If you’ve always dreamed of being a published author but didn’t think it could ever happen, this month’s Houston Social Media Breakfast shows you the simple process you can take to add the title “book author” to your resume!
D. Scott Smith, author of several books including Business Networking: A Scientific Method, co-host of the podcast The EXPERIENCE Live with Russ and Scott, and co-founder of the Global Tea Break, along with “AgingEnthusiast” Christine A. Smith, livestreamer at the Aging Better Network and author of the CareGRIEVER Kit, shared with Zoetica Media founder Kami Huyse how writing books helped them boost their professional profiles and reputations.
You Probably Already Have a Book Inside You
One of the first questions Scott gets asked by people interested in writing a book is how to recognize if they actually have anything to say that’s worth sharing with the world. His answer to that is almost always a resounding yes.
“Somewhere along the line, somewhere recently… somebody called you up and asked you a question because they know you can help them, you have expertise, they already trust you,” says Scott. “That one person that asked, there are lots of other people that have the same question.”
“Just think about, you know, who is it that you help, what problem do you solve, and how do you?” he adds. “Everyone solves things differently, right? We've learned, we've taken information, we've internalized it, we've synthesized it, and no one else in the universe does it the way you do it, right? So even if you say leadership… I mean, there's millions of books out there about leadership, but the way you teach it, the way you exemplify, that no one else does.”
Your Book Content Can Develop Organically
Some people decide to write a book first and then sit down and outline what they’re going to say. But for others, like Christine, it happens organically.
Her CareGRIEVER Kit book was the result of a past career as an in-home caregiver, which required her to keep track of and make notes about the treatment and care her patients needed.
She describes noticing “the similarities from home to home,” explaining that “there were over 90 different homes that I had been in, and patterns appeared, and I was asked questions by the people around my age category, ‘do you know of a…,’ ‘ is there…,’ ‘is it possible…,’” Over time, she says, “I would write these things down on little scraps of paper and put them in my purple quilted bag.”
She used those notes to create a newsletter she shared on LinkedIn, then decided to shift from newsletter to publishing book.
The Book Creation Structure to Follow
When it comes to structuring a book, Scott suggests the following framework: Hook, Problem, Guide, Solution, and Ask.
“The hook gets you in,” gets the reader’s attention, he explains.
Then it’s time to focus on the problem. “The key point is being able to describe the problem, because human nature says that if you can clearly articulate the problem where it's like, ‘were you eavesdropping on us last night, because that's exactly what we were talking about’ in the business or at the home, right, … then people believe that you also must know the answer,” he explains.
The guide is the process taking the reader through the process of having their problem and trying to find a solution. “The guide is really you're going through and you saying, look, here's the problem, we all have this problem. And I had this problem and looked at the solutions that were out there and, like, this was too invasive, this was too costly, this one didn’t actually work,” he says. “Then you’re guiding them to ‘reason why…’ Now you’re guiding them to [the] solution.”
Finally, ask readers to take action. More specifically, ask them to take the action you recommend.
The Benefits of Self-Publishing Over Going the Traditional Publishing Route
Traditional publishing involves finding an agent, writing a book proposal, submitting the book proposal to publishers, and waiting to see if they’re interested. All of this can take a lot of time.
“In the old days of writing a book, you had to get someone to publish it, and to do that you had to get an agent,” says Scott. “It would take a year, probably, to find an agent, take the agent maybe a year to find a publisher for your book. Then it's going to be three years with the publisher going back and forth writing and rewriting your book. So now you're four years into it. [At that point] the problem you solve is done.”
Instead, Scott suggests people use Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service. Within hours of uploading content, a writer can have their digital book available for distribution and sale. Amazon also offers paperback and hardback options. Self-publishing alternatives to Amazon are Lulu and IngramSpark.
Finding Time to Write a Book
Even when you’re determined to write a book, finding the time to make it can seem like a logistical nightmare. But Scott says it’s merely a question of allocating the use of your time differently.
“Every day has 1,440 minutes and there are no rollover minutes in your day, that is, yesterday you used all 1,440 of them, you will do the same today, you'll do the same tomorrow. Which means if you add anything you have to stop something else,” he says. “But it doesn't mean that yesterday I used all 1440 minutes to their best and highest use, right? …. On the average, Americans have five hours of discretionary time every day. We just don't know what to do with it, so we watch videos. so um set aside 30 minutes, an hour, start small.”
Moving Beyond the Blank Page
Rather than struggling for hours to get the first sentences on the page, use artificial intelligence as support. “Any of the AI tools, like ChatGPT, it's an assistant,” says Scott. Use AI to “get away from a blank page, to get some ideas.” What’s important is that “you're using it as an assistant, but not as the content creation. This still comes from you.”
D. Scott and Christine’s journey underscores a fundamental truth: within each of us lies a reservoir of knowledge waiting to be shared with the world. Whether your inspiration strikes organically or follows a more structured path, the opportunity to contribute your unique perspective is boundless.
To learn all of the step-by-step how-tos on writing and publishing your own book, watch the full livestream.