How to ensure your book has legs

This is the second post, in follow up to The First 10 Steps to writing a non-fiction book by Jo Parfitt, a writer, author, speaker, teacher, mentor and publisher who specializes in entrepreneurship and living abroad. Her website is crammed with valuable content no budding writer should ignore.

Most of the Western world dreams of writing a book someday. Having a book published with your name on the cover shows the world that you are an expert in your field.

There is a reason why the word Authority contains the word Author.

As a writer’s mentor I receive many manuscripts to appraise and my heart always sinks when I receive a complete manuscript that has no hope of success. I always advice my students and clients, whether they are writing books, articles or blogs, to ensure that people actually want to read what they are writing.

I ask them to check their idea has legs before they put pen to paper. The trouble is, many new writers go about their writing in the wrong order.

Writing a book ‘back to front’

1. You are inspired to write a book on a topic you are passionate about.
2. You write the book.
3. You write the table of contents.
4. You try to get it published.
5. You fail, so you get some feedback.

After 25 years writing books, 27 books to my credit and 50+ books now in print that have been written by my clients, I now know the right way to go about writing a book.

How to write a book that has legs

1. You are inspired to write a book on a topic you are passionate about and that you have the authority to write.
2. You narrow down your idea so that it has a defined focus.
3. You get some feedback on your idea.
4. You read other books like the one you hope to write to see how the experts do it.
5. You do some research to see how successful the other books are.
6. You check that your idea has a defined route to market (lots of publications and websites and organizations that need your book).
7. You write one chapter and a table of contents for a book for which there is a large, clear, accessible market.
8. You get some feedback.
9. You hone your idea.
10. You write the first two-three chapters of the book.
11. You write a proposal that contains the research you did earlier about the size of the market, where you will find your readers and how your book compares to the competition.
12. You try to get it published.

The second method will ensure you get your ‘ducks in a row’ before you write the entire book. The second method will help you to be absolutely sure that your book has legs and that you truly do have a market there.

In the book The Wealthy Author, authors Debbie Jenkins and Joe Gregory devote a large chunk of the text to testing your idea, brainstorming, creating a killer title and defining your niche. The book’s tests and checklists are invaluable.

In one of the next posts we will look to cover traditional vs self publishing, as this is a hot topic right now.