Yes, writing a book can seem so daunting!
However, authors Rick Frishman, Bret Ridgway, and Bryan Hane point out in their book, Mistakes Authors Make: Essential Steps for Achieving Success as an Author, mistake number one that aspiring authors make is believing that they can’t write a book because it seems so intimidating and causing writer’s block.
To resolve this dilemma, the authors of Mistakes Author Make suggest four ways aspiring authors can complete their book without typing their thoughts.
1) Talk your book by recording your ideas into your computer or recording device via a microphone. And then have the audio recordings transcribed. This works well only if you present your ideas in a well-organized format with a core theme.
If you babble into your microphone off the top of your head, the content for your book will require hours upon hours of editing to make it coherent. I once had a ghostwriting project that required me to translate a psychologist’s stream-of-consciousness speeches into chapters. To say this process was tortuous is an understatement…
2) Repurpose articles or blog posts into chapters for a book. Just make sure they all have a common central theme and organize them accordingly.
3) Have someone interview you by preparing (again) a well-organized set of questions that flow logically and have the recording transcribed.
4) Hire a ghostwriter. Ghostwriters (like myself) typically meet with their clients weekly and organize their existing content (from articles, blog posts, interviews, speeches, etc.) and write a book from it or they develop content by interviewing the client and drafting chapters weekly for the client’s approval over a set number of weeks or months.
As the book Mistakes Authors Make points out, “Your book doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be.”
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