{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "description": "This is a condensed version of few conversations I've had with coaching students, friends, and clients on how to turn their knowledge into a book,...",
  "path": "/resources/write-your-book/",
  "publishedAt": "2018-12-05T07:24:01.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:jznynyzgerlqmdbbj33o7wfs/site.standard.publication/3mnll3icujb2z",
  "textContent": "This is a condensed version of few conversations I’ve had with coaching students, friends, and clients on how to turn their knowledge into a book, product, or course.\n\nThis is the process that I follow (and recommend) for outlining your information product and then getting started.\n\nYou start with a focus on the expensive problems, go a level deeper into the specifics *of the expensive problem (think of this as the 'topic level'), and then go a third level deeper into the specific questions that people are asking about that topic ('question level') to be able to quickly write something that prospects and customers find valuable.\n\nStep 1: What’s the expensive problem?\n\nStart by defining the expensive problem that the person who would be buying this is experiencing. There are a few ways to focus in on this:\n\nWho is the *target market for this product? (“Educational product creators” or “Professional Bloggers” etc)\nWhat is the trigger that motivated them to seek out this solution? (“I just tried to follow an online guide and got stuck” or, “A consultant told me to do X and Y, but I don’t know how”)\nWhat is the expensive problem they are describing themselves as experiencing? (“I can’t figure out how to create a course” or “I tried building a course before, but I got stuck and...”)\n\nThat expensive problem is the heart of what you’re teaching them how to solve.\n\nStep 2: What are the 10 main subjects/topics that address the expensive problem?\n\nBrainstorming on the expensive problem, what are the top ten (it could be more or less than 10, just aim for 10) topics or subjects that you’d want this product to address?\n\nThese are subsets of the expensive problem, subjects that address a specific piece of the expensive problem.\n\nFor example, I used this process to outline a book on “Blogger Outreach for eCommerce Store Owners”.\n\nExpensive Problem: Getting reviews on relevant blogs\n\n10 main subjects (in no order):\n\nHow this all works\nHow to find blogs\nHow do you qualify blogs once you find them\nWhat value are you providing\nHow do you track outreach\nHow do you manage the review process\nHow do you follow-up consistently\nHow do you build a relationship\nHow do you automate the outreach campaign\nWhat do you write in an outreach email\n\nEach of those is a topic that falls under the expensive problem of “Get bloggers to review our stuff”\n\nStep 3: Turn subjects into chapter titles\n\nRefine the list of subjects/topics you generated into first draft chapter/section/topic titles. They don’t have to be perfect, just refined from the first draft and ordered in what seems like a logical progression for the reader/buyer\n\nStep 4: Generate Questions\n\nFor each chapter, write down ~5-10 questions that you can answer within that chapter that will help the reader better understand that topic\n\nFor example, for the “Identifying Blogs” chapter, I came up with these questions to answer:\n\nHow do 'Target Market,' 'Target Audience,' and “Target Blogs” differ?\nHow do you identify your target audience and target market?\nHow do you find blogs in your target market?\nHow do you use Google to find blogs in your target market?\nWhat’s a 'reverse iterative analysis' and how do you use it to find blogs?\nHow do you stalk competitors to find blogs?\nHow do you use an industry analysis to find blogs?\nHow can you use referrals to find blogs?\nHow do you use competitors reviews to find blogs?\n\nEach question is a subset of the chapter topic and is one 'fix' or solution or concept that will help them better understand the topic and better solve the expensive problem.\n\nStep 5: Generate a ' Outline Grid'\n\nYou’ve got the expensive problem identified. You know the chapters you’re writing. You know the specific questions you’re answering in each chapter.\n\nNow, optionally, you can break this down into Trello cards, with each card representing a chapter, and each card having a checklist with questions you’re answering in that chapter\n\nStep 6: Answer the questions\n\nFor the first draft, just focus on answering the questions piece by piece. You don’t need this to be a flowing narrative.\n\nYou’re just focused on answering questions. Once you finish answering the questions, then you can go through an editing process to make everything flow better.\n\nBut at this point, you have a list of ~80-100 questions to answer that all relate to the Expensive Problem you’re solving for your ideal customer. Answering those questions gives you the meat of the book.\n\nFor context, this is what this process generated for me for the 'eCommerce Blogger Outreach' book (PDF Mindmap).\n\nMy process since then has been to tackle the questions as I feel like it, writing as much or as little as a I need to in order to answer the question.\n\nOnce I have each question answered, then I’ll go through a round of editing on the book to give it flow\n\nAdapting This To Other Product Types\n\nI used the word 'book' a ton here, but this applies equally as well to any non-book type of product:\n\nDefine the expensive problem that you’re solving\nIdentify the main subjects/topics that relate to that expensive problem\nTurn the subjects into 'module' or 'lesson' titles\nWrite down 5-10 questions per 'lesson' that you want to answer\nWrite out the answers to those questions as the base material for the video/course/book/what-have-you\n\nScaling This Down To A 'Freebie Offering\n\nI think this works well to generate a Freebie Offering. To scale it down, what I’d do is adapt it to this:\n\nDefine the expensive problem that you’re solving\nIdentify the main subjects/topics that relate to that expensive problem\nTurn the subjects into 'module' or 'lesson' titles\nWrite down 5-10 questions per 'lesson' that you want to answer to give the viewer the material they need\nPick one of the 'lessons' or 'subjects' or 'chapters' that you want to focus the freebie offering on (it should be one that the person experiences a ton of pain around. In the blogger outreach example, it would be 'How do I identify these damn blogs?!')\nPick three to five of the questions you wrote down and answer them\nWrite the answers to those questions\nTurn that into the small freebie offering that solves one small part of one of the topics that fits into the Expensive Problem they’re experiencing\n\nAm I explaining all of this well? Send me an email with your thoughts, questions, and feedback.",
  "title": "Write Your Book"
}