How to Write Your Book Within a Week
BY GRAHAM JONES
Everyone has a book inside them, or so
the saying goes. But few people get that book out. Often it's because of
lack of time. So, how can you get your book written inside a week or
two?
I was talking to a friend
yesterday who complained they couldn't find time to write
their book. They had an idea, but could never find the time.
They wanted to know how did I manage to get books written so
quickly - was there a magic formula I used. So I told him my
story and thought I'd share it here.
I've written 27 books which
have been published by traditional publishers, plus I have
written five books which I have published myself. Not one of
these books has taken me more than two weeks to write. And,
even though one of them is 12 years old, it still continues to
sell well in seven different countries in five languages and
is one of the most borrowed books in libraries (according to
my PLR statistics). So, even though it only took two weeks to
write, it can't be that bad!
Here's my 'trick'. When I get
an idea for a book I get a ring binder and label it with my
book title. Then I chuck into that ring binder some blank
paper and a few plastic punched pockets to store things in.
Then as I go about my work over the coming days I'll just
scribble down on the paper in my folder any ideas I get which
might be useful for the book. Also if I see any articles in
newspapers or magazines, I'll rip them out and place them in
the plastic pockets in the binder. Similarly, if I see a
webpage which might have some value to my book, I'll print it
out and shove it in the binder. I do not make any value
judgments, I do not try to put things in order, I simply chuck
everything that might be useful into the ring binder. I also
jot down questions that people ask me that are related to the
book subject and I try to come up with my own questions which
the book might answer. Anything and everything is collected
into the ring binder.
Once I've got a reasonable
collection of material, which might take days, weeks, or
months to accumulate, I'll then go through it and start to put
it in order. I'll use the list of questions I've written to
help guide me in this and then I'll use the sorted piles of
information to help me come up with chapter headings. This
might take me a day, but by the end of that day I'll have a
complete, detailed outline of my book - plus all the
associated background information which will help me write it.
Then I can start writing. To
do this I often go away from home. In the past I used to hire
a holiday cottage somewhere idyllic. Nowadays I go to my own
holiday home down near Bognor Regis. But it means I can write
without the distractions of the office. If you have a book of,
say 30,000 words to write, that's only 5,000 words a day for
six days. That's one chapter in the morning and one in the
afternoon. Or, put it another way, you need to write around
750 words an hour - or one word every five seconds. Now that's
not many is it?
It might sound a daunting
task, but with a detailed outline and all the background
information already prepared, it is actually quite
straightforward. I'm convinced that people who can't find the
time to write their book haven't actually formulated their
ideas fully or got their information collected. Once you have
down that, the writing is relatively straightforward.
So, in short, getting your
book written in record time is easy if you follow a 'system'.
Mine is:
-
Collect any information that
might be relevant
-
Write down any idea which might
be relevant
-
Sort through all the
information and ideas you collect and put them into an order
-
Write a detailed outline of
your book - chapter headings, sub headings etc.
-
Take some time off from your
normal work - a holiday away for a week, say
-
Set yourself a daily target of
words to write
Barbara Cartland used to write
10,000 words every day. You might not like her work, but
there's no denying she was successful at what she did. Being
organized and having a target to reach is the only way to get
that book written. Your book will never get written if all you
do is wait for 'enough time.'
Graham Jones is a psychologist
who has specialized in the way we use the Internet. He is an
expert on information products and runs
Infoselling.com where you can get a free report on how to
sell your own infoproducts.
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