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Health & Fitness

Don't Write Alone - Partner Up!

You can't organize your thoughts. You don't know where to start. It takes too much time. Any one of these barriers can stop you from writing your book. But what if there was an easier way?

Small business is on the rise. According to The Huffington Post, the number of women-owned companies has increased over the last 15 years by 50 percent. Approximately 8.3 million women own their own business now. And if you’re in business, you want to help people, to serve them in a way that solves their problems.

In order to serve people, you need clients. To find those clients you need to stand out. You have a website, you’re blogging, you’re probably even on Facebook and Twitter. And still that might not be enough.

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How do you reach the people you want to serve?

Write a book.

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Blogging is wonderful. But even people without skills and knowledge can blog. Writing a book, on the other hand, means you’re an authority. You’re an expert in your field. Not everyone can write a book. And not everyone will take the time and effort to get published.

When you write a book you’re telling potential clients about what’s important. This could be a product you sell, a service you offer, a program that will educate and raise them to a new level of productivity. You know what you’re talking about because you’ve overcome a challenge in your life and now you can share your expertise with others. By sharing your “story” with your readers, you make yourself approachable and vulnerable—women are especially amazing at this—and you show them they can do it too.

Putting all this information in written form—your book—establishes your credentials. Your expertise. Your credibility. Readers (potential clients) can use your book as a measurement of your value. If they like what they read, they’ll want to know more. And they’ll contact you to find out how you can help them.

Now that you know the benefits of writing a book, the question is how do you write one? Here’s where the stumbling blocks may appear. Of course you know what you do and you know how to help people, but you may not know how to organize your information. You may feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the idea. Maybe you’ve heard that it costs thousands of dollars to publish a book and you don’t have those resources.

There’s another way. An easier way.

Let me introduce the collaborative book. A book written by several different authors. There are 3 big benefits to doing a collaborative book:
• Sharing the writing with others. You don’t have to do it alone. You’re not responsible for the entire manuscript, just a piece of it.
• Sharing the expense. Writing is just the first step. After that comes editing, graphic design, and layout, all of which are costly. But if you’re only paying for your share, the cost is much less.
• Completing the project faster. Solo-authored books can take months, even years to write. A well-managed collaborative book project can go from idea to published book in just a few months. Not only does the entire project take less time, but you have more time overall for other things.

The premise of a collaborative book is to choose a main subject or topic and for each author to write a section around that subject/topic. For example, the main topic of my collaborative book The 28-Day Thought Diet is choosing positive thoughts, and each author wrote a chapter beginning with the phrase “Today I choose a thought of __________.” The authors filled in the blank and described their experiences on flexibility, inspiration, self-love, gratitude, and more. 25 authors contributed to the book and each chapter had a maximum of 1000 words.

If you’re in the banking industry, you might write a book about creative ways to invest your money or the nine top tips to alleviate checking account headaches. Wellness entrepreneurs could write about the 7 daily secrets for health and vitality. The topic is up to you and your co-authors, as is the length of the chapters or sections.

The Partner Up! Book Program guides you through the steps to create a collaborative book. Publish your book on paper, or consider an e-book. E-books and audio books are climbing the ranks these days and becoming more popular than books in print. Who doesn’t have a smart phone or tablet or some way to download a file or PDF? Your collaborative book could be the next e-book or audio book. It doesn’t need to be big. You’re not writing a saga. You’re simply passing along helpful information.

You got into business to share your passion, whatever it is. To grow your business you need to reach more people. Writing a book is a terrific way to share your passion for your business, build credibility, reach a wider audience, and help solve their problems.

To find out more about the Partner Up! Book Program, contact info@wordsofpassion.com. It’s time to let people know about you!

 

 

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