5 CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN WRITING A BOOK

5 CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN WRITING A BOOK

Last year, in April of 2015, I began to seriously think about writing a book. There were a lot of reasons why – two stuck out the most. One, my clients were really clicking with my process for intentionally defining their personal brands as entrepreneurs. Two, every event I wanted to speak at seemed to always be asking, where is your book?

I reached out to Angela Laurie, of The Difference Press, to understand the process they leveraged for working with authors to help them get their books out of their head and on to paper or as an e-book. As I went through the process, here were some key questions that I wish I had known in advance.

 1. What do you want to do with your book?

Are you clear on your goals – for example, are you writing a book to build your personal brand? Or maybe you want to change the world by sharing your story. For me, it was about sharing a process that has worked with my clients on discovering their personal brand as leaders and entrepreneurs.

Understanding your goals will help you decide what you want to showcase and write about in your book.

2. Who are you writing to, who is your audience?

It is so important to get this right. You cannot please everyone, so who are you are writing for when you think about your target audience. This was one spot where I had to get a lot of coaching. Everyone needs a personal brand, but I could not write that book and still resonate as clearly as writing it for a specific group, especially a client group that I work with a lot.

3. How much time are able to spend on the book?

For me, this was a huge question. I needed to partner with a company to help me get through the process quickly and efficiently. I learned about The Difference Press, interviewed and then jumped in to their 13 week process. I literally started writing in October and published in January, with print coming in March. It definitely took more time than I thought, and I had budgeted time for this too. I knew it was going to be hard, you write the book, then you have to launch it, and then keep that momentum going.

4. What are you going to do for launch?

This is one where you want to know what your plan is leading up to and post launch day. This sounds like a duh statement, however, it is so important to have everything ready like advanced readers, etc. This is another place where The Difference Press really helped me through the process as a new author. I wrote the book, and then I needed to market it – this was a whole project in and of itself.

5. Can you deal with feedback?

One of the hardest things was getting feedback on my book, although of course it is critical. I remember the first chapter I wrote was sent back with feedback to re-write it. That was hard, I was writing about what I loved, knew, and really wanted to share. So getting that feedback was hard – that said it was critical insight.

If you want to learn more, please reach out and ask. I am happy to share my experiences and thoughts on writing and how it might help your brand and reputation. Download The Intentional Entrepreneur on Amazon today, while it is still available free.

Be your best self,
Jen