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Stop Killing Your Book Dream with Poor Planning
By: Earma Brown, Posted on: 2008-03-26

Are you afraid your dream of writing a book will die inside you? May I be honest? It may, if you don't plan and get it done. With the right planning and knowledge, you can easily write your important message into a book.

Read the tips below and fuel the flame of your book dream again. This time, stretch yourself; dream a bigger dream. Dream after writing your book, you receive continuing income that grows each month.

Dream you become a sought after expert in your field. You gain the added respect of your colleagues and peers because of your book. You receive increased profits leveraged from higher fees charged. Your clients gladly pay them with book author as one of your titles.

Are you ready to revive your dream yet? Here are a few mistakes to correct and make all your book dreams come true:

Mistake 1 Failure to plan at all.

You must realize your book is a product and as a product it has to be marketed. Your plan provides a map for everything you do afterwards. Your book marketing plan is what I describe as your map. It describes your book, what you will do after the book is completed and published. It also describes who you hope to sell your book to as a target audience. In short, you can say your book marketing plan is your roadmap to success and profits.

Mistake 2 Failure to plan how your book will be published.

Whether you choose self-publishing or a traditional publisher, there are pros and cons to either method of publishing your book. If you choose to pursue a traditional publisher for your book, you should know your book proposal is a sales (direct-marketing) document with a sole purpose. It's single purpose is to convince a publisher that your book will earn a profit, if published.

The proposal should focus on the size and buying power of the targeted market you will attract, the problem your book solves, how your book plans to solve the problem, how different your book is from others already published on the subject and how you plan to promote your book.

Mistake 3 Failure to include the editor's cut in your plan.

Give yourself a break. You don't have to write a 350 page book like your colleague to be successful. It doesn't even have to be 150 pages. Simply write a short book approximately 100 pages long and fill it with your insightful information, your expertise and/or your experiences. You get to shorten your examples and stories. With a short book, you have no pressure to add every piece of information you know about your topic. Instead, if you have too much information divide your material into two books. Your customers will love you for it. They'll buy both books because they are easy to read and short.

Mistake 4 Failure to add professionalism to your plan.

Plan to make your manuscript and eventually book the best it can be. Invest in what it takes to make it look and read professional. Don't just get your friends and family to read it for errors; hire an editor. Your editor will not only help you with grammar and spelling but she will help you stay in the same tense. She'll cut all your passive voice sentences that make your book hard to read.

Mistake 5 Failure to embrace your audience in your plan.
Not everyone will be interested in reading your book. Even so, I'm convinced there's a community of people in your field waiting for you to solve their problem. What problems does your message solve for them? Develop an audience profile (picture) and keep it in front of you as you write. That way you can visualize a real person to solve problems for.

Additionally, knowing your market before you write will help you write focused, compelling chapters. Writing to a specific person or group of people will keep your readers reading to the end. Write too general and your readers may put your book down and never pick it back up to finish.

Don't put it off any more. Take your dream off the shelf. If you wait, you can be this time next year without making your dream of writing a successful book come true. You have the plan, the knowledge and the solution. Now write it all down. Your audience is waiting. Plan, correct the mistakes above and write a book that sells well. Make it different. Make it count. Make it yours.

Article Source: http://www.articledirectory.bluegrasssolutions.org

Earma Brown, 13 year author and book coach
Get a free Book Writing course when you sign-up for iScribe newsletter on book writing, publishing and marketing. Send any email to iscribe@bookwritinghelp.com or visit her at How to Write a Book for more book writing resources and tips.

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