Get Your Book Done: The Proven System for Writing Your Transformational Book Quickly and Easily 2013 by Christine Kloser

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2 Get Your Book Done: The Proven System for Writing Your Transformational Book Quickly and Easily 2013 by Christine Kloser All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission from the publisher or the author. Contact the publisher for information on foreign rights.

3 Table of Contents Introduction...6 Chapter 1 Building a Strong Foundation for Your Book s Success...9 Getting Started...9 The Four Levels of Transformation...12 Transformation Level 1 You...12 Transformation Level 2 Your Reader...13 Transformation Level 3 Your Business...14 Transformation Level 4 The World...15 The Three Big Whys...17 Getting Excited...20 Chapter 2 Connecting with Your Reader...22 Who Is Your Ideal Reader?...22 What s Your Philosophy?

4 Chapter 3 Honing a Message That Gets Your Book Noticed...30 What Problems Does Your Book Solve?...30 What Questions Does Your Book Answer?...32 Chapter 4 How to Select the Best Title and Subtitle...34 Your Working Title...34 Why Are Subtitles So Important?...35 Your Working Titles and Subtitles...36 Field Trip...37 Chapter 5 The Five Components of Your Back Cover Copy...39 Component 1 The Headline...41 Component 2 Descriptive Paragraphs...42 Component 3 Bullet Points...42 Component 4 Endorsements...43 Component 5 Short Author Bio...45 Chapter 6 Marketing Essentials for Your Book...47 Naming Your Technology...47 Trademark Issues and Research...50 Your Domain Name...53 Chapter 7 Using Your Book to Increase Your Business Income...56 Your Marketing Diamond...56 Tips for Lead Generation How and Why to Get Folks to Opt In

5 Chapter 8 Research to Improve Your Book...67 Research Your Book s Genre...67 Research Your Competition Research for Your Front Cover...70 Research Book Structures...73 Chapter 9 Outlining Your Book...78 Writing Down Every Idea for Your Book...78 Organizing Your Ideas into Chapters...81 Determining the Order of the Chapters...82 Taking a Break and Revisiting Your Ideas...83 Creating a Working Outline...84 Chapter 10 How to Get Your Book Written in Less Than Eight Weeks...86 Getting in the Zone...87 Creating the Best Time to Write...89 Making a Commitment to Write...89 Keeping a Word Count...92 Chapter 11 From Proofreading to Printing...95 Three-Step Layering...95 Completing the Front and Back Matter...97 Working with an Editor...99 Printing and Publishing Options Get Your Book Done Six-Month Group Coaching Program Connect With Christine About the Author

6 Introduction Welcome aspiring transformational author! I am so excited you re here to begin your bookwriting journey. What you hold in your hands contains the key for you to have readers holding your book in their hands! Exciting, isn t it? If you re like me, you ve felt a nudge for quite some time that there s a message inside of you meant to come out on the pages of a book. Back in 2000, I founded a women s networking group when I lived in Los Angeles. I was one of many women in that group who shared our dreams of writing books but didn t have any idea how to turn those dreams into reality. Year after year we d share our resolution to become published authors until in 2004 I finally I said, Enough! I decided it was time to help my members (and myself) get published. I followed the Chicken Soup for the Soul model and gathered forty women to write a 1500-word chapter each, and my first book was published in We were all grateful to have that item checked off our bucket list! Personally, I was excited to move on to other things. However, that first book, Inspiration to Realization: Real Women Reveal Proven Strategies for Personal, Business, Financial and Spiritual Fulfillment, soon landed in the print edition of Entrepreneur Magazine, and the next thing I knew forty more women were asking if they could contribute to the next book. By now they were seeing the great benefits that authorship had brought their fellow members. 6

7 Volume II of that series came out a year later, and by then many of my clients were asking if I could help them write their own books. Not being as savvy as I am today, I said no for a year! I knew that if I said yes it meant having to write my own book. It just didn t feel right to teach them something I hadn t done myself yet, and I didn t know if I was ready personally to write my own book. Finally, in 2007, a divinely synchronistic moment unfolded when two of my clients asked if I would help them write their books at the same exact moment. I found myself saying yes before I was even aware of the words coming out of my mouth! So now I was committed to figuring out how to write a book so I could teach them and do it for myself. I went to one of my favorite spots to create the Spa at the Hotel Hershey and in a few focused hours I developed what is now this trademarked Get Your Book Done system. I enrolled a group of clients in a coaching program, and the miracles started to unfold. They wrote their books easily and effortlessly, grew their businesses, impacted many more people, ended up all over television and media, and developed a newfound confidence, clarity, and courage to share their messages! I share this with you because these incredible authors were exactly where you are now when they began the Get Your Book Done system. They had a dream and didn t know where to begin to realize it, and now you can see what s unfolded for them. You can do that, too. As you hold this book in your hands, you really do hold the key to seeing your words in print. Granted, these clients were all part of my Get Your Book Done coaching program, so they had a lot more support than for their book alone they could ask me questions, get guidance, listen to my trainings, complete the Get Your Book Done Action Guide, etc. But everything you need is in these pages. Since that first group of clients in 2007, I ve taught the Get Your Book Done system many, many times and continue to be filled with awe, gratitude, and joy as I witness my students step into their true, authentic selves and let their wisdom shine on the pages of their books. It feels like I m a midwife for their babies. 7

8 I had so many students coming to the coaching program that I developed my own online university at ChristineKloserUniversity.com to deliver the system to my students. It s an amazing community of like-minded visionaries and leaders who are ready to step up in the world in an even bigger way. It feels like a love-fest as I support them and they support each other with compassion, understanding, and encouragement to keep going! So dig into this book, do the exercises, write the words, and work toward your dream of being a published author. Keep in mind that at any time you need more support and guidance writing your transformational book, I am here for you and will welcome you with open arms and an open heart as a student in my Get Your Book Done group coaching program. As a special thank you for purchasing this ebook, you will receive a full $97 credit should you choose to join me! Learn more at: Your $97 Credit code is: gybd-credit Simply enter this code in the Promo Code box if you decide you do need more help and click apply. You ll see the price reduced by $97! But for now, simply begin. A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. You ve taken the first step already by reading this introduction. Way to go! Now turn to the next page and let the journey continue with chapter one. Here s to your courage, confidence, and clarity emerging with such power that the words of your book effortlessly flow onto the page. Love and blessings, Christine 8

9 Chapter 1 Building a Strong Foundation for Your Book s Success Getting Started Welcome to the Get Your Book Done system. It s wonderful that you re ready to bring your valuable message out to the world on the pages of your very own book. Congratulations on taking this important step and making this life-changing commitment to being an author. You have embarked on a truly amazing journey. Engaging fully in this system and the process that will unfold for you as you write your book can be one of the most transformational experiences of your life. In addition to reaching your writing goals, you will gain many benefits through this process confidence, clarity, courage, and the satisfaction of knowing you re making a real contribution to the lives of your readers, not to mention what becoming a published author can do for your business s bottom line. This chapter is about laying a strong foundation for your book s success. When you build a strong foundation for your book, you will write it more easily. You won t waste time, 9

10 money, and energy by taking the wrong approach with your writing. And you ll also create the best possible book for your readers and market it successfully. It won t be thrown together overnight and you won t be pulling out some old articles to make a book. The book you write by following this system will be something to be proud of, and it will have the potential to bring out the best in you and your readers. This step-by-step course allows you to work through each aspect of the project in bitesized pieces so you can get your book done in a very simple, paint-by-numbers way. Just stay committed to the process and your greatest book will be in print faster than you ever thought possible. The road map is here. It s crystal clear, it s easy, and it s in checklist form. The incredible testimonials of those who have gone through it are proof that this system works; books get done as lives and businesses are transformed. Now that you ve made this commitment to completing your book, ideas will start flowing like never before. It s important to capture those ideas until you re ready to start diving into your content and writing your book. One of the best ways to do this is to get a stack of 3 x 5 index cards. It doesn t matter whether you use the unlined or lined ones. Buy a little index card file box, too, so you can store them more securely than just with a rubber band tossed on your desk. (These index cards will also come into play when you re structuring your book and creating your outline.) As your ideas start flowing, simply write one idea per card. Let s say you re meditating in the morning or you ve just come out of the shower when some creative ideas emerge. Grab some blank index cards, write down those ideas, one per card, and file them in your box. Don t worry now about what to do with them. It will be clear later on. Just be sure you re capturing all the creative insights that are coming to mind now that you have made this level of commitment to the process. Laying the foundation for your book is absolutely essential for your success. Believe it or not, most authors overlook the foundational work and just start writing. And for a transformational author like you, that s the biggest mistake you can make. One of my clients came to me with a completed manuscript. She had labored over this manuscript poured her heart and her soul into it. When she came to me, she said, I need your advice on this book, 10

11 and we scheduled a breakthrough session. I began the conversation with, Tell me in a nutshell what your book is about. She couldn t do it. She had written the entire manuscript, but couldn t tell me succinctly what her book was about. What is the lesson here? No matter how good the content is, if you don t have the core foundational pieces in place, there s a good chance that when someone asks you a simple question like, What is your book about? you will not be able to answer them confidently and succinctly. You should be able to communicate the core message clearly, including the transformation you want your reader to experience, without any hesitation. Otherwise, how will a person know if your book is for them? Laying a good foundation for your book will help you accomplish this. I had a tough breakthrough session with that client. I had to be very direct and specific about what I saw as her greatest challenges. She had to go back and do some serious rethinking and rewriting. But you don t need to go through that. By the time your manuscript is done through using this system, you ll have everything nailed down and you can send it out to an editor and publisher with confidence. You don t want to be doubting or unable to communicate what your book is about at that point. By the time you complete this chapter, you ll be crystal clear about why you re writing your book, who your book is for, and what your vision is for your book and for your business. So let s get started. Grab a pen and paper, or whatever notebook you re using to track your book information. A three-ring binder or journal works well, or maybe you prefer taking notes on your computer. If so, open up a fresh Microsoft Word document as we move now into the first step to cover, which is the big question about the transformations available for you on all levels in this process. 11

12 The Four Levels of Transformation You re going to experience what I call the four levels of transformation. The technique taught here is not a slam, bam, get the book done as fast as you can sort of thing. There are courses out there that will show you how to do that. This system affords you nothing short of complete and total transformations on all four levels. You are level number one. Your reader is level number two. Your business is the third level of transformation. And, ultimately, the fourth level is that of the world and the part you play in it. You re a part of the great transformation that s happening in our world right now. I pioneered the term transformational author in June of 2010 when I decided to combine transformational coaching with my love of books and my publishing experience. Its first public mention was at a training event I named the Transformational Author Experience held in May of 2011, which has since become an annual event. It was there that I first gave voice to these four levels of transformation. (The Get Your Book Done system has definitely evolved over time!) Transformation Level 1 You Ask yourself, What personal transformation do I want to experience through this process? Yes, you re going to write a book and start growing your business, but first think about yourself and the journey you re embarking on. Think about who you are and who you want to be as you become a published transformational author. What transformation do you want for yourself? This first level of transformation is one of the greatest opportunities of your life, so take full advantage of being clear about what that is. Do you want to feel more courageous? Do you want to experience a new level of confidence or freedom to express yourself? Do you want to discover your real voice? 12

13 Do you hope this process will bring you more clarity, more credibility, more personal fulfillment, more confirmation knowing that you re on a purposeful path your right and divine path? There is a personal transformation that s here for you if you just ask. So explore what it might be and don t hold back. Be clear and honest with yourself. What is the greatest personal transformation or transformations you could ask for by going through this process? You, as the writer, will transform if you fully commit yourself to this process and to the guidance you ll find in this book. Transformation Level 2 Your Reader The second level of transformation is that of your reader, and it s essential that you connect deeply with the type of transformation you want your reader to experience. So many people go straight to writing their book and say, Oh, it s going to be about growing my business. However, your business isn t going to grow until you gain a deep understanding of who your reader is and how you want to impact that person. Connect with the transformation you want for your reader. If you were standing on the top of a mountain and you had all of your ideal listeners the people you really want to serve and help transform listening to your words of wisdom, hanging on every word you say about the transformation that will happen for them, what is that transformation you want to see achieved? Do you want them to heal their relationships? Do you want them to grow their businesses? Do you want them to deepen their spiritual understanding? Do you want to see them grow personally? 13

14 Do you want to improve their finances? Do you want them to live healthier lives and take better care of their bodies? Identify the transformation you want them to experience as a result of reading your book. Transformation Level 3 Your Business Let s look at the transformation you want for your business. This transformation comes third because when you are clear on your own personal transformation and connect deeply with how you want to serve and transform others then and only then can you see how your business can grow and shift and evolve. Without the personal transformation and without the commitment to your reader, your business transformation may work in the short term, but will not work in the long term. This is especially true in light of what our world is going through now and how it s changing. Everything is changing, and the transformation has to start with you. Your business will be positively impacted. This system has proven that over and over. The reason I m so adamant about teaching these four levels is because, for a period of my life, I skipped the first two and went straight to the business transformation while thinking, As long as I have the business going, everything else will work. I grew my business to a half million dollars quite quickly, but could not sustain it because I had not gone through the first two levels. I had to take a hard look and say, Wait. I ve got to get these first two pieces in place. I really need to go through my own transformation and I need to connect with how I want to serve and help others. Then I manifested six figures in a matter of ninety days. This kind of miracle can happen for you, too, in your business. Again, you want to be specific about this. What kind of transformation do you want for your business? 14

15 Do you want more visibility? Do you want to connect with and access more people? Do you want to bring in new clients? Are you hoping your business will transform and you ll have new systems in place that make it easier for you? Do you want to create products and programs based on the content of your book that will help you bring in more revenue? Maybe you want to shift the whole direction of your business. Maybe you re saying, I don t even want the business I have. Your book can be a complete rebranding an entirely new identity and place to put your stake in the ground as a professional in the marketplace. This is the third level of transformation knowing what business you want or how you want your business transformed. Transformation Level 4 The World The fourth level of transformation is about the one you want to see in the world. What is the impact your book can have on the world? You may be thinking, The whole world? There s nothing I can do to impact the world. It s too big. There are billions of people. What can I do? There are two things you can do to wrap your head around this level of transformation. First, be clear that your book does not have to impact all the billions of people on the planet. Just look at your world your business, your family, your friends, your clients, your customers, and your community. What kind of impact do you want to make there? What kind of transformation is it that you want your presence to have on that world the immediate world that you touch? That s one level of world transformation you can look at. 15

16 The other involves the pebble in a pond analogy ripples of transformation spreading out from you and vibrating throughout the world. Who you are, how you live, the level at which you vibrate, the level of consciousness at which you go through life and write your book, doing what it is you do in your life that vibration, that level of conscious resonance that you have inside of yourself contributes to the collective consciousness of the entire planet. Like pebbles that are tossed into a pond create ripples that go out farther and farther, a similar thing happens as you transform, as you help your reader transform, and as your business transforms. There is scientific proof that the power of your thoughts and your own personal resonance impact what happens in the world. How else can a group of meditators in the middle of Washington D.C., meditating on peace, cause the level of violence to drop drastically during the time they re meditating? The impact of your vibration in the world can touch people you ll never meet. The meditators who took part in that study in Washington D.C. didn t meet the people who decided not to commit crimes, but their presence caused crime to decrease. This is the power of this ultimate level of transformation the transformation of the world. It s also essential to recognize that you, as a messenger, transformer, and author, have a gift that will make a difference in the lives of other people. It s important to understand this highest level of transformation and your responsibility in honoring your commitment to do your part. Maybe only a few hundred people will read your book, but that s all that matters. Maybe there are thousands, if not millions, of people who will read your book. The number of readers does not matter very much in light of the fourth level of transformation because if you impact one person with your book, you have done your part to impact the world. You should now understand why it s important to manifest all four levels of transformation in order for your book to be as powerful and connecting as it can be. 16

17 The Three Big Whys The next step in building a solid foundation for your book is the three big whys. Understanding the reasons you re writing your book is essential to having more confidence, more clarity, and more courage, and to knowing that you have everything you need already inside of you to write your book and make that transformational difference in the life of your reader. It s time for some big-picture thinking here. Not that the possibility of transforming the world isn t already huge, but we re going to look at it now from a slightly different angle. There are three whys that are important for you to consider in building a solid foundation for birthing your book. This truly is a birthing process. As you move forward, you will go through all of the birthing phases, from conception to gestation, labor, delivery, and celebration and it will be well worth it. Many of my clients have used this system. Often when their first book gets delivered to their door, they just want to hold it. They get an overwhelming sensation when they see it, smell it, crack it open, flip through the pages, and then read it. I ve received countless phone calls with the author in tears. They are tears of joy at finally seeing their baby, if you will, delivered. Even authors who never birthed a baby experienced the same love and excitement. I hope you have this experience. When the mail truck shows up at your door and drops off your book, it really is like looking at a piece of yourself, because your book is an extension of you. For those of you who are parents, you understand looking at your child and saying, Oh my gosh, this person is a part of me. What a miracle! There will be the same kinds of experiences in this process. They will be a little different, obviously, because your book is not a child; but it s the same idea. You will birth a part of you that you may not even know exists right now. You will learn new things about yourself, uncovering more depths of your wisdom, your heart, your soul, your knowledge, your commitment, and your ambition. You ll find new parts of yourself in this process and you ll be glad you made the journey. 17

18 The First Why Why This Book? Let s look from three different perspectives at why you re writing your book. The first perspective is to ask yourself, Why this book? There may be many different things you could write about. In fact, you might start writing one book and get an idea for another. This certainly can happen. It s okay. There are many books that you can write. But there s that one message right now that is rising to the surface for you to share. It s essential that you re clear about why you re committed to writing this particular book. Only you know the reason. There could be many personal reasons. Some people write for the cathartic and healing experience they receive. Some people say to themselves, Oh my gosh, if I don t write this book I m just going to go nuts because people keep asking for it. I know I need to do it. I ve got to get my information out there and this is the book that needs to be written to help the greatest number of people right now. At this stage of your process, identify for yourself Why this book? The Second Why Why You? The second question to contemplate is Why me? It s vital for you to understand why you re the perfect person to write this book. The strength of this answer will help you go through the process of writing your book. A common experience is that doubts and fears surface during writing. As you go through your transformational process, you ll have the opportunity to heal some of those parts of you that doubt. You ll also be able to strengthen those parts of you that are fearful about bringing your voice out into the world in this way. That s all part of the process and this is why now, at the beginning, it s important to know and identify, Why me? What have you been through personally? What have you been through professionally? 18

19 What kinds of successes have you had in your business, your life, your community, and while working with other people? What makes you the best person to write this particular book? You would not be here right now, having come this far and making this kind of commitment, if you were not the best person to write this book. But you must know, with absolute confidence, why you re that person. This surety will help guide and sustain you through the process. The Third Why Why Now? If you re like a lot of other authors, you ve been thinking about writing your book for a while, but something is telling you that now is the time. Contemplate Why now? Is there something that s shifting for you personally that makes now the right time? Are you seeing such a need for your information in the marketplace that you know that if you don t do it now, you re actually going to be shortchanging people by not making this book available? Do you see more people in the world hurting more than ever in every area of life health, relationship, money, finances, business, spirituality...? There are lots of people going through hard times right now. Are you tuned in to that? Whatever your insight might be, whether it s spiritual or practical, are you seeing a real need in the marketplace that you can fill? Some of you might be sensing that humanity is finally ready for your message. Maybe you ve had this idea for a while but until now with the shift happening in the world it s been premature. Now you re saying, Okay, things are shifting enough and now is the time for me 19

20 to contribute to what s happening in the world on every level. So before you delve deeper into the process of writing your book, you really need to know the answer to Why now? Getting Excited As you explore the four levels of transformation and the three big whys, you undoubtedly feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. You should also understand that excitement sometimes, neurologically, shows up as fear. So if you re feeling excited and fearful, you may be asking, Can I really do this? Realize that this is a normal part of the process. On the other hand, maybe you re saying, Wow, now I know I m ready to do this! Let the excitement build in all of its forms, because if there wasn t a bit of Oh my gosh, I can t believe I m doing this! you wouldn t be fully engaged in the process. So let the exhilaration propel you forward. Tap in to this great journey and the transformation on every level, because once you complete this system and you have your manuscript in hand ready to go to the next phase, you will be practically unrecognizable to yourself. If you read the introduction, you saw the testimonial of one of my clients, Dallas Travers, who tells how her business went from $90,000 to nearly half a million. She grew her subscriber list from 1,200 to almost 7,000 in a relatively short time after her book came out. She s become a well-respected leader and pioneer in her field. But what she wrote in her testimonial about my Get Your Book Done system is that the greatest gift she got was who she now sees herself to be and her new place in the world. How wonderful! That s the transformation I want for you. If that little voice is saying, Maybe other people believe in me, but I don t believe in me, just know that that voice is not your true voice. Your real voice says, Yes, I can do this. Your true voice knows you can, that now is the time, and that you manifested and attracted this book because you re ready to deliver your valuable and powerful message to the world. Be comforted in knowing that this system will help you every step of the way. 20

21 Remember that this system is designed in bite-sized pieces to make it easy for you, and that it s proven to work for every author who truly stays committed to following the steps. Honor your commitment to get your book done and follow this system faithfully. You ll get there! 21

22 Chapter 2 Connecting with Your Reader In this chapter we re going to drill deeper into two critical points that many new authors miss. If you miss these points, it can cost you time and money. So you want to make sure you re paying close attention to what we re covering in this chapter. Who Is Your Ideal Reader? Surprisingly, many people write their entire book without having a clear picture of who their book is for. When it comes to marketing your book, it s crucial to know where to direct your marketing efforts and dollars. In order for your book to reach more people, help your business grow, and be marketed well, you must know who your reader will be. If you ve ever taken a marketing 101 class, you know that a basic marketing question is Who is this for? If you re marketing to a nebulous group of people or to some unidentified person and you re not really clear about who you re trying to connect with, no matter how much marketing you do, whether for 22

23 your book or your business, it will fall flat. You have to know who you re talking to so you can speak directly to them. Some people call this your target market. In this system it s called your ideal reader. Many people say, My book is for everyone. I can t pinpoint who my ideal reader is because so many people can benefit from it. Everybody needs to read this book. The fact is, if your book is going to be successful, it cannot be for everyone. If you write it as though it s for everyone, it will not connect with anyone. The most powerful books make the reader feel that the book was written just for them. Your book has the most power when someone reading it feels like you re sitting in the room with them and connecting with them on a very personal level. It s as if you re writing your book for just one person. You must determine who that one person is. Let me give you an illustration of what happens when you really nail who your ideal reader is. This example is from my own book The Freedom Formula: How to Put Soul in Your Business and Money in Your Bank, which has won several awards. I received s from people thanking me for writing it. One of the subject lines read, You made me burn my dinner. Another subject line was, Thanks for making my coffee get cold. They were being a little sarcastic, but as I read through the s of gratitude for the book, what they told me was that their book arrived from Amazon, they opened the package, looked at the cover, and flipped over to the back cover. Then as they started reading the first few pages, there was something in the words and the energy of the book that connected with them so deeply that they had no choice but to sit down and read, burning their dinner or letting their coffee get cold. They read that book until the very last page. (The book is short just 175 pages in a small format so they didn t sit there for the entire day.) The point is that this power is going to happen for you with your reader if you speak directly to them. Some writers actually give their ideal reader a name so they can relate to them more personally. Perhaps your ideal reader is someone you already know. Maybe you have a Susie Smith in your life and she is your ideal client, your ideal reader, the very person you re writing your book for. If so, identify all of Susie Smith s characteristics. If you don t know anyone personally whom you d consider to be your ideal reader, create 23

24 that person in your imagination. Give them a fictitious name and an occupation. Visualize where that person lives and the circumstances they are going through. Be sure this fictitious person is someone you can imagine yourself connecting with on a heart level. Then if you ever get stuck during the writing process, you can go back and think of your own personal Susie Smith or the fictitious person you created. Imagine spending time together. Gain an understanding of their psyche. Imagine what their experiences have been and what they re going through now. What are their goals? What are their challenges? What are they yearning for? Without this insight you can find yourself blocked in your writing process. Keep in mind that your book is going to transform someone, whether it s in the area of finance, health, personal relationships, spirituality, parenting, or something else. The most impactful way to write is to use second person language to speak to your reader using you and your. This is conversational style. It s as if you re sitting in the room with your reader, sharing your knowledge about your particular area of expertise. Picture your ideal reader coming to your front door and saying, I have a problem and I know you re an expert on this subject. Can you help me? You invite that person in and motion for them to sit on the couch while you take your favorite reading chair. Your guest begins to explain the problem that s bothering them so much they decided to seek your help. You start sharing your expertise What you can do to solve that problem is... and the conversation is underway. Occasionally, when you re relating a personal experience, use the first person I and we. Use personal examples to show that you re an authority in your field. Talk about past clients (use their real names only if you have their permission). Picture yourself saying to the person on the sofa: I know a person who went through that same difficulty you re having... Some authors who have gone through the Get Your Book Done system discovered that their ideal reader thinks and feels a lot like they do. In fact, they realized they were describing themselves when they listed the characteristics of their ideal reader. This should not be surprising once you realize that the wisdom and knowledge you re going to put into your book was gained from the experiences in your own life. It might turn out that people just 24

25 like you before you learned the lessons that will appear on your pages will benefit the most from what you share. It s a little fun perk when you hear yourself say, Oh my gosh, I m writing my book for me with everything that I ve been through. If you do discover that your ideal reader is very much like yourself, you should have very little trouble relating and connecting. On the other hand, you may find yourself describing someone you know maybe a client, friend, or family member who has gone through a particular challenge. Because of your expertise, you know how to help them. Maybe your ideal reader is a composite of several people you know. Spend quality time getting to know this new, yet familiar person. Deeply explore their needs and how your book will address those needs with solutions that will positively impact their lives forever. Keep working on this foundational exercise until you ve developed a caring, trusting relationship with your ideal reader. Once you can clearly see this person in your mind s eye once you know how this person feels and hurts, and whether they are real or fictitious your writing process is going to be easier and your book is going to be more powerful. As you get to know your ideal reader, you may notice some things changing. Ideas will unfold and emerge as you move deeper into this process. No problem. Let it unfold. Let it shift. You re building a foundation right now. You re digging deeper. It s as if you re digging the basement for a new house and you begin to pour the concrete. Eventually you ll have a solid foundation, but right now the cement is fluid. Let it flow. Trust what comes of it. Every step you take now to get to know your ideal reader more intimately leads to a more marketable and remarkable book. Whenever you get stuck in your writing process, imagine your ideal reader coming to you again with a specific problem. Picture yourself explaining the solution, talking compassionately, drawing from your expertise freely and willingly. See the other person nodding and appreciating the valuable time and knowledge you re giving them. Sense their excitement and gratitude as they finally hear the solution to their problem. These are the words that will appear in your book. 25

26 What s Your Philosophy? The next thing to consider is your book s core philosophy. Your book should be a vehicle for sharing your philosophy with others. What do you fundamentally believe? What is the basis for all your teachings, all your work, and everything you re sharing? I once heard someone say that your book shares your philosophy and your business helps people really, fully, and truly implement that philosophy in a much deeper way. If you take into account everything you could possibly teach someone, it would fill volumes of wisdom and knowledge. You cannot share everything in one book, but you can share your philosophy the core essence of who you are, what you re teaching, what you believe, and how these principal beliefs and knowledge can help transform your reader. Your philosophy encompasses the guiding principles that will lead you in what you communicate through your book. You might wonder, Why philosophy? Why am I sharing all that information about myself and my beliefs? Because doing so helps your reader understand where you re coming from, your perspective, and where your place is in the crowd. When your reader knows these things about you, they know you stand rock-solid for your position. They feel the passion and conviction you have in your beliefs. (Perhaps you can feel my convictions about the powerful journey of writing a transformational book.) They know you re ready to stand on the mountaintop and debate with people about why you believe what you believe. It allows them to connect with you in a deeper way. And when that happens, it s an easy step from there to wanting to work with you more closely. Sharing your philosophy opens a door for you. Your reader will think, Oh, I get this person. She understands me. I like her and I like what she s saying. I ll open the door just a bit farther to see what else she has to say. Maybe she really can help me improve my life. You re using your book to ask your reader to take specific action steps to move closer to you and to be further transformed and impacted by you. Helping you do that is a vital goal of this system. Your philosophy is an essential part of the foundational work you re doing to make your marketing process more effective. 26

27 Let me share the story of the very first person who went through the Get Your Book Done system and what sharing his philosophy did for him. This fantastic man, Bill Losey, came to me after a decade of wanting to write a particular book. He had struggled with it for years and finally said, Okay, I m going to do it. I m going to take the Get Your Book Done coaching program (which at the time cost $10,000) and transform myself, my readers, my business, and the world. And that s exactly what he did. Bill s book is titled Retire in a Weekend, which is a pretty bold promise to make to his readers. He positions himself as America s retirement strategist, and, as a result of his book, has appeared on MSNBC, CBS, and Oprah and Friends. He has also been quoted in Business Week, Time Magazine, and Kiplinger s Personal Finance Magazine. He shared his philosophy in his book and it led to literally hundreds of thousands of dollars of income for him. Bill is a unique author. He rarely sells his books. Instead, he shares them with everyone who contacts his office to find out if he can help them with their retirement strategy. Once he gets a person s contact information, he sends out his book as part of an informational packet. In the book it says, Contact me for a free consultation. People don t learn about the free consultation until they read the book. This is key because the book does all his selling for him. People who read his book know what he stands for they understand his philosophy. Through the pages of his book, people come to like, know, and trust him. His book helps him establish a connection with his readers. As a result, his close rate the percentage of people who read his book and ultimately become clients is amazingly high. These are people who shifted millions of dollars of assets to Bill to manage because they read his book. How does he share his philosophy? He writes about what he believes and why he believes it. People who relate to his philosophy are convinced that Bill can help them with their retirement strategies. They read about Bill s free consultation in his book, contact him, and become clients. This remarkable case study demonstrates what is possible when you clearly communicate your philosophy in your book. People have to know what you believe in, appreciate who you are, and understand what you have to offer. Otherwise they won t sense that you understand them and can solve their problem. If they don t know who you are, they re not going to make that coveted connection that draws them to you. You want them to jump at the chance to meet you. Hey! Contact my office for a free consultation. Result? More business....maybe a lot more business. 27

28 Seeding your philosophy throughout your book is essential, and creates a powerful leadgeneration tool. Seeding means sprinkling your philosophy throughout the book to keep the connection consistent throughout. You re not just writing your book to write a book and get it done. You re writing it to impact people, to make connections with those you can help, and to expand and grow your business with your ideal clients. People who resonate with your core beliefs are much more apt to take the next step and come to you. Your writing will do exactly what you want it to do bring in the right people. On the other hand, your book will also send some people away. And that s okay. Those readers who do not resonate with your core beliefs are not your ideal clients. They re not the people you want to work with on a business level, and there s no reason to take such a reaction personally. You don t want to waste time with people who are not in tune with you and what you offer. That s one of the beauties of this approach. You ve read some books that caused you to say, I love this book! I resonated with it. It s amazing. And you ve read some books about which you ve said, Nope. Not my thing. You want your philosophy to be communicated in such a way that causes your reader to say, This author is speaking my language. You want people to read your book and say, Yeah, that s for me. I ve had people contact me and say, I can t believe your book. It s so amazing. I take it everywhere. It s been to all the coffee shops and restaurants with me. I can t put it down. I just keep reading it over and over because every single word feels like it was meant for me. That s the experience that I want you to have. So ask yourself: What are my guiding principles? What are my core beliefs? What ground do I stand on? What s my philosophy? 28

29 Be prepared to infuse those answers into your book. It s your goal to have that kind of energy, those convictions, and those guiding principles come out in your book. In this chapter you have laid two more foundational blocks knowing who your ideal reader is and determining what philosophy will draw that ideal reader to you. This foundational work is going to make the writing process much easier. Addressing manageable pieces one at a time is the beauty of this system. Be excited about the transformations unfolding for you right now and feel the anticipation building. You can do this! Now is the time! And the world is ready for your valuable and powerful message. 29

30 Chapter 3 Honing a Message That Gets Your Book Noticed In this chapter you ll hone a message that will get your book noticed. This requires answering two questions: What problems does my book solve? and What questions does my book answer? Exploring these questions may also help you pinpoint your core philosophy and identify your ideal reader more accurately. What Problems Does Your Book Solve? This is the age-old question that drives the success of your book, because non-fiction book buyers purchase books that solve their problems. Here is an example. It involves a book I absolutely love: Cheryl Richardson s The Unmistakable Touch of Grace. I purchased it years ago and then put it on a table in my guest room. One day I was struggling with a serious crisis in my life that was totally unexpected and completely blindsided me. I soon realized I needed help to get through this trial gracefully. As I entered 30

31 my guest room and spotted Cheryl Richardson s book, I suspected it could help me through that particular difficulty. As it turned out, that book did offer me the solution I needed and is one of the most transformational books I ve ever read! Think about past situations in your own life. Can you recall reading a certain book because the book title or cover promised to help you in some way? It may have been a promise you weren t consciously aware of until you read the title, subtitle, and the back cover copy, and thought, This book is for me. I really need to learn more about this subject. Whether your book is about health, finance, cooking, parenting, relationships, spirituality, personal development, healing, or something else, ask yourself, What problems does my book solve? Even if your book is an inspirational feel-good book and does not tackle a specific topic such as diet, nutrition, finance, or business, it s still solving problems for your reader. Think of the phenomenal success of Chicken Soup for the Soul by Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield. They ve sold millions of copies of their Chicken Soup series of books! Why is that book still popular? Because it speaks to an ache people have in their heart, and relieves their constant yearning for inspiration and motivation. The book addresses a soft topic but it solves a huge problem people just don t feel as inspired as they want to be; they are longing for stories that give them strength and courage. So even if you consider your book a feel-good book, you ll still want to explore what problems it addresses in the life of your ideal reader. Here are some examples of problems a book can solve: Understanding why an elderly parent acts out How to raise conscious children How to lose those last five pounds 31

32 How to make money or manage your wealth How to get your book done (wink, wink) Grab a piece of paper. At the top write What problems does my book solve? Then list the first three things that come to mind. Tune yourself in to the core message of the book. What was that special message you knew you wanted to share when you first decided to write your book? What problems does that special message solve for people? To dig even deeper into this question, talk to previous clients, friends, colleagues, family, and anyone with whom you ve shared the message of your book. Ask them what problems you helped them solve as it relates to the topic of your book. You may uncover a few nuggets of wisdom and learn you ve helped them in ways you never suspected. If that s the case, continue adding to your list, because these points will be valuable to you when writing your manuscript. What Questions Does Your Book Answer? The second question to ask is What questions does my book answer? This is simply a different perspective on the previous question you examined. These two questions intersect, approaching the foundational aspect of your book from two different angles. It may be helpful to think about your ideal reader. Imagine yourself asking, What questions are weighing on your heart that my book might answer? Use the technique employed earlier when you recorded what problems your book solves. This time write down What questions does my book answer? After making an initial list, close your eyes, think about the core message of your book, open your eyes, and write the first three things that come to mind. This is a great way to bypass the logical mind, which often struggles to figure things out. Sometimes by writing down spontaneous ideas, you receive insight that would not otherwise be revealed. 32

33 For example, a book can answer questions like: How can I cope with the guilt that difficult parents put on their children? How much money do I need to retire? How can I figure out the best career choice? I explored this process in a private coaching session with a client who was having difficulty seeing the value of her own message. She was not able to explain what problems her book solved and what questions it answered for the reader. This is a common dilemma because what you do is usually so natural to you; it s often difficult to see what you re doing because it s engrained in the very being of who you are. You may think, The topic of my book is commonplace. Everyone understands this issue. No, they don t. Solving the problems you re addressing might seem simple to you, but to someone else it might feel like climbing Mount Everest. This is the person who really needs your book. You want to be sure you answer these points in depth so you can really transform that reader. There you have it the two most important questions when you re honing a message that gets your book noticed. This foundational work is designed to improve the value of your book and to make sure that your writing phase goes smoothly and easily. You may be wondering, Can I just start writing my book now? No, not quite yet. You re still doing the foundational work that makes the writing process easier. Don t let your foot off the accelerator at this stage. Keep moving forward. By breaking down the whole process into these manageable steps, you won t get overwhelmed by having to deal with these issues at the same time that you re trying to write your manuscript. Millions of people have said, I need to write a book, but only a very few accomplish this goal. You re one of those few people, so continue to honor your commitment to get your book done. Give yourself the gift of honing your message and watch your book get noticed sooner rather than later. 33

34 Chapter 4 How to Select the Best Title and Subtitle Your Working Title Now is the time to explore possible titles for your book, one of which you ll call your working title. You aren t locked into the title you choose during this exercise. Sometimes a book title changes right before a book goes to print. You re just starting to zero in on your title. The main function of your book title is to attract the attention of your ideal reader. As you know, this is an extremely important goal, so the title must be chosen with great care. You want it to be compelling, eye-catching, interesting, understandable, and intriguing. Start by analyzing some very straight-forward titles. Deepak Chopra s title, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, states clearly what the book is about. Marci Shimoff s Happy for No Reason also gives a strong clue as to what the reader will find. Michael Gerber s Awakening the Entrepreneur Within would attract someone with an entrepreneurial frame of mind. The Art of Extreme Self Care, by Cheryl Richardson, is another example of a title that reveals the book s core message. 34

35 Next, examine some mysterious titles like Good to Great by Jim Collins. You can t tell what this book is about, can you? It could be a cookbook, a sex book, or a health book. Another mysterious title is A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. This book could be about ecology, green energy, recycling, or an endless number of other topics. Seth Godin s The Dip could be about ice cream or dancing. Why do these authors use puzzling titles? Because there are actually two parts to a title the title and the subtitle. It s in the subtitle that the reader learns what the book is about. Why Are Subtitles So Important? Look at the mysterious titles coupled with their subtitles: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don t. It s clear now that this book is about business. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life s Purpose. This is a transformational book with a promise for those who need help discovering their purpose in life. The Dip: A Little Book that Teaches You When to Quit and When to Stick the dip refers to the dip in the road when trouble arrives. A subtitle is like a newspaper headline it grabs your attention and reveals what is in the article that follows. The subtitle includes a promise for those who read the book A Little Book that Teaches You When to Quit and When to Stick. The subtitle can promise valuable information, such as in Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don t. The job of the title is to grab the reader s attention, but it s often the subtitle that makes your ideal reader reach out a hand to take the book off the shelf (or click the Add to Shopping Cart button). Since subtitles are powerful in grabbing the attention of your ideal reader, take time to develop the best one for your book. 35

36 Your Working Titles and Subtitles Write down the titles and subtitles you ve already thought of and draw a line across the page. Now start your list of other possible titles and subtitles. Even if you think you already have the perfect title and subtitle, don t skip this step. Additional title ideas can come in handy when developing chapter headings, subheadings, back cover copy, and marketing material. You might also discover expressions to use in the text of your manuscript. Picture someone walking down the bookstore aisle. Their head is cocked sideways as they read the book titles on the shelf. Suddenly they stop, remove a book from the shelf, and look closely at the cover. What made them choose that book? The title and subtitle promised them something they wanted badly enough to consider spending money to buy the book. As you develop your list of titles, consider the problem you re solving or the promise of valuable information you have to offer. If you re stuck on these points, go back to your notes from the previous chapters and review what you wrote about these foundational aspects of your book. This is just your working title. Don t pressure yourself to get the final title nailed down just yet. These exercises with titles and subtitles are useful in further honing your message. Your title is the first thing a reader sees. If intrigued by it, they will read the subtitle. These two components must work together to speak to the reader s needs. If this happens, the reader will reach out to the book and take it off the shelf or click for more information on the computer screen. So be sure your title and subtitle are interesting enough, attractive enough, engaging enough, perhaps mysterious enough to reach out and connect with your ideal reader. Take care, however, not to be too mysterious. If the reader can t tell what your book is about, they may simply pass it over because it doesn t speak to their need. Likewise, if the title and subtitle cause people to misunderstand what your book is about, the wrong reader will pick it up and be disappointed. Picture your book on a bookstore shelf reaching out to your ideal reader. What is the title and subtitle of this book that connects so quickly with them? Write down what you imagine this 36

37 reader sees. Put yourself in your ideal reader s shoes. If you were wrestling with the problem described in your book, what title and subtitle would you want to see on a bookshelf? Now change scenes. Imagine yourself getting ready to be a guest on a radio talk show or TV show. The host of the show says, Coming up after the break we ll be hearing from an author whose book is about [what your book is about]. What phrase would you want the host to say? What do you want the world to think of as your expertise? Write that phrase down because it might make a fantastic subtitle for your book. If your subtitle sounds like a media hook, it could be the perfect phrase to hook your ideal reader. Field Trip How about a field trip to your local bookstore? Go to the section of the bookstore where you envision your book will be. Pick ten book titles that jump out at you. Don t pick fiction titles if you re writing a non-fiction book. Nor should you choose a book about cooking if your book is about spiritual development. Stay within your genre. If you re unable to get to the bookstore, go to your own bookshelves and pick ten titles of books you ve read on your subject. You can also use titles of books you ve heard about and books on your list of books to read. They should be titles that resonate with you the most. Think about what it is about each title and subtitle that attracts you? Jot down notes about what is intriguing about the titles you ve chosen. Now use the titles you ve written down to create possible titles for your own book by tweaking the words. Perhaps you re writing a book on building relationships and Good to Great is on your list. Change the words to Single to Married. If your book helps people go through a divorce, the tweaked title could be Married to Divorced. Follow the pattern of the title and just change the words to describe your book. Have fun with this exercise. Allow the creative juices to flow. Nothing is set in stone at this stage of the process, so enjoy yourself. You re just seeking a working title, which could 37

38 evolve into a different title farther down the road. Write down every idea that bubbles up, even if it s not following the models on your list. You could end up with dozens or more potential titles for your book or phrases to use in your text. Do the same exercise with subtitles. Follow the pattern and substitute words. If the subtitle does not resonate with you as much as the title does, feel free to use subtitles from other books. If you re writing a relationship book and you re tweaking Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don t, your subtitle could be Why Some Marriages Last and Others Don t or Why Some Marriages Survive the Test of Time and Others Don t. Once you have at least ten subtitles written down, play around with them. Use your thesaurus to substitute key words. Try to answer the two important questions What problems does my book solve? and What questions does my book answer? When you have a good, long list, take a break and return later for a fresh look. Use a highlighter on the ones that really resonate. If possible, ask friends or your writing coach to give their opinions on these titles and subtitles. Don t dismiss anything that comes to mind. Mix and match titles and subtitles as long as there s a logical connection between them and they relate to what you know right now to be the content of your book. You might even find the title for your next book or a headline for your back cover copy. 38

39 Chapter 5 The Five Components of Your Back Cover Copy The most difficult, but most important 200 words of your entire book are the title, subtitle, and back cover copy. Your book will be more marketable and reach more ideal readers if you succinctly describe what your book promises and how the reader will benefit from reading it. You may ask, Why am I writing the title, subtitle, and back cover copy when I haven t written my manuscript yet? Aren t these things written after the book is completed, especially the back cover copy?...not in the Get Your Book Done system, because these foundational steps improve your manuscript and make the writing process easier. By now you have chosen your best working title and subtitle. Their function is to get your reader to reach out for your book and take the next step to flip the book over and read the back cover copy. Studies have shown that readers take about eight seconds to decide whether to buy a book. Only eight seconds! That s the time it takes to read your title, subtitle, and enough of your 39

40 back cover copy to make a decision whether to buy it or put it back on the shelf. Now you know why the title, subtitle, and back cover copy are by far the most important words you will write for your book. Too many authors complete their manuscripts yet cannot write their back cover copy because they never developed the clarity to say in about 200 words what their book is about, who it s for, and how it will benefit their reader. But if you conquer this step now, you ll be crystal clear about what should be included in your book what you want your book to become. Here is what clear, concise back cover copy does for you and your reader: It keeps your reader engaged long enough to make a decision to buy, making the book more marketable. It offers a strong promise to solve your reader s problems or answer their questions. It explicitly points out the main benefits your reader will gain from the book. It reveals your credentials, proving you re an expert in your field; your reader understands why you re worth listening to. It s a road map, with boundaries, to help you stay on track while writing your manuscript; you ll know if an issue is inside or outside the scope of what you promised to deliver to your readers. It s a reference guide for what you promised to your reader, so you re certain to include these points in your book. It s your elevator speech when asked what your book is about. It empowers you to explain the message of your book with self-assurance and authority. It gives you renewed confidence and motivation to move forward in the writing process. It makes the manuscript much easier to write. 40

41 Component 1 The Headline The first component of the back cover copy is a compelling headline. It shouldn t be too long somewhere between seven and fifteen words. It should capture the essence of what your book is about. You can use the same style as a headline in the news or on a magazine cover. You have already captured your reader s attention with your title and subtitle. They have turned the book over and they re reading the headline. It s the job of the headline to keep them interested. As they are reading it, they are subconsciously asking themselves, Is it going to be worth my time and money to read this book? The back cover headline must convince them it will be time and money well spent. As in the previous exercises, visit your genre section of the local bookstore. This time, the title does not have to attract you. Simply pick up one book after another and examine the back covers for headlines. Ask yourself, Does this headline make me want to continue reading? If the answer is yes, write down this headline. Next to it, make a note of why the headline appeals to you and why it makes you want to keep reading. If the headline does not entice you, use a separate sheet of paper to note why it turned you off. Is it poorly written? Does it ramble or say nothing? Is it a cliché? Is it more about the author than the reader s needs? Does it fail to offer a promise? Take time to analyze why one headline draws you in while another leaves you cold. After you ve closely examined a dozen headlines, write several headlines for your own book. Tweak the words to match your core message. Don t plagiarize from other people s back cover copy; just use their text as a model. Once you have created several headlines, highlight the ones you like the best. 41

42 Component 2 Descriptive Paragraphs One or two descriptive paragraphs follow the headline. Your reader learns what could be possible in their life if they read your book. If you re writing a business book, describe what great things could happen with their business as a result of following the advice in your book. If it s a health or nutrition book, what s possible for their bodies and their physical fitness? How will they grow, change, heal, transform, or prosper from learning what you have to teach them? Whether it s a book on spirituality, relationships, self-help, personal development, healing, business, finance, or something else, the descriptive paragraph paints a picture of what they can have after reading your book. As in before-and-after snapshots, this paragraph shows who they can become with your loving guidance. Read some descriptive paragraphs on the back covers of a dozen or more books in your genre. Do you recognize the promised benefits? Can you see what the reader gains? Follow the pattern of the best ones or model the best sentences from several books. Then write one or two paragraphs for your own book. Make it clear that a wonderful transformation awaits your reader if they read your book. This is no time to be modest. Tell them in a straight-forward manner what your book will do for them. The work you re doing now on your back cover copy will most likely not be your final version, so don t worry if you re not completely satisfied. Have fun with it. Remember, writing a book is a process! There will be time later to make adjustments as your book evolves. Component 3 Bullet Points Immediately after your descriptive paragraphs, you ll want to include three to five bullet points that highlight the most important benefits of the book. Some people will flip the book over, read the headline, skip the descriptive paragraphs, and focus on the bullet points. So take care to craft bullet points that will resonate with your ideal reader. 42

43 The best bullet points begin with action words discover, engage, learn, transform, release, explore, develop, heal, and the like. Examine the bullet points other authors used in their back cover copy. Analyze each point for strength and believability. Taking one point at a time, does the point offer a real benefit to the reader? Is it achievable? Does it speak to a basic desire such as a healthy body, a peaceful spirit, a happier love life, or a particular enviable skill? Go back to the day when you imagined your ideal reader coming to your house for advice. They had a problem they were sure you could help them solve. What were you able teach them? Here are some examples: Learn how to get the promotion you want. Discover how to stop sabotaging your success and happiness. Release your authentic self for everyone to see. When developing your bullet points, it s imperative to know what your ideal reader needs and wants. Do they want more peace, acceptance, recognition, money, or love? Do they need to free themselves from a difficult habit or a broken heart, or discover their true worth? Understanding your reader s most basic desire helps you to speak directly and honestly about it, and they ll be eager to read what you have to share. Component 4 Endorsements Although it s not mandatory, it s certainly a plus to have one or two good endorsements on your back cover. If you have more when the book goes to print, they can also be included in the front matter (the front pages) of your book. 43

44 Have you thought about your ideal endorser? Imagine Oprah Winfrey or Marianne Williamson writing an endorsement for your book! What would you want them to say? Think of several prominent people in your field. Write the most wonderful endorsements you could hope to get from them. Visualize those endorsements on the cover of your book. A secondary benefit of this exercise is to clarify from someone else s perspective what benefits your book delivers. Don t write endorsements like, Great book! or Everyone should read this book! These comments could apply to thousands of other books and they don t make your book stand out from the crowd. Instead, say something specific and remarkable about you or the book, such as, Arthur demonstrates profound insight into the most perplexing problems facing new business owners. Or, I know from twenty years experience that ailing relationships can be healed using the techniques found in this great book. Notice that these endorsements not only speak to your credibility, they also promise benefits. The first one promises new business owners solutions to their worst problems. The second one promises proven methods for healing troubled relationships. I give clients in my Get Your Book Done coaching program a free supplemental packet showing how to get endorsements. Not every knows how to get Neale Donald Walsch to write the foreword to their book like I did, so I m happy to share this valuable information with my clients! More often than not you ll be the one writing the endorsement for them, and they ll just sign off on it. That s simply how it s often done in the publishing business. NOTE: If you d like to learn more about how to join my Get Your Book Done coaching program and get the Endorsement Guide for FREE please visit Remember: As a special thank you for purchasing this ebook, you will receive a full $97 credit towards the Get Your Book Done group coaching program. Simply go to the website above and enter the code: gybd-credit in the Promo Code box then click apply. 44

45 Component 5 Short Author Bio The final component of the back cover copy is a short author bio. Only a couple of sentences are needed for this particular biography; there will be a longer author bio inside your book. Write the back cover bio in third person, as if someone else is writing about you. The purpose of this bio is to demonstrate your credibility, proving that you re an expert in your field and can be trusted to share helpful information, wisdom, and advice. Author is a widely traveled [...] with more than twenty-five years experience in [...]. He is a frequent lecturer and has appeared on [...]. He is the author of several popular works, including [...] and [...]. Website: Begin by studying the biographies on the back covers of books by authors you admire. Don t be discouraged if their credentials outshine your own; just put your best foot forward by giving a glowing and honest account of your experiences. Most likely your reader has fewer credentials than you do in your area of expertise, which is why they re seeking help on the subject you re writing about. It s often difficult to write about oneself. If this is your experience, seek help. If you know someone who writes powerful resumes or has helped others write their biographies, contact them. You want the world to see you in the very best light. Now you know why your back cover copy contains the most important 200 words you write. That being said, don t put pressure on yourself now to make them perfect. This is a creative process. You re creating an amazing book with the potential to transform you, your reader, your business, and ultimately the world. So allow your creative energy to flow and enjoy the process. Undoubtedly, the title, subtitle, and back cover copy exercises helped you distill your book s message, since a lot must be said in just a few words. 45

46 This foundational work may have also helped you establish boundaries to the content. By focusing on the promised benefits, you now know what must be included. Equally important, you have a better grasp of what ideas are outside the scope of your book and are topics for other manuscripts, products, programs, or services. When people ask what your book is about, you re now prepared to give them the best cutto-the-chase, short, succinct answer. Nothing else helps you hone your message, connect with your ideal reader, bring out the benefits, and get your book noticed like great back cover copy. 46

47 Chapter 6 Marketing Essentials for Your Book You may have started to think about your marketing plan, but you may not have thought about the three promotional aspects covered in this chapter. These foundational steps will expand your thinking about marketing and put new tools into your marketing toolbox. Completing these three steps will move your marketing plan forward in ways that will help you tremendously down the road. Naming Your Technology One of the most powerful things you can do in marketing is to name something effectively. Putting a name to a product, system, process, blueprint, or strategy gives it a handle something people can grab on to, focus on, rally around, and talk about. There are people who have had an entire business unfold just on the solidity of the name of the process. My Get Your Book Done trademarked system is one example of the power of naming what you offer. 47

48 A powerful name attracts people to the product or service. It can make people want it even if they don t fully understand what it is. This is one reason why a name is such a vital piece of the marketing puzzle. Naming your technology means attaching a catchy and memorable phrase to your unique system, process, or something you do or promote. We re not talking about electronics, phones, or those things. We re talking about naming something you do that is unique something that works for you and your clients and readers. A specific example involves a past Get Your Book Done client, Dr. Cindy Brown, who wrote The Cinderella System. When Cindy signed up for my Get Your Book Done coaching program, her greatest concern was that she couldn t identify her unique system. She had had a thriving practice for years and had repeatedly helped people transform their relationships. Her specialty was helping single women move into a healthy and vibrant relationship. Although she was very successful, she was certain she had no specific or unique system. Through my Get Your Book Done coaching program she recognized that indeed she had developed a brilliant seven-step system that repeatedly produced amazing results. Her clients ended up with the man of their dreams after feeling he wasn t even on the planet. Once she recognized there was an actual system involved, she labeled it The Cinderella System. This is what we call naming your technology. In another instance, T. Harv Eker gave a name to his technology, though he didn t use it as the title of his book. In his book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind he talks about The Money Blueprint, which helps people gain financial freedom. In Chris and Janet Attwood s The Passion Test, they describe the process people can move through to identify their greatest passions. They named this process The Passion Test and also used this technology name for their book title. The name (and the brand they built around it) is part of what got them a great book deal! Michael Port wrote Book Yourself Solid and Beyond Book Yourself Solid. They describe Michael s Book Yourself Solid System. He used his technology name for the title of the original book and also the follow-up book. 48

49 Example: Book Title: Book Yourself Solid Technology: The Book Yourself Solid System Chapter Titles: Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle Process Book Yourself Solid Networking Strategy Book Yourself Solid Direct Outreach Strategy Mort Fertel wrote the book Marriage Fitness: 4 Steps to Building & Maintaining Phenomenal Love. Mort gave the phrase Marriage Fitness to the title of his book as well as to the program he walks his reader through to enliven a marriage that isn t everything it used to be. One of my books, The Freedom Formula: How to Put Soul in Your Business and Money in Your Bank, contains a five-step formula for a life of purpose-driven profits and soul-satisfying success. I named my technology The Freedom Formula. Maybe you have a five-step procedure you use to deliver the information you share. If so, you can give a name to this five-step system. Maybe you have a seven-step plan that enables people to achieve a specific goal. Giving it a name can make your teaching more brandable and memorable, and therefore easier for buyers to say yes to! Naming your technology can help you tremendously in structuring your book. If you do have a unique step-by-step process, a five-part system, or a seven-section blueprint for looking at something in a new way, spend time developing a catchy and unforgettable name for it and then lay your book out in a way that addresses each step. Some technologies lend themselves well to acronyms, each step represented by one letter, forming a word. If a book about raising well-rounded children discusses creativity, understanding, responsibility, and energy, the technology could be named The C.U.R.E. System. This would not have to be the title of the book; it could be a chapter title or simply mentioned throughout the text. 49

50 Naming your technology is a way to leverage the power of words to communicate something that is uniquely yours. That being said, not every author has a technology they can name. Not every author has steps or a process or a system. However, if you re not sure, ask a friend, client, or coach to help you see what you do from a different perspective. Even if you don t think you have a technology, it s valuable to write down names that somewhat describe your message. You may come up with some fantastic ideas for chapter titles or subtitles. There are millions of books that don t have technology names, but the concept is offered in this system because the name alone can be a powerful selling tool. The solidity of a technology name is something you can stand on when you begin to market your book. What s more, naming your technology allows you to better protect your intellectual property with a trademark and garner more credibility because you re the brilliant soul who created the system. Trademark Issues and Research What happens if you come up with a phenomenal name? How do you protect it? And if you use it for your title, can you protect the title of your book? The last thing you want to do is commit yourself to a title that is trademark protected in the discipline in which you want to use it. It s important to know before you move forward whether your technology name is already trademarked. So it would be wise to do some trademark searches. The trademark research is important because you don t want get too excited about a technology name and start building your book and marketing plan around it only to discover down the road that you can t use it. Technically you cannot trademark the title of your book, which explains why you sometimes see two completely different books by different authors with the same title. While it s 50

51 not possible to legally trademark the title of your book, you can trademark your technology name, such as The Cinderella System, Marriage Fitness, The Passion Test, or The Freedom Formula. After doing this, you can use your trademarked technology name as the title of your book and you have pretty much trademarked the title of your book. Pretty clever! That being said, you will need to investigate whether the name you would like to use has been already trademarked. You will be glad to know that this research is easy, quick, and free. You need to do this research because you don t want to run the risk of infringing on someone else s trademark. Trademarks are in place to protect people, and if someone finds out that you naively didn t do your research and just started using their trademarked name, they can tell you to cease and desist use of that name. It can be a lot of work to undo titles, chapters, phrases, websites, etc. This happened in my own life. There was someone else using the name Get Your Book Done to promote their program, so I placed a call and said, Excuse me. I actually own the trademark on that, and they had to change the name of what they were doing or risk being sued for trademark infringement. So here s how you do very basic trademark research in the United States: Go to the government patent office s website, which stands for United States Patent and Trademark Office. Mouse over the menu item Trademarks. In the dropdown menu, click on Trademark Search. Click on Basic Word Mark Search (New User). Leave all the other default information exactly as it is. Type in the phrase you re researching. Click Submit Query. 51

52 In seconds you will know if there are any trademarks on that exact phrase and what the status of a trademark filing is. You will discover if it s live, if it s dead, when it was registered, what category/classification it was registered for, etc. (More on categories coming up.) If you feel you need something more than the basic search, I can give you the contact information for the trademark attorney I have used to register several names. Take notes on the trademark terms you search and the details you re given. Specifically, you want to look at what s under the Services section. Even though someone else has trademarked the name you want you use, you may still be able to use it. For example, let s imagine that the founders of Ruby Tuesday trademarked that name for their restaurant chain. If someone named Ruby who does her best work on Tuesdays wants to develop a clothing line and call it Ruby Tuesday, she could register that trademark because it would be in the goods and services trademark category of Clothing, not the category Restaurant and Bar Services. You only infringe on a trademark if you re in exactly the same category as that trademark. If, for example, you re a trainer and you create training videos, you can only trademark protect the technology name and your unique procedure in your category. Someone else could use the same name for the next greatest stapler because it s a totally different unrelated goods and services category. As a disclaimer, this book is not intended to give legal advice. I m not an attorney. But I can refer you to one who is experienced in this aspect of the business. A trademark attorney can also advise you about whether your technology name would infringe on someone s trademark, and help you register a name that will work for you. In my case, I m really glad I trademarked the name Get Your Book Done because now I can legally stop other people from using it in the book-writing field. If you re confused or need some advice on this aspect of the system, I hold live Q&A coaching sessions twice a month for my Get Your Book Done coaching program clients during 52

53 which I answer any questions they have about any aspect of the writing process. The beauty of being a member of the program is you don t have to go it alone really! Your Domain Name An indispensible marketing tool is a website, especially if your book will be used to market your business. What do people do when they hear about an interesting book? They hop on the internet to learn more about it and where they can buy it. Your website does not have to be expensive, in depth, or elaborate. It doesn t need flashy bells and whistles. All you need is a simple landing page for people interested in learning more about your book. It will explain what the book promises to deliver and the benefits your reader will get from it. It will describe the problems your book solves and the questions your book answers. Since you have already completed these exercises, your web copy is already started! Your website will also provide your reader with a way to get on your mailing list. Most of your website visitors will not have read your book yet; they are still in the windowshopping stage. Your will touch these visitors (who were interested enough in your work to give you their address), build the know, like, and trust factor, and reveal more about your book. A simple website can include integrated shopping cart services, a PayPal link, and information about where your reader can buy your book, subscribe to your monthly newsletter, or purchase other products related to what you do. None of this is overly complicated and there is help available for every step of the process. The first step in setting up your website is to lock in a domain name, also called a URL (uniform resource locator). You want one that matches your book title as closely as possible. This will help tremendously when people search for your book online. It will be easier for people to find you if you have a domain name with your book title in it. 53

54 It s surprisingly easy to secure a domain name. You can go to GoDaddy.com, HostMonster.com, or a dozen other places to purchase domain names that are still available. These sites have search boxes in which you enter the name you want. Be very careful to spell everything correctly. Double-check the spelling of the domain name before you buy. Try to get the.com extension rather than.info or some other extension. Dot com is the best extension for your website. If you discover that the domain name you really want is not available, see if the site lists available variations on the phrase. They usually add a word at the beginning or end of what you typed in the search box. Putting the word book at the end of the domain name is sometimes all you have to do. For example, if your title is Learn Basket Weaving and learnbasketweaving.com is not available, search for learnbasketweavingbook.com. If this, too, is unavailable, try adding the word the to the beginning of the domain name. Some authors choose to use their own name as a domain with a sub-domain for their book. An example is: This is another great way to go! Be aware that you re not really buying the domain name; you re just renting it. During the purchase process, you ll be asked if you want to lock it in for one year, two years, or even five years. You must pay a yearly fee to keep this domain name in your sole possession. If you fail to keep up with your yearly payment, the domain name will go back into the pool of available domain names and someone else could snatch it up. So be sure to renew your domain name before it expires. A reasonable price to pay for a domain name is between $4.00 and $10.00 a year. If you end up using it for your website, you can renew it for several years at any time. On the other hand, if you pay for a domain name that you later decide you don t want, you can just let it expire and you won t have to pay for it any longer. If you ve developed a title that resonates with you, and you determine that it s not trademarked, now is the time to lock in the domain name. It s very disappointing to find out later that the domain name has just been purchased by someone else. So go to a site that offers domain names, such as the ones listed above, and start your search. 54

55 Keep a log of the domains you search for, indicating whether they are available or not. Make a clear list of any names you register. Print out the receipts since they will have the exact domain names you registered as well as the expiration dates. Keep the receipts in a folder where you can easily find them. Some people secure only one domain name. Others buy dozens. If more than one domain name resonates with you, it may be wise to lock them in for at least a year. There s a chance that down the road you ll use them for something. Many people hang on to domain names for years before they build a website for them. Again, these steps are designed to help you reach all the people you want to reach with your message and that you do it on a solid marketing platform. This system is helping you get these steps done in the right order not later when you wish you had known about them. You re pouring your heart, soul, time, energy, and money into getting your book done, and you want to be certain you re covering all the bases, especially those that put your marketing essentials in place. 55

56 Chapter 7 Using Your Book to Increase Your Business Income Your Marketing Diamond The next step in laying a solid marketing foundation is to determine how your book will help grow your business. The best way to do this is to understand the marketing diamond concept and what role your book plays in it. This marketing model opens up a completely new perspective on what is possible when you get your book done. I want to make it clear that the term marketing diamond is not mine. A dear friend Milana Leshinsky teaches this model in her book Coaching Millions. With her permission, I will explain this strategic marketing model. It s the best I ve seen, especially for service-based entrepreneurs such as business coaches, consultants, healers, authors, speakers, trainers, and others along these lines. Milana s marketing diamond goes beyond the concept of the traditional marketing funnel model. It s a road map for discovering new products and services (and profit centers) in your business. 56

57 Milana Leshinsky s Marketing Diamond Lead Generation Ex: Free Bonuses Ex: Book Sales/Gifts Introductory Product, Program or Service Ex: Multi-part Tele-class or Introductory Training Ex: Strategy Session Your Core Signature Program or Service (Higher price due to higher level of program) Recurring Revenue Ex: Membership Ex: Ongoing Group High-End Service Ex: VIP Day Ex: Mastermind Group Ex: Private Retreat 57

58 The diamond is a flow-chart showing how people are brought further into your business and how they are converted into long-term clients, resulting in deeper service from you (where you get to do your greatest work) and a more profitable and sustainable business for you. If this type of marketing concept is new to you, it can be daunting. But if you ve studied anything about marketing, you probably know about the marketing funnel. The funnel is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. The widest part represents the greatest number of people who enter your business sphere through your free or low-cost introductory offers, driving web traffic, meeting them in person, or referrals. A little farther down the funnel is where you sell something to them at a moderate price. The narrower part of the funnel represents where some of them become clients, buying something at a higher price. Finally, at the bottom of the funnel, you have long-term clients buying your highest-priced services or recurring products. The funnel model takes you to where you re working with a very small number of people who are paying a very high price. This is a fine model, but you re not going to be able to serve and help as many people as you can using this model because not everyone has the time or financial resources to work with you at that level, not to mention that your business caps out at how many people you can actually work with at that high level. In my opinion, the marketing diamond is a more effective and sustainable model. The very top represents your lead-generating products those designed to fill your database with the names and addresses of the people you d love to work with. Typical lead-generating products are giveaways, free introductory offers, bonuses, and very-low-priced products offered on your website. Leads also come from speaking engagements, networking events, trade shows, online marketing, social media, venture partnerships, online promotions, payper-click advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), social media strategies anything that gets people into a lead-capture system through which you collect their names and addresses, possibly even phone numbers and mailing addresses, in exchange for something of value you provide. 58

59 The next level of the diamond represents your moderately priced secondary products or services, through which a prospect who signed up for your introductory free or very-low-cost materials is guided towards your core program. It s an interim offering that gets people to take one more step towards you. Maybe they don t want the whole entrée; maybe they just want to try an appetizer to see if they like it. This can be a multi-part tele-class, a strategy session, or an informational product such as a workbook or small ebook. It doesn t cost a lot but gives them more of you. Milana suggests that your book go at the top of the diamond or at the secondary level. Your book should be designed to transform your ideal reader into your ideal client who signs up for your signature core program. Your book should help people move farther into the diamond in a smooth, stepping-stone kind of way. The widest part of the diamond represents your signature core program or service, which is priced higher than the previous offers. This could be your main consulting business, training program, or whatever your primary product or service is. For example, perhaps as you read this book you re considering my Get Your Book Done coaching program so I can really help you with your book. If you are, please get the details at and receive the $97 ebook credit by entering the Promo Code: gybd-credit. Some clients move on to the bottom part of the diamond when they finish the core program. The bottom section is split down the middle, illustrating the two different ways you can continue to work with these clients. The left side involves recurring revenue, such as a monthly membership program or ongoing group coaching. These programs cost less than the core signature program, but result in steady monthly income and continued contact with your ideal clients. They are for clients who want to continue to work with you on a regular basis. The right side represents some type of higher-priced service, such as a private retreat or mastermind group. It s a way for you to help your clients more deeply, beyond your core program. It could be a mastermind group in which about ten people who are in the same situation, with the same needs and challenges, get together to learn from you. They pay a high price but you work with them over the course of six months or a year. 59

60 The Get Your Book Done system is an example of how the marketing diamond works. At the top I offer free training that helps people get started writing their books. Next they can receive my introductory product, Transformational Author Experience, which is a tele-summit with several speakers teaching a seven-step curriculum on how to transform yourself, your reader, your business, and the world through writing your transformational book. People not only get valuable information, but they learn more about me and the quality of service I deliver. The widest part of the diamond is my signature core program, the six-month Get Your Book Done coaching program, in which I help authors get their book done using a step-by-step process. I m personally available to them through Q&A phone sessions held twice a month and they have access to my training modules and action guides. At the bottom of the diamond I offer my high-end Transformational Author MasterHeart where a group of aspiring authors from around the world work with me closely over the course of eight months and become guaranteed published authors in one of my compilation books by the end of the program. It s the most intimate and powerful work I do with my clients who want to share their transformational message on the pages of a book. People don t always flow through the diamond by starting at the top and participating in every step. Some might never read your book but come straight into your core signature program. Some might end up in a mastermind group or private retreat without even knowing you have a core signature program. But the marketing diamond provides a visual template to help you see where and how your book fits into the rest of what you offer. Let your imagination take you to new heights. You don t have to set up these parts of your business now, but your book is one piece of the marketing diamond puzzle. I encourage you to think about the other areas of your business model while you re getting your book done. Ask yourself, What do I really want to do? What would be my core signature offering? Is it a program that I teach? Would it be a product I put together? Would it be something I d deliver as an online event or in person? Don t look at what you re doing now... allow your imagination to dream about your ideal business. 60

61 Lots of excitement and energy is set free when you get clear on what you really want to do it will be like rocket fuel for your business. It won t be clear to you in an instant. It will form in your mind bit by bit until your marketing diamond is filled in. But now is the time to start letting these ideas germinate. Let this be something that moves and breathes as your book (and your business) evolves. I m often asked during my Get Your Book Done coaching sessions, What do I do with this diamond if I don t have a business yet? Starting with a clean slate is a great position to be in. It s sometimes harder for people who already have a business in place to fill in the diamond because they need to retool what they already have in order to make this marketing system work. So if you re just starting out, now is a great time to fill in the marketing diamond so it will help shape and direct your business. One of my favorite sayings applies in this case: You can t steer a parked car, but once the car starts moving, you can turn it right, left, course correct, and change its destination entirely. As you go through this marketing diamond, let it be what gets your car out of park and onto the road, moving and directing it to something that s going to excite you. Work with this diamond and allow yourself to discover the possibilities. What would your fantasy business look like? What would be ideal for you? FREE RESOURCE: Milana s Marketing Diamond Fill in the Blank Template If you d like to receive a FREE fill in the blank template to create your own marketing diamond, please go to: Once you download this template, begin to pencil in your ideas. Be creative. Have fun. Yes, you re working on your book, but you have so much more to offer than what s in your book. The diamond can help the rest of your business go in the direction that you want it to move. Making your first pass through the diamond helps guide the content of your book because you re now thinking, I m writing this book because I want people to move into my core signature program where I can work with them more closely and help them experience 61

62 the transformation they re looking for in their lives while creating more abundance for myself. So ask yourself, What needs to be included in my book that will move my reader into the wide part of the diamond to my core signature program? Again, I want to thank Milana Leshinsky for the marketing diamond model and for allowing me to share it with you. She s also been generous enough to share her incredible ebook called Beyond Book Profits with everyone in my Get Your Book Done coaching program. Thank you, Milana! NOTE: If you d like to learn more about how to join my six-month Get Your Book Done coaching program and get the endorsement guide for FREE please visit Tips for Lead Generation How and Why to Get Folks to Opt In Your book will make a wonderful lead-generation tool. Not only will you give your reader very valuable information and advice, you ll also tell them how to get more. (Hopefully you ve noticed that I m subtly letting you know that there s more as you read this book. I m doing this because I really want to help you get your book done!) Lead generation is covered at this point in the Get Your Book Done system so that as you re writing your book you can plant road signs showing your reader the way to travel farther into your diamond where they can find more training, counseling, or whatever your core signature program offers. It s not recommended that you stop writing your book now and set up a website with the opt-in box. Continue to honor your commitment to get your book done. However, you need an overview of your entire marketing model so you can put all the pieces of the puzzle together. You would not be happy to learn about the incredible value of the opt-in technique after your book is in print. Knowing about it now enables you to strategically place 62

63 road signs in your book that point to your website. Your reader will be encouraged to give you their contact information so they can continue to learn more about you and eventually invest in other products and services that will further help them with the problem your book solves. Although you ll be collecting people s contact information when they buy your book from your own website, your book will also be available through other channels; people will buy it from Amazon, bookstores, Barnes and Noble online, etc. They might receive it as a gift, check it out from the library, or steal it. This happens, believe it or not! Someone ended up with a copy of my book because they stole it. One of my readers told me they were on vacation at a hotel. They brought my book The Freedom Formula: How to Put Soul in Your Business and Money in Your Bank with them, and while they were in the pool someone stole it off the little table next to their chaise lounge. So you never know how someone s going to get a copy of your book. You can t count on collecting everyone s contact information from book sales at your website. Give them a compelling reason to go there in your book, such as to get additional information or services they want. In fact, you might purposely leave out of your book an optional chart or list so that your reader is required to go to your website to download it. Before they can access the chart or list, they must enter their name and address in your opt-in box. Of course, the chart or list should not be something they need in order to understand the text; it should be additional material they can benefit from. (Feel free to model what I ve done in this ebook I sent you to a website to download the Fill in the Blank Marketing Diamond Template. You can create your own template or checklist that helps your reader digest some of the content in your book.) What valuable resource can you give away in exchange for your reader s name and address? One option is a free action guide. If your book lends itself well to a series of exercises, they can go to your website and opt in to get an action guide or workbook, which is a simple fifteen-to-twenty-page Word document with instructions, questions, and lots of blank lines for their answers. When they opt in to get it, you know who s reading your book and what 63

64 they re interested in. (I did this for my book The Freedom Formula: How to Put Soul in Your Business and Money in Your Bank, and my readers loved it!) If you re in the phase of growing your business, consider asking for a phone number on your opt-in form. It can be optional, but if they choose to provide it, you or someone on your team can call them. Hello! We re calling to be sure you were able to download the action guide. If you had trouble with the download, we ll be happy to it to you. Are you enjoying the book? Do you have any questions about the information in the book? Would you like to set up a free short strategy session to get help with what you re working on? Here s how to get in touch with us if you need to schedule a free strategy session in the future. Here are some free or low-cost lead-generating and impactful product and service ideas: A free tele-class: You can give a telephone class every time you want to garner more names and addresses. Post the sign-up instructions on your website. If they re reading your book and they like it, they have a chance to hear your voice and learn from the pro. Your reader will say, I can actually have a live telephone class with this author? This could be fun. I m in! A free planning tool: If your book is very strategic and there are certain aspects that involve planning, you can create a simple fill-in-the-blank planning tool for your reader to download. A top 10 list: If, for example, you re writing a nutrition book and people need to know how to stick to a healthy eating plan, you can have a resource called Top 10 Ways to Stick to Your Healthy Eating Plan. It can be beautifully designed or just a simple one-page PDF document. You can include instructions on how to use the list. A special report: If there s some great information you want to share that s not in your book or new insight discovered in your field of expertise, you can offer a report about it. A special report is a simple document (usually double-spaced) with a front cover, an introduction in the front, and your bio and other products and services listed in the back converted into a downloadable PDF. 64

65 Free event tickets: T. Harv Eker was one of the first authors to use this technique on a major scale. When people bought his book, they received two free tickets to a live event produced by his company. This is a great way to have personal contact with your reader. Use events to draw in higher-paying clients who want to work with you more deeply. A blueprint or outline: My client Dr. Cindy, in her book The Cinderella System, offered a blueprint that outlined the core steps in her book. It was like a cheat sheet. She had a little burst on the front of her book with a Cinderella wand that said, Free bonus! Get your Cinderella System blueprint. So you can even put your free offer on the front cover of your book. Now you have some options. The operative word is free. Simply let your reader know about these resources by including references to them in the front of your book or where it s appropriate in your text. Don t overdo it. You can space out your invitations to one place towards the beginning of your book, another mention in the middle, and again towards the end. Subtly, in an appropriate place, you can offer a gentle reminder like this: If you haven t picked up your [fill in the blank] on this subject, you might want to do so now at this website:. Slip your offer into the text where it fits comfortably. Jot down a few bonus ideas as they come to mind. Use your notebook or journal to describe what is contained in each bonus. During the course of writing your book, make notes about the supplemental materials that will help your reader and entice them to opt in on your website to get them. On a cautionary note I ve seen books with announcements on every page in the header or the footer, in bold letters, saying, Go get your free [whatever]. Please don t do this. It cheapens your book, making it look like an advertisement instead of something valuable that people wanted and paid for. Simply sprinkle your offer in just the right places where your reader will be grateful that you re letting them know there s a free resource available to help them. You don t need a separate website for your opt-in box. You just need a separate webpage where people can get the free gift. If you don t have a system yet for collecting this kind 65

66 of data, there are programs available such as icontact, AWeber, ConstantContact, and 1ShoppingCart. These sites offer services to capture and store contact information and deliver the content requested. Once you generate leads, begin some regular communication with your subscribers. They are your community, so stay in touch with them! If they don t end up deeper into your marketing diamond right away, they may later on after they ve developed a relationship with you. Send them a quote from your book or an article. If you re a blogger, send them a link to your most recent blog post. Keep the folks on your mailing list in the loop and make offers from time to time. You don t want every to pressure them for a sale. Instead, deliver something of value. You want to give something to them first, so when the offer comes they are more inclined to buy, knowing that it, too, will have value; they ve come to know you as a consistent presence and a dependable source of useful and inspirational information. A common question I get in Q&A calls is How important is it to do this work now? Some people feel it s premature, but it isn t. You don t need to get everything in place now, but be aware of these marketing steps to get your creative juices flowing. The day will come when you re asking, How can I get more people to my website to take advantage of the other things I offer? Pointing from your book to your website is an excellent way to accomplish this. You can never start this marketing work too early! For now, just filling in the diamond and outlining your marketing strategy is a great start. 66

67 Chapter 8 Research to Improve Your Book Good news! It s time to take another field trip to the bookstore to explore four more aspects of the book business that will help make your book the best it can be. Research Your Book s Genre The genre, such as business, self-help, finance, health, or some other category, will appear on the back cover of your book if it s a paperback, or on the inside flap if it s a hardcover book. It s very important to have a specific genre shown on your book. Once you re certain about what shelf your book will be on, you ll have a lot more clarity about your book. Many authors complete their manuscripts but can t provide a simple, clear answer when asked what genre their book is in. They don t know if it s a self-help book, a spiritual book, or both. Others are not sure if they have a relationship or a self-improvement book. There are lots of different genres and combinations to choose from. It s important to know what branch of the family your book belongs to. It s important for you to decide where your book belongs. 67

68 There are reasons why you should do this research at a bookstore. It s very possible that you re not aware of every genre, and occasionally a new genre pops up. When you go to the bookstore, you might find a new genre that s an exact fit for your book. Bring your notebook or journal and enough index cards to write down any new ideas that come to you while doing this research. If your book will be sold in bookstores, you want it to be in the correct section. Imagine a high school student working in a bookstore as a shelf stocker. It s late, the store is closed, and they re working through the night. The only thing that lets them know where your book belongs is the genre written on the cover. Without that, they ll put your book wherever they think it belongs. Sales decrease significantly if your book is in the wrong place. Suppose your book genre says Relationships, but it s actually Business Relationships. If someone looks in the business section for how to do better in the business world, they will not find your book because it s sleeping over in the personal relationship section. By the same token, if someone looks for help with their personal relationships and they come across your book which is more about business than friendships they ll pass over your book for something closer to what they need. Knowing exactly where your book should be makes a great deal of difference in regard to its success. Even if you think you already know the exact genre of your book, you re still encouraged to do this exercise because you might find something unexpected. Identify books with topics similar to yours. See what genres are listed on the covers or jackets. Write the titles and genres in your notebook or journal. Some books have more than one genre listed on the cover, such as Business/Finance or Self-Help/Inspirational. That s fine; and it s okay if yours does, too. Be sure to write down both genres during your research, putting the primary one first. As you know, books are arranged in alphabetical order by author s last name. Find the place where your last name fits in and picture your book there. Put your hand where your book will go and recommit yourself to getting your book done. Say, My book goes right here, and believe it. 68

69 Research Your Competition It s always valuable to know your competition. This word is in quotation marks because technically competition doesn t exist since it s impossible for anyone to write the exact book you re writing. Nevertheless, it s important for you to know what others are doing in your genre. You re just getting to know the pond you re swimming in with the fellow authors in your field. Don t let this research discourage you from writing your book! Even if you find books that are similar to yours, there s still a great need for your book. Nobody has lived your life. Nobody has walked in your shoes or experienced the exact same things you have. Nobody has gleaned the wisdom you have in the ways you have. You re the only one who can write your book. It s a big world with lots of diverse people. Many of them fit the description of your ideal reader who will find your book and love you for writing it. Don t allow this exercise to dissuade you in any way. Instead, use it to fuel your creative ideas. The purpose of this exercise is to: give you an understanding of what s already out there be a springboard for new ideas for your book show you what is missing from other books in your genre help you understand what sets your book apart from all the others enable you to picture your book on the shelf with other successful books Undoubtedly you ve read a book and thought, If I wrote this book, I d do things differently. I d add this and I d take out that. You ve had these thoughts because of your unique perspective, different insights, and unique experiences. 69

70 Obviously there s not enough time to read through all the books that are comparable to yours. Instead, thumb through them, look at the tables of contents, get a sense of what each book contains, look for gaps in the subject matter, and let your ideas flow. Jot down one idea per index card. When examining books that are similar to yours, make notes of the following: What is the title, author, and publication date? What would you do to improve this book? What would you add? What would you omit? What stories or graphics would make this book more powerful? In addition to doing this research at your local bookstore, examine the books on your own bookshelf and glean what you can from Amazon. This bookseller s site has a Search Inside feature that allows you to see the table of contents and read random pages. This exercise is an idea generator. Identify and record what things you like and don t like about what other authors are doing. If you act on your findings, your book can be even better. Research for Your Front Cover It s sad but true that in the book industry a book is judged by its cover. The title and cover must get people s attention, resonating with them to the point that they reach out a hand to take the book off the shelf. 70

71 How can you ensure you have a terrific cover? The first step is to research other book covers to determine what you really like and why. This exercise is also best done in a bookstore or with your own books in hand. You don t have to restrict your research to books in your genre. Move around the bookstore searching for book covers that jump out at you for either good or bad reasons. Look at books on table displays as well as those on the shelves. You might be asking, Why research the front cover of my book before I even write the manuscript? There are two good reasons: Having a picture of your book cover in your mind is an incredibly powerful motivator. It propels you to want to get your book done so you can see it, touch it, feel it, hold it, share it, and get it into the hands of your ideal reader. The second reason is to prepare yourself for working with the graphic artist who will design your cover. Your notes from this research will put you miles ahead, allowing you to get the cover you really want. As you take notes during this exercise, keep your cover designer in mind. No shorthand; you re writing instructions to an artist. You want to give them all the pertinent information needed to produce the perfect cover for your book. Follow these steps: 1. Take three sheets of paper, and on the top of the first write, Elements I Like on a Book Cover. On the second write, Elements I Don t Like on a Book Cover, and on the third, Elements That Improve a Book Cover. As you re scrutinizing each book, make your notes on the appropriate sheet. 2. Take a book from the shelf and examine the cover. What s your gut reaction? Category 1 Drawn in immediately; eager to learn more Category 2 Turned off immediately; inclined to put the book back on the shelf Category 3 Not sure; inclined to turn to the back cover to learn more 3. Start a stack of books for each category. Repeat this exercise until you have five to ten books in each stack. 71

72 4. Focusing on Category 1 books, spread them out as best you can. On the paper with the heading Elements I Like on a Book Cover, write down everything you like about these covers. What is it that draws you to these covers? Is it the color, the lettering, the photo, the design, or something else? What would you suggest to make these covers even better? 5. Take your Category 2 books and spread them out. On the sheet with the heading Elements I Don t Like on a Book Cover, write down everything you don t like about these covers. What turns you off? Is it the picture? Is it the lack of a picture? Is the title hard to read? Do the graphics and the title seem unrelated? Is the coloring drab? 6. Spread out the books in Category 3. Put your notes on the paper with the heading Elements That Improve a Book Cover. What improvements can be made to these covers to draw in the reader immediately? What would you suggest to make the cover more effective? You might find some elements on these covers that you really like. In that case, make notes on your Category 1 sheet. 7. Take another piece of paper and jot down creative ideas about book covers in general just let your ideas flow freely. What reaction do you want your reader to have the first moment they see your book? Curiosity? Humor? Surprise? What impression do you want your cover to convey about you? Classy? Serious? Authoritative? Warm and friendly? Mysterious? Approachable? Introspective? These are things you should decide and express clearly to your book cover designer. It s not possible to fully describe the feelings you ll have when you see your finished book for the first time. Authors often report this experience to be extremely moving. This is as it should be. You re putting a lot of time into every detail. This is your unique creation your baby. You deserve to be proud of how it looks. 72

73 Research Book Structures To prepare for writing your outline, you need to be aware of various book structures. The structure is essentially your table of contents. There s good news and bad news about book structures. The bad news is there s no set way to structure your book; no easy formula to follow. The good news is there s no set way to structure your book! You can structure your book to fit your content and the way you want to present it to your reader. This leaves you a lot of options that require research, thought, planning, and decision-making on your part. Examine the following common book structures and try to get a sense of how your book will be laid out: Style 1: Chapters: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 73

74 Style 2: Parts, Chapters: Part One Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Part Two Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Part Three Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 74

75 Style 3: Chapters, Section: Chapter 1 Section 1.1 Section 1.2 Section 1.3 Chapter 2 Section 2.1 Section 2.2 Section 2.3 Section 2.4 Chapter 3 Section 3.1 Section

76 Style 4: Parts, Chapters, Sections: Part One Chapter 1 Section 1.1 Section 1.2 Section 1.3 Chapter 2 Section 2.1 Section 2.2 Part Two Chapter 3 Section 3.1 Section 3.2 Section 3.3 Section 3.4 Chapter 4 Section

77 Section 4.2 Part Three Chapter 5 Section 5.1 Section 5.2 Section 5.3 The book you re reading now is laid out in the Style 2 format. This is the best structure for the material presented here. It s easy to see each step in the process just by reading the section titles in the table of contents. There s no need to divide this material into parts because the theme of this book is that you can get your book done by taking one step after another, each step preparing you for the next step without any giant leaps. Even the table of contents can subtly convey your message. If you haven t done so already, hit the bookstore. Complete the research outlined in this chapter and you ll be closer to writing your very best book. Remember, nothing you decide about your book is set in stone until it goes to the printer and you sign off on your proofs. You can even make changes in your second run (or at any time if your book is print-ondemand). If you ve skipped any of the exercises in the previous chapters, now is the time to get these done because they re all part of your manuscript s foundation. Once these exercises are completed, you ll have a clearer vision of your book and a sense that everything is coming together. You re making good progress, and by faithfully following the Get Your Book Done system you re covering all the bases in a logical, step-by-step manner. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other in this amazing journey to becoming a published transformational author and you ll make it all the way to the glorious end seeing your book in print and perhaps on the bookstore shelf! 77

78 Chapter 9 Outlining Your Book The Get Your Book Done system includes an easy process for gathering your ideas into a logical sequence. Following the steps in this chapter will help you produce a great outline for your book. Your index cards, with their wealth of ideas, will be organized into categories that will become your chapters. The chapters will be put in the best order, and your outline your book s structure will be created from your cards. Writing Down Every Idea for Your Book You already have a head start on this step. Every time an idea came to mind during your research exercises, you jotted down a note on an index card. Now it s time to take all this creativity and get it into a useable format. Schedule at least ninety minutes for this work. Two to three hours would be even better. During this time you ll brainstorm and write down every idea for your book. You ll need a big stack of index cards to make a note of each individual idea every story, every tip, every 78

79 case study, every tool, every example, every quote you might want to use, every process you might have your reader go through, every problem your book will solve, every question your book will answer, every step of your system. All of it gets noted, one idea per index card. Find a quiet place to work and start filling out cards with every idea that comes to mind. Don t worry about the order of the cards; that step comes later. Just let the ideas flow onto the cards. After you ve recorded this free-flow of ideas, search through the resources you have on hand: 1. Speech notes 2. Tele-class transcriptions 3. Articles and special reports you ve written 4. Products you ve created 5. Client intake forms 6. Client feedback forms 7. Survey responses 8. Testimonials 9. Your blog posts 10. Recordings of radio interviews you ve given 11. Your website copy 79

80 12. Notes from client meetings 13. Videotapes of your live events 14. Newspaper articles or blog entries written about you 15. Your personal journal entries or letters 16. Notes from seminars you ve attended Let these resources trigger additional ideas for your book. When I m at a seminar, I take notes on two separate sheets of paper. One is for the content of the seminar. The other is a list of ideas that come to me while listening to someone speak. It s amazing how many ideas a seminar can trigger! If that happens to you, go back and look at your seminar notes to reconnect with ideas that percolated while you were there. Use any other sources of information that speak to the message of your book anything that will help your book deliver more value to your reader. If you re not sure whether a particular idea belongs in your book, write it down anyway. Later, when you re organizing your cards, you may find the perfect place for it. If you have a good idea but it s definitely outside the scope of the book you re currently writing, make a note of it, file it away, and dismiss it from your mind for the time being. Don t let it get you off track. Focus on getting ideas for your current book onto index cards. If you have charts, pictures, graphs, diagrams, lists, or something that s not regular text, write the title of each of these items on a separate index card. Later, as you re organizing your material, you ll put each card in the place where that item will appear in your book. It s possible to have a hundred or more cards with notes on them by the time you ve exhausted all your resources. If you have less, that s fine, too; as you re doing the actual writing, additional ideas will spring up. 80

81 Organizing Your Ideas into Chapters At this point your cards may seem like a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. You may be thinking, How am I ever going to put all these ideas in the proper order? Here s how it s done: Prepare a large section of floor, moving furniture out of the way if necessary. If that s not possible, a big bed also works for this purpose. Ideally you should have a surface area large enough to lay out every card. When you see all your ideas as a whole, it s easier to mix and match them into groups. Each group of index cards will represent one chapter of your book. Another option for organizing your cards is to work on your desk, holding the stack of cards and placing them down in the correct stacks one at a time. Place the first card down. Then look at the second card. If the topic goes with that of the first, put it on top of the first card as part of the same chapter. If it doesn t match the topic on the first card, start a second stack. Do the same with the third card. Does it fit with the first or the second grouping? No? Then start a third stack. Continue until all your cards are sorted into chapters. Some authors have specific ideas for their introduction. Others write it from the heart. You do not have to include an introduction in your book, but if you have cards with ideas suitable for one, create a separate stack for them. Later you ll revisit your ideas and have an opportunity to make changes. Nothing is set in stone yet. If you have cards left over that don t match any of the stacks, consider whether these ideas really belong in your book. If you determine they do not, file them away for your next book and keep your focus on your current project. A good rule of thumb is for each chapter to have enough material to cover about ten ideas. If a chapter has less, don t worry. It s possible that one card with just one word represents ten pages of writing! If one stack has more than ten ideas, you can weed out any irrelevant information later; it s generally better to have too much material to work with than too little. This allows you to choose your best content to deliver the most powerful, life-changing book with no fluff. However, if all the ideas are important, you may decide later that one chapter will be 81

82 divided into two chapters. You might also end up shifting cards from one chapter to another as you go. Don t concern yourself yet with the order of the ideas within each chapter. This process brings the content of your book into focus. Flow with it, go with it, and you ll be delighted with what appears in the cards. Determining the Order of the Chapters On a new index card, record the topic or theme of the ideas in the first stack. If there seem to be subtopics, list them on this index card and place it on top of the stack. Repeat this for each stack. Now put the stacks in logical order. I often tell my Get Your Book Done coaching clients that it s their job as an author to take their reader by the hand and guide them step-bystep through the journey they want them to take. The logical order of your chapters is one that invites your reader to start at the very beginning with you then progressively move through your content in a way that builds and deepens until they reach the end. Simply contemplate where your reader needs to begin, and that s chapter one. Where do they need to go next? That s chapter two. The next logical thing for them to learn from you is chapter three, and so on. Next spread out the chapter one cards on the floor or bed. Move them around until the ideas within that chapter are in a logical order. Ask yourself, What is the first thing I want to say to my reader in this chapter? Then ask yourself, What s the next thing I need to engage them with? What s the next logical step my reader needs to take once they ve finished with the first point? How will I walk them step-by-step through this material? If you notice a step is missing, create a new index card to fill in the gap. Repeat this process for each stack of cards. As you can see, the logical order concept is relevant to the order of the chapters and the order of the content within each chapter! 82

83 Each chapter even each subsection (if you have subsections) should be a unit with a beginning, middle, progression, and end. Your job as an author is to take the reader by the hand and keep them engaged in turning every page of your book, one after the other. Let the cards be a road map for the transformational journey you want your reader to take. Once the cards for each chapter are in order, you literally have the outline for each chapter. When your chapters and ideas are in order, put them into your index card file box. These file boxes usually come with alphabetized separators. Turn these separators over to the blank side and write, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and so on. If you have cards for an Introduction, make a separator for it, too. Put a rubber band around each stack of cards and place them behind the appropriate chapter separators in the file box. Taking a Break and Revisiting Your Ideas Once your cards are safely tucked away, take a well-deserved break. Clear your mind and take a fresh look at your cards in a few days. Use this time to celebrate your progress. Take a mini-vacation, visit those friends you ve missed while you were doing the foundational work on your book, watch a stack of movies from the library, build a raised bed for your garden, or try out some new recipes. You re not taking a break just to be kind to yourself. Many successful authors and artists use this getting away technique to get a fresh perspective on their work. Sometimes the mind gets bogged down even confused if it doesn t get some R&R. When your mind doesn t get a break when it needs one, your work-time can be frustrating and unproductive. A task that seems difficult or impossible can often become relatively easy after you back away from it for a while. When you return from your break, revisit your idea cards. Reexamine whether your materials fit together in a sequential order. Feel free to fine-tune the sequence of the cards, because your final arrangement is the outline for your book! 83

84 Creating a Working Outline The cards have been very helpful in organizing your material, but now you need a quickglance overview. To accomplish this, input the information on your cards into Microsoft Excel, a Microsoft Word table, or whatever spreadsheet you prefer. This spreadsheet is your Master Outline and it gives you a quick overview of your entire book, showing how all the pieces fit together. You can add, move, and tweak an idea from one chapter to another, if necessary. In the top left cell of the spreadsheet, write the working title of chapter one. Below that, type in the idea listed on the first index card. In the next row, type in the idea on the next index card. Each cell of the spreadsheet represents one card. Since the cards are in sequential order, the ideas will be in logical order as they will appear in your book. Repeat this process for the rest of your chapters: Chpt. 1 Chpt. 2 Chpt. 3 Chpt. 4 Chpt. 5 Topic 1 Topic 1 Topic 1 Topic 1 Topic 1 Topic 2 Topic 2 Topic 2 Topic 2 Topic 2 Topic 3 Topic 3 Topic 3 Topic 3 Topic 3 Topic 4 Topic 4 Topic 4 Topic 4 Topic 4 Topic 5 Topic 5 Topic 5 Topic 5 Topic 5 Topic 6 Topic 6 Topic 6 Topic 6 Topic 6 Topic 7 Topic 7 Topic 7 Topic 7 Topic 7 Topic 8 Topic 8 Topic 8 Topic 8 Topic 8 Topic 9 Topic 9 Topic 9 Topic 9 Topic 9 Top 10 Topic 10 Topic 10 Topic 10 Topic 10 Save your completed outline as [Book Title] Master Outline V1. (V stands for version. ) If you revise the outline at a future time, save it as [Book Title] Master Outline V2. This allows you to go back to an earlier version of the outline if you get off course. If you have any questions about the Master Outline spreadsheet or if you need to ask me about your book, remember that when you join my Get Your Book Done coaching program, you can hop on the phone with me and my community of authors twice every month! Learn more about the full program at 84

85 Remember: As a special thank you for purchasing this ebook, you will receive a full $97 credit towards the Get Your Book Done group coaching program. Simply go to the website above and enter the code: gybd-credit in the Promo Code box then click apply. Note: The above is an example of how to let your reader know where to get more help from you if they need it. It s also a way for me to hopefully work with you more closely if you really do want more help with your book! The Master Outline will help you throughout your entire writing process. All the work you ve done to lay your book s foundation has prepared the way for an easy and graceful writing journey. Congratulate yourself on a job well done. You ve completed a great deal of foundational work so your book will be as good as it can be. You have reason to be proud of yourself for getting this far. When you ve finished your Master Outline, honor yourself with a special something that ll make your heart sing lunch with a friend, an afternoon at the bookstore to drink tea and peruse the shelves (without doing research for your own book), a special hike, a trip to the spa (my favorite celebration), etc. 85

86 Chapter 10 How to Get Your Book Written in Less Than Eight Weeks The goal now is to hopefully have your manuscript ready for the editor in eight weeks or less. Can you imagine that? It s very possible and has been done many times using this system. The hard part is over. You laid a strong foundation and chose a structure for your book. The clarity you now have will allow the writing to flow. You put a great deal of thought into your book. The ideas have been stewing in your mind and you created your Master Outline. You re ready to write your manuscript. There are things you can do to increase your chances for success and reach your highest level of creativity with your writing. These steps will enable you to get your book done even if you run a business, have a family, and juggle many other commitments. You re probably pretty eager to start writing your manuscript. Like a young racehorse that s chomping for the race to start, you re going to tap in to this eagerness to make a good start. However, enthusiasm can wane, so you re going to take a few steps to ensure you don t lose steam partway through the race. 86