Excerpts from the blog post: main takeaways from Brian Tracy on how to start writing a book

If you have a great idea for a book, you should write it. It’s as simple as that.

Not only are you doing your future readers a disservice by not sharing your creation, but you are also holding yourself back from reaching your full potential.

• Writing a book is the fastest way to gain credibility
• Writing a book provides a great opportunity to share something meaningful with you
• Writing a book is a way to help others improve their lives

How To Start Writing Your Book

Once you make the decision that you should write your book, all that’s left to do is get the pen rolling or your fingers typing!

Dedicate The Time To Be A Better Writer

The first rule of being a writer is that you simply write. There are no other requirements. Period.

WRITE OFTEN

Great writing stems from consistency and regularity. If you can establish a daily writing routine, you will be well on your way to making significant strides toward finishing your book. Getting started may seem complicated, but the best thing you can do is to find a structure that works for you.

First, set the scene. Second, choose an ideal time to write. If you have the most unstructured time available to you in the early morning, And, last but not least, set a goal for how much you’d like to write every day. It doesn’t have to be a lot. You might also aim to give yourself a target word range to hit, perhaps something between 250-500 words.

READ MORE

Stephen King says, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”

It is a learning opportunity to study the works of other creatives in the same field.

1. The more styles of writing you read, the more you’ll be able to recognize and borrow certain strategies and weave them into your own writing process.
2. It can help you source ideas for different languages and vocabulary to use.
3. It can help you fine-tune your own unique writing style and voice.

GET TO KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

When you write, the book is never about you. It’s about what you can share with the audience you wish to serve.

To determine your target audience, it is first important to consider:

• Which genre you’d like to write for
• Which books within that genre you’d like to be compared to
• Who your ideal reader might be

Choose the Right Book Topic For You and Your Audience

It is critical that the topic be unique enough to set your book apart but general enough to appeal to a wider group of people that still fall within the same umbrella as your audience.

Choosing the right book topic for your audience is meaningless unless you are passionate about the topic yourself.

Simply put, your audience won’t believe what you’re saying unless you believe it first.

Organize Your Thoughts For Your Book in a Book Outline

How much planning you end up doing is largely up to you. Some authors prefer to have a detailed outline that is well fleshed out from start to finish while others barely have an outline at all, preferring instead to let the book unfold as they write it.

Finding a way to organize all of your thoughts at the start of your writing process will guarantee your success later.

Write Your Book!

You’ve done the research, you’ve organized your thoughts, you know your audience, and you’ve learned how to write a book. Now all that’s left to do is to start writing your book!

Source and credit: Brian Tracy
Read the full post here.