As someone who puts the description Writer on any official documents and the title Storyteller on my business card I am regularly asked how I write or ‘How do I start?’
My response is usually, ‘Well, just start. Sit down somewhere comfortable every day for a certain period of time and write down what it is you want to say.’ For someone who has that long-awaited novel or story just waiting to burst out of them this might work. For business books, however, this approach simply won’t work.
Writing a business book involves a lot of research, interviewing and exploring, reading, taking notes, listening and asking questions. Quite frankly, there’s not a lot of writing that goes on in the initial stage of writing a business book.
In the lead up to Christmas, some of you (especially those in the Southern Hemisphere) might have more time to think and plan your long-awaited business book.
Before you start writing answer these 5 questions. They’ll provide valuable insight to what your book should be about. Write just one paragraph on each of these (that’s about 150 words).
- What is the core idea/concept of your business?
- a)Look at the title and subtitle;
- b)Read the back of the book, aka what others have said about the book;
- c)Open it up and read the Introduction and, maybe, the contents page
