For most people, writing your own book is not an immediate priority – first get through school, then get a "Real" job, get married, raise a family, settle down a little – it’s only after catching your breath and middle age begin to rear it’s ugly head do most aspiring writers think about actually experiencing the dream of writing their own book.
That’s the case with Ed Hird outlined in a profile of his new book "Battle For the Soul of Canada: Raising Up The Emerging Generation of Leaders" where he finally put pen to paper at the ripe old age of 50.
Based on his life experiences as a pastor helping youth in many difficult situations, and a self-ackknowledged history buff, Hird felt he had a message that needed to be heard about what made past leaders great and how those principles could be applied to today’s Generation X population.
Here are some lessons those of you who are considering writing your own book can take from Ed’s newest book venture:
1. Don’t give up on your dreams. At 50 who would have thought you could become a successful first-time author?
2. Use the formula Hird used to dream up ideas for writing your own book. For example, understand how your experiences can be combined with some research to write on a topic that is outside of your comfort zone. In this case, Hird saw evidence of a "lost" generation, but didn’t necessarily know what the answer was. So – he researched some of the greatest leaders in history and came up with his recommended solution.
3. Make the solution you offer your readers yours. Even though Hird researched what made past leaders successful – his summary of these principles and application to today’s audience makes his solution his own, something he can now turn into a franchise by developing further information products, speaking, recording videos, running seminars, offering consulting and so on.
While it took Hird almost 2.5 years to complete his book – you can certainly start out with something much less ambitious for your first time out – often reaching a first draft stage within a few weeks if you really put your mind to it.
We share those techniques with our members over at InfoMarketer’s Zone – turning desparate dreamers into money-making writers with their own books, ebooks and infoproducts. If you want to stand in Hird’s shoes, but can’t wait 2.5 years then drop by and use the information in the InfoMarketer’s Zone.
Jeff
