Get started writing your book today

You want to write a book. You’ve heard that there’s money to be made (LOTS of money) writing ebooks for the Kindle and other ereader platforms.

You’re ready, willing and able, but… you don’t know how to start.

It’s easy.

Here’s how to prime your writing pump.

1. Write 20 Titles

This is your chance to be as outrageous as you choose. You can make your titles funny, mysterious, sad — anything but plain vanilla.

Can’t think of anything?

Go to Amazon.com, and click around. If you want to write nonfiction, look at the top nonfiction bestsellers. Similarly, look at the fiction bestsellers if you’re writing a novel.

Ideas:

* Choose an evocative noun (fiction: “blood”; “temptation”; “death”; “river”) and riff off it;

* Use a number: (nonfiction: “100 Ways to…”; “10 Things No One Told You About…”; “50 Easy Ways to…”) and fill in the blanks;

* Grab a word from a dictionary, and base your title on it. This works best with a paper dictionary. You can open the dictionary anywhere, close your eyes, and place your finger on any word.

I use an electronic dictionary, by choosing a letter, for example “i” and adding vowels until something I like pops up: “ia”; “ie” etc. I chose “ie”, which gave no results, but then the dictionary gave me “ig” which did.

Interesting “ig” words I liked include: “ignite” and “ignore”.

I could use these words in a title, however, if I were seriously looking for a title, I’d use a thesaurus on these words.

For example: “ignite” brings up: “Heating: heat, warm, chafe, foment, make hot, burn, fire, set fire to, set on fire, kindle, enkindle, light, ignite, melt, thaw, fuse, liquefy, burn…”

Remember, your titles should be outrageous. This gets your subconscious mind “igniting.”

2. Write 20 Weird First Sentences

Here are some phrases to get you started:

* I knew I was alone, but then…

* She got her greatest wish…

The key is not to think about it — just write.

3. Write About Your Scariest Experience Ever

I’ve been badly scared three times in my life that I can clearly remember. I wouldn’t want to relive these experiences, but if I wanted to start a book, I’d write a couple of paragraphs about one of these experiences.

Your aim isn’t to include the experience in your book — it’s to mine the emotion generated from your memories. All emotion is energy. You can use the energy to write.

You’ll find that once you’ve written a couple of paragraphs and have scared yourself, you’ll start writing — and hey presto, you’ve started writing a book.

4. Choose a Fairy Tale, and Retell It

Fairy tales are fun. Screenwriters and novelists use them constantly in their work, either overtly, by retelling the fairy tale, or as inspiration.

Spend ten minutes reading Grimm’s fairy tales.

Now choose a fairy tale, and think about how you might place the tale into a modern setting.

This works for both fiction, and nonfiction. If you’re writing nonfiction, think about the lesson the fairy tale teaches.

The easiest way to start your book is just to sit down and write. There’s not much more to writing a book than that.

You Can Make MORE Money Writing Than You Can At Any Day Job

Tired of struggling? Here’s some inspiration for you… An ebook called “Fat Loss 4 Idiots” made 21 million dollars in 2009. Last year, Amanda Hocking wrote several short ebooks, and made 2 million dollars. Publishing has changed. You’re in charge, if you want to be.

Can you profitably write and sell ebooks? The self-publishing frenzy says that you can. However, you need to know what you’re doing, so that you’re as sure as you can be that your new ebook will SELL before you start writing it.

It took me five years of writing and selling information products before I stumbled over the formula I’ve been using ever since.

Now I’m sharing the formula with you. Once you start the right way, ensuring that you have readers who are ready and eager to BUY before you start writing, it’s easy to make sales.

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You’ve created a blurb for your book. You’ve even created an outline. Now comes the writing.

Unfortunately, few things go according to plan. When you’re writing a book, nothing goes according to plan.

Although I know that writing a book’s a chaotic process, that doesn’t mean I like it. I’m always looking for something — anything — which will tame the chaos. Otherwise I know that I can get entangled in thickets for days, if not weeks, trying to find my way back to my original inspiration.

Here’s an idea for planning your novel which I’ve never heard discussed. This post, Taking note: Charles Dickens’ Plan Sheets, describes Charles Dickens’ plan sheets:

“On the right side dealt with the substance of the chapters. Thus he usually wrote on the top right of the sheet the name of the novel and the installment number; below the title he wrote the name of each planned chapter. In the space under each chapter he listed the most important events. The “plan sheets” varied very much, as one might expect. Some plans are very full, some remained rather empty.
“

It’s a simple, paper-based method, which is why it appeals to me. I can write nonfiction books on the computer, but when I’m writing fiction, I always write my first draft using pen and paper. I’ve no idea why this is, but I can’t write my initial draft at the keyboard; when I try I always end up blocked.

What do you think of Dickens’ planning method?

Many people want to write a book. Indeed, a survey found that ten per cent of the population want to do it. Few people accomplish it, but you can.

I wrote my first book at the age of eight. From memory, it had 270 pages and the story involved ghosts, intrepid kids, and horses. Everything I wrote up to the age of 14 involved horses.

Sadly, none of my early stories survive; I wish I’d kept them. But here’s what they taught me: they taught me to get started, and to keep going until I finished.

Most importantly of all, those early stories taught me that writing a book is easy when you have the attitude that you CAN do it. Somehow I knew that writing was simple: you sat down, and you wrote whatever came to mind.

Here are three tips which will help you to start writing your book today. It really is easier than you think.

1. Sit Down and Write

This is key. Write anything at all; don’t stop to think. Keep going. If you try to impose logic on this process, you won’t write much, and writing will be difficult for you.

Think of your writing self as someone else. Let that other self write. You can sort out the mess later (all writing is messy.)

2. (Nonfiction or Fiction) Create an Outline Before or After You Write

Some writers swear by outlines. Other writers swear at outlines.

It doesn’t matter which kind of writer you are. I use outlines for nonfiction; I don’t start the book until the outline is done.

For novels, I outline after I’ve written anywhere from 20 to 100 pages. The “outline” is just a collection of scene notes, each scene written on an index card.

When I’ve completed the first draft of a novel, I outline the whole thing, just to see what I’ve got. It makes it easier to cut scenes, and create needed scenes before I write the second draft.

3. Realize That You Can Write Any Scene or Chapter in Any Order You Like

Let’s say you’re writing a mystery. A promiscuous heiress has been murdered. Her husband and her lover are both suspects. Your protagonist, an ambitious, over-worked, and under-appreciated female detective, who has a lover of her own, and a suspicious, violent spouse, is emotionally involved in the case.

Just get started. Write the scene where the gardener, one of the heiress’s former lovers, finds the body. Or write the scene where the detective interviews the husband, and gets nowhere.

On the other hand, perhaps all you know is that you want to write a novel. You have no clue what kind of novel, nor do you have a single glimmer of a plot.

Again, just get started. Write something, anything. Describe your favorite coffee shop or bar in four sentences. The door opens. Your protagonist enters. Her white silk blouse is torn, she’s lost a shoe, and has skinned knees and ripped stockings.

Just start writing and keep writing. Describe the images in your mind.

So there you have it — three tips to help you to write a book. Sit down, right now, and write a sentence. Then another one… See? It’s easier than you think.

The Write A Book Collection — the ultimate toolbox for writing and selling your books

These days it’s crazy to spend years writing a book, without having any idea as to whether or not you can make money from it. If you want to write, you can – you have a global market, which is hungry for information and entertainment. And YOU can provide it… even if you’re a brand new author.

As you may know, I write and sell many writing guides. I also sell information products in many other areas than writing.

I want to show you how you can do the same, if you wish. Your dreams of writing a book can be the spark which changes your life.

I’ve collected everything I know about writing and selling your books into my brand new Write A Book Collection: it’s the ultimate toolbox for anyone who wants to write and sell books in 2010 and beyond.

Want to write a book? You can. Someone once said that if you’ve survived your own childhood, you have more than enough material to write all the books you want.

You can turn your life into fiction, or nonfiction. Your choice. Your thoughts, your ideas, and your emotions, come together as creative inspiration. All you need to do is allow it.

If you want to write fiction — a novel or short stories — your emotions are key. Readers read novels to feel, rather than to think. They also read in order to make sense of their own lives. Novels are not real, they’re constructed. However, they can feel intensely real to readers, and this is what readers what — an emotional experience.

You may feel that you have the world’s most boring existence, and that nothing exciting has ever happened to you, but you can use everything you are in your fiction. It’s the only way to write novels which touch others.

One point: you’re not using your life as it is. Real inspiration lies deeper than your thoughts and even your memories. You’ll explore your life, and use your emotions as the basis of your fiction.

The best way to get started writing your novel is just to start. Let’s look at three easy ways you can fictionalize your life.

1. Uncover Evocative Childhood Emotional Experiences

Ready to write? Think of a childhood experience — a pleasant one. Perhaps you remember a holiday, or a special family event. Recall the experience. Allow yourself to be there.

Allow the emotion to come back to you. Now start to write.

Write whatever comes: don’t control your writing.

At this stage, you’re just aiming to touch the experience. When you keep writing and allow yourself to feel your emotions, sooner or later a story will come to you. When it does, go with it.

2. Use Triggering Images from a Photo Album

Take out an old family album. Leaf through it slowly. Allow emotions to arise. Remember the day each photo was taken.

Now, choose one photo to which you have an intense emotional reaction, and start writing.

Again, don’t try to control your writing. Let your writing take you where it wants you to go.

By the way, once you start writing your novel, if you get blocked, take out your photo album again.

3. Let Music Inspire You

Music is inspirational for many people, especially music which was around in their childhood. When you listen to music which you heard in your youth, you’ll find that you’re taken right back to those long-ago days.

Sit down to write. Then close your eyes and listen to the music. Images — memories — will arise. Start writing.

You now have three ways in which you can access your emotions. These emotions trigger your imagination, and deepest inspiration.

Not only will writing your novel be fun, it will be meaningful to you, and to your readers.

Turn Your Words Into Gold: Write and Sell An Ebook In Just Eight Hours

Here’s what I love about writing ebooks: you write them once, and they keep on selling forever.

I know several writers who’ve taken to the Kindle platform like the proverbial ducks to water. One writer friend turns out a new Kindle ebook every month, like clockwork. The last time we spoke, she had 11 ebooks selling — and her income is rising month by month.

Another writer friend mixes writing her own ebooks, with writing ebooks for others. Currently she’s been commissioned to write a biography, and a family history, for the same client. She’s finding it huge fun, and she’s making more money than she’s ever made.

The benefit of writing and selling ebooks is that once written, they can keep on selling forever. Would you trade eight hours for an income stream?

Bloggers are often asked to review books. Sometimes I do, if the author has been published before, but if the author is new, I stay well away.

Here’s why.

Years ago, somewhere around 1998, I joined a writing group (the details have mercifully faded into the mists), where the deal was that we reviewed each other’s work.

All went well, initially. Then I wrote a review, and the author took it badly. Here’s the thing: the review was a good review. considering. I was kind, but I did point out a couple of flaws. My mistake.

I had a similar experience to this reviewer, One (Bad) Way To Get Yourself Noticed As A Kindle Author | Amazon Kindle 3 and Kindle DX Review and News Blog:

“When the reviewer piped up that he had gotten the new version, she got a bit irate.  Then she got a LOT irate.”

I’ve forgotten the details, but the lady told me exactly what she thought of me, and my ancestry, in very imaginative terms, and said she’d ensure that I never published another word online…

If you can’t handle reviews, don’t read them

If you’re writing a book, think about how you’ll handle reviews NOW, before you get them.

Yes, now.

Some authors can’t handle reviews. If you know you’ll have steam coming out of your ears and will turn purple with rage, commit to NEVER reading any reviews.

Remember: you wrote the book. You did it. You deserve kudos for it. Pat yourself on the back, and tell yourself you did great, because you did.

You also need to remember that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Reviewers too. Once your baby’s out there, focus on your next book, the one you’re writing now, and let people have their opinions.

A bad review won’t kill your book — indeed, it may make your book much more successful. There’s a reason for the saying that all publicity is good publicity, as long as they spell your name right.

Once your book is selling, it stands alone. If you do read reviews, and find that reviewers have picked up on a real problem, fix it. That’s easy with digital publication. On the other hand, if you think their opinion is wrong, keep quiet.

Focus on what matters: the book you’re writing now.

The Write A Book Collection — the ultimate toolbox for writing and selling your books

These days it’s crazy to spend years writing a book, without having any idea as to whether or not you can make money from it. If you want to write, you can – you have a global market, which is hungry for information and entertainment. And YOU can provide it… even if you’re a brand new author.

As you may know, I write and sell many writing guides. I also sell information products in many other areas than writing.

I want to show you how you can do the same, if you wish. Your dreams of writing a book can be the spark which changes your life.

I’ve collected everything I know about writing and selling your books into my brand new Write A Book Collection: it’s the ultimate toolbox for anyone who wants to write and sell books in 2010 and beyond.