You may already have written a book without realizing it. If you've written a dozen or so articles on, say, green building construction, traveling with children, designing training programs, or another defined topic, you might easily gather them into a book-length manuscript.
Why would you want to do that, you ask? Because having a book to show as an example of your writing skills gives you an enormous advantage over your competition. Clients are impressed by books.
Your book doesn't need to be on a subject in the client's field; it can still add to your credentials and boost your stature as a writer-even if it's about bird watching or is a novel. The immediate impression is, "Wow! You've actually written a book!" You've got the client's attention. Take it from there to close the deal on an assignment.
How should I start?
Choose a topic. If you have previously written a fair share of material about the subject, you have a great start. If not, then begin compiling information.
Become an article clipper. Every time you see a relevant newspaper or magazine piece, advertisement, or brochure, cut it out and dump it into a box. If you can't clip it, copy it and throw in the copy. Carry a pad or PDA with you and make notes. Print out interesting and related Google searches and blog entries. Jot down comments heard on TV and locations of podcasts. Work at it: Find everything you can on your subject and fill your box.
After a month or so of hunting and gathering, dump the box onto a table and start sorting. Use sticky notes and make more copies as needed. Create piles of information that seems to go together. Then sort each individual pile to see what more information you need to close the gaps of logic, transition, and flow. Arrange the piles into a coherent pattern based upon chronology, affinity, materials, or other commonalities you choose to follow. Fill the gaps and winnow out whatever strays from your basic theme, although you might want to hang on to some items that would make good sidebars and illustrations.
Do I need an outline?
Give each pile of information a name and write all of the names down in a sequence that makes sense to you. These are going to become your chapters.
Now write two or three sentences after each name that indicates what the chapter will be about. Don't write the chapter; just describe what its focus will be. Review the information again to see what's missing and do some more research to find that additional information.
You now have an outline, framework, treatment, skeleton-call it what you will-for your book, and the process becomes one of filling in the blanks. If you've previously written extensively on your subject, you should be able to move through the chapters fairly easily and quickly. If not, it will, of course, take longer.
What do I do next?
If your goal is to be published by a traditional, royalty publisher, write a couple chapters and stop. Publishers or agents for nonfiction books don't want to see a finished book; they want to see a proposal for the book plus a chapter or two. That allows them to tweak your approach for optimum marketability and to evaluate your writing skill. To submit your book proposal to a traditional publisher, use the chapter descriptions as a guide and write an overview of what the book will be about. The overview and the chapter treatments will form the basis of your proposal. (More about proposals in another article.)
If you decide to self-publish, now is the time to complete all of the chapters and add the front and end matter: title page, copyright page, contents, and index.
What do I do with it?
Once your book is published and you call on a client, exchange the standard pleasantries and begin discussing the client's project. As you relate your experience to his or her needs and perhaps show one or two assignments that you've completed, take your book from your briefcase and slide it across the desk. Remark that this is a book that you recently wrote and, even if the book has nothing whatever to do with the client's need, you're proud of it and think the client would like to see it.
The client will generally pick it up and take a peek inside. Spend no more than a minute describing the book and how you came to write it, and then move back to the project under discussion. The impression you want has been made: 1. You know how to write a book. 2. You are an expert in at least one field. 3. You are a serious, professional consultant or writer who can be relied upon to complete a project successfully.
How can I also sell it?
Set up a Web site about your book immediately, even before you begin to write it. Select an illustration appropriate to your topic-you may find another piece of art you like better before you're done writing and never use this one again-and add copy that tells what your book will be about. Include an excerpt (not really an excerpt because you haven't written the book yet) and prominently display a box saying "Soon to be released."
Don't ask for orders; ask for reservations. If you take orders and accept payments, you must ship the book within time limits set by law. You can take reservations, however, without being legally obligated to deliver by a specific date.
Create a blog and link to it from your Web site. Begin posting entries about your topic. Generate as much buzz as possible by citing other Web sites and blogs, newspaper and magazine feature articles, and any other relevant information you come across.
Can I get paid along the way?
If you sell your book either directly or through an agent to a traditional publisher, you probably will receive an advance against future royalties when the book is released. Advances have dropped somewhat recently, but it's still likely that even first-time authors can negotiate one.
Whether your book is published by a traditional publisher or you decide to self-publish, you can still make some money as you're developing your book. Write your book in such a way that each chapter can stand alone as a feature article. You can't write it as a news article because by the time your book is released, the information will no longer be news. Submit your article(s) to appropriate publications whose readers would be likely purchasers of your book or your consulting or writing services. In the brief bio at the beginning or end of the article, mention that you are the author of the forthcoming book __.
Try to adapt each chapter / article to as many different markets as possible. For example, if your book is about security issues, you might focus on surveillance procedures in department stores, bus stations, and hospitals. Then with very little rewriting you can adapt and send the article to trade magazines that serve those particular audiences. Editors and readers of retail marketing publications are unlikely ever to see magazines aimed at health care providers.
How can I promote it?
You're pretty much on your own whether you self-publish or publish with a traditional publisher. That means you'll need to do some self-promotion. Remember that your goal is to find clients for your writing; your book is the tool that you're using.
Begin small. Find the names of persons who arrange programs for professional, trade, social, civic, and, if appropriate, religious organizations. Send them a one-page overview or press release about your son-to-be-released book and tell them you're available as a speaker for one of their meetings. Concentrate on the kinds of professional groups that your clients would join. Avoid a hard sell during a presentation, but don't forget to relate whatever you say to your book. Adopt the role of expert. After all, you've written a book on the subject.
Send press releases to community newspapers and use those clips to get coverage in larger publications. When a news item related to your book topic occurs, call a reporter covering the story and offer background. Ask to be quoted by name, and send those clippings to your clients.
Finally, consider giving away copies of your book to existing or potential clients and to others who may lead you to consulting and writing assignments.
This article may be reprinted with credit: Jim Kepler owns Adams Press, a family-owned producer of books for small presses and self-publishing authors since 1942. Visit http://www.adamspress.com
He is the presenter of "You Ought to Write a Book" and other writing workshops.
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