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It's More Than JUST a Book

Guest post by: Melinda Copp

Article Overview: When you think about writing your book, what's your motivation? These are questions I ask people all the time, and for many of them, the responses are pretty similar. "It will help me grow my business," or, "It will establish my expertise," or, "It will help me reach new audiences of potential clients." But underneath these reasons, deeper inside, is a much more powerful and personal motivation for writing a book.

It's More Than JUST a Book

When you think about writing your book, what's your motivation? What's compelling you to do it? Why is it important to you? These are questions I ask people all the time, and for many of them, the responses are pretty similar. They usually start with something like, "It will help me grow my business," or, "It will establish my expertise," or, "It will help me reach new audiences of potential clients." These are all by-product benefits of writing a book, and after working closely with numerous aspiring authors, I've come to realize these reasons are like layer one. These are the safe reasons because we all want to make more money. We all want that, and so it's okay to share. These reasons allow us to confidently tell ourselves, "It's just a book." Because we all want to take our business and professional lives to that next level of success, right? That's just smart.

But underneath these reasons, deeper inside, is a much more powerful and personal motivation for writing a book. This reason makes the book more than just a book. And it makes writing the book and putting it out there for the world to see much riskier.

So what is it? Your story.

What is REALLY compelling you to write a book? If you're like my clients, you've experienced something that you believe is worth sharing. Whether it's about overcoming a problem, finding your passion, recovering from something in your past, or whatever path led you to where you are today-you know that if people hear your story, their lives will be better. They will understand what you now see so clearly, only they won't have to suffer the way you did to figure it all out. They won't feel alone. They won't have to struggle. And they will be able to use your success to make their lives better.

When I'm talking to a client or any other aspiring author--and we get past those safe, first layer reasons for writing a book--they often share with me that if they can help just one person with their book, then the whole thing is worth it. They want to get their story out, and that's why the book is so important to them.

But, looking at this deeper motivation ups the stakes significantly. Why? Because it's not JUST a book anymore. It's not just a way to build your business and make more money. It's your story--an extension of yourself that you are sending into the world with the hopes that other people will find it as meaningful as you do. And that's so much riskier! It means putting a piece of yourself on the line. Now writing a book doesn't seem so easy, and this is where many would-be authors get stuck.

You have all these ideas inside your head and all these connections that feel so strong. And writing about these experiences may feel easy--almost like the material is just pouring out of you. But when it comes out, it's in pieces. It doesn't connect the way you want it to in your mind. And so you become frustrated and confused and uncertain about everything you know in your heart to be true.

When your book is more than just a book, more than just a way to grow your business, and more than just a way to establish expertise, everything becomes more complicated and hard to figure out. But it doesn't have to be. The key is to think about your story in a way that makes it applicable and powerful to others. Once you figure that out, it's easy to see how all the pieces fit together, and the book practically writes itself.

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Article Tags: book coaching, nonfiction book coach, write business book, write nonfiction book, write self help book, writing coach



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My reading log - Hi OmnivoreInk, Before starting my business, I read the following books as research: -"The Art of the Start" by Guy Kawasaki -"The AdSense Code" by Joel Comm -"Don't Think Pink" and "Mind Your X's and Y's" by Lisa Johnson And since then I've continued my "research" by reading (in this order): -"Technical Tennis" by Rod Cross -"For One More Day" by Mitch Albom -"The Twits" by Roald Dahl -"Little Black Book of Connections" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne -"The Profitable Retailer" by Doug Fleener -"Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell -"Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" by C.S. Lewis -"Little Green Book of Getting Your Way" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling And I'm currently reading and am in the process of finishing the following: -"There's No Such Thing as Public Speaking" by Jeanette and Roy Henderson -"The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell -"The Book of Tells" by Peter Collett -"Little Red Book of Sales Answers" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience" by Jonathan M. Tisch -"The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity" by Julia Cameron -"The Inner Game of Tennis" by Timothy Gallwey
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: 10 Reasons Who Startups Fail & Book Recommendations - Great post,but please edit the headline. I presume it is "10 Reasons Why Startups Fail & Book Recommendation
great concept for promoting book! - Nikki-- I love it! You really have a handle on viral book promotion! Look for my submission (and in the future for a ghostwriting project I'm working on). And I can't wait for Book Promo 101!
Richard Branson's Book - Richard Branson's Book "Losing My Virginity" is a must read for people starting their own business.


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