That is a good question, but to get there, you first have to figure out where to get started.
We have all heard of the term writer’s block where writers get stuck and they do not know where to go or what to do. And the reason is because they do not know where they are going or why they are even writing a book.
Why are you writing a book in the first place? And what do you want the reader to know about you or about the topic that you are writing about?
So, in other words, if you do not know where you are going, you are going to get writer’s block because you do not know the goal of the book.
Understanding the purpose of the book is extremely important.
And the starting point for that is to understand who your reader is.
Who is it that you are writing this book for?
And if the answer is yourself, that is probably not going to give a very inspiring book for other people to read.
So even though it would be very healing for your own journey, it is not going to be necessarily, very inspiring for other people just to hear your story.
The most important thing to ask yourself is: How can I help other people by sharing my story?
Try seeking answers to these questions:
- What is the purpose of my book?
- What is it that I can give people?
- How can I inspire people?
- How can I motivate people?
- How can I be of service to people?
It is all about the reader.
It is all about the other person.
Notice I am not saying anything about yourself.
That is the biggest mistake everybody makes when it comes to writing a book. They want to talk about themselves.
And that is fine, we all want to talk about ourselves and there is nothing wrong with that. We all have remarkably interesting stories, but you need to tell it from the perspective of how can I help you, Mr. Reader?
What can I give you that will help you overcome some of those challenges I’ve just gone through so can read my story, be inspired, and be motivated?
You can take some of my tips, some of my tools, some of the things that helped me move along to a better place.
And then you can bring that into your own life.
So that is the number one key to get you started: What is the purpose of your book? And once you know that you then need to figure out how are you going to tell your story in a way that will inspire and motivate.
Because often the story can be very traumatic and very painful, and you don’t want to trigger the reader with traumatic emotions. You could also feel very vulnerable sharing some of your secrets.
And so, if you think of it from the perspective of the healing journey of where I am now, you are starting where you are now, and then you are helping people to understand how did you get there?
You don’t even have to know all the answers or be at the “end” of your journey. It might actually be the writing of the book that helps you get there.
I think there are still a lot of people saying, “but I do not know what my purpose is. I do not know what my calling in life is”.
And this is where the book comes into a much more important role in your life, which is helping you to follow all those little breadcrumb pieces and figure out and discover what your calling in life actually is.
It is such an interesting process, and that is why I say to people, you know, even if you are not going to publish a book, you should still go through this exercise because it will give you so much information about your life and all the things you have done you may not realize were related.
And perhaps you did not quite realize you went through those steps to discover what your purpose is.
To give you a good example, I went traveling around the world for seven years, and when I reflect on that experience, it was writing the resulting book called “Around the world in seven years’ that helped me find my calling, which is helping other people write and publish books.
My breadcrumbs were linking together my previous career in product marketing and realizing that “a book” is a product!
If I simply applied the same process that I used to bring a fast-moving bath product to market, to creating a book, I would be bringing a unique approach to writing a book!
As I started to work on the book, I realized it was not the seven-year journey of traveling around that led to my purpose, but the recalling of that journey!
Now the process I use to help other people write their books, often “accidentally” points to their calling and their purpose in life.
They can then use the book as their “business card” to showcase their expertise and wisdom and create the brand for their purpose in life, their calling!
See the power of writing a book? You can discover or confirm your purpose and then use the book as the platform to launch that!
About the Author, Julie Salisbury
Julie Salisbury is the author of Around the World in Seven Years: One Woman's Life-Changing Journey and Founder of Influence Publishing and InspireABook coaching. She specializes in helping authors to write and publish their books as a strategy to live out their purpose to the full.
Julie is more than a publisher with over 13 year's experience in the industry. She draws on her product marketing career in the UK of over 20 years to focus on strategic business and marketing goals to reach a global market via traditional and online media and publicity, and through strong global distribution and sales. She has published over 200 authors in the last 10 years and her unique "partner" publishing model means the author keeps all rights and royalties.
Visit www.influencepublishing.com or email founder@influencepublishing.com for information.
