An ad arrived from my bank, Chase, which contained a reference to a “Chasexperience.” The “sex” resulting from the concatenation of “Chase” and “experience” had to have been intentional. The word, “sex,” wakes the reader up; the purpose of advertising is to attract attention, and then to make an offer. (Chase’s offer, in this case, was not sexy.)

The other day, my wife, Dalia, asked if I’d seen the manicure kit. My ears picked up, “manic cure kit.” I asked, “Why do you need a manic cure? Are you depressed?”

We need to pay attention to the inadvertent words that happen when inter-word spaces get lost. The effect can be powerfully supportive–or unintentionally amusing.

Alex Mandossian had another gem in a recording I just listened to: “The single problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.” Wow! I think every writer should print out this quote and frame it.

Think about this. Are you sure your message has gotten across? How do you know? Make up tests to find out if what people are understanding is what you think you are writing. Get feedback!

Something in the reader is engaged by conflict, if they can identify with it. If you lay out a story of someone faced with the kind of problem that you typically solve for your clients, describe just how bad things were, then how they got worse (but only if they really did, of course ), and then how the problem was solved with your help, you will have a narrative that is engaging, or even gripping. And if you can describe three such situations, you should have no difficulty using your book to attract clients.

Think about it: What grips your attention? Isn’t the pattern of conflict and resolution in all your favorite stories? There’s no reason it can’t be in your non-fiction writing, too.

And this is just the sort of thing that will carry over nicely into other products–podcasts; recordings; ebooks; and more.

Here are 3 ways to find out what people currently are interested in, in your niche:

• Visit a bookstore with a large magazine rack and scan table of contents of appropriate publications. Magazines are good at researching “hot topics.”
• Do that same research online; just search for “magazine directory,” then use directory sites to track down the magazines that match your focus.
• If you think you know some hot topics, use keyword research tools to see how many searches there are for them–http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com is a great one.

Be relevant. You will attract readers and search engines.

Sometimes I have “itches” that are hard for me to articulate, things that somehow want to be “scratched,” if only I could find them. I’ve discovered that writing a book using my process (click here to get your free copy of my book that explains it) helps me define the itches. And the scratching happens as I clarify what I want to say.

That’s what happened to me with Structure is Destiny, my book about organizational structure. I had long felt a need to respond to Peters and Waterman’s In Search of Excellence, but wasn’t sure exactly how. When I finally determined to write a book about my thoughts, it all came out in a very satisfying way.

Go get my book–it’s free–and try it.

Of course, one of the most popular tapes is duct tape. Tim Nyberg, who has
co-written seven books on the subject, including “The Jumbo Duct Tape Book”
and “Duct Shui,” calls it a panacea.

“It’s easy to use, you can rip it with your bare hands, and it doesn’t come
with any instructions, so it doesn’t limit creativity,” he said.

I read this in a New York Times article this morning about the coming wave of gecko-inspired tapes. That final quote, about not coming with instructions, and thus not limiting creativity, gave me a pleasant jolt.

Is my writing that way? Does it induce an experience in the reader that allows them to step into new creative paths?

Being a word person, I was not surprised to learn that I was not the only person to hear, “duck tape,” when someone said, “duct tape.” (Go to old Prairie Home Companion episodes for extensive wonderful exploration of this theme.) That aspect of duct tape is also inspiring: Will what I call my products be as sticky?

Which thought leads me to a book every marketer should read: Made to Stick, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

Be sticky. Write better. Name well.

Words matter. Words matter to me a great deal. And as I’ve just learned, there are many others, including the the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors, to whom words matter, too. To learn more about Words Matter Week, click here.

One of the most popular posts on this blog is The diamond is your friend, which is almost a year old. The idea (go read it if you haven’t; it’s very brief) seems to resonate with everyone who thinks about writing–anything, not just books.

The notion that (usually) you are writing for a purpose, for a reason, is obvious. Yet so many of us get caught up in the composition, and overlook the obvious. Everything you write should be based on the diamond you identify, whether it’s a book, a blog post, an article, or a script. Everything.

I think this is the most fundamental “how to write a book” lesson. If you take it to heart, you will be well on your way to writing whatever it is you are attempting, and having it accomplish its purpose. Go read The diamond is your friend.

I put the word “secret” in quotes because I’ve been doing my best for quite a while to make sure that this simple approach is NOT secret. To make money from what you know, all you have to do is write your book (use my method, described in my free book). In so doing, you will create a structured body of information that you will be able to easily convert into a variety of products, each of which can become the basis of a separate stream of income for you.

Once you’ve done that, your next step is to market your products on the Internet.

There are many courses available, ranging from free to thousands of dollars. What I’ve found is that most of them suffer from a major flaw, as far as the person monetize his or her expertise is concerned: Too much information.

You see, the steps to promoting and marketing your products and services on the Internet are not that complex. The challenge is that at each phase of the process, there are many choices.

Most people offering Internet marketing education take the approach of teaching you a variety of ways to do things, and allowing you to make your own choices as to what suits you best. My approach is different: At each phase, I have chosen a specific way for you to do things, and that is what I teach you. This guarantees that you have a complete marketing system up and running in the shortest possible team, and at the least expense possible.

And even still, what I’m offering is by no means a “get rich quick” scheme. It involves a lot of work. But all it takes is following clear instructions and doing the work. Anyone can do it.

Check out my course here.

Just enter “coach to write a book” in your favorite search engine. This website, along with several others, will pop up on the first page of the results. As far as I know, all the coaches whose names pop up are professional, and have guided many would-be authors to the completion of their books.

But do you really need a coach? Perhaps all you need is a clear method. Now, far be it from me to discourage anyone from engaging a coach to write a book. But on the other hand, no coach that I know wants to sell you something you don’t need. I certainly don’t.

I suggest you get my free book, “The Simple Secret to Writing a Non-Fiction Book in 30 Days, at 1 Hour a Day!” Click here. Download the book and read it. Then see if you need a coach to take you to your next step.