BYOB: How to Decide Which Book to Write

It starts with understanding your readers.

By Shaunta Grimes

It seems to me like everyone I know wants to write a book. That was where the whole Blog-Your-Own-Book Challenge came from. So many people want to write a book, so maybe we can all BYOB together, you know?

I figure it’s a pretty good way to spend a summer where we can’t really get out and do the things we’d normally do this time of year.

I surround myself with writers, so — that makes sense that so many want to write a book. But what really strikes me is that very nearly every single one of those people really wants to write a book, but hasn’t actually done it.

So what’s the disconnect between wanting and doing?

Wanting is passive, doing is active.

If you want to write it, nothing much is happening.

It’s like wanting to be an astronaut — it’s a fine thing to want, but if you don’t become a rocket scientist and join the air force and a hundred other things, all the wanting in the world won’t make it happen.

You can’t get to being an astronaut without going through all of those other things, no matter how pure your wanting is. You have to actively do the work.

And you can’t get to the point where you’ve written a book without actively doing the work of being a writer.

You actually need to write that book. There’s no way around it.

Which book, though?

This is the first step in going from wanting to doing, when it comes to writing a book. You have to decide which book you’re going to write.

Chances are pretty good that if you sat down and thought about it, you’d probably be able to come up with a dozen ideas. Dozens, even. I highly recommend that exercise, actually. Think about it like the first little efforts at the whole ‘doing’ thing.

At some point, though, you’re going to have to settle on one idea and stick with it long enough to write several thousand words on the subject.

Here’s a little plan for making that choice.

Start with your ideal reader.

Who are you writing for?

Think about your book as a marketing tool. Guess what? That’s exactly what it is. Even if you put it up for sale. Even if you sell it to a traditional publisher. Your book is your very best advertising for yourself as an author.

So who do you want to attract? What kind of reader are you looking for?

Let me give you an example. My business is called Ninja Writers. Ultimately, I want to attract readers who are writers. But not all readers who are writers are at the epicenter of my personal ‘ideal reader’ target.

My own ideal reader is a writer who is probably older than 40. They’ve raised their children and have more time than they’ve had in a long time. They’re at a pivot point in their career and they’re looking to shift into a more creative pursuit. They are likely talented — everyone likes what they write — but they’re new to attempting to write professionally.

Let’s call my ideal reader Molly.

If I keep Molly in mind, then it’s a lot easier for me to imagine how I can best serve them. Guess what else? Writers are in a service industry. It’s incredibly hard to serve a person if you don’t know who they are.

Think about how you can help that reader.

Once you have your ideal reader identified, spend some time with them. Go into your imagination and ask them how you can help them solve their biggest problem.

If I sit down for a coffee with Molly, she’s got some things to tell me.

• Molly is overwhelmed by all the things she doesn’t know about writing. She’s smart and accomplished and she’s really used to being good at the things she does.

• Molly wants to be a writer, but she doesn’t have a good handle on what that looks like for her. In fact, chances are pretty good that if we’re talking one-on-one, she’ll mirror my own career back at me. Not because she wants my career, but because she doesn’t know what else she might want.

• Molly is full of ideas, but worries that none of them are good enough. In fact, self-doubt is a big thing in her brain.

• Molly isn’t quite sure that she actually can earn a living as a writer. She’s heard that it’s nearly impossible and everyone in her life that hears her say I want to be a writer treats that desire like it’s a joke.

• Molly has great starts, but struggles to finish. She’s not used to spending the length of time that it takes to write something big like a book on one project that A) doesn’t have any sense of resolution until the very end and B) might not even be good enough to publish anyway.

Now do a little analysis.

Only you’ve interviewed your ideal reader, you’ll have a bunch of raw data. You can study that data and figure out what’s really there. Look for the connections and the questions.

You’re looking for the gaps between what your ideal reader wants and where they actually are. Those gaps are where you’re book will fit.

If I sit down with all that information that came out of my imaginary interview with Molly, I can pull it apart and learn a few things. My ideal reader needs help in a few areas.

• Molly needs help overcoming self-doubt.

• Molly needs to have a good idea of what her own, personal writing career will look like and a plan for getting there.

• Molly needs to shift gears from being at the end of something she’s really good at (parenting, a career) toward starting something she has to start at the beginning of. It’s been a long time since she wasn’t good at nearly everything she’s done, even if she’s never thought of it like that.

• Molly needs systems to help her overcome the obstacles that stand in her way, like the need to stick with one project for a long time, her self-doubt, and the influx of ideas that threaten to constantly keep her from ever finishing anything.

What can you create to fill those gaps?

Once you know where the gaps are, you can look at them and decide what exactly you can create — which book you can write — that will help your ideal reader fill at least one of them.

Think of your book as a bridge. It’s going to help get your reader from here to there. Make a list of all the possible books you can write to meet your ideal readers needs.

Here are some books I might write for Molly during the BYOB Challenge.

• 31 writing prompts specifically designed to help Molly develop a daily writing habit.

• 31 days to mastering a specific area of writing (dialogue, description, setting, grammar, etc.)

• 31 steps to creating a roadmap for her writing goals.

• 31 systems and tools for making the shift to being a writer.

• A 31-day guide to making the most of being a Ninja Writer (in other words, a 31-day guide to all the stuff I’ve already created for writers.)

Now — choose one.

This is deceptively easy. Especially if, like me, you have a healthy dose of FOMO. If you pick on of those books to write, you’re not picking the others. What if you pick wrong? What if you would have been super successful with a different book? What if there’s a better book that you haven’t even thought of yet?

Remember that your whole writing career won’t consist of a single book. You can write all of your ideas. You just have to choose one to focus on first.

If you really can’t decide — ask friends. Especially if you have friends who are similar to your ideal reader. Show them your list and ask which they’d be the most excited about.

I posted my little list of ideas in the Ninja Writers Facebook group, since so many of my ideal readers are there. Within a few minutes, I had this result:

Screenshot: Author

This is why asking is a good thing. Because I was on the verge of choosing either the roadmap for your writing goals. I had no idea that my ideal readers would be so interested in a book about creating a writing habit if I hadn’t asked.

You can’t write by committee, of course. But there’s something to be said for validating your ideas before you put a ton of time into implementing them.

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