Do you want to know everything about writing and publishing a book?

A client recently told me how wonderful it was for me to show up in her life. Serendipity. A recommendation just when she needed it! Nine months later, she's really close to publication and we spent some time last week chatting about her launch and next steps.

When you're thinking about writing a book, like she was last year, you probably wouldn't start if you knew everything that was involved.

You don't know what you don't know.

And if you're an expert in your own stuff, do you actually want to know everything about writing and publishing a book?

That's why I'm here. To make it easy for you to write your book and support you every step of the way.

So, strategy and accountability to get your book done!

How does this work in practice? Let’s start with strategy.

Creating a plan - part of strategy is about creating a book plan. As you may have seen in my recent client interviews, it's the one thing that everyone talks about! When you know exactly what you're writing about and in which order it comes in your book, it's definitely easier to write it!

Taking people through the book process - When it comes to doing something new like writing a book, our clients are grateful that they don't need to hold all of the steps in their head. And if they want help with the entire process, they are relieved when they know that we can do everything for them. They don’t worry about having to find the right editor, engage a designer, sort out a cover, or work out how to distribute their book. They rely on us to do it.

Sharing best practice and advice - strategy is also about sharing best practice and giving advice. For example, I’ve had a couple of conversations with people recently who have been talking about publishing their books on Amazon KDP (formerly Createspace). Now I have nothing against Amazon’s platform, but there are other ways to publish. The company we use ensures that your book gets onto 7,000 book sales platforms worldwide, including Amazon, and all of the main e-book platforms, thus maximising your sales potential.

Knowing what works and what doesn’t - Having a strategy is also vitally important when it comes to marketing your book. There are some things you must do and some things that are not so important. As I said, you don’t know what you don’t know, and having access to advice like this can change the way you make an impact with your book. This is one of the reasons why many people signed up for the Book Marketing Challenge this April.

Let’s move to accountability.

Getting things done - accountability is having support to get things done. With all our clients, we help them to achieve their ultimate goal of writing a book. But first we help them to break it down into bitesized chunks. So instead of feeling overwhelmed at the thought of writing a 50,000 word book, they know when they need to complete each chapter or section. When you’re accountable to someone else, you’re more likely to do what you say you were going to do when you said you were going to do it!

Being clear on the steps – when you have someone supporting you each step of the way, you know what needs to be done and when (and by whom). When we get to the publishing stage, our publishing partner has a fabulous Gantt chart that lays out all the milestones to the day. And we’ll always work back from the launch date to identify the milestones.

Receiving feedback – it can be really scary sharing your writing with someone for the first time, and I encourage clients to share their chapters with me. Not only does it keep them on track with their goals, they can hone what they’re saying and how they express their voice as they write it.

Help when book writing is tough - accountability is also about having someone to talk to when the going gets tough and you want to jack it all in. And having someone to inspire you and remind you why you started in the first place.

Do you have a mentor for your book?

In my opinion, when you work with a coach or mentor, you’ll achieve things far quicker than you will by yourself.

You’ll get access to the best advice, the best support and actually achieve what you wanted when you started, i.e. a brilliantly written and published book!

Very few clients want to know the intricacies of what needs to be done or when, they just want help to achieve this.

That’s one of the reasons why we run the Author’s Journey Mastermind, a group programme aimed to help you with both accountability and strategy to get your book done, which starts again in May.

I looked back at some of my notes to see what we covered in the last 90-day cycle. And this list is not exhaustive as every programme and every client is different, but it gives you an overview.

Book strategy

• How to structure a book including post it note planning and mind mapping
• Market research to decide what content to include and what to leave out (and whether there is more than one book!)
• Removing distractions and setting priorities and boundaries
• Writing top tips once boundaries have been set!
• Choosing book titles – best practice and ideas
• The must-dos when it comes to editing, design and publishing

Book accountability

• Reassurance that they are on the right track
• A sounding board to chat through ideas
• What’s working, what’s not and what to do about it!
• Feedback on what they’re writing and how to make it better
• A realistic time plan to ensure their book happens

If you’d like this type of support to help you with your book, please join Sheryl Andrews and myself for the next Author’s Journey Mastermind programme.

If you’re not sure about working in a group, may I reassure you that all groups are small, so you get individual to keep you on track. And what I love the most is that our clients realise that they are not alone with their worries and fears, and can celebrate each other’s success along the journey.

But if you’d prefer hand-holding through the entire journey, then contact me to find out other ways we can help you, such as one-to-one mentoring and our writing retreat in Spain this September.