Being a person of influence in your industry is all about what you can bring to the table that no one else does. Filling that requirement is easy for most people – no one does you better than you, after all. Selling yourself as that person is a totally different matter: You need to have a strong digital presence, solid social media followings, a podcast, be a keynote speaker AND have a book. For most people, the first few things are relatively easy to manage, they stem from what successful people do – they talk, they engage and they interact.

When it comes to the book element, this is where people struggle. Writing a book is a long process that involves hours of solitary focus, no interaction with an audience and it needs a lot of finessing. Over my time writing books, I have found there are three key techniques that can assist in making sure you get through the process and complete a book showcasing your methodologies and successes in your industry.

Know Your Core Question

All business books at their core are answering a question, this could be anything from ‘How can you talk to strangers?’ through to ‘Why do you need digital marketing?’. People buy business books to help them in their own endeavours if you don’t understand your core question before you start then you will be writing a book that will serve no audience other than yourself. Take the time to think about what questions you get asked often by people in your industry. Do this over several days in hour-long blocks and write them all down. After a few days, you will find that you have a long list of questions that need to be answered. Not all of them will be strong enough for a book, but there will be a few that will jump out at you.

Plan Your Book in Detail

There are generally two types of authors that write fiction books, those that fly by the seat of their pants (pantser), and those that plot their books out before they write (plotter). I can tell you from personal experience that being a pantser when writing a business book does not work. Very quickly, you will find yourself lost within the information you are trying to put down on paper (or screen). When you take the time to plan out your book, you allow yourself to find the topics you want to introduce that will answer your core question and make your book have value to your readers. You should map out each chapter and the points you want to discuss along with any key takeaways.

Sit Down and Write

The number one technique in writing your book is writing. It sounds so obvious, but you would be surprised at how hard sitting down with no distractions and actually writing your book can be. Don’t worry if you don’t like what you are writing, just keep going. You can always come back and edit what you wrote later, but you can’t edit a blank page.

If you use these techniques, you will find yourself completing your book in no time and solidifying yourself as a key person of influence in your industry, with the added pride of having written a book.