Three Reasons to Write Your Book Now (and one reason not to)

“Am I ready to write a book?” That’s a question people frequently ask me when I get on 15-minute calls with prospective ghostwriting clients and people interested in my 8-week book writing program. Sometimes the prospective authors want to turn a course into a book and are wondering how many times they should run the course first, or they want to have a course and book and aren’t sure where to start. Others aren’t sure if they’ve learned enough, accomplished enough, or suffered enough yet to have something book-worthy to say.

Often, these questions are really about positioning the nonfiction book and themselves vis-a-vis the marketplace. It can be scary to declare yourself an “expert,” and this can be especially true of women and anyone who thrives on external validation. If you want to publish traditionally, you’ll have to create a killer book proposal that puts you front and center as the go-to expert. And if you want to self-publish, same. Plus, either way, you’ll have to be the face of the book to sell it (and yourself, your ideas… your authority) to readers.

Another issue to consider is if you already have an audience for your book’s topic or not. If you’re not already known as an authority on your topic, it’s a good idea to start promoting yourself and your ideas well in advance of a book launch so people are excited about your book instead of surprised and confused when it comes out. Still, not having an audience isn’t a reason to delay writing your book, as long as you are committing to building it now. In fact, the only reason not to write a book now — or maybe ever — is if you don’t have an audience and don’t have any interest in building one or don’t have a message you’re excited to share.

Otherwise, there’s every reason not to delay writing your book and getting it into the hands of excited readers. My top reasons you should write a book now are:

1. Make more money
2. Be known as a leader
3. Amplify your impact

When I talk to people who want to do all three or at least two of the above things, I know they are ready to write a book, whether it’s a memoir, self-help, or research-based. In any of those cases, you have to be ready to step into your author-ity.

1. Make more money

Let me be clear, most nonfiction authors do not pay their bills with book sales. Want to know if you might be an exception to that rule? Do some simple math. With traditional publishing, authors usually make about $1 a book, and many never see any royalties beyond the advance they get when signing a contract. Even if that is in the mid-5 figures, if you never see anything else, that’s not quit-your-job money. And for self-publishing, you might clear $3–5/book. So, with your current audience, how many copies of your book do you expect to sell? Multiply that by the expected royalty per book.

Why would I tell you this if I think you should write your book now? Good question. I want your eyes open to the way more nonfiction authors DO pay their bills: with offers they sell to their readers after the book. Look at this list below and think if you already have some of these offers and want to sell a lot more of them, or are these things you would like to be doing in the future?

•Online course •Membership site •Content subscription •Retreats/speaking •Conference/Summits •Masterminds •Consulting/workshop •Group coaching •1–1 coaching •Certifications •Merchandise •Information products •Audio recordings •Additional books • Nonprofit/cause awareness

These are just a handful of successful offers you can make to your book’s readers. To get more inspiration and examples, check out my Six Ways Nonfiction Authors Make Money article.

When I run Your Bestselling Book Blueprint: The FREE 3-Day Challenge, we look at how your book will make money on Day 3. If you can answer this question, it probably makes sense to write your book — aka, it will “pay off” to invest your time and resources in a book because that book will support your income goals.

2. Be known as a leader

I’ll never forget a conversation I had with a friend of mine who wanted to be interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air. “Have you noticed how many people she interviews that have books coming out?” I asked. My friend was floored. She had never before considered how a book can make your ideas newsworthy. The other people Terry interviews usually have films or albums coming out, by the way. Even when a topic is timely in the news, the person she interviews is presented as the expert, and their book is the megaphone for their ideas.

Even if Fresh Air isn’t where you want to be, writing your book will position you as a leader for the ideas you champion.

• If you have a signature framework that deserves a wider audience, teach it in your book like Gino Wickman in Traction and Joey Coleman in Never Lose a Customer Again.
• Do you have processes that have helped you and your coaching clients? Attract more of them more easily with your book like Jen Sincero does in the You Are a Badass series.
• Have an inspiring transformation that can help others? Write it in your memoir or story-driven personal development book like David Goggins in Can’t Hurt Me.

In any of these scenarios, writing your book takes you from being a little-known expert or well-kept secret to a trusted authority.

As your ideas and experience reach a bigger audience through your book, your readers will refer your book to others. And there you will be with the offer you came up with from #1 to lead your audience as they continue learning from you and engaging with you. And the more books you write, the more your authority grows.

3. Amplify your impact

There’s a direct correlation between wanting to serve more people more fully and writing a nonfiction book. You want to reach more people to build your list and have more people to make your offer to, so there’s the money angle… but that alone is not enough motivation to write a really good book. To write a book that moves people to action and touches them at their core, that’s a book you write because you care about your readers and want them to achieve the outcomes that are possible with your guidance and experience. Help them avoid your mistakes, make transformational shifts in their lives, and achieve their biggest dreams. I’ve written more about how to think about your readers and write a book they actually want to read in this article.

Right now, Let’s focus on whether you have an impact worthy of amplifying. Ask yourself these questions: Who needs your message? What problems are they searching for expert help on, but they’re not finding your book because it’s not written? What is it you want them to learn, know, understand, or believe? What will they achieve when they read your book and put your ideas into action? If you aren’t excited about these answers, dig deeper to find who it is you want to reach with your book and how you can help them. With this awareness, you will have unstoppable motivation to write your book now.

tl:dr

If you have a message you’re excited to share with readers and either have an audience for your book or are committed to building one, now is a great time to write your book for these three reasons:

• You have an offer in mind to sell to your readers so you won’t be solely dependent on book sales
• You’re excited to go from a little-known expert or well-kept secret to a widely followed leader
• You have a message that will make an impact on your readers’ lives

If you realize one of these three criteria isn’t in harmony with the others or is fuzzy in detail, consider how can you shift your offer, expand or generalize your expertise, or define your readers’ outcomes better to line up. When your offer, leadership, and impact are all in alignment, it just doesn’t make sense not to write your book — now.