by Mark Silver
There's a lot of hoopla about becoming an author of your
very own business book. The promise of fame and fortune is
very alluring.
Yet your book remains perpetually 'about to be' written.
Or, you've sequested yourself for weeks or months to write
your book, only to come out with something you feel
luke-warm about.
Meanwhile your business has ground to a halt.
Hmmm.... might there be a better way to get a book written?
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Immersion is needed.
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The purpose of a novel is to entertain. The author takes
you out of your reality into a world they've constructed or
described. To do that, many fiction authors do go on
retreat, or sequester themselves in some way in order to
immerse themselves in their created world.
The purpose of your business' book is... why do you want to
write a book, really? Besides the fame and fortune ;), I mean...
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Why you need to write your book.
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You need it for many of the same reasons you need a
website. It allows people to enter into the world of your
solution, without betting the farm.
Never mind if they're too shy to make your workshop, or not
ready to hire you for whatever it is you do. They can, and
will, get your book.
And, once they read your book, if it's good, they'll come
back for more.
But what about the 'if it's good' piece? How do you write a
good book?
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The secret: You're not writing a book.
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Stop thinking of your project as a 'book.' What you're
really doing is writing a workbook. Or an instruction
manual. A how-to guide.
Your business solves a problem of some sort. Your product
or service helps them solve this problem. Your 'book'
should tell them how to do it.
Your book gives your readers and customers what they need
in order to solve the problem on their own. It gives them
an accurate description of the problem. It gives them the
process of how to face and solve the problem. It gives the
philosophical foundation, if necessary.
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How I wrote a 300 page book in four months.
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Here's the secret: it actually took four years. I gave my
very first workshops. Then, participants asked if I could
'write up these exercises' for them. So I did.
Those exercises evolved into handouts. Which evolved into
multiple handouts. Which evolved into workbooks.
Then I taught several different workshops, and with each
one I went through the process of handouts to workbooks.
Then I beefed up each of the workbooks a bit, in response
to folks who weren't clear about what I had written.
After a few years it dawned on me: hmmm, I have about 150
pages in five different workbooks. Over about four months,
with the support of my wife and my master mind group, I
went through those workbooks so they could stand alone, and
added an introduction and a conclusion.
The result: 300 pages and tens of thousands of dollars in
sales, because the book is solid, and actually applies to
real life. I didn't dream it up on retreat, far from the
people who would be using it.
Are you getting the drift here? Your book should be written
while immersed in your business, with your customers, with
the problems they face, and the questions they ask you.
There must be more to it than that, eh? Well, yes, a few
things. Keep reading:
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Keys to Writing Your Book
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* It can be short, to begin with.
I wrote a 300 page book, but, in retrospect, it could've
been shorter. If the first thing you write is a 20 page
workbook, and it's useful and works for your customers,
then go with it!
You can keep expanding it later as you need to.
* You don't need a publisher.
For your business, forget about a publisher. Even if a
publisher picked you up, what would happen? They would
leave you the responsibility of doing 95% of the marketing
anyway.
This is a bigger subject to be addressed, but believe me
when I say that you can be very successful without a
publisher, going the self-published route. Check out:
http://www.PublishingJumpstart.com
* It's not your book, it's your FIRST book.
You might be tempted to never finish your book, because you
keep learning and growing, and thinking of things to add in.
Use your heart, and look at it from your reader's
perspective. Where is a natural stopping point? Then, you
can save the rest of your material for your second book.
And your third. Believe me, once your finish your first
book, it's addictive, and you'll start writing others.
Getting a book written doesn't need to be a mysterious or
artificial process. Let your work with your customers
organically pull it out of you, then polish it off. Then
write your next one.
The best to you and your business,
Mark Silver
"Business Heart article (c)2007 Mark Silver, all rights
reserved. Reprinted with permission. Over 50 free articles
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