Part 1
How to start writing a book? DON’T put fingers to keyboard just yet
Last month I interviewed Sue Richardson, founder of The Right Book Company for my In Conversation with Jo Parfitt Podcast, and it was a masterclass in how to start writing a book.
Sue has become a good friend of mine. We met at the London Book Fair back in the last decade when she was flushed with success because one of her author’s books had just won an award. It was a cookbook and the author was there at the fair giving demonstrations – a testament to its worthiness.
Since then I have met with Sue many times and, as we work in the same field, albeit differently, I asked her how she works with clients.
“We always begin with a strategy meeting,” she explained. “It used to be a three-hour meeting in a swanky London club. But lately it’s closer to five hours.”
Five hours! I know that Sue is right. What’s the point in spending hundreds of hours writing a book that won’t do the job you want it to do? Sue’s clients love her strategy meetings. It’s the time when they get really clear on what it is they want to write, why they want to write it and how to start writing a book. The strategy meeting begins, always, with finding their WHY.
Listen to my podcast with Sue Richardson…
When I run my virtual Book Writing Courses (How to write a how-to and How to write a memoir) our first session focuses on the WHY too. Students love it. I watch their eyes widen and can almost see the flashes of lightbulbs going off as I encourage them to explore the reasons behind their decision to start writing a book.
Writing a book is a commitment, right? It takes time, effort, dedication, support and research. It also tends to cost a fair bit of money. Not during the writing bit, of course, but, if you want your book to succeed, as Sue and I do, you need to invest in a content editor, proofreader and graphic designer at the very least. Sometimes it’s good to kick-start the process with a course or hire a mentor, which is what I offer. This costs money too. So, surely, if you are to invest time, effort and money it’s crucial that you nail down your WHY, your reason for writing a book in the first place before thinking HOW to start writing a book.
Part 2
6 key reasons for WHY you might want to write a book
Here are just some of the main reasons you might want to write a book together with a little about how each might impact HOW you write it:
1. To boost your reputation
This is a big one for most of my clients. Typically, they run their own businesses and want to write a book to make them an authority in their field. They want to look like an expert. But let’s go deeper into this. Why do you want to be an authority in your field?
- So you become a go-to expert for the media?
- So you get invited to speak at events?
- So you attract more clients?
- So you can put your fees up?
- So you can give your book away, like a top-notch business card, to potential clients?
If this is your WHY it’s crucial your book looks amazing inside and out.
2. Fame
Come on let’s be honest. Maybe you want to increase your reputation because you want your ‘fifteen minutes of fame’, or to feel like a celebrity, to get on the front page of your local paper, or alumni magazine. Maybe you want to feel like ‘someone’? You want people to stop you in the street for a selfie.
If this is your WHY your book has to have a strong hook or wow factor that will get you noticed by the media.
3. Because you know something others want to know
This is a key reason to write a book. Indeed it’s a given that you should only write a book if you know something others need to know. Perhaps it’s how to grow herbs on a windowsill, cook vegan Asian food or cope with mid-life depression. In short you will know how to do something or have researched how to do so in depth and want to help people, to share your knowledge with a waiting market. This is one of my own key WHYS and, if you know me, you’ll be familiar with my tagline ‘sharing what I know to help others to grow’.
If this is your WHY your content and layout must be logical and easy to follow.
4. Because you have something to say
Maybe something has happened to you that you want to get off your chest, or you know that sharing your personal story or opinion will help or inspire other people? It’s a good reason to write and many people are motivated to share their knowledge because if they don’t it’s wasted in some way. They can share this knowledge with their clients but turning it into a book would allow their wisdom to reach out to others too.
If this is your WHY it’s crucial your voice and tone will appeal to your ideal reader.
5. As legacy
Perhaps you are not motivated by fame, fortune or sharing what you know, you just want to turn your story, family stories or intellectual property into a book so that it lives on after your death. Plenty of people have this as a primary motivation and plenty of publishing companies are out there poised to help them make it happen.
If this is your WHY then you need to find and express your story in an appropriate way for the reader.
6. Money
I put money last in the list deliberately because for most of my clients this is the least important aspect. While you can write, edit, design and publish a book completely alone, with help from family and friends, most successful authors will agree that you get what you pay for. Typically it can cost between £2,000 and £10,000 to produce and publish an accurate, beautiful, paperback book. If you print a short run of copies that’s going to cost you between £3 and £10 a copy depending how many you print at once. If you publish print on demand as is popular these days you don’t have the expense of paying for 1000 copies you might never sell but the unit price per book may be higher and the quality a bit lower. Want to do the maths? Let’s say it cost you £2000 to produce a 150-page book that you sell for £10. With online bookstores taking about 35% and the book costing about £3.50 to print that leaves you with £3 profit. You’d need to sell 666 copies to break even on that initial investment and that’s not counting the man hours you spent writing and not earning money.
Sell the book ‘back of the room’ after your talks and events and that cuts out the online bookstore fee, leaving you with £7 a copy. In this case you’d need to sell 285 to break even. Sure, write a bestseller that gets you featured on Good Morning Britain and sell 10,000 copies and you will make a tidy sum, but that’s not so likely to happen. Did you know that some books that can call themselves ‘bestsellers’ only sold about 500 copies? Did you know that fewer than 19% of authors make a living from their writing alone? Is money really your main motivation? You might need to look at the other five options first.
If this is your WHY you need to spend longer than ever at the strategy stage to ensure your book has the very best chance of success. You might need to write a book that will attract sponsors or advertisers.
Part 3
How to find your WHY
I’d wager that most people start to write a book for the love of writing it. They are thrilled by the experience and the writing process alone (let’s forget about writer’s block for a moment, but that’s the topic of another of my blogs). They push all thoughts of their WHY to the back of their mind. But WHY is vitally important and, as Sue Richardson knows, should come at the start of the process because then you can be sure that the way you write, your content, your tone, your writer’s voice, all help you to achieve your goal. Why always leads to how to start writing a book.
But, you know, finding your WHY is not that easy, so I’ll end this blog with some ideas to help you get really clear on your WHY.
5 ways to find your WHY
1. Speedwrite
Little is more effective at getting answers and writing your way to resolution than just putting your pen on the paper, giving yourself at least ten minutes without distraction and having a conversation with yourself. Sometimes you may find yourself writing inane things such as: ‘I have no idea why I am doing this. When I picked up my pen I thought I wanted to write a book about how I felt after my mother passed away but now I seem to think I want to write poetry, to show how poetry has helped me through my grief. Oh no, that’s a completely different book. I’ve knocked myself off track. Or is my subconscious trying to tell me something? I don’t know but hey…’ It doesn’t matter. Just write. Write your way to clarity.
2. Brainstorm
Get some supportive friends together. Get a mix of friends who care about you as a person and who may or may not know about your writing ambitions and the topic you want to write about. Now just talk it through. Perhaps you could hand them a list of topics you want to be put on the spot about, such as who you want to inspire, how you are going to raise the money, who is likely to read it, who you are going to need to interview and when you want it out by and why. You’ll need to provide some drinks and snacks of course.
3. Join a Writer’s Circle
Joining a writers’ circle will, over time, create you a safe, inclusive, supportive space in which to grow as a writer. Other writers, even new ones, will get to know you and care about you. They will have your back. They will already have a good idea about what you are really good at writing and what they would like you to write a book about. Give it a year. Build up some trust and then ask them to brainstorm with you. I run a monthly Open Writers’ Circle you could join if you like. I also run Speedwrite Live once a month, which is free of charge. You’ll find a supportive group there.
4. Take a Class
Taking a writing class does the same job as a writer’s circle, but, if you take a course in writing a book, writing life story (if you want to write memoir) or another more specialised this course this will be even more effective at helping you to hone your WHY. If you take one of my classes then we always begin with a session on this very subject.
5. Do a Questionnaire
When you are put on the spot and forced to answer certain questions about your book idea it will help you to focus more clearly, to see your strengths and weaknesses in relief and help you to find not just your WHY but also your HOW and WHAT. We have just such a questionnaire available on our website at www.summertimepublishing.com that you are welcome to download and complete even if you never send it into us for assessment. It’s called From Pipedream to Proposal and is designed to help you ascertain whether your book has legs and whether you have thought about everything you need to before you start.
Convinced?
I hope this blog has convinced you not only of the importance of finding your WHY but also given a few useful ideas how to start writing a book.
If you would like to listen to #4 of the In Conversation with Jo Parfitt podcast featuring Sue Richardson hop on over to my podcast page and soak up the wisdom.
