Writing a book is a dream. Writing a book is a nightmare. A nightmare—because virtually everyone who starts writing a book quickly discovers how difficult it is…
Determine what the core message of your book is going to be. You need to answer the question, “What message do these people need to hear?”
Writing an “elevator pitch” for your book is a useful exercise. Pretend you’re stuck in an elevator with a publishing agent who is looking for a book to publish. What would you say to convince him that your book is the one? How can you summarize your entire book in a few hundred words?
You have writer’s block. It’s a common problem, caused by a common mistake. When they decide to write a book, most people just sit down and start to write. That’s a big mistake.
Creating a coherent superstructure is likely the most difficult part of outlining. When you open to the book’s Table of Contents, can you tell what the book is about? Do the parts clearly fit together into a focused whole?
The rules distinguishing introductions, prefaces, and forewords are pretty hard and fast. You want to make sure you get each one right.
In the olden days it was easy to judge a book by its cover…or at least the title on its cover. Titles were a bit longer back then, enabling you to evaluate your interest in the book rather rapidly. Check this title out...
Time to conquer the unruly Brain Dump. We’re going to add structure to this payload of ideas. Stare at your Brain Dump for a moment. Can you identify the most important ideas? As you organize...
Don’t do your brain dump in the office. You will probably be distracted half a dozen times in the first half hour—phone calls, coworkers, text messages, “emergencies” that spring out of nowhere. Go to a quiet place...
We took a writing retreat to record this book’s content. However, we had the benefit of prior experience. Many first-time authors would be overwhelmed and burn out if they tried to do nothing but write for an entire day.
A quick Google search for “why should I write a book” returns 694,000,000 results. We're not going to trawl through those almost-700-million results, extracting every possible motivation for becoming an author. Instead...
Front cover essentials include the title of your book, the subtitle, and your name. You may add other elements as you please—this is the bare minimum.
© 2025 Credible Author | Certified Non-Profit Corporation 1395669-5 | Michael@CredibleAuthor.org
