Julie Broad (author and founder of Book Launchers) explains how nonfiction authors can use NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) or similar month-long writing challenges to draft a nonfiction book quickly. She covers how to register or join alternatives (Write Nonfiction in November), explains daily word-count targets (1,666 words/day to hit 50,000 in November; she suggests 1,500 as a round target), and gives practical prep steps: craft a clear hook, define the target reader, prepare an outline or bullet-point plan, and schedule daily writing time (about an hour). She also recommends transcription tools (Temi, Rev, Dragon) for non-typists, emphasizes community/accountability benefits, and closes with a Book Launchers pitch and CTAs (subscribe, comment).
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Nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month and it's a massive opportunity for you to write a nonfiction book. Are you registering or if you're watching this in February going, that's in nine months. Well, stick around. This video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the book broad. I'm an Amazon Overall Number 1 Best Selling Author and the founder of a fabulous company called Book Launchers. Our superpower is caring more about you and your book than anybody else as we help you write, publish and sell a nonfiction book that will boost your brand and make you money. If you've been thinking about writing a book, you've probably heard someone say they're participating in NaNoWriMo. It sounds like a strange world from the Muppets if you ask me, but it's not. It's National Novel Writing Month and it's an Internet based project where everyone participating spends a month focused on writing at least a 50,000 word book. Now, technically, it's for novel writers, but why can't nonfiction authors participate? There's no rule saying you can't. You can sign up right here@nanowrimo.org signup to make it official, or just join the social media fun and commit to writing at least 1500 words a day every single day for the month of November. Well, technically you have to write 1,666 words per day to hit 50,000 words in the month. But I like round numbers, So I said 1500. Or if you really want to be a part of a nonfiction writing community, there is Write Nonfiction in November, which is Winfin Challenge, or there's Nan Non Phi Rhymo. I'm not kidding. Either way, you're planning to write a set number of words a day or in a week to complete a draft of a book during the month. Now, I'm recommending you participate in NaNoWriMo because it has more fanfare and really, who cares if it's technically for novels? The approach will work for you, I promise. Now, at first that might sound like a lot of words, but really, it's only three to three and a half pages in a word document every day. You can fire that off pretty fast if you shut off your email, shut off your social media notifications, and just focus on writing something. That said, I've said this in at least a dozen videos here. You shouldn't just sit down and write. There are a couple critical pieces to put into place to Prep yourself for NaNoWriMo or any other writing burst you might be planning. I'll talk about this in a second. But you can use the principles that make NaNoWriMo work for you at any time during the year. But before you do any of that, you need to establish a clear hook. This is what's in it for your reader, how your book is going to help them, what is going to make them buy your book today. Now, your book isn't about finance. It's about the single most important thing your financial planner isn't telling you that you need to do to retire early, with plenty of money and live in comfort. Or it's not travel tricks. It's travel tricks you learned when you traveled to 81 countries in 365 days that will help save travelers from jet lag, bad airplane food, and dirty hotels. I don't know, I'm just making stuff up. But it's not just a book on travel tips or a book on finance. You need to get the juicy goods that you're giving the reader and get clear on who that reader is. You're solving a problem or offering a very specific experience, so you gotta know what that is before you start writing. Second of all, you really have to know that reader. What podcast do they listen to? Who do they look up to? What do they currently believe that you might want to challenge? What are they thinking about right now that you want to kind of tap into? What are they dreaming about? You really want to know who they are so you can write to them and finally have some sort of an outline planned out. Even if you're a free flow kind of writer, to make a writing burst project like NaNoWriMo work, you should have some sort of a plan. Even if it's a list of bullet points or stories or chapter titles that you're going to write about that will help you make the most of this burst of writing in the month of November. To be able to write 1500 words a day for 30 days, you need a plan so you're not staring at a screen trying to figure out what you're going to write. Plan your schedule. Set aside time every single day. Now, if you want to take Sundays off, that's cool. Just write 2,000 words a day. Regardless, you'll need to give yourself time every day, and ideally you do it at the same time every day because there's something magical that happens in your brain. It'll just know. That's writing time. I don't know how long you'll need. I can hammer out about 1500 words in 30 minutes without too much pain if I know what I'm writing about. But to be safe, I would probably allocate an hour a day to accomplish this goal. If you're not into writing, by the way, you can talk this out and Transcribe it with Temi.com or Rev.com I use Temi.com for long material because it's 10 cents a minute. Or you can get Dragon Dictation or some of the other transcription type services. Regardless, you don't necessarily have to sit down and type, especially if you think you're a slow writer. Final tip Commit to this I like NaNoWriMo because it's a concrete goal that you're sharing with a bunch of other people. You're not doing it alone. Writing can be so lonely. Sometimes you share your word count with others, you see their word count. Authors all over the place are sharing motivational words and pep Talk type posts. NaNoWriMo helps ideas turn into tangible things, and that's really, really cool. Now, if you aren't participating in NaNoWriMo or you're watching this video in February or some other month that's not November, you can still create the conditions that make NaNoWriMo effective. What you need are other people who commit to writing a book in the month. You need to publicly hold yourself and each other accountable. And you need the goal of writing a book in a month and then just share your word count with each other and even publicly say on Twitter or Facebook every single day. A book that is not done will never help anyone, and the only thing standing between you and your dream of writing a book is staring back at you in the mirror. Life is always busy. Timing is never great. So if you know your book is going to help your ideal reader in a big way, you feel that burning desire in you to get it done. And you've had write a book on your list for more than six months, then you need to do something like NaNoWriMo right now. You also might greatly benefit from connecting with us to get help. We have writers and writing coaches to help you write a great book. Then we'll edit, Polish, design, publish, and help you promote that book. You can set up a call to discuss your book idea and create a plan for your nonfiction book@booklaunchers.com Are you going to participate in NaNoWriMo or start your own? Share that in the comments below. And when you comment on the day a video is released, you'll be entered to win some sweet noboringbooksswag like this mug. Many people say coffee tastes better in this. Like this tip. Smash that thumbs up button. Go ahead, try it. It feels so good. And make sure you subscribe to the channel and turn those notifications on so we can hang out every Tuesday and Friday when new videos come out. I have really enjoyed spending time with you and would love to hang out some more. If you want more writing tips, check out this video right here. Or if you're looking for the video YouTube thinks you most need to see that is right here. Either way, click one of them because I'm so excited to keep hanging out with you. See you there.
