No. You can have someone do it for you.

Different people have different ways of working with authors. And of course, it very much depends on the type of book you want written.

I’m writing a book for an inventor/engineer right now. He does not intend to use it to market his services; he wants to simply put forth some of his ideas, many of which are quite provocative, into the world.

I’m speaking with another person who also has provocative ideas, but wants to use the book to build a speaking platform and additional products.

Different purposes, different processes. With the first book, we worked to come up with a detailed table of contents. Then I interviewed the man accordingly. Now I am turning those results into a manuscript.

And he wants me to be the author.

With the second, the client will be the author. I will structure, interview, and write. I don’t plan for my name to appear on the book.

In both cases, I will take care of the publishing, and consult on the promotion and sales.

Is this a good way to do things? That depends on your goals. My time–and that of anyone who you’d want to have write a book for you–is valuable. The question you have to answer is: How valuable is your time? Would you be better served creating new products for your business, or writing your book yourself? (I can help you do that, too, of course.)

Do you want it done quickly? What’s it costing you not to have a book out yet? When you consider the whole picture, the cost of having someone write a book for you might show up as a good investment.

There are other–less expensive–shortcuts to getting a book out. For example, I have a template-based book kit for coaches, and will soon have them for other professions. For a few hundred dollars, you can create a good book, and have it published inexpensively.

If you’d like to discuss your options and possible strategies, click on the calendar in the right-hand column to pick a time for a no-obligation strategy call with me.

My friend Bill Quain says that the four most important words for an author are: “Tell them a story.” In years of writing and public speaking, I have found no more powerful instruction for a communicator.

So what’s a story? From Google: “A message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events.” This innocent definition c

ontains some powerful thoughts:

• “A message”–”An object of communication, or the contents thereof.” While “message” has come to mean a communication with a purpose, the original and more general usage is simply a clump of stuff, usually intended to convey some meaning. That would include words, sounds, pictures, perhaps smells and tastes, or even just an experience.
• “…that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events.” The particulars: What happened; to whom; when; where; how; why. The particulars put the reader/listener/message recipient into the frame of the story, engaging their senses.
• “…act or occurrence or course of events” may in fact be too limiting. You can tell a story about an object–something that is just sitting there. The time element, which is probably important to engage the audience, can be introduced indirectly–the history of the object; something that is about to happen, or might happen.

Ira Glass, of This American Life, offers storytelling tips. The two main parts of a story are an anecdote and some reflection, according to Glass. He says, “The power of the anecdote is so great…No matter how boring the material is, if it is in story form…there is suspense in it, it feels like something’s going to happen. The reason why is because literally it’s a sequence of events…you can feel through its form [that it's] inherently like being on a train that has a destination…and that you’re going to find something…”

Reflection is telling about the anecdote. Why am I telling you this? What’s important for you to know?

Dr. Clare Albright has some good storytelling tips, including:

• Paint images with your words by appealing to the five senses.
• Create suspense. Use a provocative sentence or question: “What had caused the tremendous explosion?”
• “Use words that ‘sing.’ This would include words that inspire, words that imitate a sound, words that paint a beautiful picture, etc. Become an investigator on the prowl to find more words that have this kind of effect. Examples: sanctuary, crescendo, seaside, etc.”

(Read this about the original “…dark and stormy night.” When my kids were growing up, they were greatly entertained by the recursive, “It was a dark and stormy night, and a band of robbers was seated around a table. Suddenly, one of them said, “Hey, Jack, tell us a story!” And Jack said, “It was a dark and stormy night, and a band of robbers…”)

Literally? Nothing. A book, even one with a  cover, and your name and face on it, and marvelous content describing your uniqueness, and the uniqueness of your approach to your clients’ greatest pain, will do nothing for you. Nothing.

However, you can do a lot with your book. You can use it as a key to unlock hitherto sealed doors, a credential to bring you the respect you deserve, a validation to allow you to charge the fees that are your due.

Moreover, the book-writing process–actually, my book-writing process–will empower you to take the stuff that is floating around in your head and turn it into an organized body of knowledge. That organized body of knowledge can become a book, and much more–ebooks; courses; keynote speeches; and many other products.

By writing your book my way, you actually inventory your store of knowledge. You see, if you are like most people, you don’t know what you know. That is, you can’t make a list of all the things you have learned. You just know them, and they serve you in your profession. But if asked to make a list of them, you’d be hard put to lay them out.

My book-writing process empowers you to do just that–to list all the things you know in a way that you can share them with others.

Once you have this catalog, this inventory of your peculiar expertise and experience, you can easily turn it into products. Each chapter in your book can be a string of podcasts. Each subchapter is, at the very least, a blog entry. The book’s title is a theme for a course, a membership site, a coaching program–you get the idea. It’s all knowledge, and it has value.

So do it. Try my book-writing process. Build your new business.

Perfect Pages by Aaron Shepard is an indispensable aid to someone who wants to produce a fully formatted book manuscript in Microsoft Word. Get it for about $12.60 at Amazon.com and read its 150+ pages, and you will save yourself a lot of grief.

Now you may think, “I’ve used Word forever. I don’t need additional tips.” You may be right, but I doubt it. Book formatting requires different

things than article or report formatting.

Word is a powerful program, and it can also be maddeningly cranky. This book helps you avoid the cranky parts.

The few pages on styles are so lucid that you will get your money’s worth from the book if you just absorb them. Styles are the blessing and the bane of Word, and the five pages Shepard devotes to them are spot on.

Partial contents:

• Managing Word–Options; preferences; workspace; features; safety; memory
• Formatting your document
• Typesetting your text
• Formatting your text
• Perfecting your text
• Handling special text
• Handling graphics
• Enhancing your layout
• Preparing for print
• Creating a cover
• Resources–a good long list of websites

This book will save you time and energy if you write in Word. Highly recommended.

This is one of Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Successful People.” It also corresponds to an ancient Jewish dictum that is part of the Shabat service, “Lekha Dodi”: “Sof ma’aseh b’makhshava tkhila,” says the Hebrew–”The end of a deed is in prior thought.”

Here’s the application to books: If you want to wind up with a book, you have to start with a book in mind.

“Well, duh!” I hear you snorting. And yet–most people who want to write a book don’t do that. They start with some general notion that they want to get to a book, then do random things–journaling, reading, lots of web surfing, thinking, feeling frustrated… and are disappointed and distressed that they seem to be no closer to a book weeks or months or years later than when they began.

It’s not their fault. It’s as if they had determined to travel to some distant destination–say, Joplin, Missouri–but had no idea where Joplin is.

So they start traveling. They drive, they walk, they fly, just to be moving. But they never get to Joplin, and feel worse and worse about it all the time.

One thing that would be helpful would be a map. Here’s one:

• Decide who you are writing for
• Decide what you are going to say to them, and why they will want to hear your message
• Name your book
• Create the table of contents–the list of chapters
• For each chapter, create a list of subchapters
• Only when you are satisfied that your table of contents and all the subchapters are in the right order do you begin to write
• If there’s anything you need to look up or find out, note it and leave it for the end. When everything else is done, go do whatever is required to fill that blank

That’s how you build a book. You begin with the end in mind.

Need help? Schedule an appointment with me for a free strategy session. Click below.

In book-writing, as in other activities, the quality and quantity of your output will depend on your state. No, I don’t mean California or New York. I’m referring to your internal state–the vector sum of your emotions and feelings. What comes up for you when you ask yourself, “How am I?” Serene? Frazzled? Happy? Grumpy? Some combination?

Many people experience their emotional state like the weather, believing they have no control over it. If you are such a person, I have good news for you: You can affect your state.

Were you ever in the middle of an angry exchange when the phone rang? Did your anger spill over to the phone call, or did you find you were able to “switch gears” and “get into a different head”? If you were able to set aside your anger and enter into a conversation of a completely different tone, you can understand what I mean–and that it is within your reach.

The first step: Be aware of your state. Ask yourself uncritically, “How am I? What am I feeling?” Accept whatever answer comes up for you as useful information.

Now ask: Is this state serving me at this moment? Is there some other state that is more appropriate to my current activity–completing my outline; writing a blog entry; preparing for a business call? Here are some things you can do to create your own pattern interrupt and choose your new state:

• Get up and do some vigorous exercise. Run until you are exhausted. Do jumping jacks.
• Call a close friend and tell them something wild. Or ask them for the happiest thing that they did in the last couple of days.
• Change the music you’re listening to, or play some if you’re not. Put on something that always makes you smile–something with raw guitars and lots of drums.
• Pick up your favorite book of humor or inspiration and read some things at random. Or go to a humor website you love.
• Put on a hat; this is now your “state-change” hat.
• Do your happy dance!
• Read your favorite uplifting poem aloud.
• Draw a picture that excites you. Use colors.

Brainstorm your own list of pattern-interrupts. Use them! Your writing will benefit.

I went to an amazing seminar this weekend. The focus was on sales–and I just saw you wrinkle your nose. That’s ok. That was my reaction, too, when I first thought about it. I see it differently now.

Two years ago I began to realize that I was resisting sales. When I was a computer-aided design consultant, I did almost no sales. I was a celebrity, and $10,000 keynote speeches, $25,000 consulting engagements, and more, just flowed to me, because I was THE star.

When I became a coach, and decided to focus on helping people produce books, and income from follow-on products, all that changed. Nobody knew me. So I knew I had to learn about marketing and sales.

Marketing–letting my market know who I am and what I can do–has come fairly easily to me. But sales? No.

I realized I resisted sales as a yukky activity, as a sleazy kind of coercion, as a way to get people to do things they don’t want to do, for my own benefit. I knew that wasn’t right, so I adopted a motto: “Selling is an act of love.”

You see, I know I have something nobody else has: A way to help people express themselves by producing a good book, quickly and easily. And then taking the work they put into producing the book and leveraging it into an entire business. It can be a life-changing experience, as it already has for several of my clients. I want people to know about it.

But I was stuck with these bad–and incorrect–beliefs about selling. And one more, even more deadly to the sales process, that I just discovered this weekend.

What I discovered was that the overriding program in my communication process was that I want to be liked. I so wanted to be liked that I’d gladly forgo a sale to ensure that the person I spoke with would leave the conversation liking me.

Thus I sabotaged myself–and them.

Sometimes, just shining the light of truth on a situation is enough to change things. I believe that’s the case here. I learned to lead my prospect through a series of transactions that result in us both being able to make an informed decision about the question: Are we right for each other? Is there a match between their wants and needs and what I offer?

To help my prospect reach that point, I have to take control of the conversation–gently, but definitely. When the prospect asks, “Never mind all that, how much will it cost me?” I must civilly get their permission to bring them to the point where I can give them an answer that will make sense. “Of course you want to know how much it will cost. Would it be ok if I ask you just a couple more questions so that I can give you an accurate and meaningful answer?”

It’s a dance, and I must lead skillfully, so that my dancing partner enjoys and profits from the dance–even if we never see each other again.

Think about this when you write your book. Communication is a dance.

Why write this book?
You’ve felt that you have a book inside you for some time, and you have had a growing sense what it is about. Or perhaps the idea just came to you: “I ought to write a book.” You came across the book you are now reading, and thought, “OK, I’ll do it. I’ll write a book.”

But—why? What is it that gives you the desire to write a book? What is the purpose of the project? What will you do with the results?

You don’t need a reason. You can write a book on a whim, and enjoy the writing and the book, when it’s done. But writing a book—even quickly, as I teach you to do—does require a certain amount of determination, of stick-to-it-iveness. If you know why you are doing it, the reason or reasons can help you maintain your resolve when your interest flags a bit, or when you feel stuck
You don’t have to know why. But if you can give yourself a reason, it will help you.

For whom?
Related to the question of why is: For whom? Who are you writing for? What do you want your readers to understand or learn or experience from your book? Who are the people who will want to read it, or will benefit from it, or be enlightened by it? In a way, this question is more important than “why,” because you must have an audience in mind when you decide how to write and what to say.
What level of vocabulary will you use? What knowledge will you assume your audience has? Will your writing be controversial, or will it confirm widely held opinions?

When I write I find it helpful to picture my reader, to think about the person who is reading what I wrote. How old are they? Male, female? What’s their education? Their profession? Why did they pick up my book? What do they hope to learn? How can I speak to their need most clearly and directly?

When you have a clear idea who you’re writing for, and can maintain it, your writing has clarity and power.

About what?
You may think you know exactly what you are writing about. But do you really? Cluster your topic; see what comes up. Explain it to a friend; “sell” them the idea of your book. Listen to their responses. Are your topic and purpose clear?

Clustering will help you see what your topic means to you, what things actually come to your mind when you focus on your subject. You may find out that the book you thought you wanted to write was actually narrower than what is really in your heart—or it may have been broader.

Sharpening your focus will help you immensely. It will enable you to pour all of your creative power into a sharp-edged channel, so that your message is delivered to your reader with clarity and integrity.

What will the reader get from it?
You know who your reader is. You know what your book is about. Now—what will your reader get from it? Picture that reader just having finished your book, speaking to an intimate friend about it. “I just finished that book I was reading. Here’s what I got from it.” What do they say next? Are they happy? Disappointed? Matter-of-fact? Will they recommend the book to the friend? What response would you like them to have? What must your book be like in order for them to have the response you’re hoping to evoke?

What will you get out of it?
Picture this: The book is done. You’re holding a copy in your hand. What are you feeling? What are you thinking? Are you experiencing the psychic and emotional rewards you expected? What are they? It’s important that you have some idea what they will be.
What role will it play in your life?

For some authors, a book is an end in itself. It was inside them; it wanted to come out.

For others, the book serves another purpose. It may establish their authority. It may deliver a message. It may serve as the keystone of a consulting and speaking business. It may give them a product to sell, to enhance their income.
Other authors have more personal reasons for writing. The book tells about their family, for their family. Or about their town, or company, or military unit.

Whatever the role that the book is to play in your life, it must be planned, designed. It won’t happen automatically.

If you are a coach or consultant, plan out your business framework. Will you sell the book at speaking events? Market it on the web? Offer it in bulk to corporate clients? Give it away, like a large business card?

If it is a personal book—a biography or family history—will you distribute it at a family reunion?

Plan the distribution, the marketing, the applications of your book. Then create a timeline, so that you will know when to do what.

You may think there’s only one way to write a book, even if you’ve read my free book on the subject. You name it, plan it, structure it down to the sub-chapter level, then write it.

That’s the way I teach, and it works very well. But it isn’t the only way to produce a book. Here are several others that may suit your needs:

• Interviews. Find leaders in your niche and interview them. Tell them you’re going to transcribe the interviews and include them in a book. (Don’t forget to ask how many they want to order.)

  The interviews don’t have to  be very long. An ideal length will result in just a few pages of material.

  Pick a unifying subject for the book: “What’s the Biggest Problem in (your niche), and What Do the Experts Say about It?”

  You can conduct the interviews over the phone and record them. You can also package and market the recordings; don’t forget to get the interviewees permission. And ask them for a link to their website or a sales page for you to publicize; that’s their motivation for participating in the project.

• Quotations. Collect a bunch of quotations (that are out of copyright) relevant to your niche. Put each on its own page. Beneath it, or on the opposite page, write your interpretation of Socrates’ wise saying to people in your field. (You can also leave room for the reader to add their own reflections.)
• Blog. You may have already written your book: Your blog entries might be its content. In fact, FastPencil.com will let you import your blog, then rearrange and edit the entries into a book. That’s fast.
• Photo-journal. You can use the special book-layout tools of Blurb.com to create a gorgeous book of your photos. The price per book is fairly high, depending on various factors, but might be still worth it for, say, a construction project proposal or an investment offering, a commemorative book or gift.
• “The 47 best tips on…” Elicit tips, opinions, whatever from your readers, your Twitter followers, your Facebook friends, whatever, and compile them into a handbook. Jokes. Toasts. 6-word short stories (Hemingway’s famous one: “For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.”) Collect ‘em. Publish ‘em, with your intro, and a link to your website. You are now an opinion leader in your field.

A stroll through a bookstore or your library will inspire you with even more ideas.

I’ve written before about FastPencil.com, an online collaborative portal for authors. But “online collaborative portal” doesn’t really convey the whole juicy picture.

Here’s more of the story: When you decide you seriously want to write a book, you may just start writing. Or perhaps you start thinking things through and realizing there are lots of details standing between you and a published book. This may add to your stress, or cause you to put off the whole idea once more.

Or maybe you find out about free publishing sites, like Lulu.com. You go there, find out you have to produce a PDF for the whole thing to work right. You enter into the operational labyrinth–and find out there is no phone support, and email support is leisurely. You make it through the process, somehow; the book looks good on-line, so you order a proof copy, as they recommend. The book arrives a few days later….and it’s full of garbage, because the PDF conversion didn’t work. The on-line version Lulu.com showed you looked fine; it just didn’t come out that way in the book.

Now try to find out what went wrong. And by the way, the book and shipping were at your expense.

I worked with an author who went through 5 cycles like that until getting it right.

FastPencil is different. For one thing, it lets you write on-line; no need to worry about conversion. For another, when you’re ready to convert to different formats, FP worries about that for you.

The FastPencil Marketplace gives you access to cover designers, editors, promoters, and a variety of publishing and distribution options. All inexpensive. (You’ll soon see courses there by me and Dr. Bill Quain that offer you some extra assistance in writing and promoting your book; watch for them.)

Membership in FastPencil is free.