Think again.
One of my students came to me with his book idea.
As we started flushing his idea, we realized
he had three books in him rather than one.
Layer by layer, we picked threads of his thoughts
and arranged them in different piles.
Now he can write them all.
One by one.
Here are 5 steps to limit the scope of your book.
1. Choose a specific theme.
2. Define your audience.
3. Set a clear objective.
4. Create an outline.
5. Revise and edit.
Leave the rest for the next book.
I started my first journal at thirteen. It was an old hardback notebook that belonged to my father.
I started collecting quotes, little anecdotes, and bits of writing that inspired me.
As my collection grew, and I had a bit of money, I bought a nice notebook and transferred everything on it.
That journal stayed with me all my life. Whenever in a conundrum or needed the company of a wise counselor, I would open it randomly and would always find something to soothe me.
After that journal, I started several more. So many that I am running out of space to store them.
I know, one day, when I move to a smaller apartment or move on to another existence, they are going to end up in the recycling bin.
I want to save the wisdom collected in them. It has served me well over my life. I want it to serve others as well.
Today, I came across a book, where Kevin Kelly (of 1000 true fans fame) has collected hundreds of bits of, advice, in the form of aphorisms, concise observations, and quiet insights.
The project started with him collecting insights to share with his children.
He writes on his website: “I’ve been jotting down bits of advice I wished I had known earlier in my life, and then sharing them with my children. Each one is like a tweet — a wisdom tweet. This year I have put 450 of them into a pocket-sized book.”
Kelly is not claiming to have originated all the advice he presents in the book. Instead, he says, “I am primarily channeling the wisdom of the ages.”
The book is a pleasure to read straight through or jump around at random.
It has been put together in an effortless way. Not overthought, not made to look overly intelligent.
His book gave me the idea!
I, too, should turn the wisdom collected in my journals into a book. It will survive much, much later than me. And might end up helping someone else.
Here are some nuggets from Kevin Kelly’s book:
“For a great payoff, be especially curious about the things you are not interested in.”
“That thing that made you weird as a kid could make you great as an adult – if you don’t lose it.”
“If you are stuck in life, travel to a place you have never heard of.”
“Taking a break is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.”
“Don’t keep on making the same mistakes; try to make new mistakes.”
“If you stop to listen to a musician or street performer for more than a minute, you owe them a dollar.”
“James Patterson is a terrible writer who became very, very successful.” — Stephen King.
Could this statement be true?
How can a terrible writer become so successful that he has sold over 400 million copies of his books? Today, out of every 100 hardcovers sold, 6 are his. Is James Patterson really a terrible writer? And if so, how did he hoodwink the world to buy his books?
Is there something he knows and others don’t?
After all, James Patterson sells more books every year than any other living writer. Even more than Stephen King.
But what made him a success?
Even when he was working as a copywriter for J. Walter Thompson, he would find time in his busy schedule to write every day. He would write during lunch breaks, or on flights during his business trips, or at midnight on a busy day.
His first book was rejected 31 times before it was published. However, when it was published, Patterson won the prestigious Edgar award for a best debut novel from the Mystery Writers of America. The Thomas Berryman Number was critically acclaimed, but it sold less than 10,000 copies.
Patterson wrote 6 more books after this, all of which were duds.
It was only during the process of writing the 8th book that he stumbled upon an epiphany — his writing process.
James Patterson had a unique writing process.
First of all, he wrote with a pencil on paper.
And before writing a novel, he would first create a long outline.
He would outline all the scenes in detail.
He would outline the protagonist and the antagonist’s backstories in detail. Sometimes, his outlines would be 50 pages long.
He would know the beginning, middle, and end before he started writing the book.
But it was only while going through the outline of his 8th book, he realized, he had already written the book. The short scenes in his long outline seemed perfect. It kept the pace of the book. Why flesh it out with more boring details only to add length to the book?
He recalled a story his editor had told him. While writing Nebraska — Bruce Springsteen picked up his guitar and created a rough demo. But he eventually realized that the demo was the record — just him and his acoustic guitar. Nothing else was needed.
Patterson realized that his outline made a better book than a book filled with long, detailed scenes. And so, he made the whole book full of short chapters just 2 -3 pages long. Each chapter had just one scene, one thought.
The book, Along Came A Spider, became a page-turner. It hit the second spot on the New York Times bestsellers list.
Unknowingly, Patterson had found the magic that video game makers chase. Give quick wins to hook the readers. Readers would get satisfaction with finishing chapters, which makes them keep on turning the page.
Patterson’s quick pacing and two-minute chapters hit the perfect spot for the attention-deficit population.
And Patterson realized that what he is best in the world at is not crafting stories that were memorable, or writing prose that is quotable but in pacing the stories in such a way that gave quick wins to the reader. He wrote stories ‘okay’ stories but made them fast-paced.
When he realized that, he parlayed that a step further. He focused on only writing the outlines. And then finding co-writers to flesh out his 50–80 page outlines to form a 250–300 page book.
Writers he collaborates with had to follow his rules:
That’s how, each year, James Patterson releases close to two dozen new books. Because of this strategy, Patterson has published over 350 books so far.
Librarians all over the world recommend his book to turn non-readers into readers.
This is how Patterson outsells Stephen King by a huge margin.
The idea is to give quick wins to your audience.
Why?
Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer once set out to study the lives of 26 project teams in 7 companies. They wanted to see what leads to the highest levels of creative output in a workplace.
They asked all the folks in these companies to write a daily journal of their work and thoughts. They also asked these people to rate their work days: was it a good day or a bad day?
After reading 12,000 journal entries, they found people were most motivated on the days they had made progress in their work.
Motivation followed the progress, and not the other way around.
Even more surprising, the type of progress made didn’t matter. Minor progress had an outsized impact on people’s moods and motivations.
Win quick, to win more.
Don’t bore your audience. Give them quick wins. Break progress steps down into smaller units.
The scope of the wins didn’t matter as much as the speed of the win.
Just like Patterson broke down a big chapter into six small chapters to give quick wins to his readers so that they kept on reading, you’ve got to plan your writing in a way that secures quick wins.
Because that’s what will keep your readers coming back for more.
Tomorrow is the 1st of November. All around the world, thousands of people will glue to their laptops, writing a novel.
They will write 50,000 words in 30 days.
That is 1,667 words a day.
This annual event is known as NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month.
Each year, I take part in the challenge. I have been doing that since I found out about it in 2011.
Sometimes I win it, other times I don’t.
Winning means writing 50,000 words before the clock strikes midnight on 30th November.
Many times, I manage only a few thousand words. But I participate each year, regardless. The only exceptions are when I am traveling in November. However, twice I wrote during the travel. It killed me and ruined all the fun, so I decided not to do that again.
Which means I write things other than a novel.
In 2011, I wrote a short story and managed to write only 2,340 words.
In 2012, I wrote my memoir and wrote 13,458 words towards it.
In 2013, I wrote a collection of short stories and won the challenge.
In 2015, I wrote the first draft of my first novel and won it again by writing 52,504 words.
In 2016, I wrote a travel memoir and cranked up 40,516 words.
In 2017, I wrote 14,169 words in diary-style personal writing.
In 2018, I wrote 55,757 words long self-help book and won it again.
In 2019, I wrote a collection of blog articles (15,437 words).
In 2020, I wrote the draft of my second novel (17,370 words).
In 2021, I wrote a memoir again, Diary of A Wannabe Writer (16,670 words)
This year, I am planning to finish the first novel I wrote in 2015 and get it ready for publication.
But somehow that doesn’t bring in the excitement of a challenge.
So I want to up the ante, and write another book in parallel.
In public.
On LinkedIn and Medium.
Starting tomorrow.
If I have intrigued you enough and you too want to write a novel or a book in November, you can join NaNoWriMo here.
I am going to need all your encouragement and support.
An online friend on LinkedIn wrote, “You have taken on quite a challenge there.” My response was, “The worst that can happen is I fail. But I will fail doing something. Which is not a failure but a step forward. I will learn from my mistake and do it better next time.”
I don’t see them as failures anymore. I see them as opportunities to learn.
Back in 1993, I started a business. Selling artificial jewelry. I failed at it miserably.
Then again, in 2001. This time in health supplements. I failed again.
Then I tried my hand at selling real estate, in the middle of the worst recession Australia had ever experienced. Needless to say, I didn’t sell a single house. I had failed again.
Now, thirty years later, when I look back at them, they were not failures; they were learning opportunities.
I learned more from my failures than from my successes. “Writing” was my biggest failure. In my first performance review as a middle manager, my boss said to me, “The only thing standing between you and a senior manager role is your written English.”
Bingo!
A learning opportunity!
I rolled up my sleeves and got on with turning my weakness into a strength.
– I enrolled in writing courses.
– Joined writing groups.
– Started a blog.
– Read books.
– Then wrote some.
Today, when someone says to me, “You write very well,” I smile. I tell them it is because I am not afraid of failures.
The next 30 days will show whether I fail again and learn some lessons. Or able to use what I learned about writing in the past 3–4 years and write a book in public.
If you have been following me for a while, you would know that back in January 2021, I posted on three social media platforms for 100 consecutive days.
Then again in April 2021, I announced that I will write 100 articles in 100 days. And I did that too.
Then, in June 2021, I set myself a challenge to write a book in a week and I did that too. I even wrote an update each day, sharing my progress.
This is something like that.
A challenge to push the boundaries and do some more under pressure.
I have been trying to talk myself out of it but the idea won’t leave me. So I am going to go ahead and do it.
My plan is to fictionalize a non-fiction book.
It is going to be an interesting idea, and I am very excited about it. At least for the time being. I can’t say whether this excitement will last for the entire month.
I will not chase the 50,000 words (I am a rebel writer, after all). Instead, I am going to weave a story around the messages I want to get across. If I could do that convincingly, the skeleton will be done and the book can be beefed up in subsequent edits.
When I announced this crazy idea on LinkedIn, I didn’t realize that LinkedIn posts have a limit of 3000 characters (which is about 500–600 words). So my plan is to write an abridged version on LinkedIn and a full version on Medium. I hope it will work.
From experience, I know there will be days in the month when I cannot write. Such days come, we all know that, so I am giving myself permission to skip a few days here and there and make up for them when I can.
To save you from a flood of emails, I will publish the daily chapters in my profile and will give you updates from time to time, along with the links.
As I am writing these words, my inner critic is lifting its head and before he talks me out of sending this post, I am going to hit publish.
See you tomorrow!
Bye for now.
“What is the easiest way to write a book?” asked a reader.
“Write a series of questions about a topic and then write responses to them,” was my answer.
In your business/ line-of-work, clients ask you a lot of questions all the time. Don’t get annoyed with them. Collect them. They are like gold mines.
Write detailed responses to them. Don’t just answer dryly.
Frequently asked questions make brilliant in-depth books.
Here are a few examples:
Frequently Asked Questions About the Universe – by Jorge Cham
The Indie Writer’s Encyclopaedia – by Michael La Ronn
84 Questions That Sell – By Paul Cherry
50 Questions On Natural Laws – by Charles Rice
101 Questions To Ask Before You Get Engaged – H. Norman Write
———
Do you want to write a book but can’t start because it feels like a daunting project?
I might be able to help.
Contact me on LinkedIn.
One of my readers wrote, “I like the idea of a learning plan. I especially need to get organized for an author brand.”
That triggered the thought — I need a learning plan for building an author brand.
I have been writing full time for over three years and haven’t bothered with branding.
When I was new to this game (yes, I have begun to see that everything is a game), I tried to engage a branding expert to help me build my author brand. He gave me a quote of $13,000.
That was just his consulting fee. I said, “Thank you,” and ran.
I had put branding aside and concentrated on writing. Although I have spent much more money on writing and marketing courses than the branding coach asked for, I still haven’t gone back to building a brand.
Today I want to discuss with you the reason behind that.
But before I do that, I first want to discuss what an author brand means to me.
If you listen to branding gurus on YouTube and blogs, they will make you believe a brand is a logo, a colour scheme, a slogan, or a website homepage with specific images and fonts.
Yes, these elements are helpful to branding, but they are not your brand.
A brand is a much simpler concept.
Your author brand is your promise to your readers.
It’s the perception your readers have of you. It’s how your readers identify you.
Branding is recognition beyond the physical aspects of your business and your persona. It’s the thought that others have when hearing your name or your business name. It directly represents you, what you stand for and what you do.
Stephen King’s brand, in three words, is imaginative, gripping, and suspenseful.
Your brand is the hat you wear while writing and serving your readers.
There are a plethora of reasons you would want to wear your brand hat:
I write about writing, creativity, and productivity. Countless other writers are writing about the same things. What differentiates me from them is that I write from an amateur’s point of view.
That’s my brand.
My promise to my readers is that I do not pretend to be a know-all. I am here to learn. And whatever I learn, I pass it on.
The best form of branding is costless.
You don’t need to purchase different products to ‘start’ branding.
A better way to build a reputable brand is by being present, consistent, authentic, valuable, and unforgettable. As an author, these aspects of your brand are free.
You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to engage in image building to build your brand.
You’re a storyteller, and a brand is a story. Tell your story authentically and you have a brand.
Each author has a unique backstory. Mine is that I sucked at writing. Rather than accepting it as my weakness, I made it my strength. I connect with those writers who think their writing sucks (which most writers do).
I began building my brand a long time before I published my first book. I was building it when I was writing my blog, I was building it when I was writing articles on Medium, and I am building it through The Whimsical Writer newsletter and LinkedIn posts.
The answer is — through your writing.
Nurture your unique style of writing.
That is why readers read your articles, subscribe to your newsletter, or pick up your books to read. Fulfill their expectations.
But it’s not enough to be good at what you write.
You need to create an emotional connection with your readers – often before they’ve read your work.
You need to open communication channels with your readers. You need to encourage them to talk to you, either through your website or social media. Ask them questions. Invite their opinion. And when they respond, write back to them. Keep the conversation going.
It is not as hard as it sounds. I have formed many friendships with readers worldwide through Medium articles and LinkedIn. These people have become my cheerleaders. They read everything I write and encourage me through my project more than my family or physical life friends do.
Jeff Bezos is right when he said:
“A brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Another thing you can do is become a storyteller.
Early in my writing career, I realized I couldn’t become a literary writer because I lacked the skills. But I can become a good storyteller.
Being a skilled storyteller means being able to deliver a story in a way that is whimsical, amazing, and irresistible, and forces your audience to bow at your feet metaphorically. People love good stories.
Tell stories from life. Sharing personal stories is hard, but it gets easier with time. Besides, most of our information is already on the internet, either on Facebook or Instagram, so why not share it with our readers who connect with us at a much deeper level through our writing?
Book branding is about how good the book is and how well-packaged it is to attract the target audience. Is the cover right? Does it include all the elements of the genre? Would it appeal to the target audience?
An author’s branding establishes that the writer is the perfect person to solve readers’ problems. Readers don’t care about your book; they only care about what your book can do for them.
A fiction author’s brand promises this book will be as entertaining as the previous one.
Effective branding is foundational to developing your writer platform and audience-building efforts.
I hope I have addressed some questions in your mind, Carol.
But you still would need to make a Learning Plan for your brand, and it will take you a while to get to the point you want to get with your brand. But keep the above information in your mind while creating your brand, and don’t just stop at a logo, a colour scheme, and a slogan.
Although I have moved along since I tried to engage a branding expert, I still am nowhere near where I want my brand to be.
So, I if you are looking to build your author brand, here are some questions you need to ponder.