In this episode, award-winning Book Strategist, Ellen Violette, shares 3 common mistakes authors make that can derail or prolong the book-writing journey and what to do instead, so you can write a quality book quickly without stress or overwhelm.

Resources mentioned

The 5 Day Bestseller Breakthrough Challenge

3 Key Points 

Knowing your why is not enough to get started writing your book.

Doing a brain dump before you do the marketing research can paralyze you.

Doing book research before you write your book can be a waste of time.

Transcript

Hi, and welcome to Books Open Doors™ Insights #19 today, I want to talk about the five steps to take your book from idea to outline and why this is the best way to write a book. First, I’m going to share the five steps.

Number one is you have to get really clear on what you’re passionate about and what skills you have. Number two is you have to know who are your ideal clients? Number three is you have to know what keeps your ideal clients up at night. What problems do you solve for, or can you solve for them then how to position your book so it stands out from the other books in your niche? And this includes coming up with the right title and subtitle, and then creating your outline based on what you learned in the first four steps, and how you solve that problem that your market has that you are capable of solving for them.

[01:00]: But what I wanted to talk about is what most book coaches recommend and why I don’t agree, and why this is; why I think that my five steps work better. So, the first one is know your why, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with knowing your why- you should know your why- but just knowing your why and then starting your book is not going to give you a book that’s going to grow your business and change your life necessarily. There’s more to it than that.

Another one is do a brain dump. Well, what’s the point of doing a brain dump on everything you know when you don’t know what problems your market has that you can answer in your book, and you don’t know which, and even if, you do solve problems for people, you don’t know which ones you’re going to put in the book yet.

The other problem with doing a brain dump is that it can give you a lot of information, and without any context, and in no particular order, it can become very overwhelming. And then it’s just really easy to give up because you just throw your hands up and go, ” I just don’t even know where to start.”

[02:08]: The third issue is that too many authors do book research before creating their outline. And then they get overwhelmed because they have no idea what they’re looking for. So, they don’t know how much research to put in the book. So, some of them will research and research and never write the book. And I have met many of these kinds of authors in my sixteen years doing this. Or, eventually they write a book and 99% of the research they did doesn’t end up in the book, so it was just a big waste of time; and it just prolongs the process.

So, the way I teach people to write a book is to focus on the exact steps that I gave you at the beginning of this podcast. The thing is you need to clarify and understand what it is you’re going to be writing about, so you know exactly what needs to go into your book and what needs to be left out.

[03:04]: And when you have a clear vision, you can create a blueprint for doing it, so you don’t run off the road, and then get stuck because you don’t know how to get back on track.

So, my proven five-step process gives you the exact roadmap for clarity, scope, and vision for your book. And you don’t get sidetracked with doing research and doing a brain dump and doing all this stuff that are not going to get you to where you’re trying to go.

This is the same process that I use for all my books and teach all my writing clients, as well as my students in my Write Your Bestseller in 7 Days Bootcamp. And that’s exactly what I’m going to give you in my upcoming free 5 Day Bestseller Breakthrough Challenge.

So, here’s the deal. It starts on Monday, July 26 and every day, you’re going to get a training, and then you’re going to get an assignment to complete.

[04:00]: And then there’s a live Q and  for anyone who needs more help or has questions. And  by Day 5, you will have your blueprint ready to go. And then writing your book will be very doable. And most of the trainings that I’m going to give you are pretty short. The transformation comes in doing the assignments, not in the trainings. So, I’m going to give you the framework that you need, but then you have to actually roll up your sleeves and do the assignments. And then once you’ve gone through all five days, you’ll see that it doesn’t have to take you years to write a book. And it doesn’t have to be hard. People make it way harder than it has to be.

So, if you see the value in this, if you see how a book could really change your business and your life, then I want you to go to https://bestsellerbreakthrough.com and register. Now, it’s a free challenge. It doesn’t cost you a nickel, okay? And there’ll be daily cash prizes, as well as Slam Dunk Completion Prizes with one grand prize winner to be announced after the challenge.

So do it now, while you’re thinking about it, go to https://bestsellerbreakthrough.com and register for the Challenge. And then you’ll get directions on how to get into our private Facebook group, where the trainings are going to take place.

[05:29]: I am going to be doing one more pre-event training tomorrow morning. I don’t know when you’re going to be hearing this. So, this one is going to be on the imposter syndrome, How to Tame Your Limiting Beliefs to Live your Best Life. And if you miss it, there will be a way for you to get access to it. And that is by upgrading to the VIP.

But personally, I think everybody should want to do that anyway because you’re going to get the full experience you’re going to get priority access to me in the Q and A’s. I did an amazing training with Meredith Liepelt, and she gave all of us the step-by-step nine-month schedule for starting your publicity and getting the most out of your book launch. So, everybody should want to get that anyway. And as far as the imposter syndrome, well, I think most people have it to one degree or another.

[06:28]: And if we’re honest with ourselves, so, you know, if you ever think that you’re not good enough, or you don’t know enough, or you’re not a good writer or whatever your issue is in your mind, that tells you,  maybe you can’t do this, you might have imposter syndrome. So, please go right away to https://bestsellerbreakthrough.com register now and join us for the pre-challenge training. Imposter Syndrome How to Tame Your Limiting Beliefs to Live your Best Life. So, you know, it’s more than worth it right now. You can get in and it’s only $97 if you want to upgrade.

And if you don’t that’s okay too, you’re going to get a ton of value in the Challenge. So just go to https://bestsellerbreakthrough.com and register. Now either way, there’s a tremendous amount of value. You’re going to have your blueprint and you are going to be ready to write your book without going off the reservation or getting all crazy over this.

So, I’ll see you inside.

That’s it for now.

Bye-Bye.

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

To share your thoughts and comments:

• Join us in our Facebook Group!
• Share this show on social media!

To help out the show:

• Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
• Subscribe on iTunes.