reader journey Archives

What’s Your Book’s Sweet Spot? It’s The Near-Magical Formula For Success

What is your book’s ‘sweet spot’? Hint: it’s the near-magic formula for your book’s success – and most authors miss this vital stage of the planning process. Find out what it is, what it isn’t, and how to find yours.

Most of the time, if someone wants to write a book that will attract new clients into their business, they think about a topic they know a lot about and start writing.

I have that t-shirt.

We’re super-fired up by the idea of writing – and we’re action-takers – so we just dive in and get pounding that keyboard. 80,000 words and buckets of sweat later, we’re ready to publish.

But this is one of the biggest reasons why so many books don’t produce the results we had been dreaming of:

they don’t sell, after the initial excitement
it’s hard to get people to review it
far from groaning under the weight of warm leads, your inbox is as silent as a sleeping sloth

Why does it go so wrong?

Because the author wrote the book that they wanted to write, rather than aiming for the sweet spot.

Your book sells to your current tribe, because they trust and respect you. But it doesn’t gain the traction to find itself the fresh audience you need to make a bigger difference, because people won’t be talking about it.

It’s hard to get people to review it, because it didn’t ‘do it for them – it’s not exciting enough for them to want to put their name to reviewing it. Or maybe they don’t want to admit they didn’t read it – or finish it. It spreads waves of awkwardness through your audience.

And because it didn’t create an emotional connection in your readers, they’re much less likely to take action and get in touch with you about their next steps – your most wanted response for the book. So your inbox stays as quiet as a bunch of nuns on a silent retreat.

What Is Your Book’s Sweet Spot?

It’s the overlap between four critical aspects of your book.

They create an alchemy-level result.

It’s about SO much more than ‘just’ picking a topic or title for your book.

Here are the four key elements to your author sweet spot:

#1: A Topic That Fits Your Expertise

I’m always banging on about ‘teach what you have embodied‘. Far too many people get inadvertently sucked into the wave of ‘what’s cool’ and start teaching, coaching and consulting on that.

But…

If you’re not living and breathing the transformation you teach, it hits your credibility hard. And nowhere is that more obvious than in 80,000 words in print.

If you’re constantly ranting on your Facebook timeline, then it’s hard to be seen as a leader in the field of stress-relief. If you’re only just starting your business journey, then you’ll struggle to be taken seriously as a business expert. If you’re a weight-loss nutrition coach, then your clients will expect you to look healthy. You don’t have to be perfect. But you do need to be practising what you preach. It’s called integrity.

There needs to be substance behind what you teach in your book.

But don’t let Imposter Syndrome get in the way:

It’s ok to be just a few steps ahead. But you can’t lead from behind in a book that’s positioning you as an expert. Similarly, you don’t have to be the world’s #1 authority, before you write your book!

Finding your book's 'sweet spot': #1 Pick a topic that fits your expertise - something you're living & breathing. There's nothing like 80,000 words in print to make it obvious, if you're not. #fromexperttoauthor Want the other 3 keys?Click To Tweet

#2: You Need The Ability To Communicate

Writing a book is easier than many people think, once you have found your voice.

If you’re a regular blogger or presenter or live streamer, then you’ll have practised getting your message across in a way that resonates with your audience. But if you’re new to writing anything longer than an email, you might need some practice.

Hint: that’s why I get you flexing your writing muscles each module in the From Expert To Author Mastermind.

And it’s really important to pick a subject you feel comfortable teaching – that you’re used to explaining, where you can pre-empt the questions that could come up.

But even if writing isn’t your thing, there are other options. You could speak your book and get it transcribed. You could work with a copywriter, to hone your skills. You could even work with a ghost writer.

Be realistic about your skills in this area and get the support you need to help your book to get your big message across.

Finding your book's 'sweet spot': #2 You need the ability to communicate. Pick a subject you're comfortable teaching, where you can pre-empt the readers' questions. #fromexperttoauthor Want the other 3 keys?Click To Tweet

#3: A Topic Your Dream Audience Is Hungry To Read About

I have lost count of how many times over the past 15+ years I have come up with an idea that I thought was brilliant, gone for it, and had near-zero response, only to have ideas I thought were mediocre go crazy.

Most experts write the book that they want to read, rather than the one their readers are hungry for. And, yes, these can be two totally different things.

You need to do your homework.

My time as Head of Market Research for a major international brand taught me that people rarely know what they need. Figuring that out is your job, as the expert. And they won’t buy that, anyway.

But they often have a good idea about what they want – or rather, what they don’t want.

There are ways to research this (most of them free), which can give you insights into exactly which book they will both pay for and spend the time to read. And – guess what – that’s the book that goes viral, that easily gets rave reviews, and which grows your business.

There’s very little point in spending up to 200 hours and thousands of pounds writing a book, unless your Dream Audience is hungry to read it.

Lined up for the From Expert To Author Mastermind? We deep-dive on this in modules one and two.

Finding your book's 'sweet spot': #3 Research & write about what your Dream Audience is hungry to read - don't waste 80,000 words on a best-guess assumption. #fromexperttoauthor Want the other 3 keys?Click To Tweet

#4: A Compelling Promise

Your compelling promise is the transformation or experience your book guides the reader through. It’s the big problem it solves. It’s the thing that means whatever was keeping your reader up at 3am melts away.

It’s the reason why they’ll fall in love with your work.

It gives you your laser focus for what needs to go in your book – and what would be distracting fluff. It gives you a single reader journey, rather than branching off into confusing dead ends.

And above all, it gives your reader something to get excited about. It kicks their backside into taking action. It gets them raving to their friends about how great your book is. And it gets them wanting to work with you, to help them on the next stage of their journey.

Finding your book's 'sweet spot': #4 A Compelling Promise -it's the big problem your book solves. It's the thing that means whatever was keeping your reader up at 3am melts away. #fromexperttoauthorWant the other 3 keys?Click To Tweet

This little bit of extra research and planning is what makes the difference between a book that’s ‘meh’ and one that’s a magical business-growing tool.

I’d Love To Hear From You:

What might your book’s sweet spot be?

I’m curious: which of these four elements are you feeling strongest in? And which might need some work?

You can let me know, via the comments.

If you found this useful, please do share this article with friends and colleagues who might be writing a book. You can find more articles that talk about your book’s sweet spot here.

x Clare

P.S. Remember: the From Expert To Author Mastermind guides you through this in the first three modules. See you there?

What’s Your Book’s Sweet Spot? It’s The Near-Magical Formula For Success

planning

Most of the time, if someone wants to write a book that will attract new clients into their business, they think about a topic they know a lot about and start writing.

I have that t-shirt.

We’re super-fired up by the idea of writing – and we’re action-takers – so we just dive in and get pounding that keyboard. 80,000 words and buckets of sweat later, we’re ready to publish.

But this is one of the biggest reasons why so many books don’t produce the results we had been dreaming of:

they don’t sell, after the initial excitement
it’s hard to get people to review it
far from groaning under the weight of warm leads, your inbox is as silent as a sleeping sloth

Why does it go so wrong?

Because the author wrote the book that they wanted to write, rather than aiming for the sweet spot.

What Is Your Book’s Sweet Spot?

It’s the overlap between four critical aspects of your book.

They create an alchemy-level result.

It’s about SO much more than ‘just’ picking a topic or title for your book.

Here are the four key elements to your author sweet spot:

#1: A Topic That Fits Your Expertise

But…

If you’re not living and breathing the transformation you teach, it hits your credibility hard. And nowhere is that more obvious than in 80,000 words in print.

There needs to be substance behind what you teach in your book.

But don’t let Imposter Syndrome get in the way:

It’s ok to be just a few steps ahead. But you can’t lead from behind in a book that’s positioning you as an expert. Similarly, you don’t have to be the world’s #1 authority, before you write your book!

#2: You Need The Ability To Communicate

Writing a book is easier than many people think, once you have found your voice.

Hint: that’s why I get you flexing your writing muscles each module in the From Expert To Author Mastermind.

And it’s really important to pick a subject you feel comfortable teaching – that you’re used to explaining, where you can pre-empt the questions that could come up.

Be realistic about your skills in this area and get the support you need to help your book to get your big message across.

#3: A Topic Your Dream Audience Is Hungry To Read About

Most experts write the book that they want to read, rather than the one their readers are hungry for. And, yes, these can be two totally different things.

You need to do your homework.

My time as Head of Market Research for a major international brand taught me that people rarely know what they need. Figuring that out is your job, as the expert. And they won’t buy that, anyway.

But they often have a good idea about what they want – or rather, what they don’t want.

There’s very little point in spending up to 200 hours and thousands of pounds writing a book, unless your Dream Audience is hungry to read it.

Lined up for the From Expert To Author Mastermind? We deep-dive on this in modules one and two.

#4: A Compelling Promise

It’s the reason why they’ll fall in love with your work.

It gives you your laser focus for what needs to go in your book – and what would be distracting fluff. It gives you a single reader journey, rather than branching off into confusing dead ends.

This little bit of extra research and planning is what makes the difference between a book that’s ‘meh’ and one that’s a magical business-growing tool.

I’d Love To Hear From You:

What might your book’s sweet spot be?

I’m curious: which of these four elements are you feeling strongest in? And which might need some work?

You can let me know, via the comments.

If you found this useful, please do share this article with friends and colleagues who might be writing a book. You can find more articles that talk about your book’s sweet spot here.

x Clare

P.S. Remember: the From Expert To Author Mastermind guides you through this in the first three modules. See you there?

Why Do You Need To Get Your Inner Genius ‘Pyjama Ready’?

writing tips

For most of us, we have the idea of writing a book and then – once we finally have the time – we get down to writing it. We might have a rough content plan, though often authors don’t. And 60,000+ words later we’re drowning in the tech side of Kindle and Kobo. But what if there were a better way to write your book? One that gets your Inner Genius ‘pyjama-ready’?

When you’re going from being an expert to becoming an author there’s a shift you need to create that too many authors miss.

You need to go back and be able to walk in a beginner’s shoes again.

You might have spent years honing your skills and practising your Inner Genius and it can be really hard to remember exactly how it is you do your ‘magic’.

It’s something I see over and over in the online course world: a ‘guru’ creates a 4-figure course that doesn’t work for most of their students. The students feel embarrassed (and are often ‘blamed and shamed’ by the ‘guru’ if they speak out). And the ‘guru’ is left confused, because they faithfully taught you their ‘sausage machine’ and don’t understand why it isn’t working for you.

The same happens with books – except that it’s worse, because you don’t have the online course’s Facebook group or ‘office hours calls’ to help people out when they get stuck.

What has gone wrong?

The expert didn’t get their inner genius ‘pyjama-ready’.

Fact: the majority of #nonfictionbooks are read on trains or in bed or on a Saturday morning, curled up on the sofa in PJs with a cup of tea. That's why you need to get your #innergenius pyjama-ready.Click To Tweet

Getting your Inner Genius pyjama-ready is about writing a book that works – distilling the essence of your magic in a way that’s easy to learn and apply – without you sitting next to your reader, whispering in their ear. Because most of us would get a bit freaked out by our favourite authors thinking sitting next to us in bed, late at night, was ok.

You need to be clear about the ‘sausage machine’ that makes your process work. But you also need to spot:

where your (beginner) reader might get stuck
which bits they might not understand
which beliefs / values you have created or ditched over the years, that make your process work for you
which tweaks and refinements come as second-nature for you, which your reader might not guess
what you already knew and took for granted, before you began the stage of your journey that you’re teaching in your book

The book you’re writing needs to work for your reader, even though you’re not there to help them through.

And that’s a skill.

That’s why it’s so important to understand your compelling promise and your reader journey, before you start writing your book – so that getting your Inner Genius pyjama ready becomes second-nature to you and doesn’t slow down the writing process.

I’d Love To Hear From You

Have you ever had the experience of a course or non-fiction book not working for you, because the author hadn’t walked in a beginner’s shoes?

What could you do to commit to get your Inner Genius pyjama-ready in your book?

Let me know via the comments!

And if you’re on my From Expert to Author Mastermind, fret not – we deep-dive on this in module three. See you there!

x Clare

What’s The Most Important Goal Of Each Chapter In Your Book?

writing tips

However you go about writing your world-changing, business-growing book, most people might think that each chapter’s goal is to deliver that chapter’s information. But it’s not. Not if you want your book to produce tangible results, for both you and your reader. Each chapter of your book has a more important goal; one that too many authors miss.

Research shows that most books never get read beyond the opening chapters. And it’s even more of a problem with non-fiction books, where readers tend to quit as soon as they hit a sticking point.

Why is it such a problem if they don’t finish your book?

Because the compelling promise of your book has created a psychological contract with the reader: give me your time and I’ll give you a transformation / experience.

If they don’t finish the book, that contract is broken – and few readers will look in the mirror and take responsibility for that. They risk holding it against you.

Also, if they don’t finish the book, they’re less likely to take whatever action is your most wanted response from readers. So you miss out on the opportunity of getting to work with them.

In fact, aside from the kudos and ego of being able to wave a physical product around at networking events and on stage, there’s not much point in writing your book, unless you know how to get people to actually read it.

Most authors focus on marketing and launching to get people to buy their book. But the real goal should be writing it so that they buy it and then read it.

There's not much point in writing your book unless you know how to get people to actually read it. Click To Tweet

The most important goal of each chapter in your book is to get people to read the next one.

So I’m going to start with a confession: I didn’t consciously realise this one until after I had written my first novel (my sixth book), You Take Yourself With You.

It was my author-dream-come-true when the first reviews came in and people were describing my novel as ‘unputdownable‘.

I knew it was a good book, but it’s always nerve-wracking as you stand in front of the Headmaster’s office, after sending your manuscript to print, wondering if you’re about to get praise or punishment.

And as more and more of those ‘unputdownable’ reviews came in, it suddenly hit me that, whereas I had consciously chosen to make each chapter of You Take Yourself With You make people want to read the next one, I had never applied that process to my non-fiction books.

Duh.

Imagine how much more likely a reader would be to read your book to the end if you could consciously weave in ways to make your book ‘unputdownable’ – to get each chapter leaving them hungry for more?

The most important goal of each chapter in your #nonfictionbook is to get people to read the next one. It needs to be #unputdownable. Find out how.Click To Tweet

If you think back to the non-fiction books you have read in the past, most of them have chapters that end that topic, all neatly wrapped up, with no more to say about it.

That’s the equivalent of reading book one of a series of novels and there being no loose ends to entice you to read the next one.

Some of them have summaries at the end of each chapter and perhaps an exercise or some questions to help the reader to integrate and apply what they have just covered. These are incredibly useful for facilitating learning, but they’re like the world’s biggest ‘full stop’ when it comes to reading. They pretty much scream at the reader to ‘put me down and go and do something else for a bit!’ And, guess what: it makes them less likely to come back.

So What Can You Do To Make Your Book Unputdownable?

I’m not suggesting you should end your chapters mid-discussion or that you should ditch the summaries and learning integration exercises – but there are some super-easy things you can do, if you start to think like a novelist, instead of like a non-fiction author. It’s a matter of writing mindset.

Imagine if you could approach your book like a novelist, rather than an expert?

It’s all-too-easy to fall into the trap of writing like an academic paper, because it’s a non-fiction book. If, instead, we put our story-teller’s hat on, it would be easier to weave into the book’s flow the triggers that make someone want to keep reading.

The biggest trigger to keep someone wanting to read is curiosity.

In a novel, you can do it with a cliff-hanger or an unanswered, unspoken question or a teaser of what might be to come.

Just because it's non-fiction, it doesn't mean it has to be dry and boring. Put your story-teller hat on to make your book unputdownable.Click To Tweet

In a non-fiction book, you still need to have a hook at the end of each chapter that entices people to read the next one. It needs to create an emotional connection so that your reader is invested in the next stage of the process.

It might be a case study that is left hanging on a problem that is solved in the next chapter.

You could have a discussion about applying that section’s insights and then outline another aspect of it, which becomes your next chapter.

You could use the classic fiction device of a teaser – like a film trailer – as a couple of lines at the end of the final page of your chapter.

Ninja tip: as you read non-fiction books – or look back at those you have loved in the past – keep notes of what makes you hungry to read more, vs ready to put it down to perhaps never pick up again. You might be surprised by the inspiration this can give you.

The key to getting this to work is to have a clear reader journey mapped out as part of making your Inner Genius pyjama-ready, before you write your book. You need a way to keep curiosity flowing.

Note: if you’re on my From Expert To Author Mastermind, then the deep-dive how-to for the reader journey and structuring your book (including making it unputdownable) is in module three.

And There’s A Hidden Benefit

There’s a hidden benefit to making your non-fiction, expert book ‘unputdownable’:

Unputdownable books get talked about. They get raved about on social media. They create superfans who are ready to take action.

And surely that is every author’s dream?

I’d Love To Hear From You:

What do you think makes a book unputdownable?

How might you weave this into the structure of your book?

And what have you seen and read that has worked for you, in the past?

Let me know via the comments.

x Clare

How To Find The Time To Write Your Book, Even If You’re Super Busy

mindset

“I don’t have time to write my book!” is one of the most common blocks I hear about when I’m talking to experts who dream of becoming authors. And I get it! Unless you go the ghost-writer option, you’re looking at somewhere between 40 and 200 hours to get your book done. But there are ways to make it so much easier – and here are three of my favourites.

Back in 2008 when I published my first book, I simply grabbed my laptop and got pounding that keyboard. And it worked. In fact, it’s the method I see most experts still using today.

But it’s also the sloooow way, like setting out on a journey with only a vague destination and no route planned. And it’s the haaard way – because you don’t know where you are in your book and it’s tough to stay motivated.

Writing Dare to Dream Bigger and my first two novels taught me about time technique #1.

Ninja Tip #1: Spend A Full Day On Planning, To Cut Your Writing Time & Editing Costs In Half

Before I write a book now, here are some of the things I (force!) myself to do – rather than just grabbing my laptop:

What is this book’s compelling promise? This can take some research.
Who will be hungry to read it and why? Again – research can be vital.
What’s the reader journey it needs to take them on? This is about getting your inner genius ‘pyjama-ready‘.
What’s essential to that journey, and what might try to sneak in as word-count-boosting fluff?
What are my chapter-by-chapter deliverables?

These strategies help me to cut my writing in half, because I don’t waste time on writing stuff that doesn’t really belong in the book. It makes it super-quick to see whether an idea I have when I’m writing will move the reader towards the delivery of my compelling promise, or whether it will distract them from it.

And it saves me money when editing because:

The book has a structure and flow and I don’t need to pay my editor to find that for me. Note: this is often the case with books that are ‘just written as they come’. A full structural edit is very expensive. Without it, people won’t finish reading your book. They’ll be confused and will put it down, which is an opportunity wasted.
I don’t have content in there that isn’t needed, so there are fewer words per edit. And most editors, proof-readers and type-setters charge per thousand words. Without this preparation it’s far too easy to end up with sections that are important to you, but aren’t adding value to the reader, but which cost you time and money to edit and print.

Don't have time to write your non-fiction book? Ninja tip #1: spend a full day on planning. It can cut your writing time in half, as well as your editing costs, if you do it right.Click To Tweet

And if you’d like some how-to for this, I guide you through it on Module 3 of the From Expert To Author Mastermind.

Moving on to Ninja tip #2 – I have this secret theory that I’d love to test out some day: that we spend more time talking about not having enough time than it would have taken to get the thing done!

Ninja Tip #2: Ditch Your Secret Time Thieves

Let’s pause for a moment and consider what happens when we crank up that old inner critic story of “I don’t have enough time.” I invite you to close your eyes and feel the shifts in your body as you say that to yourself.

For most of us, your jaw clenches, your stomach tightens, your shoulders will slouch, you’ll get more wrinkles around your eyes and your cortisol / adrenalin stress response will kick in, which – by the way – diverts bloodflow from the creative part of your brain to the survival part, which is traditionally rubbish at writing a great book.

How can you handle this?

By ditching your secret time thieves.

These are the rabbit holes and time sucks that can squander ten minutes here, twenty minutes there, forty minutes on Facebook videos… It soon adds up to an hour or two a day.

And if you committed to clearing out those non-value-add time thieves, I’ll bet you could easily find an hour a day to work on your book.

And an hour a day of consistent effort, with your clear plan from Ninja Tip #1, could easily get your book done in under three months.

But it takes a commitment!

How about starting by grabbing a piece of paper and listing some of your secret time thieves? Next to each of them, put either ‘ditch’ or ‘delegate’ and tot up how much time you could ‘magically create’.

Let me know your answer via the comments.

Don't have time to write your non-fiction book?Ninja tip #2: Ditch your secret time thieves. If you add them up, it can 'create' you an hour a day to write your book. But it takes commitment!Click To Tweet

If this one is a biggie for you, then make sure you’re on my Masterclasses newsletter list so you can join me the next time I run “How To ‘Magically’ Make The Time To Write Your Book“. One of my favourite bits of that session is my eight-word mantra to press instant ‘pause’ on your stress response and ‘magically’ open up the feeling of having more than enough time.

If you’re a Masterminder, a recording of the masterclass in your ‘bonuses’ section.

And moving on to my favourite one – this one can be life-changing.

Ninja Tip #3: Treat Your Time Like A Currency And Choose How To Spend It

Hint: it’s the most valuable currency you have.

In a world where ‘busyness‘ is a badge of honour, it’s far too easy to fall into the trap of never consciously thinking about how we ‘spend’ our time.

How about shifting your mindset and thinking about time as being an investment?

If you were to get, say, ten new clients next year from writing your book, how much would that be worth to you? How much might your time-per-hour cost? And how many hours would you therefore be prepared to invest, to get that return?

And you can flip this: “Would I pay myself £x to get lost in the Facebook rabbit hole for the next hour?”

Play with this for the next 24 hours and you might be amazed what falls off your ‘to do’ list!

Don't have time to write your non-fiction book?Ninja tip #3:Treat your time like a currency and consciously choose how to spend it. Click To Tweet

And finally, I’ve got a bonus tip for you. It’s one that makes it near-inevitable that your book will get done!

Bonus Ninja Tip: Get It In Your Diary

If it ain’t in your diary, it ain’t happening!

Don’t fall for the myth of having to wait for inspiration to find you. That’s the way of procrastination, driven by subconscious Imposter Syndrome. And even if it does find you, you’ll be too busy to play with it. Tell inspiration when you’re available and it will soon get into the routine that fits with your schedule!

And if you want ways to find out how to boost your inspiration, you can find some of my favourites here.

Seriously, blocking out non-negotiable writing times is a brilliant way to get your book done – and it works especially well if you’ve already done the planning from Ninja Tip #1, because you can simply pick a section to write, get it done, and then move back to running your business / career / life / social media account.

Don't have time to write your non-fiction book? Bonus ninja tip: Get it in your diary - treat it like a meeting.Click To Tweet

I’d love to hear from you!

Which of these tips has resonated with you?

Are there any you find yourself resisting?

And how might YOU make more time to get your book done?

Join the FREE 5-Day Author Kickstart
Click here

Want to know more about how to figure out your compelling promise, how to magnetise your tribe of hungry readers and how to make sure your world-changing, business-growing book is a success?

Make sure you join us for the FREE From Expert To Author Kickstart.

It’ll help you to crank up your confidence, pull together your publishing plan, and get you fired up and motivated to write that book!

x Clare