How To Write A Book | Joel Trains Authors
Write a book. Start your own Internet business.
Here’s what I wrote in the Facebook group:
I was a bit short of time today, so I began the “content” portion of my writing with two brief ZipWriting sessions — 14 minutes and 12 minutes.
I chose to start with the introduction. But I could have started anywhere; that’s the beauty of the BookProgram process. Since the structure is already determined, I’m free to “fill in the blanks.”
Then I posted the writing. Head over to Facebook to see it.
We are chugging along! I took my mind map from yesterday and further refined it, tweaking the order, adding subchapters, until I felt a “kerchunk”: It’s done. Tomorrow I start to write.
What do you think of the process so far? What have you learned? What would you do differently? Don’t be shy!
I am stoked! A friend in the Hubspot forum suggested that this is the sort of project that characterizes “transparency.” I like that. I am transparent. I am showing you, step by step, exactly what I am doing. And on or before February 10, I will have a finished book!
I am following my own BookProgram™approach, right before your very eyes. You can see exactly what I am doing, and where I get hung up, and how much time I spend on the process. And what mistakes and poor choices I make along the way.
If you want to follow along, log in to Facebook, and join Joel’s Book-Writing Mastermind Group!
Sandra de Freitas is “The Tech Coach for Coaches” (techcoachforcoaches.com). She is a sweet and friendly person with great compassion for coaches who are challenged by computer technology, and her website reflects this.
The really cool thing about Sandra is she is first and foremost a coach, not a techie. She understands coaches and coaching. But she is an experienced and empowering techie, too, having worked as a support professional and “handholder” at a software company for years.
Sandra’s “Help Desk for Coaches” (helpdeskforcoaches.com) is a wonderful membership site that gives you what you need in:
* Newsletters/E-Zines
* Blogs including Typepad and WordPress – NEW! WordPress training videos now available
* Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
* Internet Marketing
* Podcasts
* Websites
* Shopping Carts
* PayPal
* Webinars
* Teleclasses
* Creating Products
* Passive Revenue
* Website Traffic
* Coaching Groups
* Getting to the Top of Google’s List
* Social Marketing
You can buy her book, “Does This Blog Site Make My Wallet Look Fat?” — on creating WordPress websites — on the site.
Go visit the group to see the results of the 94 minutes I put into the project today — another cluster, this one of the book chapters. We’re cookin’! 
I was inspired to make the commitment of my previous post considerably more public by creating a Facebook group around it. Yesterday I posted an initial mind map/cluster; today there will be more progress. Check into the group and follow along!
(In case you missed it, I am writing a book in 30 days. Publicly.)
I made a screen-capture video of the clustering process. Not great video, but an excellent process to apply to all phases of book-writing — idea generation, title selection, chapter structuring, sub-chapters, and more. Check it out, and please comment below.
When most people say they want to write a book, what they mean is that there is a message bubbling up inside them, a bunch of stuff that they feel needs to be told.
But a little prompting usually reveals that they really have more in mind. For example, an individual professional or entrepreneur usually wants to produce a credential, something that will tell the world that they are an authority.
The book can serve several purposes. It can get your message out. It can serve as your “uniqueness credential.” It can help people get to know you, and your approach to problems that concern them.
But that is only part of the picture.
Here’s why: the Internet has changed the world. The Internet has made it possible to publish words pictures, sounds, and video — inexpensively and instantaneously.
No doubt you plan to promulgate your book over the Internet, whatever your purpose in writing it. You can, of course, simply post where people can download it. However the Internet gives you an unprecedented opportunity to create and maintain a relationship with people who were interested in your book. But it is up to you to make that relationship possible, by capturing their e-mail address.
Once you have you reader’s e-mail address, you can communicate with her. If you communicate respectfully, and send her information that is likely to be of use to her, format that is not annoying — you can create a relationship with her. She can come to know you, like you, and trust you. Then, if you have something to offer her, it will be given the consideration it deserves.
This does not happen by itself. You need to create a framework for the continuing communication. It must include a way to capture the visitor’s e-mail address, a presentation that will induce the visitor to leave their e-mail address, a mechanism for follow up communication — like an auto responder — perhaps a store or a shopping cart for selling things, and all the attendant scaffolding that makes it all work together.
Your vision for your book may have brought you down this path, and it may even be the centerpiece of your new business, but you must recognize that it is only part of the story.
Create a cluster or a mind map of your overall vision. Make lists of the actions you will have to take to bring it all to fruition. Prioritize the actions. Create a business plan.
Now — execute.