The Truth About Book Writing, Being an Author (6 page)

Chapter 7

Are You The Right Writer For Your Book?

W
ithout a qualified
book
writer, there is no possible way to succeed in attaining your book goals. And as your book is going to be the key to opening a great many doors of opportunity, it will influence your larger life goals, and it needs to be effective for you.

The writer is the foundation, the one in charge of instilling life into your information, your thoughts and your ideas; getting them onto the page properly, in a way that reveals many more dimensions than two (the length and width) of the page.

There are things that you need to consider about getting your book written so that it actually gets done, and it ends up being the stellar product that you want it to be; one that creates huge impact!

Questions you must consider if you are thinking about writing your own book are:

1. Do you have enough extra time to get your book written within a reasonable timeline?
   
2. Can you adequately control and manipulate a large volume of data?
   
3. Are you strong at articulating your thoughts and ideas in writing, without using your vocal chords, hands and facial expressions?
   
4. Can you be persuasive with the written word?
   
5. Can you explain practical matters enough for readers to be able to APPLY them?
   
6. Can you get people to have an epiphany with words as to WHY something is that way?
   
7. Can you imbue life and excitement with the written word? Can you motivate and inspire?
   
8. Do you love to write or is it a chore?
   
9. Do you personally believe that you would do a better job than a professional? (We all could bake a wedding cake. But would the bride break down into tears over our results? Or would a professional wedding cake baker be more appropriate?) Again, this is not about pride or ego. It’s about getting your book done properly for the greatest outcome.
   

The best way to find out if you are up to the task is to start on your book. Give it a couple of weeks and see what you produce.

TEST: If You Get Nothing Done

If you produce nothing, you’re either too busy to be taking on your book’s writing task alone, you become overwhelmed with the process, you need someone to coach you, or otherwise.

It doesn’t matter so much as to why, but rather the fact that your book is not going to get done within the next year or so.

In almost every single case that I’ve witnessed over the years, the months and years drift by without one’s book getting done.

It should be a “literary” crime, especially when books change the lives of authors and entrepreneurs as well as the many lives of others! Your information needs to get out there!

Don’t ever forget that your book is something that many others need desperately in order to improve their ways of living! THE WORLD NEEDS AUTHORS!

People have an insatiable appetite for books. They are starved for valuable information and seek it for resolving problems or learn how to do or achieve something.

This is pretty obvious with regard to non-fiction informational books. But don’t overlook the priceless value a good true story of inspiration or a fiction that allows one to “escape from the harsh realities of life” for awhile will do for enhancing the lives of others.

TEST: If You Do Write Something

If you did write something, review what you’ve started with a mindset that you have never read it before and know nothing about the topic. In other words, take on the personality of a new book buyer.

With a beginner’s mindset on the subject, does what you’ve show potential? This is your first attempt, so we can correctly call it a “draft.” So it need not be perfect by any means.

Does your written material make sense? Is it enjoyable or gripping? Do you believe it can be polished to a professional standard? Is it conveying your thoughts and concepts pretty clearly? Is it interesting? Look for what qualities are present and what ones are missing.

If you pass this test with flying colors and you feel you have passion about writing your book, the next thing to do is have someone else read it.

This person absolutely must be impartial. They can’t be nice and so forth. What I used to do (and sometimes still do when I need some feedback) is tell my targeted reader that they have to be brutally honest. I tell them that I don’t need them to be nice to me, because if it is not good, I really need to know it.

If you flunk this one and you feel that the reader was unfair or inaccurate, feel free to have another person read and critique your work.

If you flunk that one too, then you have your answer. If you pass, then you’ve got your answer too!

This kind of “literary litmus test” is pretty effective in revealing the proof in the pudding.

I often ask potential author clients to do this test if they honestly feel they can write their books. In my experience, because of either a lack of time or overwhelm, many of them decide to hire a pro.

Whether you decide to write your own book or go with a professional, hold off on your decision until you learn about the writing process as well as all of the fantastic options that are available to you in this book.

* * *

Chapter 8

How The Book Writing Process Works

I
am often asked how the book writing process takes place. To best describe this, it would be helpful to understand who is involved and what their roles are.

The First Two Members of Your Team

As touched upon earlier, the author is the person with the main idea and information for a book. The writer is the one with the ability to take those ideas and information and put them into the proper book format for the greatest experience of understanding, while— depending on the type of book it is—making that information interesting, exciting, suspenseful, and/or creating and bringing out feelings and emotions in the readers.

Though sometimes erroneously expected of the writer, s/he cannot simply “know” what is in the author’s head; the writer needs to work with taped messages, e-mails, verbal interviews, notes, and so on.

The main duty of the author is to supply ample information to the writer and sufficiently describe the vision of their product.
⁴

So the first two individuals of your team are:

1. Author and
   
2. Book Writer
   

What to Expect During the Book Writing Process

One of the most common unrealistic expectations of the book writing process is that the writing process begins on day one, and when the project is halfway complete, the book should be half written (e.g., a 350-page book that is halfway through the estimated timeline of the book project should have 175 pages completed).

This is simply not how the process takes place— especially with fiction and where creative writing is involved in non-fiction, such as in a memoir.

The writing of a book requires a great deal of creative thought and processing. There are many things that have to be worked out with, and worked into, the concept before the writing even begins. In the beginning of a book project, more time and effort is spent on researching topics, interviewing the client and others as necessary, taking in the information, and many other “non-writing” aspects.

Things like research, assimilation of information, understanding of information, taking interviews, going over interviews, development of the concept, outline, form, flow of information and so forth and so on, need to be mocked up before any significant writing takes place. They are prerequisites for the writing.

As the project progresses, things begin to jell and come together. It isn’t until about one-third to halfway through that the writing really begins to take main stage.

This is important to understand because “wrong expectations” can cause unnecessary upset, based out of the ignorance of not understanding the writing process or what an incredible feat it actually is to make raw, uncalibrated, random information actually flow in harmonious balance.

In conclusion, don’t expect your book to be through Chapter 12, in a 24-chapter book, when the project is halfway through its estimated completion schedule. It simply does not happen that way.

How You Can Help

The process is easier for the author than it may at first seem. A good, considerate writer, will lead you through and tell you what to do.

One of the greatest difficulties in writing a book for most people is the overwhelming amount of data that needs to be remembered and controlled. Confusion can easily set in if the data is not managed properly.

Your writer should be able to lead you step-by-step in giving information by asking key questions that allow you to deal with specific pieces of data at any given time.

And from the information that you respond with, either in writing, on tape or in an interview, the seasoned writer will ask the right questions that will bring out a great deal more about each topic than you ever realized you knew or even remembered.

Dealing With the Emotions of Remembering

Often in memoirs, biographies and true stories, there can be personal, emotionally upsetting areas. This is another thing that a real professional book writer will know how to deal with.

In the many cases I have seen, when properly dealt with, the author comes out the other side feeling lighter, brighter and better about the situation; sometimes having enlightening and positive realizations about their experience too.

Whether telling your story, sharing your knowledge or showing others how to do something … having a book written is one of the most therapeutic and rewarding experiences one can ever experience in a lifetime!

The best practice for you as the author in your book writing project is to make yourself readily available when your writer needs you, and stay clear when he/she doesn’t.

Expect in the beginning stages to be needed more than in the ending stages. If you begin to feel left out, remind yourself that by the time the intense writing stage comes around, you’ve done your part to a great degree and now your writer needs time to get the job done.

Like waiting for and expecting a baby to be born, it will come in due time. The more you let your writer be, the sooner and the better the end product will turn out.

When You Begin To Get Work Back From Your Writer

If you like what you’re reading from your writer, you’re good to go. Let things continue forward. But if you don’t like it, here is some helpful information on how to proceed.

The Draft Stages

First of all, understand that masterpieces are often not written within the first rough phase of writing. This phase is called the “Rough Draft.”

The manuscript will have mistakes, things left out, points not brought to completion and more. This is to be expected.

Words will be misspelled and grammar will never be perfected. IT IS NOT THE JOB OF THE WRITER TO EDIT OR PROOFREAD. WRITER’S ARE SUPPOSED TO WRITE. THAT’S IT.

Editing and proofreading are for their respective professions. Part of why it is this way is because, for one thing, it is virtually impossible to see your own typos. The mind tends to correct the mistake on the page and we don’t see many of them

Secondly, writers are all about creativity and outflow of information onto the page, creating visual concepts and vivid representations in the minds of the readers through their skill in crafting the right words in the right combinations.

To put attention on something as technical as grammar or whether a word has been spelled correctly takes away from that creativity. All art suffers from too much technical aspect.

So let your writer write, be sloppy and create away! Your Editor and Proofreader will get the technical stuff.

After the Rough Draft stage, you will receive either a Draft or the Final Work. Each time, you can expect the information to be more developed, more clear, more groomed, and so forth, than the prior stage.

How do You Know When Your Writer has Done a Good Job?

As it is your book and reputation on the line, you most certainly have a significant say in how you feel about the written material. But as with anything we ourselves are not experts in, we simply might be flawed in our evaluation.

If you don’t like what you’ve read in the final manuscript or are uncertain whether your writer has accomplished what you are looking for in your book, you should seek the perspectives and input of a select few others.

Things like being too close to the project, being too emotional with the topic and simply not being a writer are all substantial reasons why you cannot be the sole judge and jury on your writer’s finished work.

The best way to learn whether you’ve got a professional piece is to let others read it. But you have to take a cross-section from more than one area:

1. Friends and Family
   —Have your friends and family members read your manuscript. Tell them you would like some honest feedback. But you cannot influence them by saying, “Isn’t this bad?” or “Isn’t this dumb?” or “I think the leading character is just fantastic!”... let them decide for themselves. This will allow for a more accurate response.
   
2. Get a Professional Book Critique
   —An excellent way to find out what you have in your book is to get a Book Critique. As with all members of your team, you need to find a professional or else you will be taking recommendation from someone not equipped to give an adequate response about your book.
   
3. Professional Proofreader
   —Hiring a professional Proofreader is an
   essential
   part of the book writing process. Realize that it is impossible for the person who is writing to proofread their own work.
   
4. The mind plays tricks on us when we read something we’ve written–even writers. We see what we are thinking in our minds instead of what is on the page. So a missing word or the use of the word “their” instead of “there,” for instance, can be overlooked.
   
5. It’s always best to bring in people outside of the project to get a fresh look at the manuscript. Once they’re done, you can ask the proofreader what they thought of the book.
   
6. Professional Book Editor
   —Finding a legitimate editor to critique your book is also a great idea, and actually a necessary step in the process once the book has been proofread and the proofreader’s corrections made permanent.
   
7. Good professional Book Editors are also
   needed
   for taking an unbiased look at the book. They are supposed to take a fresh perspective of manuscripts and help to make them better or keep them from being degraded by too much melding.
   
8. This expert will make sure that characters have been developed enough, there are no areas where the reader can become lost or confused, and so many more things equally as important.
   
9. And if you’ve got a bomb (meaning the book is not any good), believe me, a good editor will have no back off in telling you that the book is “less than desirable and needs a lot more work,” or something to that effect.
   
10. Though editors can be tough at times, they are paid to sniff out the bad areas, and if there are too many, they will say so. That is their job, which is an extremely important one.
    

There is one thing to consider here:

If the critique from an editor is strongly unfavorable (like, “This is a pile of trash!” or “You need to make a major overhaul.”) you as the author must take a look to see whether you had a hand in this or not. Did you supply your writer with what she/he asked for? Did you “pull rank” too many times when your writer made recommendations?

The first consideration should always be,
How can I work with my writer to make this the book I want it to be?

The “rock and a hard place” writers face when writing for someone else is the fact that the person who knows little-to-nothing about writing is funding the project. This sometimes, for reasons best known to God and authors, makes them feel suddenly endowed with writing ability and writing knowledge. And with this newfound “ability and knowledge,” they begin to sabotage their own projects by overriding the one person who can actually get the job done properly.

Though you might be saying to yourself that you would NEVER be so bold or thick-headed, it’s an amazing phenomenon that happens more often than you might imagine.

You have to be careful about whom you ask for feedback. Though I believe that most professional writers have good hearts and are honest, going to a competing writer could be a waste of your time simply because they will likely want to write your next book for you or take over on your existing project. As a result, their “critique” may end up being a little more “critical” than accurate.

And since I’m being a little cynical here, there’s also that little unspoken evil thing that lives in the minds of some people—jealousy. If you approach someone who has been wanting to have their book written for years, or who never forgave you for wearing the same gown to the prom... well, let’s just say that a compliment from this person might be a bit understated.

The book writing process, with a professional, is really quite painless and very enjoyable with a truly professional book writer. In fact, it can be one of the most wonderful, memorable experiences of a lifetime! So don’t worry about how you’re going to remember everything or whether you’ve got enough to teach ... the professional will pull you through with shining colors.

And realize that your team in now up to four members:

1. Author
   
2. Writer
   
3. Proofreader
   
4. Editor
   

This is a bare minimum.

The next chapter explains writing fees and what you should expect to invest in a book writer capable of writing your book in high quality.

* * *

______________________

⁴
Note that reference to the author and writer seem to imply that there aretwo people involved. This may or may not be the case. If the author does in fact decide to be the writer of their book, then he/she holds both roles of responsibility.