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Milestone #4: Publish & Market Books That Solve Problems for Your Readers · The Daily Writer

• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, thanks for checking out today's episode of the Daily Rider Podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Always good to have you with me.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this episode is part of a series that we're doing called The Writer's Path: Seven Steps to Building a Writing Business.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're just not joining us for this series, I want to encourage you to go back to the June 27th episode to listen to this from the beginning in order to get the most context and the most value out of this.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: So far in this series, we have looked at the importance of getting clear on your audience and message, the importance of building the platforms where you're going to share your content, and the importance of writing consistently.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that brings us to milestone number four, which is publishing and marketing books that solve problems for your reader.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Here's why this is so important.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Books give you credibility and authority that you cannot get any other way.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Books are also a super convenient way for you to share your wisdom with other people.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I want you to notice the emphasis on solving problems because it's not enough just to put books out there.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to solve problems for people in your books.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, I'm specifically talking about nonfiction here.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you're doing nonfiction, it is critical that your book be focused on solving a problem for your reader.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: When people come to your book, your nonfiction book, they have a problem, a frustration, something they want some help with.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: For example, when people come to my recent book, 18 Words to Live By, they come to it because they're looking for which values are most critical in life.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many things that distract us in life.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And in this book I want that I specifically wrote for my 18-year-old son for his birthday, I wanted to specifically lay out 18 values that I think are the most important ones in life.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So whenever people come to this book, they're coming to it with some kind of a need or desire for somebody to help them focus on what is most important in life, no matter what age they are.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: That is the problem that I'm trying to solve in that book.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: So whenever you do books, I highly recommend that you focus on solving problems.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: And even more so, I want you to think about the value of writing short books, of little short books that solve a very specific problem for your reader.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Not on writing big, massive, huge books that solve 18 problems or 27 problems.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Focus on writing short books that solve specific problems for your reader.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're focusing on fiction, that's kind of a different animal because fiction is not really about solving problems.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Fiction is about entertainment and storytelling.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're doing nonfiction, remember that people come to your book with a frustration or a problem that they need help solving.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: So keep their needs in mind, first and foremost.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, whenever you're writing for an audience, it's not mainly about meeting your needs, it's about helping your reader.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to write for therapy or you just want to write for fun or whatever, that's totally fine.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're focused on building a business with your writing, you've got to follow the principle that every other successful business follows, which is putting your customer or putting your reader first.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: What does that person want?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: What does that person need?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: How can you help this person?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the questions that should be driving you if you want to have a successful writing business.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the main challenge you're going to face when we talk about publishing and marketing books that solve people's problems, the main challenge you're going to face is twofold.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, a lot of people feel intimidated by the idea of writing a book.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I recommend writing short little books that people can read fast and you can write them fast also.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Second of all, you will face the challenge of not focusing on your reader, but you've got to have a relentless focus on helping your reader.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is crucial.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's critical.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is the crux of having a successful writing business versus not having one.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about what you can do for the reader.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll have a lot more to say about that later on in this series and as we go through this larger series of uh these seven milestones.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that's probably enough for this episode.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: I've given you a lot to think about here.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: But here's today's question to boil this all down.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: What is a topic of interest to you that could be the basis for a short book that you could write in the next three months?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to think about the next year or three years.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: What is a little book that you could write in the next three months?
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, it is possible.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: I've done it.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Other people have done it many times.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it too.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Short little book that solves a specific problem for your ideal reader.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm curious what you come up with.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: So let me know if you decide to take on this challenge.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Shoot me an email at Kent at DailyWriterLife.com.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: I would seriously love to hear what your idea for a little short book is.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: All right, my friend, thanks for joining me for this episode.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.