Birthing Your Book

Many people feel pregnant with a book. Giving birth to that book doesn’t have to take years. You can give birth quickly, easily and effortlessly—in nine months or so (sometimes even less)—if you do your publishing pregnancy exercises diligently and conscientiously start to finish.

Going through the early “stages” of a book pregnancy mimics the process of preparing to write a nonfiction book proposal—a necessary process for both independent publishers and those aspiring writers seeking traditional publishing contracts. You can prepare yourself to write, conceive and gestate both a nonfiction book and book proposal. In the process you take the necessary steps to writing a successful book—one that sells to readers and to publishers—prior to actually creating the manuscript.

The later pregnancy stages, like the second or third trimester and actual birth process, mimic the writing and publishing stages of producing a book.

To give birth to a book you must:

• Prepare a Space—You figure out what you need to do to ensure you actually write your book. In other words, you make room in your life for your book to be born and exist; and you commit to caring for it.
• Conceive Your Book—You learn what you are writing about, why you are writing about it and why anyone would want to read about it; you analyze the market and the competition and, if the ground seems fertile, formulate a plan to publicize your new book baby’s arrival.
• Gestate Your Book—You get clear on your book’s content and begin writing; you continue with manuscript editing, book proposal and query letter writing or anything related to publishing your book, including book design and printing.
• Birth Your Book: You bring your book into the world via a traditional publisher or some form of independent publishing and then begin promoting and selling your book.

Are you ready to begin birthing your book? If you need a good midwife to help you do so, feel free to contact me or to check out the coaching and mentoring services provided by CopyWright Communications.