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How To Write A Business Book Fast Like Stephen King, Ian Fleming Or Dianna Booher

This article is more than 4 years old.

There has never been a better time to write the right book. Look to prolific authors for inspiration on how to do it fast.

Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond novels, famously preferred to do his writing every morning in the sun room of his Caribbean island beach house, pausing just once at lunch to enjoy a glass of rum, a swim in the ocean and a nice nap, before returning to the task.

That’s all well and good for a spy thriller novelist, but for those of us without the private beach, a more thoughtful and efficient approach to book writing is necessary. Writing an entire book is a long-term project, and, like all long-term projects, putting in smart groundwork will save you time and keep your momentum going.

When it comes to writing great business books fast, I turn to best-selling author, and award-winning public speaker, Dianna Booher. Booher is the Stephen King of the consultant book. With 48 books to her name, the prolific Booher is something of an expert on staying productive for the long haul. Her books are translated into in 62 foreign language editions, with nearly four million copies in print. Her publishers include Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, McGraw-Hill and Berrett-Koehler.

Here are Booher’s tips for how she approaches writing a book:

Outline your content—forget the seat-of-the-pants approach used by some novelists. “‘Pantsers,’ as these novelists call themselves, write from scene to scene wherever the story and characters take them. That may be a fine approach for novelists, but not for those writing nonfiction. Just as people start with a blueprint to build a house, writing in the most productive way calls for a plan.

Research first—not “as you go” chapter by chapter. “You’d never consider building a house room by room—kitchen first, then bathrooms, then maybe the bedrooms next. Instead, you organize the project by tasks: the foundation, then the framing, then the plumbing, then the electrical, and so forth. It’s the same with book writing. Researching chapter by chapter is counterproductive. You’ll soon discover you’re chasing down duplicate information. Additionally, most authors are also readers, which means once they dig into a trove of survey responses, academic studies, or humorous opinion pieces, they get hooked. They leap from one article or study to the next, forgetting their ultimate writing goal, to collect ideas and statistics to support their book. Don’t let yourself go down that road. Instead, grab all the information you need in a focused research effort, and then go back to writing.”

Conduct a writing marathon. “Separate yourself physically and mentally from the routine. I lock myself away in my home office; other author friends check into a hotel. Do whatever works for you to stay focused for about 12 straight hours for seven to ten consecutive days. Do the necessary things during the day (like getting dressed, eating, exercising) as your stretch breaks from writing.”

Never re-read as you draft. “Stopping to reread will stall your momentum. Rereading to edit is a totally separate step that comes after drafting.”

Check email only once daily just after you stop writing for the day. “You’ll be too tired to write long emails, so answer the necessary ones briefly and hit send. Those critical messages will be waiting for the recipient the next morning when they begin work.”

Stay off social media. “Schedule your posts ahead of your marathon, or have an assistant to post them for you. You may even post a note that you’ll be ‘on sabbatical writing’ for X days and sign off for completely.”

Keep a daily log of output. “Record the date and how many pages and words you write each day. Then keep a running total as you sprint to the finish line. Seeing that total word count grow, you’ll build momentum, and find yourself writing faster and faster to ‘the end.’”

Booher helps aspiring authors by staging what she calls a Book Camp. Think of it as a boot camp and she is the Marine drill instructor, but held in an intimate home setting in the Dallas-Fort Worth area instead of Camp Pendelton or Parris Island.

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