Is it time to write your book?
When you find yourself saying the same things again and again to your clients, then that’s the time to write your book.
That’s what happened to Jenny. We met at an event in London in the spring of 2014. We chatted over coffee, and she told me how much she’d like to write a book, partly because of this reason.
As a nutritionist and cancer survivor, her area of expertise was supporting those going through cancer with the appropriate nutrition. As you can imagine, she was saying the same things regularly. So she knew that if she wrote her book, she could better support her clients, create an asset for her business and maximise her time in the process.
A couple of weeks later, we sat around her kitchen table mapping out her book, and I worked with her from idea to final manuscript. She was the first client I’d taken through my whole process, so it was incredibly exciting when her book was published the following year.
During the time she took to write it, she started talking about her book. This raised her profile hugely, and she was engaged by a cancer charity to run workshops all around the UK. And since the launch in 2015, she has been a co-author of a bestselling diabetes cookbook which was featured on ITV, she runs annual retreats in Spain and continues to support clients with her expertise.
Is it time to write your book?
I’m telling you about Jenny, because I was giving a talk last week and I shared this experience. It caused one of the attendees to have a huge aha moment.
She went from ‘not considering writing a book because there are lots of other books out there on her topic’ to realising that she had something important to say. And she told everyone how she does things differently to other practitioners in her field.
In my view, it doesn’t matter if other people have written a book on your subject, even if it feels like the topic has been done to death, or you wonder if you’ve missed the boat. You will have your own ways of doing things that are different to others.
Such as… Your story and experiences. Your process or system. The values and beliefs you hold. Your passion and purpose. Your hook and unique angle.
So, isn’t it time you shared your wisdom? And wouldn’t it be great if you could be like Jenny and have your book working for you before you publish it?
How to make your book happen this year
If you’d like to know how you can make your book happen this year, join me on one of the upcoming Make It Happen days.
You’ll spend the day with me and a small group of like-minded authors via Zoom. Let’s get you focused. And I’d love to give you some accountability, feedback and support.
It’s amazing what you can achieve when you commit to a day to focus on your writing.
Whether you’re planning, doing some writing, working on your publishing plan, your blogs or planning your launch, let’s make it happen!
Want to join me? You can find out more and book your place here.
Thank you for sharing the story about Jenny, which is something that totally resonated with me, in terms of your book being unique, even though the topic you are writing about may have been covered many times before.
My book is about Leading And Achieving High-Performance Teamwork.
Leadership and to a certain extent, teamwork, has been written about many times, so I was thinking, what will make mine different enough, that people will want to read it? So, the article about Jenny, prompted me to write down my thoughts and I found that when I did, they lifted my spirits and motivation to finish it.
Here’s what I came up with.
1. It’s based on the Team DyNAmics Model, that I created and uniquely measures team effectiveness.
2. It includes personal real life stories, often humorous, that relate to each of the 16 Elements in the model.
3. Includes quotations about each Element, that I’ve created.
4. Has the etymology of each Element.
5. Has short paragraphs from leaders who I’ve worked with and who I admire….
…and last but not least, includes a poem, that I wrote yesterday, with one verse for each of the 16 Element chapters.
So, thank you Karen and also to Jenny, for your post, which has helped get me into a positive frame of mind re finishing writing my book.