Photo: Alex Knight

How to beat the odds and finish your book

 As you read this you’re likely one of over 80 percent of people who say we want to write a book. That 80 percent stat is backed by multiple surveys.

We have good intentions too, according to a survey commissioned by Brian Tracy International. The survey reports that nearly 70 percent of us view a book as a way to pass along a message or knowledge that will inspire and educate others.

Yet those surveys also report that only 10 percent or fewer of us do the work to turn our ideas into a published book.

Top reasons you won’t write your book

According to the Brian Tracy survey, the top reason that book ideas remain ideas only is that 40 percent of people don’t know where to start. Another 31 percent say they lack confidence or don’t feel qualified. And the third most cited reason, at 18 percent, is a lack of time.

Congratulations.

Rather than feeling bad about those stats, these answers uncover a pretty good self-awareness and understanding of what it takes to write a book. Despite the desire to do it and good reasons for doing so, writing a book is not a job that 80 percent of people have the skill or time to successfully accomplish.

Be one of the few who will be an author

To help you capture your message of inspiration or knowledge, and get it into the hands of those who matter to you, you most likely need a collaborator (aka ghostwriter). An experienced collaborator knows how to plan and execute a book writing project. They also enable you to offload the burden of time it takes to make it happen.

We’re the ones who can lay out a process and guide you through it, breaking down your wall of inertia into these manageable steps:

• Build an outline to help you think about and distill your core messages, and lay out the chapters for your book.
• Develop questions based on the subject of each chapter.
• Interview you, saving you from facing the intimidating, time-wasting “blank screen” as you ponder what to write. Your collaborator should have good interview skills to draw out your message and help you explore valuable new offshoots and ideas that spring up along the way.
• Transcribe, organize, and revise the information gathered in the interviews into an easy-to-read flow.
• Periodically review progress with you, so you can provide feedback and ensure the writing stays true to your voice and vision.
• Revise and re-write until you overcome the odds and complete your book.

A collaborator/ghostwriter can provide the quality writing you need to stand out

A final key point: Despite only one in ten people writing the book they want to, the volume of books continues to grow. Over 300,000 are published each year. According to Bowker, a writing services company that supplies important book registration numbers to the trade, self-publishing is an especially fast growing part of the market. In the latest figures reported by the company, registrations grew at a rate of 21 percent year-over-year and continue to accelerate.

Those numbers clearly show that you need to “sound different” to set yourself apart. Professional collaborators can provide the quality of writing that you need to make your book (or any other written materials) stand out in a crowded marketplace.

I’m happy to discuss your project with you with no obligation on your part. Let’s talk.