Fast forward for a moment and imagine that you have just published a book.
Imagine finding your name on Amazon and seeing the book you wrote is ready for sale. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful moment?
Now let me ask you a question: What will happen next?
I mean, do you think about the income the book might generate? Or do you imagine other outcomes?
The reason I’m writing to you today is because the outcome I experienced after publishing my latest book was a complete surprise. A wonderful surprise!
I’ll tell you about it in a moment, but first, let’s take a look at the challenges of publishing a book and how to overcome them.
The challenges of creating a Book (and how to overcome them)
Writing and publishing a book is like climbing a mountain. Of course, you need some effort and determination to get to the top, but the it can be a joyful journey with beautiful views along the way.
Choosing a route
If you want to climb a mountain, you need to choose a route. Some routes are more pleasurable, whereas others can get you stuck on impassable cliff faces.
To choose the best route, you need to look carefully at the topic. In my case, I wanted to write a book on youthful aging. However, at first, I couldn’t figure out how to make the topic manageable. There was just so, so much to write about.
I chose the route of using the agile development framework instead of the more conservative waterfall process (these are two terms from software development).
Waterfall is a traditional approach —where development is handled as a linear series of events from conception to production. In terms of writing a book this means spending years writing a hefty book and only getting feedback from readers after publishing.
The agile development framework, on the other hand, means writing a series of shorter books so that you can use feedback from readers, as well including up-to-date information along the way.
You can find out how apply the theory of agile development to writing a book in the following article: How to Write and Publish Your First Book: The Secret of Agile Development.
To get to grips with my topic, I created a mind-map with all the subtopics I could think of. From all of these, I then chose the sub-topics for the first book in the series: Youthful Aging Secrets – Live Better for Longer
Finding the flow
A good book needs a sense of flow. You need to take the readers by the hand and lead them through the book. A good flow means that there is a logical sequence of information and inspiration.
That’s where chapters come in. At first, I had my subtopics as a random list, but now the challenge was to sort them into a logical order. I started laying out the book on Scrivener LINK because you can shift your subtopics around until you find a logical sequence.
The challenge of writing
I started writing the introduction. Two paragraphs in and I got horribly stuck! Looking back later on, it was no surprise that I got stuck there because you can’t really write an introduction when you don’t yet know what the completed book will look like.
Luckily, with Scrivener, you can start anywhere. Writing a book doesn’t need to be a linear process. I had found inspiring stories about people who developed their full potential later in life and so I started writing about these amazing human beings.
The first drafts were disappointing. I began to wonder whether I have what it takes. But the truth is that all first drafts are cruddy. It is only when we start editing that language starts to shine.
Grabbing a lifeline
Just when my motivation began to waver and doubts started creeping in, I And that’s when I found a lifeline.
Someone told me about Chandler Bolt. That changed everything. I bought his book, Published: The Proven Path from Blank Page to Published Author.
Published is an excellent book! I decided to simply followed every suggestion and, to my surprise, I was able to write and publish my book much faster and easier than expected.
What happened afterward…
My book, Youthful Aging Secrets – Live Better for Longer, had a great start. It sold well, and, after one year, it’s providing a regular side income. But that wasn’t the most exciting thing.
First up, my book and the successful experiments I made to lower my biological age were picked up by then national press. The article, titled There’s Something About Mary, was published in all weekend editions of the national papers in New Zealand.
This started the ball rolling. The newspaper article put me in the spotlight. I was then invited to a symposium of a hundred people to discuss how to make New Zealand a country for all ages.
But there was something I didn’t realize about this symposium. It was a job interview in disguise. The organizers wanted to pick the five best people to form a think tank.
To my surprise, I was picked and am now involved in an important think tank which is a real honor to belong to. The good news for my book is that they’ve chosen me to be the group’s writer and public speaker who will be the public face of the think tank. Of course, whenever I write an article for the think tank or have a speaking engagement, my bio has a link to my book.
This outcome of writing a book was completely unexpected. I am now seen as an expert and there are more and more opportunities opening to me all the time.
This is why I’m encouraging you to write a book. You’ll be amazed how it will open and enrich your life.
The next phase
I’m in the process of writing the second book in the series. The draft title is: Grow Younger: The 30 Minute Exercise Week.
Luckily, I found Chandler Bolt’s amazing Self-Publishing School. It was like looking up a huge mountain with a sigh – and then discovering that there’s a chairlift you can hop onto!
If you are dreaming of writing a book and want to make it happen, watch Chandler Bolt’s free workshop, How To Write & Launch Your Book To $10,000+ in 90 Days. Chandler’s a lovely guy with a huge smile and a positive mindset. When you watch his online workshop, you’ll be raring to start writing your book. Guaranteed!