I’d like to invite you to the online launch of my new book, Overnight Authority: How to win respect, command attention and earn more money by writing a book.
At the launch, I’ll give you an overview of the books nine-steps and some action you can take immediately to get your book underway.
You can come for free and get a 20% discount on buying my book after the launch, or you can get a 40% discount when you buy the book with your tix. Either way, you’ll love the launch.
Click the link to get your TIX:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/117928040945
Here’s an extract from my new book. I’d love to see you at the launch.
Chapter one: Start with who
So many folks would like to write a book but can’t get started. Or they start and get stuck.
When I ask would-be authors what stops them from writing their book, they say:
-
〉 I don’t know where to start.
-
〉 I don’t know how to structure my ideas.
-
〉 I have too many ideas.
-
〉 I don’t enjoy writing.
-
〉 I love writing but go around and around in circles.
-
〉 I’m a perfectionist.
These are all wonderful reasons but, in my experience, there is another reason. The true reason authors can’t get started is this: they don’t know who they are writing for. They think they know. But when we work together, they discover they have not gone deep enough to define their reader.
That’s understandable. There is a reason they don’t want to choose. This choice is one of the hardest to make. It goes against the grain for intelligent people to narrow down their focus to a defined audience. In fact, resisting the content of this chapter shows just how smart you are. In a TED Talk with over two million views, scientist Alex Wissner-
Gross proposes a ‘new equation for intelligence.’ He says, ‘Intelligence should be viewed as a physical process that tries to maximise future freedom of action and avoid constraints in its own future.’ I’d summarise Wissner-Gross in this way (with apologies), ‘Smart people don’t make a choice until the last minute’.
You want, you hope, your book will have universal appeal. You see more possibilities that way. But can you also see the possibilities that open up if you narrow your audience? Suppose you committed to writing a book for the vegan veterinary surgeons in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton. You write an entire book for them. You nail the problems they have and give them some fresh ways of thinking about them. You give them hope.
But wait. Now imagine your reader as the young vets of Brighton, 25-year-olds, who have finished their studies within a year or two. They work in another vet’s practise so they can build enough skills to start their own practice. Compare the issues these young vets have to say, a vegan vet in Brighton who’s 55, and wants to retire in five years.
The more precisely you narrow your audience, the more you understand the world from their point of view.
No one who isn’t a 55-year-old vegan vet in Brighton will read your book. But every 55-year-old vegan vet in Brighton will see themselves when they read your book.
And you might find that the vegan vets of Brighton have a lot in common with other vegans, or other vets. Then you will have a much broader audience. But the vegan vets of Brighton will love you. They will feel understood when they pick up your book. It’s like you’re talking exactly to them. You must have this level of insight into the audience you’re writing for.
Here’s an example of a narrow audience attracting a large following. The Australian Financial Review is a leading Australian daily business newspaper that targets the CEOs of the 200 biggest companies on the Australian Stock Exchange. (There are many who will disagree with me on this one, but bear with me.) Its editors and journalists work hard to interest that narrow target audience. But around 2.5 million people read the newspaper. Other readers may want to be the CEO of an ASX200 company, or want to sell to those CEOs. They might be accountants or consultants to ASX200 companies, or might want to sell their small company to an ASX200 company. So the Australian Financial Review doesn’t suffer from its narrow focus; it benefits.
Extract from my new book: Overnight Authority: How to win respect, command attention and earn more money by writing a book.
See you at the launch.