If you want to increase your reputation as an expert, you need to write a book. If you want to highlight your skills as a writer or researcher, you need to write a book. While blog posts and articles can help you establish some level of credibility with your target audience, nothing communicates your expert knowledge more clearly than a published book. You become an instant authority when you publish a book because it means you took the time and effort to put your expert knowledge down in writing. The good news is writing a book isn’t as hard as you think. It doesn’t have to take too much time or take too much effort. As long as you are systematic and methodical about it, you can produce a book fairly quickly. Follow the tips below so you can write your own book in no time flat.
Focus on a central idea
Every book has one central idea. Focusing on one clear overarching topic or theme is the hardest part of writing a book. Once you have this part covered, everything else will flow from it. Arriving at a central idea is not as easy as you think. You have to ask yourself the following questions. These questions filter many of the ideas that will flood your mind as you consider the idea of writing a book. Some key questions to ask when arriving a central idea for a book are: how original is the book’s central idea? How compelling is it? Would people be interested in it? How many people, in relative terms, would be interested in the topic of the book?
Outline your idea
Once you have arrived at a central idea, your next step is to outline your idea. All ideas can be broken down into smaller parts. These parts often answer information that can be discovered by asking who, what, where, when, how, and why. Break your idea down its major parts.
Outline your outline
Once you have your major headings or major parts, you can then break these into even smaller parts. These smaller parts, or outlines of outlines, can be broken down yet again. Take your outline to the finest level possible without being redundant.
Tie it all together
Just write down the answers to the sub-questions or write down your thoughts on the smaller ideas raised by all parts of your outline. Don’t over think any one part. Just write what comes to mind. Next, you have to edit what you wrote so there is a solid logical outline sequence from one part to the other. Also, since you are writing a book, there has to be enough and consistent internal references that the reader doesn’t get lost among the different parts. Everything must lead back to the ‘big idea’ that is at the center of the book. Finally, you need to edit for writing style. Your book must be writing in a smooth flowing writing style.
By being systematic and methodical, you can knock out a book very quickly. In fact, if you follow the tips above to the letter, you might be able to produce books at a very rapid pace. Use the tips above to get a book writing system together.
