For authors, both mindset and answers are important
If you are writing a nonfiction book, you probably have lots of knowledge about your subject matter. But when it comes time to put that into a book, you need to know two more things.
- Why are you writing the book? This is your mindset.
- How will you write the book? This is based on answers to questions about books and publishing.
Unless you get both right, you’ll struggle to be successful.
If writing a book is a journey, the mindset relates to your destination. The answers are your directions to get to that destination.
What is the author’s mindset?
Mindset starts with your motivation. What are you trying to get out of the activity of writing the book? Sharing your knowledge? Boosting a public speaking career? Generating business for yourself or your firm? Changing people’s opinions? All are possible, but what kind of book you write will depend on your objectives. A book full of detailed how-tos is not going generate many speaking gigs, and a book with lots of personal stories isn’t likely to lead to much consulting.
The question of mindset also goes into how you craft the book’s narrative. Nonfiction books serve readers. You should always have the reader in mind while you’re writing (it can help to keep a picture of the typical reader on your desk and look at it from time to time). What’s the reader’s problem? Are you helping to solve it? Or are you just showing off? Have you organized the content in ways that will help the reader? This mindset will improve your book’s effectivenes.
What answers do you need to write a book?
You have questions about books; you need answers to be an effective author. Authors have questions like these: What publishing model should I use? How can I get a publishing contract? How long should the book be? What is it like to work with a coauthor? How long should the chapters be? Where can I get case studies? How can I check and verify facts? Do I need an editor? How do I know when I’m done? The list is endless.
There are lots of sources for this information (including my book Build a Better Business Book, which is intended as a comprehensive guide for authors). You can talk to other authors or publishing experts. Knowing the answers to these kinds of questions can make your authoring work more productive, and reduces waste.
You need both mindset and answers to write a successful book
If you have the right author mindset but lack answers to questions about publishing, you’ll run out of steam. There are so many unknowns in writing and publishing a book; you need those answers to make sure you’re not spinning your wheels or writing something that’s not publishable. Knowing the destination and being unable to get there is, ultimately, frustrating.
If you have the answers to all your publishing questions but lack the right mindset, you could create a perfectly formatted, neatly published book that does nothing for you. You’ll end up at a destination that wasn’t where you wanted to go. That’s low-stress until you realize how much of your effort was ultimately wasted.
Unless you have both the right mindset and the knowledge of how books and publishing work, you’re not going to be successful.
The same reasoning applies to many problems in work and life
Why are you doing marketing? And how do you do it successfully? You need to know both to be an effective marketer.
Why are starting a company? And how do you get it off the ground and growing? You need to know both to be an effective entrepreneur.
Why are you committing to a relationship? And how can you make it work? You need to know both to have a successful marriage.
The next time you are working towards something big, ask yourself both why and how. Solve both questions and you’re a lot more likely to end up somewhere successful.