The BookMap gives you the benefits of writing in free-form and creating structure from all the connections you make. One way to do this is to rewrite each idea on a fresh piece of paper, this time grouped together in related topics. Or, you could simply use different-colored highlighters to categorize your ideas with different colors. Either way, the result is the same: So now you know exactly which topics to write about, and you know which points to cover in every chapter of your book.
For about a week, carry around sticky notes and write down anything and everything that crosses your mind regarding your possible book topics. When the week is up, organize all your sticky notes into sections and themes. Then, organize these themes into the patterns that would make sense in the context of chapters of your book. The ultimate outcome of using this method is deeper thinking, clarity, and concise organization of thoughts and patterns.
1: Choose your best story idea
You now have a chapter-by-chapter outline for your book. The only thing left to do…is to actually sit down and write it! But there are some ways that are easier, faster, and more successful than others. You just repeat those steps on a smaller scale for each chapter. Then in step 3, you have a choice: As I mentioned, one of the benefits of this method is its speed. Just how fast can you write a first draft using speech dictation? Even when you have a solid plan, a proven system, and a detailed outline, you can still get tripped up by some of these sneaky book writing roadblocks.
For some, being blocked means no words at all, while for others, it means trying to nail down a functional draft in the midst of a tornado of swirling ideas. The only way to deal with it is to beat it. You sit down to write and you bang out a page or two. Then you stop and reread what you just wrote. And instead of continuing, you go back and start editing those first few pages of writing. You want everything to be just right before you continue on ahead. Usually, when this sort of thing happens, it becomes very difficult to do any more writing.
Few things are more irritating than having to go back through your entire book to fix the formatting. Think about how you want to format your book before you write it, and then be consistent. And take the time to figure out how to format your book for publication. For example, did you realize that fiction and nonfiction books typically use different indentation styles?
Now you know not only how to get started writing your book, but how to complete your book project in a mere 90 days! With just a little bit of time and a lot of determination, you are on your way to officially calling yourself an author. Because you still need to launch your book in a way that sets it up for success; in a way that maximizes your readers, your income, and your influence. They throw their book up on Amazon without really having a plan, and as a result, they get very few sales, make almost no money, and are frustrated at the lack of response to their work.
Instead, you need to dedicate some time to mastering the publishing and marketing processes on Amazon to sell more books. This is the only way to make sure that your book makes its way into the hands of the people who will benefit from reading your words. If you follow this simple launch plan, you can rest assured that your book will come out with a bang and will generate steady sales right out of the gate and for years to come. But in reality, people do exactly that—all the time.
Notice a couple things. The title is in the upper third of the book in large print, so you can read it even in a thumbnail. Both covers were designed using the same basic principles. They also have subtitles that clarify exactly what the book is about. For example, it would make a terrible cover for a romance novel! And in many genres of fiction and nonfiction, readers have come to expect a certain type of book cover. In order to clearly communicate what your book is about to your ideal readers, you need it to fit in with their expectations—while also standing out enough to grab their attention.
This is another reason why it pays to head over to the Amazon bestselling books list and study some of the most successful books in your genre. In a nutshell, your launch team is a small team of people who are supporting your book. They could be friends, family, associates, online affiliates—anyone. Launch your book with their help, and work on continually building your launch team every chance you get.
When you build a launch team , you need to make 2 things clear for everyone: Step 1 is pretty simple: Step 2 can vary from person to person. In many cases, they get things like:. As your launch team grows bigger, you might need to offer more than that. For example, maybe another person in your niche agrees to promote your new book to their email list—but in exchange, they want a percentage of your profit. Just reach out to anyone you know who would be willing to support your first book launch and ask for their help.
Reviews are a fantastic form of social proof. But you have to be careful about how you go about trying to get Amazon reviews. For example, you can get in big trouble if you try to pay for reviews, swap reviews with other authors, or offer free gifts in exchange for reviews. So how can you generate more reviews without offering people something in return? Click here to learn my 8-step process for generating more Amazon reviews. People often ask me how I was able to make so much money and sell so many copies of my very first book.
And I always tell them the same thing:. Because I sought out a mentor. Someone to teach me a proven book-writing process that had been tried and tested. A book-writing system that was almost guaranteed to work, as long as I followed it properly. I sought out the help I needed to give my very first book a major head-start. To learn from a mentor who can help you achieve your dream of writing and publishing your very first book.
To get started, click here to register for a free workshop called: Want to Launch a Bestseller in 90 Days? If you want to finish your book, you need a roadmap. At Self-Publishing School, we help people write, market and publish their first bestselling book. Great content and inline with my desire to write my first book. These ideas and concepts are used for both fiction and non-fiction writing.
We have groups of fiction writers who have enrolled with us or followd our advice and were able to make a good book. This is epic content! High quality and high value all around. Love the sticky note method idea. Chandler played a big role in my own process of writing and publishing my first book now two! This is great post, I have bookmarked this blog so that I can come often to consume your new post. The Book Launch Audio opened my eyes to the world of self publishing. Thanks Chandler for the great work. Cant wait to see how to promote your books to get them to hit bestseller list.
Chandler offers truly sound advice! His methods for writing are proven effective — even for me, who is a writer by nature! I can proudly say I am on my way to completing my first book thanks to Chandler! This article sums up The SPS method of writing a book really well. I am a student of this program and published my 1 best seller and Hot New Release in 2 months. I am already writing my second book NOW. Chandler and his crew are the best.
This article generously gives you the information needed to get going but if you want to learn more check out his free video training and then sign up with SPS. I love this process so much! I have fallen victim to all of these excuses but with this framework I am finally plugging away at my first book! I try to get words the first thing I do every day. Fiction is a beast of story structure, character, POV and rising action that I struggle with but in the best possible way.
I am staking everything on it, there is no round 2, one way or the the other I have to finish this be it in the form of a book, short story or something else completely. Thanks Chandler, this was just the inspiration I needed to get me going again. I must admit I have been procrastinating over research.
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This has been a real trap and I have found myself looking for more and more material, which has really been me lacking the confidence to move foreword. I set a goal of how much writing to get done: Then I turn over the hourglass and start writing. Since all i see is sand falling, I do not know if I have 10 minutes left or 15 or 5 I just know there is time left, so I keep writing.
I go to a photo site https: Ideas flow quickly when I have a visual to look at. And more often than not, after I have managed to get a few paragraphs out of me, I now have the words that eluded me a few minutes earlier. I set the image and short story aside and get back to writing I needed to be doing but could not find the words. There are countless ways to help you get inspired to write. Yours is very useful. I know some writers who have done something similar.
Thank you, Chandler, for this new blog! Yours is always great stuff! Keep it up and thanks again! Thank you for doing this. It is going to be very helpful for a number of people. Wonderful idea and excellent execution. Great first post and I look forward to many more. Working on my book now. Have you signed up for the free video training series?
That can definitely help as you work on your book. Yes I have and watched the first video yesterday. Baptism by fire has always been the way I learn best. Always looking to glean new info to help me with writing. Great to read this content about writing your first book! Chandler, Thanks for sharing the information. Lots of good and beneficial tips. Like the presentation of strategies and action steps to get my butt in gear! Thank you lots of good sense. Thanks for the valuable encouraging information. I hope to apply them in different phases of my writing.
Thank you for this first blog post Chandler! Great information and ideas. I need to organize them. I think this might help me to get going i look forward to more blog posts and am enjoying reading other comments!! Wish I had this info prior. Using your strategies I am working towards a relaunch. Trying to build a launch team, as you suggest, to help with that.
How to Write a Book Step by Step in 2019: Bestseller-Approved Methods
If I had used that with the first book it probably would not have taken nearly as long to write it. It was however a wonderful learning process. Latly thank you for setting up this blog, I believe it will be a very valuable tool for myself and many others. A great start to what is destined to be a great BLOG!
I love the sticky note strategy. I use index cards because they are thicker. I travel a ton for work and I need something that will hold up. They have a lot of plot description, but also the freedom of those one liners we used to get in high school. Had she known blowing out the candle would lead to prison, she would have….
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Love the advice and am looking forward to reading more. Very happy to have found you just the other day. I have lots to write and plenty of reasons not to. Your words are helping me get back on the writing train. Do you have any ideas? Shall have to come back here often when I start working on my next book. Hi Chandler, Thanks man!!! For sharing your experience and knowledge with us. I just started to write me first book 1 week ago when I finished your book. You handled all my barriers which stopped me to start to write a book. Finally I just started and forget I am not a native english guy….
I would like to announce that my first book will be released in early June. Thanks Chandler for sharing! You are so kind, continue to be bless and the blessing that you are. I have to push pass this writers block. Thanks for sharing this information! I certainly appreciate it and found it very useful! It is my dream to write a book and you encouraged me. Looking forward to getting started soon! As an SPS grad with a 1 best seller, I highly recommend following this process.
It can be done, and it can be done really well! Thank you for sharing this encouraging and helpful blog.
What a great first post, Chandler. Congrats on your new blog. Did you check out this post? I self-published two books recently but I am finding it hard selling them. Well, I think you are yet to talk on that. You might want to check out this post and consider re-launching your book. This is great Chandler! Create your writing routine and stick to it! Chandler, thank you for all your mails, posts and updates! Really great stuff, that seems really honest and convincing to me! I like your sticky notes proposal as an alternative to mind mapping and outlining.
I personally had big problems to map from the mind map to the outline. So I developed well: Basically, this is similar to your sticky notes method, which is of course, much better and more effective.. But, collecting your ideas on sticky notes and placing them, possibly discussing them with a trustful person, and such creating a mind map or an outline is just a phantastic idea! Also, speaker and transcription method have got their charm. In my business practice as IT consultant, btw , I became familiar with lots of product development models.
I observe many times, that engineers tend to over… missing the right word for it, what I mean is: I personally prefer the XP idea to check every day, every week, every month, well, basically all the time: As architects oder industrial designers do so often… they paved all walls and floors with sketches, outlines, drawings.. Your tips and strategies have inspired me to write my first book and will be published at the end of this month. With your guidance I was able to go from idea to publishing in 4 months! Your tips and strategies have inspired me to write my first book!
With your guidance I was able to go from idea to publishing in 4 month!
How to Start Writing a Book: 9 Steps to Becoming an Author
It has helped and guided me in the right direction while I am writing my first book. Hoping to have it out this summer! High five to you and your book! Anything but a dry textbook, this breezy guide is from a former trial lawyer who keeps you entertained while covering basics like how plot impacts structure, the difference between popular and literary fiction, and how to serve as your own book doctor. Calling on her theater training, Collins teaches bringing characters to life the way actors do on stage.
She draws on the Method Acting approach to explain and adapt characterization techniques for novelists. I resonate with her honesty about how grueling the craft can be. This is one of the best books on writing available. It informed the way I wrote the Left Behind series, which has sold more than 60 million copies and still sells six figures every year, nearly a decade since the last title was released. I use this as a textbook when I teach writing. Lamott has you howling with laughter one minute and weeping the next as she recounts, with brutal honesty, the joys and travails of the writing life, single parenting, overcoming addiction, and coming to faith.
His career spans decades, and he shares insider stories of famous novelists and their work, as well as everything he learned along the way. I sat under his teaching years ago and still follow his advice. He was a graceful classicist as a writer, and this million-seller has been lauded for its warmth and clarity. Zinsser offers sound tips on the fundamentals of writing any kind of nonfiction you can think of. Failing to start your reading on writing with anything other than this undisputed classic would be akin to reading the top ten Christian classics while ignoring the Bible.
This short paperback is recommended by every writing teacher I know. Its simple truths cover everything from style and grammar and usage. Make them second nature. Les is one of the most powerfully edgy writers in the business, and you must have your big kid pants on to read his novels. But any writer will benefit from this great resource. Packed with helpful, practical advice, it carries his blunt tone but nothing offensive. I refer to it regularly. Before investing in one of these, download my free guide: How to Write a Book: Everything You Need to Know in 20 Steps.
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