hear from your 10 friends and you just want to reach out to me about your book idea, just let me know. Because I want to help you write your book. Whether or not we work together or not, your book does need to be written. And I really want to help you validate that idea so you can move forward and publish the book you've always wanted.

[00:13:28] As usual, you can always get a free copy of Publisher Impact, which is available in the show notes. And if you do live in Western Australia, hit me up and I'm happy to send you a free copy direct to your doorstep. Thank you so much for listening to the Publish to Impact podcast. I hope this episode has given you the inspiration you need to start writing your book.

[00:13:46] If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean the world if you would share, subscribe, and leave a review. As a thank you for listening, I'd love to offer you a free copy of Publish to Impact, which is available in the show notes. Otherwise, if you live in Western Australia, reach out to me on Instagram. I'll send you a free copy direct to your doorstep.

[00:14:03] Thanks again for listening, and until next time, write that book.

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