Julie Broad lists nine mistakes nonfiction authors make: writing for ego instead of reader outcomes, using jargon instead of simple language (aim for grade 6-8), self-editing while drafting, trusting friends instead of ideal readers, expecting quick wins, setting uncontrollable goals, waiting for perfect timing, and overthinking steps ahead. Play the long game.
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Most of the time, we talk about all the things that you should do to succeed as an author, but today we're changing it up and we're going to cover things that you should stop doing. So if you want a not to do list, then this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julia the book broad, founder of a fabulous self publishing services company called Book Launchers. And since we help authors write, edit, publish and promote their nonfiction book, we've seen a lot of things that just don't work for authors. So let's dive into this not to do list. Number one, stop letting your ego get in the way of the impact you can have. Almost every great author I've met has a fear of failure, imposter syndrome, fear of success, and a fear of judgment, kind of like public speaking. If you let this be about you and your success, it's terrifying and tough to make the right decisions. So stop making this book about you becoming a best seller and you making a ton of money and start making this book for your reader and what they need to achieve a specific outcome in their life. When you do that, you can push that ego aside. Move over ego. You can push that ego aside enough to get your book into the world and have an impact. Number two, speaking of your dear reader, let's write that book for them, not your industry leaders or colleagues. You're not trying to impress your peers. You're trying to persuade your reader to take action, move forward, and change things up to create an outcome for their life or business. As such, stop using big words. Check out your Flesch Kincaid score, and write between the grade 6 and grade 8 level. Anything higher than grade 8 is complex. So unless you're a doctor writing for doctors or an engineer writing for engineers, make it simple in case you feel like it makes you look less intelligent. Let me ask you if anyone has ever said to you, man, you made that really complex. You must be smart. No, I bet not. It's actually a sign that you truly understand your subject matter when you can explain it in terms anyone can understand. You're not trying to impress your professor. You're trying to impact your reader and sell books. Number three, first drafts are supposed to be bad, so stop editing yourself and just dump it out onto the page. Don't read what you've written. When you sit down to write, just write. Get it done. Get that stuff out of your head. Set up a prompt when you finish writing for the day so that when you sit down to write tomorrow or a week from now, you don't have to reread what you wrote, you just write using those prompts. 4. Stop asking your friends and family their opinion on your cover, your title, or anything else that's really vital to the success of your book. Unless your friends or family are your ideal reader or they're book publishing professionals, there's an art and a science to appealing to the reader, and you need to tap into the reader's opinion or the advice of experts. Number five Stop looking for or even expecting quick wins, even if you have the money to buy them. Play the long game and you'll find the journey more successful and rewarding. And remember, Amazon is an algorithm machine looking for consistent conversions, not quick wins, so you really don't want to play a game to get an Amazon bestseller. Number six Stop setting goals you can't actually control. Switch your focus to the things that you can control. I mean, you can't control being a best seller, but you can control how many places you pitch yourself for podcasts or speaking. You can control how many people you ask for reviews, and you absolutely can control how many blog posts and live videos you do to get the word out. Set those things as your goals because you can control yourself getting them done and watch the outcomes happen. 7. Stop waiting for the timing to be right for you to write and publish your book. If you've learned anything from the volatility of 2020 and 2021, it's that there are very few certainties out there, and rarely have I ever met an author that says, man, I wished I hadn't written that book. And often do I hear I need my book done in three months for this big opportunity. Start writing your book before it's urgent. Books take longer to write, publish and launch than you think, especially if you want them to be great. Plus, I've met too many people who are never ready, and that's a shame because their book could have been helping people. Number eight. Which leads me to the great tips from my YouTube friends, mindful eats said authors should realize there are people out there who desperately need your book, so you need to get to work and get it done. I love that. And number nine comes to us from Caleb, also known as Ctor Tega. Authors should stop worrying 10 steps ahead. Enjoy step by step of the process. Fall in love with the process more than the desire for results. I love this piece of advice. You really don't need to know every step of the journey before you start writing a book. You do need to know who you're writing for and what your goals are, but that gives you a general path. It doesn't matter how you get an ISBN or what an aggregator does when you haven't started writing. Write your book and then figure it all out. What do we miss? Let's chat about it in the comments below. And when you comment the day a video comes out, you'll be entered to win some of our sweet noboringbooks swag. Now, you might be wondering what you should do. Well, this is is the latest and greatest from the channel and sure to give you something wonderful to work on. Or if you've watched that already, then maybe this video on how to stay up when book sales are down might be the very thing you should watch. Either way, I'm waiting for you. Go on over. I'll see you there.
