The Easiest Way To Write A Book

Neera

“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.

  • Tell stories.
  • Give examples.
  • Include case studies.

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.

How To Get Out Of Herd Mentality

Neera

Researchers observed an interesting phenomenon on the 86th floor of the World Trade Centre during 9/11.

When the plane struck the twin towers, one group of colleagues on the 86th floor didn’t panic. Nor did they run for their lives. Instead, they gathered in a conference room to discuss their options.

All of them were terrified. And yet all of them regrouped to see what their friends would do.

The same thing was observed when authorities interviewed several airplane crash survivors.

The first thing people do in times of trouble is not panic.

They look at what their neighbors are doing.

If their neighbors are panicking, they’ll panic too. And if their neighbors are calm, they’ll be calm too.

It’s a typical “monkey see monkey do” response.

Doesn’t matter how intellectually savvy we think we are; deep down we have animal instincts.

And animals live in herds.

Like it or not, we are influenced by our peers and adopt certain behaviors on an emotional rather than rational basis.

We copy our neighbors even in mundane tasks.

Professor Jens Krausse of Leeds University conducted an interesting experiment. He and his colleagues gathered a bunch of people in a big hall and instructed them all to walk randomly inside the hall.

But they gave explicit instructions to 5% of the participants to walk a very particular path.

And guess what happened?

The 95% who were asked to walk randomly just followed the 5% who were instructed to follow the particular path and everyone walked on the same path.

Herds are often irrational.

In the 16th century, tulips were imported from the Ottoman Empire to Holland. Just a few years after arriving in Holland, tulips became the most sought-after commodity in the Netherlands.

At the time, tulip bulbs were worth more than gold and were sold for ten times what a commoner made in a year.

Farmers pulled out the potatoes and other crops from their fields and planted tulips, and what followed was appropriately named “tulip mania.”

There was no rationale for replacing food with flowers, especially when the bulbs were expensive.

Needless to say, the bubble burst. So many tulips were produced that their price fell. Several farmers went bankrupt.

Because we copy things until they reach their breaking point.

More recently, when the pandemic hit the world, the rate of unemployment broke all records in every country. And yet, we saw the stock markets rise.

Why would the stock market rise when the economy is performing so poorly?

This thoughtless copying causes the problem. It’s what causes the mismatch between productivity and the economy.

Technically, the economy should grow as productivity improves.

We always take things too far. The herd mentality leads to irrational actions.

How to escape an irrational herd mentality?

Introduce circuit breakers.

A circuit breaker is an automatic switch protecting the electrical circuit from damage. They switch off automatically when excess current passes through the circuit.

How can you do that?

By doing two things.

Change your environment.

It is the easiest way to escape the herd. We humans are not equipped to go against the herd. Whenever we engage in social behavior, our brains release oxytocin which makes us feel blissful. Agreeing with others releases oxytocin and makes us feel warm and safe.

And so, the most effective way to break the circuit and negate this oxytocin bliss is to change the environment.

That’s what Warren Buffett did when he realized he was getting influenced by other stockbrokers. He moved from New York to Omaha, Nebraska. By insulating himself from the crowd, he made better decisions.

What can you do to change your environment?

Develop your cynical muscle.

Question every assumption. And every solution.

You have to dig deeper, which usually takes a lot more effort.

This is often uncomfortable and tiring.

But it’s the only way to know when the herd is wrong.

How I Achieved More In A Year Using A Simple Tool

Neera

Projects.

That’s right.

I like projects.

Because they have an end date.

By a specific date, the grind is over, and a piece of work is done.

That’s why I try to turn everything into projects.

My projects fall into three categories – small, medium, and big.

Two weeks, four weeks, and three months.

Anything longer than that, there is a chance that it will not get done. Or It will keep going on and on and on… until one day I will lose interest and abandon it altogether.

When you plan long-term projects, you are too occupied with them and don’t have the bandwidth to be open to new opportunities arising along the way.

Tim Ferris agrees with me. He reckons you should throw away five-year plans because to follow a set plan means you have to aim below your maximum capabilities. So you would only do what is in the sphere of your plan and are unlikely to pick up anything going sideways.

“I like pushing myself to the limit and pushing the envelope, and in my mind, that is not really compatible with a reliable long-term plan. I generally treat my life as six-month projects and two-week experiments of various types. Then I take the most attractive door that pops up, and rinse and repeat.”

– Tim Ferriss.

Tim is young. He has the luxury of having six-month projects.

I am on the south side of midlife, so I only plan three-month projects. If I can do three in a year, I am being extremely productive.

Projects can only succeed if there is a project plan.

A project without a plan is not a project but a wish. If you won’t build a house without a plan, then why would you do a project without one?

You don’t need an elaborate plan with Gantt Charts and risk analysis. A one-page plan is sufficient. The five key elements of a project plan are:

  • Start Date
  • End Date
  • Milestones with end dates
  • Obstacles and Mitigation
  • Resources

I created one for the Write Your Book Sprint I plan to run this year using the template I have in my Author Planner And Bullet Journal.

A barebone plan is better than no plan. It took me half an hour to block the dates and think of key milestones, obstacles, and resources. As I work on it and identfy more steps ans issues, I can add them to the list.

I have not run a course in the past 18 months because I didn’t create a written project plan. As soon as I created the plan, I was able to build the course and launch it within the timeframe.

It helps to have all project plans, monthly goals, weekly to-do lists, and daily tasks at one place in one place. I used to do that online, but I found a physical journal is less stressful and more freeing.

This year I created one and published it on Amazon. It is available in hardback and softcover; you can get it here.

With the help of this simple planner, I have been able to:

  • Write and publish three books
  • 100+ articles
  • 72+ newsletter issues
  • 200+ LinkedIn posts
  • Launched the Write Your Book In 30 Days course and ran it successfully twice.

Sometimes simple solutions are the best ones.

How To Control The Fights Between Your Rational and Irrational Brain

Neera

Have you ever got frustrated by the battle between your rational and emotional brain?

Your rational brain knows going for a walk in the morning is good for you, and it sets up the alarm.

But when the alarm rings at 5:00 AM the following day, the emotional brain takes over and rebukes, “Are you crazy? It is too early. Why not catch up with your sleep now and go for a walk in the evening?”

Then in the evening, it presents several other obstacles so that you can’t go for a walk.

It happens to me every time I try to implement a new routine, or from a new habit, or try to do something I should do and don’t want to do.

A Jekyll and Hyde battle begins within me, between my rational and emotional brain.

The rational brain knows what is necessary, but the emotional brain doesn’t want to do the hard work.

The Heath Brothers use the metaphor of ‘the rider and the elephant’ to explain the battle.

The rational brain is the rider.

The emotional brain is the elephant.

The rider can control where the elephant goes… to a certain extent.

But, at any moment, the mighty elephant can take over and do whatever it wants.

If we just instruct the rider on what to do, then we have an understanding, but not motivation.

If we only appeal to the elephant, then we have passion but no direction.

If we want to make a behaviour change, we must get both the rider and the elephant walking along the same path. The way to do this is to direct the rider.

The rider is the rational, logical part of our brain.

It knows that going for walks in the morning is good for me. It has a vision and knows the best way to get there. But it is weak. It only has so much strength to manipulate the bulky, mighty elephant below.

To give the rider the best shot at doing the right thing, we must make our desired change crystal clear.

“Lose weight” isn’t very clear, but “wake up at 4:55, put on running shoes, and get jogging out the door at 5:00” is crystal clear instructions.

“Be more productive” is not clear, but “sit down at the desk, open up the word document, set the timer for 15 minutes, and start writing” is crystal clear.

If it is straightforward, the rider can take control.

But, as soon as we lose clarity, your puny little rational rider stands no chance.

The elephant is the emotional, primitive part of our brain.

It likes to do things that feel good and avoid things that don’t. As soon as things feel complicated, the elephant is looking for an easy way out.

The emotional elephant can easily overpower the rational rider, so we need to keep the beast happy.

One way to do this is to shrink the change.

If the elephant thinks a massive change is headed its way, it’s just going to sit there and become an immovable obstacle.

I have been trying to build two habits — start walking in the mornings and do intermittent fasting. But my elephant is resisting. So I have come up with a plan to trick it by making the change small.

Rather than waking up at 5:00 AM, I have started waking up just fifteen minutes earlier than before and going for a stroll around the block.

Rather than doing 16 hours of fasting (as per intermittent fasting), I have started with 13 hours.

Once my elephant is comfortable, I can slowly start taking longer walks and increase my fasting time.

I can gradually ramp up the habit reset and make more significant changes.

Question For You

What rational and irrational brain battles are going on inside you?

What behavior do you want to change?

What habits do you want to form? Can you give your rider some clear instructions and make the goal small for your elephant?

How To Build An Author Brand

Neera

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.

What is an author brand?

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.

Why do authors need a brand?

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:

  • First, it helps you differentiate from other authors in the same industry who possibly write on the same topics as you.
  • It gives a better perception of your work, core values, strengths, and unique offerings.
  • It helps your readers to recognize your work.
  • It converts potential readers into fans.
  • It increases your visibility.
  • It helps you to fulfil your readers’ expectations.
  • It helps create your author platform.
  • It builds trust amongst your audience.
  • It helps you build quality relationships with your readers.
  • And it creates an impenetrable layer of authenticity.

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.

Do we need to spend money on branding?

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.

So, how should you build your brand?

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?

Author Branding is different from Book Branding

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.

  1. What is your uniqueness?
  2. What is your brand in three words?
  3. Who are your audience? What are their needs?
  4. What channels of communication do you have with your audience? How often do you communicate with them?
  5. What problems do you solve?
  6. What level are your storytelling skills?
  7. Have you discroved your voice?
  8. How are your growing your audience?
  9. What are your distinctive physical features (logo, color scheme, slogan)?
  10. What books/ articles, podcasts, and other resources you need to learn more about author branding.

Here are some resources:

The Power Of Subtraction

Neera

Richard and Maurice were running a barbeque restaurant in Los Angeles, but it wasn’t doing very well. So they took a brief break to decide what to do.

They audited their sales receipts to see which products were selling more. Once they found out, they wondered: why don’t we focus on these products that are doing well? So, courageously, they slashed their menu from 25 items to a mere 9.

That’s when “McDonald’s Barbeque” actually started growing. The McDonald brothers could improve their food and reduce their costs by reducing their product line. And serve more customers per hour! That’s how Ray Kroc got interested in partnering with the brothers and franchising McDonald’s.

Subtraction is the key to excellence.

Ask a good chef how to make the soup more flavourful, and he’ll tell you to add a few more spices to it. But ask a great chef how to make the soup more flavourful, and he will tell you to boil away excess water.

Ask any Pulitzer prize-winning author, and they will tell you that the art of editing is more important than the art of writing.

Why does subtraction work?

As James Clear says:

There are two paths to improvement”

Option 1: Do more great work.

Option 2: Do less bad work.

Doing less of what is not working intensifies our focus on doing more of what is working. And that is why subtraction helps us succeed faster. By subtracting the inessential, we enable the essential to shine much brighter.

Adding is easier. Subtracting is not.

And that’s because we are hard-wired to add.

Leidy Klotz and his colleagues from the University of Virginia have conducted various experiments that prove that we humans are inclined towards addition.

When an incoming University president asked for ideas to improve things on campus, only 11% of the suggestions involved getting rid of something. Instead, 89% of requests were geared towards adding and doing new things.

In a study where college students were asked to improve their essays and resubmit them, only 17% did so by removing parts of them. 83% of the essays had a higher word count.

Takeaway

  • Subtract the inessential to intensify your focus on what works best.
  • Add monthly reminders to your calendar with a prompt question: “What can I subtract from my workload to focus on core projects?”