A friend of mine inspired me because he published an eBook that made him over $300K in a short space of time. The eBook he wrote is 45 pages long and took a couple of days to write. It got me thinking that there are lots of ways to benefit from writing a book and so I begun researching.

There are lots of fake sites out there that promise you that you can make millions of dollars from writing a book and so today I wanted to present to you what I have learnt, without all the hype. There are many reasons to write a book, but you should never write one with the intent of becoming rich.

Like anything in life, you want to choose a book topic that you’re passionate about and that you have some personal experience with. The reason this subject is important to me is that I am currently in the process of writing my first book and so the tips I am going to provide you are things that I am advocating from my own work and research.

So without further ado, below are the twelve tips you will need to achieve global success from writing a book.

1. Squash your limiting beliefs about writing a book

The biggest hurdle that people have when writing any form of book is that they think their book has to be original, complex, covering a topic that has never been done before, world changing and perfectly written without any grammar or spelling mistakes.

All of these points are not relevant, and you can write a globally successful book without any of them. The reality is that your book has to meet the needs, desires and problems of your target audience. The content you are delivering needs to provide a solution and be presented in a simple way.

Stop thinking you can’t write a book because you can!!!

“The reality is that there is a high probability the topic or problem you are solving has been done before, and that’s okay. As long as you are covering the topic in a way that serves others and uses your own personal experience or story telling ability, you should be fine”

2. Know the purpose of your book first

Before you start writing your book, you need to know what you are trying to achieve by writing it. Some simple reasons for writing a book might be:

– To gain publicity for yourself

– To promote your business or generate leads

– To make you be perceived as an expert in a particular field

Once you know the purpose of your book, it will help you shape the way you write it and ultimately how you market it. For me, the reason I am writing my book is to share my story with the world and inspire others. I see my book as a legacy and gift to everyone that has supported me along the journey including all of you here on Addicted2Success.

3. Pre-sell the book before it’s written

One of the best tips I have learned about writing a book came from Lisa Messenger, who says that you should always pre-sell your idea, even a book. What this translates to is that once you have an idea of the type of book you want to write, go and pre-sell it to businesses who are trying to solve a similar problem that your book addresses.

There are a few ways you could pre-sell it to them. One way would be to get them to agree to pre-purchase a certain volume of your book to give to their staff or customers. The second way is to sell them the idea of paying to write a bonus chapter for your book where they could contribute as subject matter experts (positioning is everything otherwise it will sound like an unwanted ad).

The third way to generate money before you write your book is to get companies to be featured in the back section of the book called “Resources The Author Recommends.” In this section, you could get companies to list their services so that your audience can find more help after they have read your book.

Obviously you would charge a fee to any business that would like to be featured in this section, and you could be clever and ask for payment in the form of purchases of your book. If you follow these three ways to generate income, then you will be making money from your book on day one – not bad.

4. Pre-market the book

Having global success from a book is all about doing as much as you can before the book is written. You should create a landing page where people can sign up to be notified when your book is available, long before you type the first word.

You should also consider filming a short YouTube video that gives a teaser as to what people can expect from your book and then you should share this on your social media.

5. Choose between a downloadable book and a physical book

There are two options when you write a book: one is to do a downloadable and physical book, and the other is just to do a downloadable book only. From my own personal research, I have found that your first book should generally be a downloadable book.

The reason a downloadable book is a good first option is that you can get started quickly and focus your time on great content rather than trying to worry about the money and time it costs to get a physical book printed.

Once you have published your first book, it’s good to consider doing a downloadable and physical book the second time around because the physical book has a higher perceived value. Having said all of that, if you follow my tips and pre-sell and pre-market your book, there is no reason you couldn’t attempt a physical book for your first release.

6. Pick one of these successful types of books

Downloadable books that seem to do well usually fall into one of these types of books:

– A how to book

– A book about your own personal story

– A reporter style book (if you are writing about how to be wealthy and you’re not, then you could be a reporter and interview someone who is wealthy – think Napoleon Hill)

7. Interview a successful person for your book

A great part about writing a book is that if you reach out to highly successful people and ask them if you can interview them as research for your book, they will be more than likely to accept. This has a two-fold effect because on one hand you get to learn from amazing people, and on the other, it proves that the concept of your book is interesting.

If you’re really sneaky you could even ask the successful person to give a testimonial for your book or to write the foreword for you (only do this though if you build a really good rapport with them).

8. Use a simple formula

Any globally successful book follows a simple formula no matter who has written it. If you’re stuck and don’t know where to start then try this easy to follow formula. Make your book between 80-100 pages and feature around 8-10 chapters.

Each chapter could be a strategy or piece of the puzzle to the problem you are trying to solve. Try using a compelling story in each chapter that demonstrates your point and have one quote at the start of each chapter.

There you go, it can be that simple if you want it to be, and now you have somewhere to start.

9. Write your book in a compressed space of time

If you have followed the earlier step and decided to use a simple formula to layout your book, then don’t procrastinate and set two full days aside to start writing it. Before you start your two days of writing, you need to take a leaf out of Tony Robbins teachings and make sure you are in a peak state.

If you try and write your book in a tired state and your emotions are not turned on, you won’t produce your very best. Before I write something inspiring, I often like to watch an uplifting movie like Will Smiths “The Pursuit of Happyness,” which helps me to bring out the emotion of life and get tingles down my spine.

“As you go through the writing process don’t worry too much about spelling or grammar, just try and capture the emotion of the problem you are trying to solve and the message you are delivering”

The beauty of writing a book that is only 80-100 pages long is that you can finish it within two days, and it forces you only to include the best stories and strategies rather than what a lot of books do, which is put in lots of filler content that bores the readers.

10. The book cover should take time

It goes without saying that once you have written your book you need to come up with a compelling title and beautifully designed cover. When I write an article here on Addicted2Success it takes me more time to find the right pictures than it does to write the actual article – finding a good front cover for your book is very similar.

You should spend a fair amount of time on the cover and think about what illustration will come across as powerful to your audience. Also, consider using tools like Design Crowd to get a professional to have a go at the design.

11. Get celebrity endorsements

Once the book is finished, you should send a copy to strategic celebrities or influential people for them to read it. I once heard of an author that sent their book to the queen and got a letter back from Buckingham Palace, which they used to promote their book.

If you look at any book that has had global success, there are usually at least one or two highly influential people that are endorsing the book. This is not hard to do, but it does require some persistence on your part. Don’t expect that just because you send someone a copy, they are going to read it.

Some celebrities get books sent to them every day so unless the subject matter draws them in, they probably won’t read it (this is no reflection on you). Be creative though and you will at least be able to find a couple of quality endorsements.

12. Free vs paid has its advantages

If you’re using your book to generate customers for your business, then you could consider offering your book for free. As I’m sure a lot of you are aware, there is a lot of money to be made in building an email list and so this could be one way you could monetise the effort of writing your book.

A book can also be a great way to boost sales of a product or service because it helps position you as an expert in the field, it gets you free publicity, and it can increase people’s likelihood of trusting you and giving you a go (this should not be abused).

Most people perceive a book to be worth $20-$30 dollars and so when you offer a free copy to a prospect who is considering doing business with you, the chances of them listening to what you have to say is higher. In other words, a book is much better than a LinkedIn profile or a business card.

In the not too distant future, I will be releasing my first book, and I hope I have convinced you to do the same. Please share your thoughts with me in the comments section below and I would love you to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.