Out of a U.S. population of approximately 316.5 billion people, 81 percent want to write a book. Yet, only about 2 percent ever follows through on that desire.
What Happens if You Don’t Write Your Book
If you feel you are supposed to write a nonfiction book, but you keep your book in your head, you:
- deny others the inspiration they will get from hearing your story
- never change even one life
- have no impact on the world
- leave this life without making an impact
- die without fulfilling your potential or purpose
If you want to inspire others, change lives, impact the world, and fulfill your purpose and potential by writing a nonfiction book, don’t wait. Do it now. The world needs you. There might be one reader who needs you—or thousands. And who knows what will happen tomorrow.
5 Ways to Start Writing Your Book Today
Here are five ways to get started on your nonfiction book today:
- Brainstorm the contents of your book using a mind map (or some other tool you prefer) and turn that into a table of contents so your book is organized and you know how to begin writing.
- Create a book proposal for your book; you’ll need one no matter how you publish, since it serves as a business plan for your book, helps you determine if your book is marketable and assists you in organizing your ideas (including your table of contents and chapter summaries).
- Begin doing research.
- Start a blog on which you blog your book in post-sized bits; there you can write, publish and promote your book at the same, which allows you to also test-market your idea. (Find more info on my blog.)
- Start writing your manuscript.
If you want to learn about authoring change, join me at the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference.
Thank you for this post, Nina. You have great advice. And thank you for mentioning the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference in October, where you will be a presenter. Nonfiction writers will love this conference and I will be there live tweeting what Nina says as well as other presenters. It will be fun!
Thanks Nina, I needed this today. The rejections on my proposal are getting me down. I know rejection is just part of the game for writers, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
Leslie,
I’m glad you found the post inspiring, and I’m sorry your proposal is getting rejections. It’s true that rejections are part of the “process,” but each rejection is an opportunity to take another look at that proposal to see if you can improve it. In particular, you want to make sure ever section makes an argument for the marketability of your idea and shows that you are a good business partner. If you get more than a few rejections. It might be time to hire a proposal consultant to take a look…