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March 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In writing your book, what’s your organizing principle?

qestion mark and exclamation mark
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One of the most powerful kinds of help you can give your reader is an organizing principle–a way to put together the pieces of what you are trying to teach. More often than not, that will be a metaphor of some kind.

What’s a metaphor? One definition is, “An answer to the question, ‘what is this like?’”

For example, in my approach to writing a book, I say, “The diamond is your friend.” The diamond is a shape that visually describes what for me is the “shape” of every good book: A question-mark at the top of the diamond indicates the question that the book promises to answer; an exclamation point at the bottom symbolizes the promised answer.

The wide part of the diamond are the points that must be established to help your reader make his or her way from the question to the answer. They are the chapters of the book–and each of them is a diamond.

In the wide part of each chapter are its intermediate points–the subchapters of that chapter.

So in a sense, the diamond, and two layers of diamonds nested within it, is the organizing principle of every book.

But your subject matter also needs an organizing principle. What is it? Perhaps it is

  • Chronology; first this happened, then that
  • Complexity; the topic divides naturally into 4 parts, then each part has sub-parts
  • Some kind of “natural” order; the US, then states, then counties and cities

Do you see a pattern? By appealing to a framework that is generally understood, you give your reader a way to find their way around your material, which may be new to them.

What’s your book’s organizing principle?

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March 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Your book stays

While I help authors of all kinds of books, my main focus is on people who want to enhance their business presence and their client-getting abilities by writing a book. So I want to remind you of some the benefits of having a book to share with prospects:

  • If you write a book, that makes you an author. An author is an authority. Whatever your area of endeavor, it’s not likely that many–or even any–of your direct competitors have written a book. The mere fact of having written a book sets you apart.
  • The process of writing a book–well, my book-writing process–forces you to take the information in your head, and put it into a form that is easy to communicate. A form that can easily serve as the basis for a wide variety of additional products. You can sell each of those products, and generate a separate income stream from each.
  • A book is a product you can sell. Many authors who are also public speakers find that after they have negotiate their speaking fee, it is easy to say, “Would you like everyone in the audience to have a copy of my book on the subject? Its cover price is $19.95, but I’ll be glad to provide 500 copies for $12 each.” (Your cost: $3/book.) Meeting planners generally agree enthusiastically.
  • Books are revered in our culture. We happily throw away expensive color brochures–at least, I do–but we keep books. You don’t throw away a book. Consequently, your book hangs around your prospect’s office or home, a constant reminder of who you are and what you offer.

    And if you’ve followed my recommendation, your website‘s url is in the footer of every page of the book. So when the book-owner decides to contact you, you are only a click away.

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March 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

What’s a book?

Here are a couple of definitions of “book” from the Web:

  • a written work or composition that has been published (printed on pages bound together); “I am reading a good book on economics“
  • physical objects consisting of a number of pages bound together; “he used a large book as a doorstop”

But if you think about it, you’ll realize that not every object that matches those definitions is considered a book. One big determining factor: Binding.

A saddle-stitched pamphlet–a stack of sheets folded in the middle and stapled–is not usually recognized as a book. Publications with spiral or comb bindings are generally not called books. Material distributed on 3-hole paper in binders is not typically regarded as a book.

Why does this matter? Because a book is written by an author, and an author is assumed to be an authority. A booklet is written by a pamphleteer, not by an author. A workbook or action guide is recognized as coming from a teacher, not from an author.

So if you want to be an author, your writing must be published as a book. The simplest distinguishing factor of a book is that it has a spine. And it is good if the spine has letters on it.

I’ve seen 120-page booklets; the people who wrote them are not considered authors. I’ve seen frankly lousy 48-page books that had a spine; their writers are authors.

It’s not particularly reasonable, but it is a fact of our culture.

So if you want to be an author, you must produce a book. With a spine.

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Filed Under: book love, book printing, book writing, publishing
March 17, 2010 By 1 Comment

Have an avatar when writing your book (not necessarily a blue one)

embodiment: a new personification of a familiar idea; “the embodiment of hope”; “the incarnation of evil”; “the very avatar of cunning” – definition from wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn.

In copywriting circles, “avatar” is used to add significance to clear definition of your ideal reader.

But whatever you call it, you must know who you are writing for. And generic definitions, like “middle-aged women,” are not really sufficient. You must have a very clear picture in your mind: For example, Helen Brown; 47; divorced, two grown daughters, one married; works as PR director for a Silicon Valley startup; annual income $93,000; no mortgage, as a result of the divorce; drives a 4-year-old Prius. Concerns: Finding a companion; being overweight; an upcoming mammogram; her unemployed unmarried daughter; and so on.

You get the idea: A very detailed picture of who you are writing for will make it easier to write. Because if you know Helen, you are writing to her, not just for her.

What is Helen’s greatest need? Her greatest pain? Greatest fear? Find a magazine picture of “Helen” and hang it up where you can see it.

Having a detailed “avatar”–or ideal reader–will greatly focus your writing. Your compassion and love will come out. You won’t wonder what to write; it will come out of you automatically.

Filed Under: book love, marketing, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , ,
March 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Write a book and scratch an itch

Sometimes I have “itches” that are hard for me to articulate, things that somehow want to be “scratched,” if only I could find them. I’ve discovered that writing a book using my process (click here to get your free copy of my book that explains it) helps me define the itches. And the scratching happens as I clarify what I want to say.

That’s what happened to me with Structure is Destiny, my book about organizational structure. I had long felt a need to respond to Peters and Waterman’s In Search of Excellence, but wasn’t sure exactly how. When I finally determined to write a book about my thoughts, it all came out in a very satisfying way.

Go get my book–it’s free–and try it.

Filed Under: book love, book writing, steps to write a book, write a book
November 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Size matters


Skinny books can be more effective
Joel Orr

If you are writing a book, or thinking of writing one, you are probably at least somewhat aware of average book sizes in your field. In non-fiction, 220 pages is a common size.

But if your goal is for your book to be your “large business card,” your “credentializer,” or to replace your color brochure, it can be much smaller. In fact, it probably should be much smaller.

Excuse me if this sounds brutal, but most people who receive or buy your book won’t read it. They may scan it; they may start to read it; or they might not even crack it open.

Now, that sounds like very bad news, but it isn’t. The book itself establishes your authority, serves as your credential, and will probably not get thrown out. It will hang around, read or unread, and remind the owner of you. That’s much more than any brochure will do.

However, if you have important information to share with people–say, about the uniqueness of your approach to your profession, or simple things the reader can do to alleviate some pain, and so on–put it in a small book. 64 – 128 pages are plenty.

And although some might accuse you of “padding” if you use large type and lots of white space, your older readers will be grateful.

Filed Under: book love, marketing, publishing
November 4, 2009 By Leave a Comment

My new book, “FastPencil Your Book in 30 Days!”, on Answer.com

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October 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

FastCompany.com: Yup, book publishing has changed

Viral Loop Chronicles Part 1: Forget Everything You’ve Heard About Book Publishing

BY Adam Penenberg47 minutes ago


Part 1: Today’s Author, Yesterday’s Business

book it

Forget everything you’ve heard about book publishing.

For instance, recently at a party to celebrate the publication of my latest book, a number of people asked, “Is your publisher sending you on a tour to promote your book?”

Dicl;dsCKWDfce9qdck. Sorry, I was laughing so hard recounting this story that I hit my head on my keyboard. More

Filed Under: book love, publishing
October 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

SiliconValley.com: HP UNdigitizes books

New HP service undigitizes books: HP believes this whole print-to-digital book conversion push is very much a two-way street — sometimes, for some things, you really want a hard copy. And for a company with roots in printing and ambitions in services, the next play was a natural: How about we offer custom book printing services? And so we see making its formal debut from HP Labs an initiative that puts powerful publishing abilities into the hands of the masses.

The service is called BookPrep, and it enables any publisher “to digitize any existing book and turn it into a virtual asset that can be sold over the Internet and printed on demand — either as is, or personalized by the consumer. … BookPrep automatically aligns and flattens scanned texts of current and out-of-print-books, cleans and brightens the fold and corners of the pages for consistent coloration, and outputs a professional and print-ready PDF eMaster. … BookPrep makes it possible to give consumers access to every book ever published as a high quality replica of the original that they can even personalize.” The appeal here is in the long tail, all the fodder for those with passionate niche interests residing in the estimated 90 million books that are out of print, millions of them out of copyright. The latest addition to the books available for on-demand printing is a collection of 500,000 rare or out-of-print titles from the University of Michigan Library. And while the cost of a custom run was once prohibitive, new technology will let HP price a 250-page book around $15.

Filed Under: book love, book printing, publishing, tech
March 5, 2009 By 2 Comments

Get Betsy Burroughs’ book for free

My new friend Betsy Burroughs has written an amazing book to help you get unstuck, to turn creativity into action, and to delight you. It is a short book that has seven “FocusCatalysts” — each is a simple and wonderful technique to help you do something. Get it and read about it here.

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