Ep23: Ten Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Write A Book [00:00:00] Before I write the six pillars of a rewarding life. My very first book. I had no idea. If I was qualified to write a book, I had no idea, if I was ready to write a book.

[00:00:10] Which is the exact reason why it took me three years to write and finish a book that should have took me between six to eight months, essentially. . And after I figured out the psychology behind. Writing a book and specific specifically for myself and for the author, essentially. The author psychology. Once I figured that out, I was then able to write and publish two best-selling books of all of your skills.

[00:00:33] And my latest book published to impact

[00:00:36] so today's episode, I'm going to go over 10 questions for you to ask yourself. To assess whether you're ready to write a nonfiction book, that's going to amplify business. That's going to ignite personal and professional growth and really make a difference in this world. Because as I mentioned, when I started riding the six pillars of rewarding life, I didn't know these questions and I didn't answer these questions. So I want to give these questions to you because after you can answer these questions, you're going to get really clear in what it takes to write and publish a book and to really set the scene, to make an impact on your book as well. So question number one. Ask yourself.

[00:01:15] What is the purpose of your book? So you want to define the purpose of your book? Is it. To share expertise, is it to solve a specific problem? Maybe to inspire others. It could be to establish or authority in your field. There's different purposes. We all have. Maybe it's even to legally leave a legacy or to. Or it's something that you just want to. Essentially close the chapter on your life and, and have a book written and published for your friends, for your family. There's many different purposes we all have.

[00:01:45] So the first question to ask yourself is what is the purpose of your book? The second question is to ask who's your target audience. And so you might be a health coach. You have different clients who would be your target audience.

[00:01:59] Maybe you want to identify specific audiences that you want to reach with your book. What are their demographics? What are their interests? What are their pain points? And you want to understand how your book is going to resonate with them as well. Let's look at another example, you might be a digital business coach. What part of the digital business coaching journey, do you help your clients with? How can you turn that into a book? Who are you speaking to? Because the person you're speaking to it's more likely going to be reciprocal. to what you have to say in your book.

[00:02:32] So that's question number two. Question number three is what is your unique story that you want to convey? So consider what sets your perspective apart from others? What personal experiences, what insights, what expertise do you bring to the table? You want to understand your own story before you're sharing it to others? For example. As I mentioned, my first book took me three years to write.

[00:02:58] And yeah, I was proud.

[00:02:59] I was happy with that book. But my two follow-up books took me six months and they both became bestsellers and they really both gained more clarity inside my life. One about how to develop a skill. And then my most recent one about how to write and publish a book. So I use the stories inside my book to establish my expertise and build that credibility and trust with the radar.

[00:03:21] And this is the uniqueness that I'm talking about and this is what's going to separate yourself from similar books inside your industry, inside your field as well. So you want to establish your unique perspective, your unique story. And you want to aim to do that at the beginning of your book, but also throughout where you're sharing relevant, smaller stories and smaller bite-size stories.

[00:03:42] As part of your differentiation.

[00:03:44] The fourth question to ask yourself is how does your book align with your business goals? So there's many reasons to write a book for your business. And I'm going to just name a few to generate leads, to build trust with your audience, to gift your book to potential clients or gift your book to current clients. To network to create authentic connections. There's so many ways that you can use your book in the broader scope of your business goals. Because like I always say to a book is the new business card as well. Your book is a really powerful tool to network to get out there and to really invest and. Showcase yourself your skills as becoming an author inside your niche.

[00:04:26] So you really want to look at your business goals and how that book lines up inside your business.

[00:04:32] Question number six. So do you have a clear message or a clear outline you want to convey? With my book published to impact. My message is how to write, publish, and launch a nonfiction book. To make an impact in your business and in your personal life. And I established my outline inside the book by focusing on the writing process. The publishing process and the launching process, letting you know that you can publish your book. Uh, publish high quality professional best-selling book in six months.

[00:05:02] Because I've done that. I've now conveyed that inside a book into my messaging.

[00:05:07] So, what message do you have and what has worked for you inside your business, inside your life that you want to convey to others? That's really going to help them. How can you turn that into something simple and easy to read? Because when it comes to writing a book, especially a nonfiction book, simple is key. You want the rate to be able to easily read your book? Essentially grateful writing because if we're coming across sentences that are hard to read, we're going to lose focus. Our mind wants to simplicity. So ask yourself before you write your book, do you have a clear message and outline that you want to share with your readers?

[00:05:46] Question number seven. I am open to feedback. This is really important because when you receive feedback from editors, There's going to be a lot of red marks on your page, and you've got to learn to let go of that. Your job is not to be the professional writer as such your job is to convey your message.

[00:06:06] Share your story. So you consider your willingness to receive feedback from editors, people who are going to proofread your book. Are you open to revising and refining? Your manuscript based on the constructive criticism, that's come back to you. This is more so going to happen with your editor because they're going to have a key part to play in. Removing yourself away from the book and inside your book and coming at it from a reader's perspective, that's really, really important.

[00:06:35] So you want to make sure you have a good editor. But you're also going to have to make sure that you listen to your editor as well, and be open and honest in regards to the feedback that they're going to give you. Because if you're not, it can really convey in the publishing phase.

[00:06:50] Once that book's out there, there might be a lot of inconsistencies in your book. So it's important to listen to feedback, whether that's through a cover designer, three editors or your book coach as well.

[00:07:02] Now, question number eight. How will you promote and market your book? You want to develop a plan for promoting and marketing your book before, during and after its release. What I would always recommend is to engage your audience through the process. Give them a look in on how you're writing your book and what stage you're at in the journey.

[00:07:23] You'll find that they're going to be really interested in hearing what you have to say about where you're at in the book, because it's such a milestone achievement in somebody's life. And I did that with published to impact where I engage my audience.

[00:07:35] I told them each week. I mean, I'm now rehashing that in podcast episodes, where I'm telling people where I was at each week of the book writing and publishing process up until my book has finally been published. It's a really cool way to keep your own momentum building. While also just giving other people an insight into where you're at and what you're doing, and you know, you're writing your book and it's really exciting.

[00:07:55] So that's a great way to promote and market your book before it's even published.

[00:07:59] Then you want to look at how you're going to promote and market your book after is it through social media, email marketing. Are you going to line up speaking engagements, what other channels can you use to reach your audience as well? Networking is such a powerful tool to help promote and market your book, especially.

[00:08:16] And question number nine. Are you prepared for potential challenges? There's going to be challenges in the book, writing and publishing process . Without challenge, there is no growth. So anticipate the challenges that you're going to encounter. It could be roadblocks. Um, it could be self doubt, logistical hurdles, maybe even of how you can actually get the book in your hands.

[00:08:39] There's plenty of challenges that you will face going through. That's why I always recommend having somebody there to help you through that process. So are you prepared for potential challenges?

[00:08:52] If you are. You're ready to write your book. And the final question to ask yourself, to decide whether you're ready to write your book. Is asking yourself, what does success look like to you? define the criteria you have for the success of your

[00:09:07] book? What does it look like? Are you in it for the royalties?

[00:09:10] Are you in it to create a legacy? Are you in it to leave a legacy? How we measure the impact of your book inside your business and related to personal growth as well. What outcomes or achievements are you? Aiming for. And what if you don't get those achievements or outcomes? I always say, focus on making a difference for one person with your book. And you get the success you want from it.

[00:09:35] Because one of the best things about having a book. is it lasts a lifetime and it's such a versatile tool to use in the future to help inside your business and even to help with your own personal growth as well. This comes from building a business of the back of your bookie can come from growing your business off the back of a book.

[00:09:52] It can come from building resilience from writing a book. There's so many different ways you can use that book and the process of writing a book inside your life, inside your business, into the future as well. So focus on writing a book for one person. And making that difference.

[00:10:08] All right. Let's now recap. The 10 questions that I spoke about in this episode. That you should ask yourself before you write your book. Question number one to ask yourself, what is the purpose of your book? Question number two, who is the target audience? Question number three. What is your story that you're going to relate inside your book to others?

[00:10:30] Question number four. How does your book align with your business goals? Number five. Are you willing to invest the time and effort that it takes to write and publish a book? I always say you can write and publish a high quality professional non-fiction book in six months. Are you willing to invest that time and effort? Question number six, do you have a clear message and outline. Question seven. Are you open to feedback more specifically? Open to feedback from your editors, from your proofreaders and your book coaches as well. Question number eight.

[00:11:02] How will you promote and market your book? You want to think about how you're going to market and promote your book before, during and after your book has been written and launched. Question number nine, are you prepared for the potential challenges? Writing a book faces. And finally question number 10. Define what success looks like to you? How you measure the impact of your book? Once it's done.

[00:11:27] That's all I got for today's episode for ya. These are the questions that I really had to ask myself prior to writing my two best-selling books, evolve your skills and published to impact, because I didn't answer these questions earlier on when I wrote the six pillars of rewarding life.

[00:11:43] And what happened was it took me three years to write and after two and a half years of writing that book, I had to rewrite the entire thing because I didn't answer any of these questions. So I want you to ask yourself these questions. If you're thinking about writing a book, if you want to write a book and publish a book. Ask yourself, these questions they're really important, but again, thank you very much for tuning in.

[00:12:03] Thanks for listening. And we'll be back next time.