Today’s post comes from one of our dear friends: sought-after speaker, educator and award-winning book coach, Lisa Tener.
As a book writing coach, Lisa helps writers in all aspects of the writing process — from writing a book proposal and getting published to finding one’s creative voice, prioritizing projects, developing an author platform, setting clear goals and developing a system for creative success.
Her clients have signed 5- and 6-figure book deals with the likes of HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster and Random House, and appeared on Oprah, The Today Show, CBS Early Show, Good Morning America, Fresh Air, CNN, Fox News and many more popular media platforms.
Lisa won Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards for her programs and work, including a Silver for “Coach/Mentor of the Year 2014” and a Gold for “Company of the Year 2016”, Media and Entertainment in Small Business.
So with that said, we’re obviously very excited to have her!
Take it away, Lisa…
The Most Important Factors to Write a Book and Get Published: They’re Not What You May Think
The would-be author’s first question? Whether or not they have what it takes to write a book and get it published. Worst case scenario, they talk about it for years and then end up with nothing in hand.
Up until now, that is!
Throughout many years helping authors from all walks of life develop and publish their books, I’ve identified the three most important factors for success as a writer.
Yes, the writing will need to be excellent — but you’ll have Autocrit and editors to help you with that. So even though people assume the most important factor is how great a writer you are (or even if you have written a book before!), that isn’t the case. There are some things that are much more vital… and they come into play before you’ve even put a word of your book down.
Ready? Here they are:
Commitment
Let’s start with commitment. Every aspiring author feels some degree of passion and excitement at the very “idea” of penning a book, but how committed are you to staying the course?
Anything of quality takes time and dedication. Are you truly ready to put in the consistent effort (and make the necessary sacrifices to do so) for your book to become a reality?
Committing yourself to your book is the first thing you must do. Be completely honest with yourself, because if the dedication isn’t there… if you really don’t want it bad enough… you won’t be at your best.
A Winning Concept: The 3 Key Questions
As for the book concept itself, three factors are key: the overall vision; predicting the readership; and the ideas behind the book.
There are crucial questions to answer, here:
Do I have something fresh?
Do I have something that will appeal to a large enough (or easy to reach) market/audience?
Do I have the expertise to write the book?
If you can answer “yes” to all of these questions, then it’s time to move to the next step!
Your Plan
Don’t forget the plan! Without a plan to find time in your busy life, get support when the going gets rough, be accountable for writing, and get that expert guidance to create a quality product — well, how likely is it to make it to the finish line?
Your plan includes clarifying many decisions up front — before writing — from identfiying your goals, to your intended market, your tone, features, scope and structure (for nonfiction) and plot, character, setting and more (for fiction).
With a powerful plan, you’ll not only write the right book (vs. wasting time on the wrong one), you’ll be more efficient and effective.
Introducing The Book Quiz
Every day, I work with aspiring authors to help them definitively answer the queries above. Without some experience, many find it hard to answer them at all, or to fully address the three key components without professional help.
To solve this, I came up with my first “Book Quiz.”
The quiz applies much of what I’ve learned from working with hundreds of authors over a decade, to help you assess where you stand with your commitment, ideas/expertise, and your plan. Passion is also part of the quiz and a key aspect of the commitment needed.
The goal of The Book Quiz is simple — to give you a professional perspective on where you are in your book writing journey, and help you identify what steps you need to take next to write the book you’ve always wanted to write!
And, naturally, to get you off on the right foot toward creating a book publishers will be happy to bring to market.
Once you take the quiz, you’ll receive personalized feedback that will give you clarity on what to do next based on your unique results.
So go on: Take the Book Quiz here and see if you’re ready!
– Lisa
