I Started Two Books Before I Wrote the Right One

Okay, are you ready for Confessions of a Ghostwriter? (I hope so because that’s the name of the keynote I’m working on now.)

In the meantime, here’s my first confession: I spent two years working on two different business books, and I never finished either one. 🫨

I know. Shocking, isn’t it?

I'm telling you this because I want to save you from my fate. Besides being a time waster, it can be demoralizing to fail to complete a big project you started (unfinished guest bathroom, I’m looking at you 🧐).

I see this happen to brilliant, business owners with tons of ideas all the time. They get excited about writing a book, but then the momentum wanes once the excitement fades.

This is not your fault. It has nothing to do with needing more discipline or time to write. It can be solved simply by committing to certain decisions early in the process.

Let me show you how I stumbled upon (tripped over?) this the hard way.

Book #1: The "easy" one

It was 2020, and I was looking for easy, fun ways to create more content. Everyone said you had to do video if you wanted a successful online business (everyone is still saying that). The thought of making a bunch of talking-head videos made my skin itchy, so I started doing interviews instead.

The problem was I never really decided why I was doing them. Yes, I had some standard questions I asked the 20+ entrepreneurs I interviewed. But I wasn't being intentional. I was just making stuff to have stuff to post.

Before long, I had a pile of interviews gathering digital dust. And I thought, I want a book with my name on it. Why not turn these into a book? The material is already there. That's low-hanging fruit.

It was not low-hanging fruit. 

I'd sit down and read through the interviews (getting up to re-heat my tea or re-arrange my desk every 3 minutes), hoping a theme would jump out at me. None did. So I'd try to manufacture one, borrowing ideas from other things I'd written or what I thought my readers cared about, and impose them on the interviews. That didn't work either.

Then I'd switch tactics and try to edit a single interview, pulling out the parts that seemed "quotable." Hours would pass. I'd have done nothing but stare at the screen and move things around on the page. It felt like hard labor the entire time, and I wasn't making any real progress. Months passed this way.

Book #2: The "fun" one

If the easy book was boring, that must mean I hadn’t landed on the right book idea. So I swung to the other extreme. I'd write a book that sounded fun to write: something combining my pet ideas about philosophy, business ownership, and self-awareness. Ideas I genuinely loved pontificating about.

And for two years, I bounced back and forth between these two books — all the while, feeling like a fraud. How could I call myself a ghostwriter when I couldn’t even write my own book? 

I'd work on the interview book, get bored, and go play with the fun idea. Then I'd scold myself: Just buckle down and write the interview book. It's the fastest way to get a draft done. All you have to do is organize the material you already have. Then I'd get bored again and drift back to the other one.

Spiraling round and round.

The final nail in the coffin for the fun book came when I asked myself one simple question: Who will buy this book?

I couldn't think of anyone. Maybe a handful of people on Earth would enjoy it (me and Jill… maybe my dad, definitely not my mom). It was abstract and the point was unclear. What was clear was that I didn’t see how this book could contribute to the success of my business in any way.

Figuring out what I was even trying to say would have been a long, hard process. Basically, I was trying to write another dissertation, which would not have been the greatest and highest use of my time (maybe I’ll come back to reimagine it some day).

What I was really missing

Four years later, the problem is obvious to me. I thought I had a discipline problem. I beat myself up for being lazy or unfocused (another time waster 😞). 

The truth is I had skipped making certain key decisions:

• The interview book had material but no why. It didn't connect to any of my core beliefs (I call them “die in a ditch beliefs”), or at least I couldn’t figure out how to make it connect to any of them. No wonder writing it felt like dragging myself through quicksand.
• The fun book had passion but no who. I loved the topic, but nobody was waiting to read it. And I wasn’t just worried about low book sales. No one would have bought this book because it wasn’t clear how it would help anyone.

Having material isn't enough. Loving your topic isn't enough. A business book needs a clear why and a clear who, and you need to decide both (ideally) before you start writing. 

Otherwise you will find yourself rewriting, restarting, and giving up.

The book that finally got written

When I decided to write a book about how to write a business book, everything clicked. 

I wish I had a neat and tidy story to tell about the lightbulb moment when I realized there were key decisions that every author should make, and as soon as I asked myself the “why” question and the “how” question, I saw the error in my ways. It wasn’t like that.

It was more like, once I found the idea for Unwritten, it fell out of my brain. I didn’t have to actively think about those decisions because I had already made them in my business.

Unwritten connected directly to what I do every day. And I knew it had an audience, because it was the same audience I was already talking to every week in my email newsletter and on LinkedIn.

And I bet the same is true for you.

Had the neat and tidy story been my ending, I could have avoided those two years spent spinning my wheels on the wrong books. But now I am here to save you from my fate!

Try this: the two-question test

When prospects come to me with a book idea, the first question I ask is: "What's the business case for your book?" Here's a quick way to answer it yourself. Grab a pen and give yourself 10 minutes.

1. Why does this book matter to my business? Write down what you want the book to do for you: attract clients, land speaking gigs, support a program, build credibility in a new market. If you can't connect it to your business, you may be writing your version of my interview book.
2. Can I name five real people who would buy it? Not "busy entrepreneurs" or "women senior leaders." Five actual names. Bonus points if they're people you already talk to through your newsletter, social media, or client work. If you can't get to five, you may be writing your version of my fun book.

If both answers come easily, you're in great shape. If you got stuck, that's good news too. You just found the real reason your book hasn't been written yet, and it's a lot easier to fix now than 30,000 words from now.

Go forth and make some decisions. You’re welcome.

Want to make these decisions with me?

This is exactly where we'll start in Write It Already: The Workshop Series for Entrepreneurs Who Have the Idea but Not the Book, my four-week series in The B.I.G. Mastery Series (Believe. Inspire. Grow.).

Every session is practical. I'll share what I've seen work, and not work, with my clients, and you'll get time to apply it to your own book idea right there in the session.

Here’s the schedule:

 

Week	Date	Focus
1	Tuesday, Nov 10	The decisions to make before you write (or ASAP)
2	Tuesday, Nov 17	Writing mistakes to avoid
3	Tuesday, Nov 24	Promotion best practices from my clients
4	Monday, Nov 30	Publishing dos and don’ts

Sessions run 9:00 to 10:30 AM ET on Zoom. Series passes are $89 for B.I.G. members and $99 for non-members.

Don't spend two years on the wrong book like I did.

Grab your seat for Write It Already

Image captured by Jill Delston.