One of the reasons why we sometimes get stuck in our writing is that we see how much there is left to do.

Let’s say you’re writing a 750-word blog post. You would typically write this in sections—an introduction, two or three main points, and a call to action. So really, this is a collection of pieces that are somewhere between 100-200 words each.

You would normally outline the piece, then start writing a first draft at the introduction, progressing through until you write the call to action.

You can have trouble getting motivated when you see how much there is left to do. One way to break this cycle is to start at the end and work your way backward. Write the call to action first, then the main points from last to first, then the introduction. If you have outlined the material ahead of time, this shouldn’t be a problem.

When you write backward, so to speak, you interrupt your normal writing pattern and feel a new sense of creative energy. You don’t have a clear sense of how much you have left, and it reduces your tendency to feel distracted.

For example, I usually produce these podcast episodes in batches of one or two weeks at a time. Most of the time, I will write the last one first, then work backward until I have the first one finished.

It’s a simple way to give yourself a different writing pattern and add new energy to the process. In other words, going backward can help you go forward.

Today’s Challenge: Give the “writing backward” strategy a try on your next piece of writing.

The post The Productive Writer: Write Backward appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

I know when I mention books you’re probably thinking, “That’s not something I can get started on today.”

To the contrary! All you need to do is to sit down and start working on a couple of things.

First, determine the main idea of the book. Second, who is the ideal reader? And third, start working on an outline. If you’re doing a non-fiction book, I recommend about 35,000-40,000 words, divided into 12-15 chapters.

It doesn’t mean you will be writing the whole book. It just means that you are working on the outline, which will help you get excited and want to move forward. The sheer act of developing an outline will be a huge push forward.

You can get the book written faster than you think. Even if you only write 200 words a day (which is an average page length), you can write a book of 120 pages in 4 months. You can write three of those a year if you just write 1 single page per day. Then, you can put it on Amazon and make it available to the world.

We make the process of writing a book much more stressful and complicated than it needs to be. Take some time today to get started writing your book. You’ll be amazed at what can happen when you take action and get moving.

Question: How could writing a book impact your life or business?

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Today’s episode is sponsored by the Book Marketing Mastery course. If you’re tired of being disappointed by your book sales and want to sell more books faster, easier, and with more fun than ever, sign up today. Use the code “DailyWriter” to get 10% off.

The post Start Writing Today: Your First (or Next) Book appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Many people have great ideas for books. They seem equally motivated to tackle the writing and publishing aspects. But the outline gives writers a lot of trouble because it seems like a mysterious, vague process.

On this episode, I’ll walk you through a simple 5-step roadmap for outlining a standard non-fiction book. This is the exact process I walk through with my clients when we are creating their books.

But first, a few questions …

What is a book outline? An outline is the scaffolding or framework that is the backbone of your book. I prefer to think of an outline as the journey the reader will take in order to solve a problem.

Why use a book outline? An outline makes writing much easier because you can see where you are going. It also gives you the big picture of the whole book and ensures that you are serving your reader in the best way possible.

When should you outline? It is always better to outline at the beginning because you will use your writing time wisely. You don’t have to guess where you are going. When you are “in the weeds” of writing, it’s easy to get lost in the details. The outline always brings you back to the big picture.

What Type of Non-Fiction Book Should You Write?

Knowing what you’re shooting for up front will be a huge help when developing your outline. That way you don’t have to guess at what type of book you’re writing.

I recommend a 150-page non-fiction book (Approx. 40,000-45,000 words.). This is a great length. It’s long enough to demonstrate your expertise, but short enough not to intimidate the reader. Unless you’re Stephen King, less is always more when it comes to book length.

For the outline, I recommend 10-15 chapters, divided into 3-4 main sections. This keeps the chapters at a manageable length (2,500-3,500 words). Each chapter will be divided into 5-7 segments of 500-750 words. You can get your head around writing in these smaller chunks, and it feels less intimidating.

Note: The steps below are primarily for authors who are starting from scratch. If you already have material from your blog, podcast, workshops, presentations, etc. you can easily start from there. However, you still want to go through the following steps to ensure that you are creating a solid outline that makes sense, rather than a collection of material that is loosely related.

5 Steps to Crafting a Solid Book Outline

1. Determine who your ideal reader is and the problem you are trying to solve for them.

This is a huge step all by itself. But the bottom line is that you must have a clear idea about your topic, your ideal reader, and the change you want to help them achieve as a result of reading your book.

Remember, a book is more than just a dumping ground for a bunch of information. You are taking the reader from point A to point B. Point B represents a place where they are happier, healthier, more successful, more abundant, or whatever change you are helping them achieve.

2. Figure out why your reader hasn’t already achieved these results.

In the book, you will use a simple sales technique where you are addressing reader’s objections (false beliefs). But first, you have to understand what those objections and false beliefs are.

These false beliefs typically fall into three categories:

• False beliefs about themselves (“I can’t do it,” “I’ve tried that before and it didn’t work”)
• False beliefs about the topic (“The topic isn’t relevant to me,” “Your program won’t work”)
• False beliefs about their environment (“My family doesn’t support me,” “I’ll be the odd one in my social group”)

Here are a few other ways you can discover people’s pain points related to your topic:

• Do keyword research to learn what people are searching for related to your topic: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-do-keyword-research-ht.
• You can also use a tool call Brainstorm It!, available here.
• Spend a lot of time talking to people in your target audience to make sure you understand their pain, struggles, frustrations, and obstacles related to your topic. Don’t assume that you already know.
• Use Google to ask questions related to your topic. Google will produce even more relevant questions that will be helpful.

3. Use the reader’s pain points/questions and organize them into 3-4 major sections of 3-4 chapters each.

I recommend taking some time to write each pain point/question on an index card, then group them according to topic. This is where a lot of people get hung up because they don’t feel they’re organized enough to tackle this. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Go as far as you can with this step, and you’ll refine it in the next couple of steps.

Remember, you’re taking the reader on a journey. What is the most logical way to order the chapters so it makes the most sense to the reader?

Here is a typical structure for a non-fiction book (each Part consists of 3-4 chapters):

Part 1: Foundational information about the topic; why it matters

Parts 2-3: Dive deeper into the material and apply it to different situations

Part 4: Special circumstances, or other material that doesn’t fit elsewhere but is still relevant

You can also use mind-mapping to help organize and brainstorm content (There is some overlapping between these steps.).

4. Look at similar books in your genre to ensure you haven’t left anything out.

No, this doesn’t mean you are copying what other authors are doing. Rather, you are ensuring that you’re covering the bases of your topic. Looking at other books in your field will also help you see where your perspective is unique. You will probably get some ideas for your book outline or structure as well.

5. Get feedback from a few people who represent your ideal reader.

This is a key step because they will probably identify some things you missed. To keep things simple, I recommend going back to the people you talked to in Step 2 and asking them to review the outline.

Final thoughts: I know I went through these pretty quickly, so it sounds like a very simple process. It does take some time, but if you go through these steps, creating an outline is actually a very straightforward process.

Don’t be intimidated by what feels like a massive book project. If you take it step-by-step, you will get there! Once you create a solid outline, the book starts to feel like a real thing, and you will get even more excited about it.

Remember: we still have 6 months left in 2021—more than enough time to make awesome headway on your book project. So, get a jumpstart this summer. Come January, you’ll be glad you did!

The post How to Outline a Non-Fiction Book appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.