HOW TO WRITE A BOOK

The best way to write a book is not to write a book at all. I don't believe anybody in his or her right mind can sit down and write a book, which is like climbing Mount Everest. The project's too big. No matter how strong you are, discouragement will set in and possibly defeat you.

The way I've learned to write books is to forget about writing books. Instead, I write good magazine and newspaper articles that in due time become books. The last 10 books I've written have all come from magazine and newspaper articles about the same topic that we've put together. The advantage of writing a book this way is you get paid for writing the magazine and newspaper articles, and then when you sell the book, you get paid a second time.

Magazine and newspaper articles easily can become book chapters. Once you have 20 or 30 articles written, begin to study the articles. Decide a logical order for them, and instantly you'll have a book. Because you're getting paid for the newspaper columns and magazine articles as you write them, you're getting encouragement instead of discouragement while you're writing the book. Now here's how we go from this grand idea to getting dollars coming in and developing a book outline for a publisher.

1) Research all the magazines about your subject: For instance if you want to write a book on Living With Teens, decide which magazines need articles like that.

2) Determine the 20-most common problems that a parent encounters with teens.

3) Look for experts who counsel parents and teens.

4) Study what happens when a parent and child faces their problems and how they deal with them.

5) Query the appropriate magazines about the 20 articles you plan to write.

6) Go back to that same magazine with three more story ideas dealing with the problems that parents and teens face, after you sell one article to a magazine.

7) Use your expert counselors to augment your own personal experience as you write the articles.

8) Remember to call or write that same editor with three to five more ideas for additional articles each time you sell him or her an article.

9) Do an outline based on the articles you've already sold, once you've sold 20 to 30 of these articles.

10) Send the outline plus three sample chapters to the publishers you want to publish your book. Once the publisher or publishers express an interest in your book, negotiate a contract to get the best deal possible.

11) Continue to write "Living With Teens," even after you have a published book. At the end of each article, you'll promote your book and tell how to order your book from you directly.

12) This strategy allows you to get paid for writing the book because of the money you've received from the magazine and newspaper articles. Once you get a book in hand, you get paid royalties by the publisher from the sales of the book. Because you promote the book at the end of the articles you continue to write, you'll make additional money by selling the book at retail price (you'll buy them at wholesale) to the people who read your articles.