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12 Tips To Help You Write Your First Book

By Karen Purves of Effective Marketing for Coaches

Many coaches dream of writing a book but only a few realise it. These tips are designed to provide the structure to make a hard job that bit easier.

It may be a bit of shock to find the order of the activities, perhaps that is the most important tip!

Tip #1 – Start With A Table Of Contents
This provides the scope of the book. Identify where you require further information and where that will come from. This may be a mix of existing material and interviews from people who have successfully achieved or who are still progressing towards their goal.

Tip #2 – Define A Goal For Your Book
Define at the outset what you want from book sales, whether you want to self publish or approach a publisher. Is there a better month to launch your book? For example, if it will be read by those people who already have everything, then a November/December launch will appeal to those people who are searching to buy that elusive present. Have numbers for the following:
- Number of books to publish in the first printing
- Cost for the first run
- Cost for subsequent printings
- Cost for copywriting, proofreading and design

Tip #3 – How Does It Fit With Your Other Products And Services
Make sure you book dovetails into your range of services so the reader can explore your offering in more detail. If you don’t have any other programmes, then take some time through the writing to plan follow on products.

Tip #4 – Add Content To Your Blog
Use your blog to get into the rhythm of writing about your subject. What is great about blogging is that people can comment on your material and that can help with producing more. It can really motivate. If you consider the content of three to four posts making half a chapter, then writing in chunks becomes more manageable. You don’t really want to have all your content on your blog.

Tip #5 – Have a Co-author
This makes the job easier as you are only required to do certain jobs and perhaps a selection of the contents. Remember, this person is someone who you know, who you have a proven record for working successfully together and is totally trustworthy.

Tip #6 – The Writing Agreement
Set out exactly what each is bringing to the book. This can be preparation of the content, managing the finances, defining and delivering the marketing. Agree how payments are to be made and the split. It is much better for all this to be explicit at the outset as it means everyone is clear about their roles, their gifts and what the reward is for successfully completing the project.

Tip #7 – Set And Follow Your Deadlines
Create a plan for each chapter to be completed with deadlines. Also, do the same for the editing, designing, marketing and publishing. There is nothing better to focus attention than by knowing that activities have to be completed otherwise you may miss your slot for that year.

Tip #8 – Tell People You Are Writing a Book
Tell your friends, colleagues and family about you writing a book. They will ask you about your progress and this is a great motivator. You can be honest about progress. Sometimes, when you are in the detail and looking at what needs to be done, you forget just how much progress has been made. It spurs you on completing the next chunk.

Tip #9 – Find a Good Review Team
Honest friends make excellent reviewers. They will take the time to read, to consider what you are saying, how it meets your goals and offer feedback on how well the material achieves its goal. What you want in this feedback is pointers on how you can improve the material where it needs it. Ask your reviewers to inform you whether the material requires more interviews, more research or an adjustment to the flow.

Tip #10 – Hire a Good Editor
This is probably one of the first activities to research. As you start writing and let people know about your project, you will find others who are doing the same or have recently published and here is where you can find an editor that will work for you.

Nearly there….

Tip #11 – Find Expert Reviewers
Whilst you are researching and writing, be aware of who else is out there, who is being interviewed by journalists and make contact for them to be an expert reviewer. Give your reviewers a set time frame to review your book.

Tip #12 – Good is Good Enough
Perhaps this should be tip #1! You want the book to be complete – so there is no place for perfection. You want to move onto the next phase and any errors, additional material can be incorporated into the nest version.

Contributor's Note

Karen Purves is well qualified to run this course with a Masters Degree in Marketing specialising in small and micro businesses and 25 years experience. Her passion is marketing and making it work for others. Her Marketing Programmes are based upon her own practices, research and knowledge. She has successfully grown three businesses already with one still thriving 12 years on. In this business, she changed the way professional qualifications were delivered to busy professionals. As a result, that approach is now used throughout the UK.

Thanks for your feedback. I was writing from the perspective of non fiction but it will work equally well for fiction as well providing the co-authors know the story line and how it will be developed. I expect this is the area that would need to be really thrashed for fiction. Hope this helps.

My wife accomplishes the first step with a 2 foot by 4 foot white masonite board we got at Home Depot. You can use dry erase markers allowing for changes and reuse for the next book. Let's you see the Big Picture.

Step number two is becoming less important as many small publishers are using ebook formats and those that are offering paperbacks are using print on demand technology. If you order 4 books the computer prints and binds just 4 books. This saves a lot of paper.

Thank you for your comments. There are several ways to get the big picture.

With regards to your point about e-books, this article is about publishing a book than e-books. People do not value e-books as the same as something that is hard copy. Even, if you want to have an e-book, then copy, proof reading and editing is still required if you want to have a quality product. It doesn't matter how many times we read something we have written, a fresh pair of eyes will always add something new.

Even when you are self publishing and using print on demand, it is helpful to have some ideas on volume so you can prepare the next stage in your marketing. The book is not the outcome, only a stage in your overall marketing.

Sorry I misunderstood. Your first comments lead me to believe you were talking about unpublished authors.

Many coaches dream of writing a book but only a few realise it. These tips are designed to provide the structure to make a hard job that bit easier.

ebooks are definitely a low cost alternative to learn the logistics of publishing for the first time without the huge commitment.

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