When you sit down to write your book, it’s best to know what type of book you want to write. I’m not talking about structure or topic. I’m talking about how your book helps achieve your goals.
Earlier this week I suggested that you might write a book of your heart or a marketable book. To make this decision, you must know how your book fits into your goals, which means you must know what those goals are.
Know your goals as a writer first, before you create the idea for your book or the business plan for your book. I discuss this first in The Author Training Manual: Develop Marketable Ideas, Craft Books That Sell, Become the Author Publishers Want, and Self-Publish Effectively as well as in the companion course, Author Training 101: How to Craft Books that Sell. The reason simple: If you write a book without first determining your goals, that book may not help you achieve them. In fact, it might even deter you from doing so.
Are you clear about what you want to accomplish with your books? Do you want to make money, start a movement, build a business, fulfill your purpose, help others, or record a family history? It’s time to get clear.
Nonfiction Writing Prompt #22: Decide What Type of Book to Write
To complete this prompt, make a decision: What type of book will you write?
To help you decide, first make a list of five goals you have as a writer or author. What would you like to accomplish personally?
Next, prioritize the list.
Last, think about how different types of books might help you accomplish those goals. What type of books would be best suited for achieving your dreams or desires? You can think about marketable vs. book of your heart, self-published vs. traditionally published, short vs. long, fiction vs. straight nonfiction, and even compare structures, such as how to vs. creative nonfiction.
Then…decide.
If you have trouble with this prompt, or if you want to examine in more detail, how to produce a book that helps you achieve your goals—and will sell, which means will get read—I suggest you go through the Author Training Process, which is what I teach during Author Training 101: How to Craft Books that Sell. This entails not only producing a business plan for your book but also for yourself. You use the tool of a business plan, or book proposal, to produce a marketable book. You do this by training yourself to use that tool in the same manner as a publishing professional. You learn to evaluate yourself and your idea to determine if you are both ready for publication. But, to the point of this nonfiction-writing prompt, you define success for yourself, set career goals, create a vision for successful authorship, and craft a book that fulfills your purpose. By the time the course is over, you’re ready to write a book that achieves your goals and meet the needs of your readers. That means both you and your audience win.
Register today for Author Training 101: How to Craft Books that Sell so you write a book that is sure to help you achieve your goals. Find out more and register by clicking here. Only 10 seats left. Course begins May 6.
Do you know what book will help you achieve your goals?
Get the author training you need to succeed! Register for the next Author Training 101:Craft Books that Sell course. Starting May 6, you will receive 8 weeks of LIVE coaching with Nina Amir, plus audio and video lessons that correspond with the chapters in The Author Training Manual: Develop Marketable Ideas, Craft Books That Sell, Become the Author Publishers Want, and Self-Publish Effectively—and you’ll get a copy of the book FREE as a gift! By the time the training is over, you will have created a business plan for your book and learned to see yourself and your work through the same lens used by a true publishing professional. This will allow you to produce books that sell, which means they get read by your target audience. When you register, you also receive a bonus proposal/business plan template and more! Only 20 spots! Get more information and claim your spot by clicking here.
For more information on how to create nonfiction book ideas that are marketable and that support your writing goals, join the NFWU. When you do, you’ll receive this month’s Nonfiction Writers’ University (NFWU) homework assignment, which contains more exercises and information on this topic. Plus, you’ll have access to the growing archive of past homework assignments and NFWU teleseminars as well as some introductory gifts worth more than the membership! Join here at the low introductory rate!
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