If you’ve been considering whether or not you should buckle down and write a book, now might be the perfect time to read this blog post!
I wrote my first book in 2019, and it was a mix of non-traditional and traditional methods, so I thought it might be a great opportunity to share some of my own experience as well as a few additional options you can explore.
Writing A Book Is Not An Easy Journey.
It’s a mix of emotions and tons of content that you need to create, sort, and format. Writing a book is a powerful tool, and if you can get through the writing process you’ll see just how powerful of a tool it can actually be to establish your expertise in your market, and also exponentially expand your audience.
As if establishing your expertise and expanding your audience wasn’t enough, writing a book is also the single best way to get the attention of mainstream press outlets, influential bloggers, and podcasters, and a great way to land paid speaking engagements. Now that I think about it… there’s virtually no downside to writing a book.
Well, except for the actual writing of it.
It’s true!
Writing 40K words for my first book seemed like an insurmountable task. But once I broke it wonderments into bite-size pieces and figured out a little shortcut to content creation, I’ll share with you in just a few minutes- I found the process to actually be enjoyable!
How To Write A Book: 3 Non-Traditional Options
If you don’t consider yourself an actual writer, then you may think that the benefits of writing a book and seeing it published are simply outside of your reach, but please understand that you have options.
Long gone are the days when you have to rent a cabin deep in the woods or a houseboat in the heart of Seattle to get all the words written.
Let’s explore a few options below.
Blogging Your Book.
Maybe the easiest option for creating content for your book, blogging is a great option for writing chapter by chapter without the pressure of taking it all on at once.
This was the option I stumbled upon when I was creating my first book.
I had a blog that I had recently started talking about the same topics I’d obviously be talking about in the book. It was a niche website about people who worked while traveling in their RVs and the audience was growing.
I wrote blogs on topics that would help a new reader (of the blog or the book) go from step one of not knowing anything about this sub-niche of RVers to actually grabbing these seasonal jobs on the road and traveling full-time!
So for me, it was taking some posts that were previously published and also creating new content that I knew before writing it, would be used for the book. You, might be doing the same, or maybe you’re creating all the content you need for the book chapter by chapter.
And if you’ve been blogging for a while, you might actually already have all the content you need for the book! This option will allow you to make good use of possibly hundreds of pages of content you’ve already created, so there is almost no writing involved.
But regardless of how much content you have or will create in blog form, you will need to edit the content slightly to create the flow you envision for the book so that it reads well. You can also use this time to make last-minute tweaks and updates!
And you’re thinking, “Why would anyone pay for a book that’s just pulled from my blog?” I totally understand and was actually right there with you! But what I had to realize and you’ll have to understand is that people will pay for information that is organized in a way that makes their life easier, even if that same information is available for free elsewhere.
Private Label Content.
Don’t have content you can repurpose? No blog and no time to start one? No problem.
There are companies that specialize in creating content that you can repurpose into your very own book. You are allowed to license the content and use it as your own. It’s called private label rights content, or PLR, and this can be a great option for getting the content you need to complete your book! Depending on the source of your PLR content, it can be really high quality and well-researched- cutting out a lot of the legwork for you!
Personally, I don’t recommend you use the content as is. You should use it more as a template or a starting point. Purchase the content that fits your book and expand on it to make it yours.
Weave in your ideas, your voice, and your expertise to really transform this stock content into something you can be proud to call your own!
One thing to note about PLR is that you can’t publish a book on Kindle using this content. This violates their terms of service so I would want you about buying up a bunch of content, slightly tweaking it, and then publishing a Kindle ebook…
Hire A Ghostwriter.
If you want a book that’s all yours without having to do any of the work? The next option for you to consider is to simply outsource the writing and hire a ghostwriter.
Hiring a ghostwriter makes the content creation process easy peasy for you, as all you need to do is find the person and pay the fee. A professional ghostwriter will work with you to create a book that is uniquely yours. They will learn your tone and write the book in your voice. They’ll do all the work so you don’t have to worry about writing it yourself, but in the end, you’ll have a well-written book with your name on it, all without typing a single word.
I actually love this option! It’s easy and provides the kind of quick (relatively) satisfaction I like to pay for. I’m not sure if I would have. ghostwrite complete the whole book, but I have explored this option for a book I have pending in the same niche as the first one.
It makes sense to take some of the load off. And to be honest, my goal was to create a helpful tool for people looking to accomplish a particular goal- not really to toot my own horn on what a great writer I am. So I really had no qualms about exploring this option to get 50% of the book completed.
No, of course, I need to do my part and complete the other part.
Wrapping Things Up
Personally, I think every entrepreneur needs to write a book.
It not only allows you to create a product that delivers an impact, but it can also bring in new clients, and a fresh audience, structure your marketing plan, and of course- put dollars in the bank!
Having a published book in your portfolio can work wonders for your business growth. But it can’t do any of these things if you don’t actually write the book.
So take a few minutes to wrap your head around the non-traditional ways to actually write a book and then make a plan to get your book written.
Start with an outline and take it from there.
You won’t regret it.
