As speakers, one of our main products is the presentation we give before a live audience. But we also know that back of the room sales are just as important. And with the growth of the internet, online sales are equally as important. We have so much to offer - we just need to put our knowledge into the form of products!

How to Write a Book over Lunch

Jeanette S. Cates, Ph.D.
The Technology Tamer™

You're reading this with a skeptical mind. And I would have, too, just 60 days ago - before I wrote Online Success Tactics: 101 ways to build your small businss. So set aside your doubts and see how to make this work for you.

How it Began

It started at a pleasant lunch in my favorite "working" restaurant - you know the one with great service, a quiet afternoon atmosphere, and, for me, sunshine coming in the window. On that day I took a new book from a friend of mine - 101 Power Strategies: Tools to Promote Yourself as the Contractor of Choice. He had given it to me a few weeks before and it looked interesting.

As I began to thumb through it, my mind started clicking. Let's see, Paul's Strategy #1: Talk to everyone you know. In my online world that's the equivalent of Gather emails.

Paul's Strategy #2: Say it in an elevator. Hmmm, online that would be Use a signature file. And so it continued. As I read each of Paul's strategies, I wrote down the equivalent in my area of expertise - online business. Naturally, one idea triggered another until I had over 100 ideas by the end of lunch. Wow! The outline for a book, although it had no chapters or sections at this point. But I had the ideas down on paper. Less than 2 hours work - and a pleasant lunch.

Five Minutes per Page

So what do you do with 100+ ideas? You start adding substance to them. I had recently read the sales letter for Steve Manning's How to Write a Book in 14 Days and signed up for his email lessons. They promised to teach me how to write in 5 minute stretches. Yes, I had to set aside my skepticiam in order to recognize that he was onto something. Indeed, he showed me that I could write 2/3 page in just 5 minutes. No longer a skeptic, I ordered the full course and devoured it when it arrived!

Now it was time to apply my learning. I took my list of 100 ideas everywhere. I applied the 5-minute writing technique to one idea at a time - while waiting for an appointment, sitting in Barnes & Noble, waiting for a restaurant order to arrie, on the plane, in meetings. I spent just 5 minutes on each idea. 101 ideas x 5 minutes is only 8 hours and 25 minutes! The first draft was finished! I had written a book over lunch!

Getting Organized

Next came the organization. I put each idea (now called Tactics) on an index card and started sorting. I came up with 6 or more structures, but finally settled on the current table of contents that fits my larger Online Success System.

I went back to Paul's book and looked at the section intros, the front matter and the back pages. I decided what I liked and what I would add. Then I started writing - it was easier this time.

So how long did it take to finish the book start to finish? Approximately 60 days from my first day in the restaurant I had a finished draft ready for layout and final editing. Getting it to the final copy, with cover, sent to the printer took another 30 days. Recognize that this was not a full-time job. I wrote while doing my full-time consulting business and launching 3 new web sites.

The most important thing is it's finished! After years of thinking "I need a book" I now have a book. It's not the large, comprehensive reference manual I had envisioned for my first book. But it's a quality product that sells and provides good experience on how to market a book.

So what's keeping you from having a book?

"I don't know what to write." My suggestion: pick up a book you like and model your book after it. I highly recommend Paul's 101 Power Strategies since it provides solid, general business principles (and it has a solid track record for inspiring others!)

"I don't know how to write." My suggestion: Go to How to Write a Book in 14 Days and sign up for the free email course. You'll learn enough to recognize the value of the full product - and you'll be a more confident, faster writer.

"I don't have time." My suggestion: See suggestion above. You'll learn the 5 minute technique and be writing in no time. After, can't you spare 8 to 10 hours to write a book?

Send me a copy of your book - I'll look for it within the next 90 days. See you on the bookshelves!

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For more information on producing and printing your book, send an email to book2@TechTamers.com.

Dr. Jeanette Cates is the founder and CEO of TechTamers, a consulting firm that works with business owners who want to grow their business online. She is the author of Online Success Tactics: 101 ways to grow your small business and the creator of the Online Success System.

©2002 TechTamers.com. This article may be reprinted online or in print so long as the above paragraphs remain in place.