Are You Ready to Write a Nonfiction Book? Here's What it Takes.
It’s probably not what you think.
Most aspiring authors come to me worried about time, platform, and writing experience, but often, what they REALLY need isn't even on their radar.
In the video above and in this blog post, I'll tell you the three things you absolutely need....whether you self-publish or pursue a traditional book deal.
If you decide you' might be ready, register for my free nonfiction book proposal training so you can learn all about how to sell your book to a publisher and get readers lining up to buy your book.
If you’re writing nonfiction, you’re not going to want to miss that!
What you don’t need
If you’re like most of the aspiring authors who come to me for help getting published, you’re worried about three main things. You can’t find the time, that your platform is too small, or that you can’t get a book deal without an MFA or without years of professional writing experience. The good news is as amazing and helpful as those things would be, they’re definitely not the things you need!
The challenge is that there are 3 ingredients you do need, and they may not even be on your radar.
Before I talk about what you do and don’t need to be successful with a nonfiction book, I want to get one thing out of the way This is not going to be one of those posts where I try to convince you to write a book and claim that you can whip out a book in a week.
That is not a book!!
If you think it’ll be fast and easy, or that it’ll help you get rich quick,you are absolutely wrong. On the other hand… if you think writing and publishing a book is impossible, luckily you’re also dead wrong.
First time authors get book deals every day. Just check Publishers’ Marketplace. In fact, the vast majority of my clients were first time authors. Now they’ve been published by big New York publishers, small but prestigious literary presses, won awards, become Amazon #1 bestsellers, and they’ve been featured in places like the LA Times, Harper’s, McSweeney’s, and The Atlantic and a bunch of other places.
Very few of them had wide-open schedules, big platforms, or MFAs. Not one of them had all three of those. I’m not even sure anyone had two of those. But they did all have three things in common. I’m going to tell you those three things because to be successful you’ll need them too. Then if you have those key ingredients, keep watching because I’ll give you my absolute best tips on how to make your book a reality even
if you’re short on time, have a small platform, or don’t have a ton of publications to your name. I also have an in-depth free private training on getting a nonfiction book deal, and you can register for that at the bottom of this post.
The three things you DO need:
1. A story or message you’re passionate about sharing. You cannot put in a half-hearted effort or write a book because you “should” or because “it’s time.” Without your heart and your effort, It just won’t be good enough to stand out in the market or get readers interested. Readers, especially for nonfiction, are only going to invest their time reading great books. If you’re truly passionate about your book and care about what it can bring to readers—then you are already one step ahead. That’s not something I can teach.
2. The dedication to shape your idea into a tight, compelling, and convincing
book proposal. The great thing about nonfiction is that you can sell a book, get an agent and a book deal with a proposal before you’ve actually written the book. But you’ve got to show them why your book stands out in the market, what makes it fresh and unique, why readers would be excited. The good news about that—that’s something I can teach.
3. Then the third thing you’re going to need is a willingness to promote your book based on your strengths no matter where your platform stands now. Platform absolutely does matter for nonfiction…but the good news —it doesn’t have to be all social media. Or ANY social media. There is no one-size-fits all way to build authority or get word out, so in a minute I’ll talk more about what to do if you don’t have a big platform yet. Again, few of my successful clients had a big platform when they got agents or book deals.
Do you have all three of those things?
If you do, you are my kind of author. Not everybody is. I’m dead serious that I turn away far more clients than I take on. Too many people have been lied to and are convinced they can whip out a quick little book and either get a publisher or make a bunch of money self-publishing. It just doesn’t work like that, and those aren’t the kind of authors I get excited about.
If you’re dedicated and you only want to write a book if it means something, not just so you can call yourself an “author,” we are on the same page. I believe you can do this, so check out my training to learn how to you can get started (with or without my help).
Are any of these things getting in your way…
You don’t have enough time
I can SO relate to this, especially since having kids. Here’s what you can do:
Schedule your writing first: No matter how small or how wacky your time constraints are: Maybe you write before dawn while your kids are sleeping (hello, that’s me) maybe you do 15 minutes every day on your lunch break at work or maybe you can take a long weekend every month and just binge write the whole time (Here’s exactly how I do that!).
Whatever way you can schedule your writing, put it in your calendar, block that out, and then schedule the rest of your obligations around your writing time because what you schedule, is what you end up doing.
Harness hidden time: Maybe you can dictate on your commute. Or if you carry a notebook around or any little piece of paper, you can write while you’re waiting for the doctor or in line at the post office, or during a Zoom meeting and you can turn off your camera. And the reason it’s important to capture those little ideas is going to feed right into my third tip, which is create a daily book habit.
Now, I did not say a daily writing practice. A lot of people are going to try to tell you that you have write every day. Hey, if you can do that, that’s fabulous. I don’t think I personally know a single writer that writes every day, not even bestselling authors. But I want you to be involved with your book every day. That can be something simple like talking to somebody about your book, or watching a movie reading a book that’s on the same topic that might inspire you, listening to music that brings up the same emotions you’re trying to convey in your book.
The reason you want to do all of that is because then, if you’re doing this every day consistently, this is what your unconscious mind is going to be working on, while you’re sleeping, while you’re driving, while you’re showering, or mowing the lawn. If you don’t think about your book, work on your book that regularly, your unconscious is going to go to work on something else. Probably picking fights on Facebook, what you should have said to that person with different politics, or whatever annoying thing it is that your brain can take up space with.
You have a small (or non-existent) platform
Again, this is okay, especially for now, do not let this stop you from writing your book or book proposal. I’m not even going to get into the value of just writing for yourself. Today we’re going to stick to talking about getting your book published. But working on your book can help you develop your authority and your platform even before it’s published. Because as you write and test and refine your ideas and get that concept clear, you’re going to develop your story and your message in ways that will help you connect with your audience and with other people. Then it will be easier to build your platform at the same time you’re finishing the book, while you’re waiting on edits, or while you’re waiting on cover design.
And here’s the thing. If you have been rejected by a publisher, they loved your book but they rejected it only because of a small platform, as much as that burns and as frustrating as that is, that’s actually a pretty sweet spot to be in because it means your concept, your message, your story are actually spot on and that’s the hardest part.
It’s really difficult to have something worth saying, but the platform, that’s something you can build. That’s something that other people can help you with. And here are some non-social media ways to build your platform…This all goes for traditional or self-publishing because you’re going to need to get word out either way.
You could focus on building your professional network – this can be one of the biggest and best ways to demonstrate your authority and ability to sell books, especially if your target audience shares your profession or an interest in you’re the topic you’re writing on.
You can write essays – Because believe it or not, big name publications take essays from brand new writers all the time. It’s something I teach about separately but it’ll be a great way to build your writing chops but also your authority. You can be an expert source for journalists.
You could speak at conferences, guest on podcasts or blog. There are so many things to try! But…
Here’s what NOT to do: Do not do ALL of these things. I kind of didn’t even want to mention a bunch of options because people start to worry they have to do everything and then you spread yourself too thin and nothing is effective. So don’t burn yourself out trying to do everything. It’s going to be a lot more powerful to focus on one thing you’re good at.
What are you good at? How do you like connecting with friends or colleagues or students or clients? THAT is probably going to be your secret. Double down on that…and you’ll be on your way to a platform.
You don’t have an MFA or a publication history.
This is like platform - these are things that can really, really help, but they’re not necessary. If you have a story only you can tell, if you have unique expertise and authority, a fresh and unique take on your topic or theme, you’ve got what you need. I don’t say this as an MFA hater—mine was one of the best things I ever invested in, but again, it’s not necessary.
You have two options if your writing’s not quite there yet.
Option 1: If you have some writing experience whether it’s a blog or a podcast or public speaking, you are already ahead of the game, so my suggestion is to take your writing to the next level. Do that by taking a writing class, hiring an editor, working with a coach. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your skills can develop with that kind of mentorship.
Option 2: Maybe you know you’ve got a great story or you’ve got a great message but you just really don’t think there is any way that you’re going to be able to bring your writing up to the level you would need for publication. That’s okay. That’s where ghostwriters come in. This is something that can help you with time constraints as well. They’ll interview you. They’ll get your message, help you shape that into a book and help actually write the book. Publishers buy books all the time from experts and from people with great stories where the actual writing is done by a ghostwriter.
Okay, so let’s see if you’re ready
Are you passionate about writing this book, rather than doing it because you should?
Are you ready to shape your idea into a tight, compelling book proposal?
And do you believe there’s a way that you can go ahead, as much as you might hate the idea of platform, you can use your strengths to get word out in a way that works for you?
Because if so, you are totally ready and you are miles ahead of the competition!!! I say go for it!
If you’re not sure about all of those things, but you do have number one, that passion I’m talking about…the rest is something you can develop. And it’s something that I can help you develop.
I have a free training that will go WAY more in depth on how to write a book proposal and how to pitch publishers, but you do have to register for an invite.
Register to get your invite here: 3 Strategies for a Book Proposal that Sells
In that training, I’ll be teaching you:
The key to writing a book that readers will line up to buy
3 biggest mistakes aspiring authors make when attempting to write and publish their books
How to get a book deal (even if you're not famous or well-connected)
