Why great writing is the last skill you need
You sit down to write your business book and check over what you did last week. How disappointing – nothing seems to hang together.
What’s more, you’re sure it’s littered with spelling mistakes, and wonder if that second chapter makes sense at all. Now you’re starting to wonder whether you’ll ever be taken seriously as a business author.
But what if I was to tell you that feeling like a lousy writer can actually be a blessing when it comes to creating a thought-leading and well-respected book?
The real reason you’re stuck
You probably think you’re stuck because you don’t know how to structure your thoughts into a full length book, or because you’re terrible at spelling and grammar. You assume if you don’t get those right, your book’s sure to make you a laughing stock.
Maybe you’ve not composed a long piece of writing since you were at school. So you fall back on the advice you remember from those days, which was to make each paragraph follow on from the last, and to cross your t’s and dot your i’s.
The problem is, it’s hardly inspiring. And it doesn’t help you with knowing when or how to do it.
Dunk and debunk
You’ve been told you need to be an accomplished writer in order to create a book worth reading. Which is understandable, since most writing advice is geared towards how to write more fluently and accurately so you look like you’ve been doing it for years.
But that’s a myth, and you can debunk it right now. The fact is, you can be as lousy a writer as you like as long as you get the right help. Here’s how it works …
It’s the content
It’s what’s in your head that matters, not what’s on the page. That’s where the gold in your book is: it’s in the points you make, the big message you put across, and in the arguments you create.
What’s more, you’ve spent a working lifetime developing your point of view and your thought-leading stance. You’ve already done the big work. Of course, writing style matters. People don’t want to read a badly written book – they’ll give up reading after the first chapter and won’t recommend it to their friends. But you can outsource the writing.
What you can’t outsource is the content.
Bringing in the pzazz
Consider writing a first draft that gets your points across, without worrying how well it flows or how terribly it’s written. Then take a view on what level it’s at.
If it’s in a reasonable state (maybe you’ve done a few drafts) then an editor is probably all you need.
But if it’s really rough, and you’re not sure it gets across the right message in the right way at all, a ghostwriter can re-write it for you so it sings. It’s still your book, but written in your voice to a professional standard. Think of it as being like a movie star hiring a stylist for the Oscars red carpet: she’s done the hard work of making the film, and now she needs someone to make her look her best for her audience.
The other option, of course, is to work with a ghostwriter who will interview you and write it all from scratch, with zero typing from you. Even better.
You’re unstuck
Instead of feeling stuck, now you have so many options. What’s more, you can spend your precious time and energy developing your ideas, rather than worrying about how they’re expressed on paper.
‘But won’t it cost a lot?’ you ask.
If you work with a high quality editor or ghostwriter, yes it will.
But what will cost you so much more is not getting your book out there at all because you’re embarrassed by your writing. Or because it’s so painful to get those words on the page you can’t get past your first draft.
You see, once you have a book you can double your client and speaking fees, sell more of your consultancy time, and attract a whole new customer base to your business.
And you have that book off your back and onto the shelves.
Now your book can fly
You assumed you needed to know how to make your book flow and read beautifully. Now you know that’s the very thing holding you back.
Once you’ve got past that you’ll know you can outsource the writing so you’re free to get on with your book. No more procrastinating or forcing yourself to get those words down. You’ll save time, effort, frustration and – in the end – money.
Imagine how you’ll feel when you hold that finished book in your hands, and see it doing good for you and your readers in the world. It wouldn’t be there without you, or the wise decision you made to let go of the writing stuff.
Now you can create the business you want, on the back of your amazing book.
All you need to do is acknowledge the pain of writing it. Then do something about it. Find the best ghostwriter you can (we’re all pretty amazing at United Ghostwriters) and release your book into the world.