Ok, I am finally going to write a book. I have a publisher arranged and I am raring to go.
I obviously suck at writing so like most things in life I have developed a system to complete this task. I wanted to get a little feedback from other writers and share what I’ve tried so far…
Step #1 I bought & read every book I could find on the subject at hand
Step #2 I have interviewed 6 experts in the field
Step #3 I have created a clever hook and title
Step #4 I wrote a sub-title explains the biggest benefit for the reader to buy and read book
Step #5 I created 20 blue index cards with chapter names
Step #6 I have created 20 cards with sub-headlines for each thought in each chapter
Step #7 I have written a one sentence reminder of what I want to say on the back of each card
Step #8 I have written a closing page
Step #9 I threw away 5 whole chapters and 5 thought cards from each chapter
Step #10 I have written the table of contents as burning questions
My plan is to pull out one of the cared at a time and write for no more than 10 minutes. That’s 38 hours of actual writing time. I should be able to complete my book in less than 30 days at this pace working on it part time
Questions:
One: Experienced writers, am I crazy? Will this work?
Two: What would you write about if you wrote a book?
Three: Do you want me to post about my progress
P.S. If anyone is interested in helping me with this project please contact me here or DM me on Twitter
Thanks for commenting, I NEED your input, lease help
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How’s it going, Perry? Is the book done? I think your plan was a great one. I’m curious if it worked. I write and teach about writing books and getting them published. I also help people edit their books. So, I’m curious where you are in the process and if your process worked!
Yes you can do it. It really takes one to be disciplined. You almost need to wear two hats. One as the writer and the other as the writer's boss. Punch in and out. Take it seriously enough as if it were a real 9-5 job, but set the hours however many times a week with a real schedule and don't not show up for the job. If it were a real corporate job, you wouldn't just not show up for work. It needs to be treated as such.
Get a digital voice recorder and record what you have to say, then hire a professional editor to polish it up a bit and make sure it all makes sense.
Hi Perry,
I'm a professional writer with 16 published books under my belt.
Before starting any non-fiction book, I write an outline. That's the bare-bones of the book and helps me work towards the goal of a completed book. Is it non-fiction you're writing? It half the battle if it's a subject you're knowledgable in, and will reduce your research time considerably.
You also haven't mentioned whether this will be a print book, or an ebook. Are you publishing traditionally or are you self-publishing? These variations make a huge difference as to the road you follow.
It usually takes me around one week writing full-time to write a non-fiction book. I have some articles and other resources on this site that may help: http://niche.writer2writer.com/
You've been given a lot of good advice here, and here's mine:
Just do it.
Just write until the book is finished. If it sucks….? That's what editing is for. Get your story down, then fix it in the editing process.
i like to joint
I am writing a serious non-fiction book, and while I think you have to do whatever works for you, I have my own methods:
I have a list of chapters and each goes through five stages:
1) preliminary research
2) secondary research
3) first draft
4) sent out for comment and review
5) final draft
I find Liquid Story Binder XE an extremely valuable tool as it lets me keep track of everything without having to remember which stage each chapter is in, or worrying about losing notecards. The great thing is that it's portable and can be run off a USB drive so it's available wherever and whenever. So if I'm at a friend's house and an idea occurs to me, I can be off and running in a flash (bad pun intended). The other thing I like is that it works with a huge variety of writing styles, and has tools like outlines, checklists, global or local attributes, and saves the work as easily accessible rtf files. You can also add sound clips or pictures to the chapters (great for my book on music!).
Here's the website, with a 30-day free trial: bit.ly/cPdan
I've heard prolific writers say that what they do is sit down everyday,
and they write maybe a couple pages or a certain word count each day.
When they reach their goal, whether it takes 5 minutes or 5 hours, that's it.
They're finished for the day. They get on with their life.
The key is to do it EVERYDAY.
With that approach, the book gets written.
Your plan sounds like a good plan.
Good Luck!
That is a solid plan. You planned your work and now time to work the plan. As long as you are focused on your goal and take action and commit to the cycle of your project you are going to finish it with no problem. You should definitely post your progress, it commits you to action and it inspires others to do the same thing.
Perry,
Many writers use an outline to help them organize their writing. Your "system" should work well for that. Sometimes, however the static nature of such a system can lead to uncertainty over the best ordering of ideas/concepts. Something I haven't read in the other comments involves a technique similar to what you did with your "Social Media Matrix Report". Try this. On a blank piece of paper, draw a circle around a few words that describe the main subject of your book/story. Next, relas and allow related ideas to flow naturally from your thoughts. Place them randomly on the page and circle each one. Finally, draw lines connecting circles that relate to one another. You may discover a better progression for your ideas or even come up with some additional thoughts on your subject.
Hope this helps.
This method would totally work. I'm almost finished writing a non fiction book I did in 5 min chunks. It still requires work but it gets you a very workable first draft. My time was so limited so I focused on 5 min chunks. At the end of the 5 mins I put the pen down even in mid sentence… This meant that when I picked up the pen again I just kept running with it. It really works. Writing like this extracts the information from you. Even if your writing for the waste paper basket, you will be amazed at how quickly you'll finish if you break it down into very achievable chunks of time. Cant wait to read it.
Perry, from the intro it looks like you're writing a "how to" and for that genre I think it look like a good outline. For other non-fiction it could do as well.
Of course for novel writing–not so much–since character development and other factors will enter in.
If your goal it to write pretty much in the same style as you talk and do videos it should go fairly fast. If not framing sentences, cutting out unneeded verbiage and what not will take more time.
Go for it and good luck! I'll buy your book
I'm writing an ebook right now in fact, so it's good to see your outline for doing it.
I think the thing to remember is to just sit down and write without editing, just let it flow without worrying about grammar and punctuation and spelling, almost like stream of consciousness. Then after you get it all done go back and revise. All good writing is really revising what you've written and revising it some more. So there will be several drafts of your book until you get to the final one.
I'd also suggest getting and reading On Writing Well. That will help cut out the clutter. After reading this book I now read articles and books and see clutter that authors left in that could've been taken out to make the sentences and paragraphs a lot more concise and readable.
Much success.
Richard
Perry, I strongly believe that you are most creative when you think outside the box and then establish a turn-key system, which is what you are trying to establish. This is a great step by step approach for content marketers to produce content as well… so not crazy at all. 2 steps I think if I were you , would have added , Step 3 to review the storyline when done and rearrange. Last step(s) review my copy by reading the book and ensuring you are excited and it inspires you, relates to you or maybe gives you more creative ideas.
Contact me if you need me to review the first draft and get some expert novelists/ writers involved.
Great system – I think that this would work for most people. However, like any system, the fatal flaw is that people have to actually do it! Seriously, though, I think that the mechanics of your system are solid and I've even taken a note from them myself. What's missing is the hard part: how to discover the burning passion that has the author wanting to write the book. That's where most people get stopped. If you create a system that helps anyone to discover the white-hot fire inside them, I'll buy a copy.
Dave Baldwin
Freelance Writer & Editor
Author of Pied Piper Entrepreneurship: Getting Your Customer to Initiate the Sale
http://BuyDavesBook.com/
thanks a lot perry. actually i dont know how create a book. this steps would be a lot. thanks again Perry
If you posted this 17 weeks ago shouldn't you be finished by now?
Roy
Hi Perry.
It’s a tried and tested method of writing a book. I’ve seen it advertised as ‘write a book in 14 days’ although I don’t think that included the prep time.
I’m sure you’ll do it in the scheduled time.
That said, I hate sticking to plans, which is why most of what I write takes far longer than it should! I’d like to think my way is more like ‘real writing’ but some very good writers are every bit as methodical as you.
Best part is, you’ve already got a publishing deal and an etablished fan base, plus marketing know-how. So you’ll probably have a bestseller, too
Good luck, though
Roy
Hey Perry,
Great to chunk things down like that and doing it like you’re planning a show or movie opening with deadlines. The index cards are a huge help as well as having succinct titles and sub-titles. It helps the brain see with more clarity rather than being overwhelmed with all the details. Don’t know if you use a Mac OS, but there’s a totally awesome software app that puts your writing into the formats of index cards that you can move around on a cork-board, does outline formats, and just about every way you can think with the click of a couple buttons. It makes simplicity out of something seemingly complex. It takes snapshots of every version so you can easily go back through your history if you deleted something better and is an amazing writing tool for people who want to get things done as fast as possible. It’s called Scrivener and you simply won’t believe the price. I’m not an affiliate or anything. I just use the software for everything and have turned many writer friends on to it who swear by it now. Anyway, love your work and look forward to more in the Near future with your new book. Best of luck, Garin
I have always written to a deadline. I set a date when I will finish and work to that.
Decide how long you want each chapter to be. Keep a word count so yo know where you are.
As you started 17 weeks ago – by the comments – where are you now?
I was luck – what I wrote was in demand and I self published.
J.
I am happy 2 see you out here. I hope 2 hear from you very soon
I believe that once you have those basic thoughts down it will make it much easier to expand them into a book. I want to write a life story, but don’t know how to organise it
Perry, Writers, I heard usually do not plan. They write what comes to their mind. Ofcourse their mind work 24 hrs on the book.
Planning, works good for text books. Your’s must be explicit stock. Eagerly waiting for a copy
Perry, This sounds like a great plan. It took me five years to write a book. I took that long to do the research and then write the outline. Maybe if I follow your plan the next book will be a lot easier. Your plan is organized and should bring you great success.
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