A Book Without a Message Will Fail
There are several things a good book needs to have to make it a success. By success, I don’t always mean an NYT best-seller – by success, I mean that YOUR intended audience loves and reads it. The NYT best-seller is icing on the cake.
If you write for your audience, you will become a best-seller.
But before any of this can begin, before you write your first word, you need to know what your message is.
My coaching work is primarily with mission-driven/purpose-driven entrepreneurs who have a message they want to convey to their audience readers. They have something to say and share that will change lives, bring them credibility and an additional income stream if done right.
Here’s the kicker – many start writing with the wrong message in mind. They go in with the thought of needing a best-seller and appealing to the masses, so their message gets watered down. Fiction writers and memoirists do the same.
That is the wrong way to sell yourself, to sell your book, to create thought and bring change.
Let’s back up. Your book’s success depends upon your message. There are other things, too, such as knowing our audience and how you want to tell your story.
But the message is the heart of the story. It’s the brain and nerves, the muscles and the emotions. It’s what everything else revolves around.
How do you find your message? It’s not always easy. People often THINK they have their message, but they don’t. Why? Because they’re not digging deep enough. They’re writing what they think their readers want to hear.
In my book, The Truth is a Lie, before I started writing I thought I had an idea of my message. But when writer's block crept in and when I felt disconnected from what I was writing and trying to say, I knew I was off track. I had to take a few steps back and ask myself some hard questions.
Here are three of the questions I asked myself, and what I use with my mission-driven/purpose-driven entrepreneurs who are writing. For my fiction writers, like me, this works too.
1) How were you before you changed or pivoted? What was life like?
2) What happened to you to make you change? Was it external, internal, another person, or an event?
3) How did you change? What did you do? Did you fail and try again?
Once you’ve spent some time figuring this out, you then add them up and create a three-sentence message of your book. I was A until B happened, and then I did C. I caution you here. These need to be deep, truthful answers. No one is going to see them but you.
If you take the time to do this exercise before you write, you will have a CLEAR vision of your message. Don’t be tempted or swayed to water it down. A watered down message, doesn't help you
tell your story.
Need help discovering your message? I have a FREE 30 Minute GET YOUR BOOK DONE Session that can help. Click on the button below and get started on your path.
Get my free guide 3 STEPS TO DISCOVERING YOUR MESSAGE
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