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May 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

“Perfect Pages”–a guide to producing books with Microsoft Word

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.

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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.

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Filed Under: book love, book printing, book writing, inspiration, planning, steps to write a book, tech, write a book Tagged With: , , , , , ,
May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

“Begin with the end in mind”

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.


I offer online scheduling using BookFresh

Filed Under: book love, book writing, inspiration, planning, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , ,
May 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Manage your state

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.

Filed Under: book love, humor, planning, steps to write a book Tagged With: , , ,
May 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The dance of communication

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.

Filed Under: book love, book writing, people & ideas, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , , ,
May 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

5 questions you must answer

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.

Filed Under: book love, book writing, inspiration, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , , ,
May 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Lots of ways to write a book

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.

Filed Under: book writing, inspiration, people & ideas, planning, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , , , ,
May 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Another plug for FastPencil

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.

Filed Under: book love, book printing, book writing, marketing, publishing, steps to write a book Tagged With: , , , ,
May 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Don’t write a book

Let’s face it, writing a book is a non-trivial undertaking. I mean, you’ve been thinking about it for–how long now? A year? Five? Surely if it were important or could make a significant difference in your business, you’d have realized it and just gotten it done.

Think about all the things you have to do to write a book:

  • Define your audience
  • Find something that is a “pain point” for them
  • Be able to articulate what you can do to resolve their pain
  • Let your readers know know a bit about what your approach has done for others who used to have their pain
  • Write the book
  • Get a cover designed
  • Get the book printed
  • Start handing it out or selling it

That sounds like a lot of work–at least 30 days’ worth, at 1 hour a day. Do you really want to spend your time that way? Wouldn’t you be better off:

  • Attending referral clubs and networking groups
  • Handing out business cards
  • Making cold calls
  • Handing out more business cards
  • Trying to explain how you help people, while
  • handing out still more business cards
  • Designing and printing a $5/each color brochure
  • Investing in a $5000 website

Don’t these things make so much more sense than writing a book that will cost you $1.10 (quantity 500) and will credentialize you, establish your authority (author=authority), differentiate you from your competition, and actually give you something to sell AND a basis for creating additional products?

Of course they do. I knew you’d see it my way.

Filed Under: book love, book printing, book writing, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , ,
April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

What’s your book-writing motivation?

Is it internal or external?

Internal: Do you want to write a book to express yourself? Do you feel you have a story to tell, something to teach, something to record? Those are great reasons for writing a book, and my BookProgram method–described in my free book, which you can get by clicking on the link in the header of the blog–will serve you well. Follow it, and you will get your book written. Well. And quickly.

External: Is your main reason for writing a book to accomplish something beyond getting a book out there? Is it to be a source of income? A door-opener for your speaking, coaching, advisory, therapeutic business? Will it serve as a way to attract customers to your other products, such as ebooks, courses, recordings, membership sites, and more? If this is your motivation, my method will really shine for you.

Whichever point of view you are coming from, you would do well to “consider the end from the beginning,” in the words of Stephen Covey (The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People).  What will you do with the book once it’s finished? If it’s internally motivated, you will want to think about the communities who will be interested in it, and how to reach them.

If it’s to serve an external function in your business, you should plan what products you’ll derive from the book material, how you’ll price them, and how you will promote them.

In either event, your book should have its own website, where people can order it and sign up to remain in touch with you–through your newsletter, your autoresponder sequences, or in other ways.

Being aware of your book-writing motivation will help you take the book to its next step. There’s a lot to think about–and it’s worth thinking about.

You can do it. And you should.

Filed Under: book love, book writing, marketing, planning, publishing, steps to write a book Tagged With: , , , , , ,
April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Use my approach to book-writing to create a course

I have been teaching that if you write a book following my method, (a) you’ll have a good book, quickly; and (b), you’ll be very well-positioned to start creating additional information products based on the stuff you’ve generated to write the book.

It’s time to be a bit more explicit.

First of all, if you haven’t done so, head to the link at the top of the front page of this blog and get my free book. Read it.

Done? OK, at least you scanned it. I hope it intrigued you enough to actually start doing what it says.

If you do, you’ll create what I call a BookProgram–a simple outline that is your book, in essence. The writing part is just a matter of filling in the blanks, once the BookProgram is done.

Now, whether or not you’ve written your book yet, you can use this outline to create a course. Your course can be based on the entire outline, or just a portion of it. The important step that the creation of your outline has taken you through is the one I call, “the diamond is your friend.” That’s the part that helps you think about, “What questions am I answering? And what must I explain to help my reader get from the question to the answer?”

When you’ve already done this for your book, it’s now easy to focus on, “What are the desired outcomes of this course for anyone who takes it? What will they know, what will they be able to do after taking it?” By answering these questions, you’ll be able to enunciate the benefits of the course to your prospects. You’ll be able to state clearly to them what they will gain by taking your course.

Mind you, I am not minimizing the craft of course creation. I don’t mean to imply that if you follow some general rules, you’ll be as good as any course creator out there. But just as I believe you can create a “good” book–one that keeps its promise–by following my method, I also believe you can create a “good” course by following these guidelines. A good course, by my definition, like a good book, keeps its promise.

Filed Under: book love, book writing, course writing, marketing, planning, steps to write a book Tagged With: , , ,
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