Do you have what it takes to be a successful author?
How Can Your Book Land You Speaking Engagements | Author Success Stories Featuring Monica Rubombora
“My public speaking engagements increased when I became an author”. – Monica Rubombora
Welcome to Author Success Stories!
Are you an aspiring author who has these self-limiting thoughts?
Should I write my book? 😌
Will people read it? 😫
Am I really the expert? 😒
Then watch this video and be inspired by our special guest, Monica Rubombora!
Do you have what it takes to be a successful author?
After working with hundreds of authors, I have seen so many common traits that the most successful authors have. And I thought of just breaking it down for you to see if you might have already possessed some of these attributes a successful author has or if you might need to develop them.
The good thing about these attributes is that it can be imbibed. These attributes and skills can be taught and can be learned but only if you are committed to becoming a successful author.
So what are some of the attributes that you need to have to become a successful author?
Read More
5 Steps to Finalise Your Book’s Topic
Lack of topic clarity is the number one problem in writing for most upcoming authors. However, we have to consider that for everyone, it can be a challenge to find a topic that is fun to write yet interesting to the readers. What do we need to do to make it easy for us to choose our book’s topic so that our time and effort is not put to waste?
The Look Inside Approach
Take a step back to explore your strengths, areas of expertise, and passions. Ask yourself these questions and let them guide you in choosing a topic for your book.
- What do I love doing?
- What do I love reading about?
- People ask my advice on what?
- I want to give my opinion on what?
- In what areas have I got results?
- Whom can I help using this expertise?
Writing about something you feel passionate about will not only make the experience enjoyable for you but it will allow you to write a book that would grab your reader’s attention. So, look inside and ask those questions. Again, let it be a guide for you to start writing.
The Look Outside Approach
Look outside and consider who you are writing this book for. Think through and reflect on why your book is worth reading and what will your readers gain from it. To help you as you mull over your choices of topics to write about, look outside and ask yourself these questions.
- Whom do I care about?
- Whom do I want to help?
- What are these people’s problems?
- What do they want to achieve?
- Can I use my expertise to help them?
Remember that, every book does not appeal to all but realize that by choosing your audience well within your niche and providing them the value they need will produce good results for you and your book.
Make it Unique
Because everyone is not your reader, your book must have a unique angle. Position yourself and your book uniquely by tailoring your book topic to your niche market. Only when you laser-focus your topic on one particular challenge and one particular solution then you will appeal to somebody.
Selecting a smaller reader niche will make it easier for you to narrow down the topics that you can write about. Focus on that one topic for a certain age group or demographic or target those who are going through similar phases in life and then package your unique solution around them.
The Litmus Test
For your Reader
Survey your audience by asking them what concerns them. Listen to their everyday difficulties. See what troubles them. And then ask them if this book you are writing about would help them find the solution to their dilemmas and predicaments. With your audience, you should receive great feedback which will in turn help you decide your book’s topic.
Another option, especially for beginners, is to research other books on Amazon. Find other books with the same topic as yours and check how they are faring in sales ranking versus other books. Research on other influencers who tackle the same subject you would like to write about. See what other articles are out there which discuss the same ideas as you have. Read the reviews and the comments these influencers and articles are receiving from their audience. By doing this, you will get a good sense if that certain topic you are eyeing to write about would resonate well with your target audience or not.
For you
How connected are you to this book? Does your book identify you and what you do or what you love to do? Consider these three points when your thinking about what to write or how to write your book.
- Profession – Have you spent the last 5yrs to 30yrs doing the same work that you have become an expert at it? You know enough about a certain topic because you belong to that profession and have made yourself an authority in that niche. Consider writing a book, share the tricks of the trade and how anyone can turn into a skillful worker or expert in no time.
- Mess to Message – Have you experienced a life changing event? Did you overcome a huge hurdle in your life that made you a stronger person you never knew you could be? Consider inspiring someone and tell your story to the world through writing a book.
- Reporter – Are you a Movie Buff? A Music Junkie? A Bookworm? Write what you are passionate about. You can probably interview renowned or professional movie makers, musicians, or authors and consolidate everything you’ve learned from them into a book. You can focus around the history and the timelines of that particular genre or subject and make it your book’s topic.
Topic
Here’s a format you should follow when crafting a topic:
“My book helps (reader avatar) overcome (pain point)/achieve (goal) by (unique trademark solution)”
Try to fit your topic in this format so that you can be crystal clear at what to write about and be confident enough that the book will cater to both you and your readers.
So, there you have it! I hope you got some clarity on what should be your book’s topic. All the very best in writing your first book!
Are you eager and excited to take the next step in writing your book? Joining the Author Success Academy will be the best option for you. To begin, join me in my upcoming WEBINAR. It’ll be a lot of fun answering your questions so go ahead and register yourself today!
Turn Your Mess into Your Message
How can you turn your mess into your message?
The Mess of problems or trials and tribulations could be found in any area of our lives.
You could be going through a divorce, going through cancer, going through weight loss, or it could be something as simple as teaching your kid how to go potty. Really, it could be just about anything! But then again, if you’ve gone through challenges in life and found ideas to overcome each hurdle, you could take those lessons and teach those who are going through the same trials. You could turn it into a carreer by becoming a coach, or an author, conducting training and mentoring people on how to get through difficulties in life.
You may think that your challenges in life may not mean anything to most and it may not positively affect some. However, no matter how small or big your challenges are, there are many out there who are going through the same tough times like you and when you share your thoughts and problems to others, not only do you relieve yourself from the burden of having to carry your struggles, you also make others realize that they are not alone.
Sure, you could doubt yourself and say that you’re not in any way an expert at life and that you have no Ph.D. in counseling but good news! Times have changed. Nowadays, if people want to learn something or if they want to overcome a challenge, usually they don’t go out and look for people who have a qualified degree in that subject. All they want is a person who they trust, who’s “been there and done that”, and most importantly, someone who has genuine intentions in helping people.
If I want to learn anything, for example, if I want to learn how to set up a website, I don’t necessarily have to hire an agency to teach me. Instead, I can call up a friend who has done it before and get some pieces of advice from them! The way people think nowadays has become even more progressive as we start to turn to practical ways of finding solutions quickly and more effectively. Relying on people with certificates and degrees seems less and less now and most prefer to connect with human beings who have seen the worst but have been through it all and who are kind enough to share their journey.
Many people have been practicing a particular profession for twenty-five to thirty years and suddenly, they would have met with an accident and that could be the turning point in their life. They would have started living a healthier and meaningful life. They want to probably teach meditation and turn it into a career to help people get rid of their stress factors. That’s how life changes or rather, begins. Newton’s first law of motion states, “An object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” Never undermine all the challenges that you’ve been through. Go back and remember those days when you were in the darkest hole, try to discover your message through the experiences you’ve had. Your Ups and Downs can be your tool to success and similarly, it can be a tool used to drive and encourage others to succeed. And what better way to turn your mess to your message than by writing about it? You could write a book, such as a memoir or be more creative and tell a fictional story about a young hero overcoming adversity. Writing your feelings down is proven to be stress-releasing. It is a great way to move forward. By writing your problems down, you will be able to see things clearly and for you to be able to share your thoughts, your ideas and the way you see things clearly, you will be able to help someone who is lost and looking for advice. Not a piece of professional advice but advice from someone who’s been through it, too. Someone who can relate.
It’s evident that we now live in a postmodern society where people thrive in mindful communication. Young minds have been shifted and seem to truly believe in the phrase “Sharing is loving”. Not in a material sense, but through words. So, even if you don’t believe you’re an expert but have gone through so much in life and have been successful in overcoming each obstacle, you will have so many powerful stories to tell, enough to make others’ burden easier to carry. You could be anyone, a teacher, a student, a housewife or a single parent, if you feel that you have a message you think will bring forth positivity, share it with the world, it matters. Turn your mess into your message.