- 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.
(upbeat music)
Hey there, I'm Julie "The Book" Broad,
I'm an Amazon overall number one best-selling author,
and the founder of a fabulous company called Book Launchers.
Our super power 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 50000 word book.
Now technically it's for novel writers,
but why can't nonfiction authors participate?
There's no rules saying you can't.
You can sign up right here at nanowrimo.org/sign-up,
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 1666 words per day
to hit 50000 words in the month,
but I like round numbers so I said 1500.
Or if you really wanna be a part
of a nonfiction writing community,
there is Write Nonfiction in November,
which is WinFin challenge,
or there is NaNonFiWriMo (laughs), 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 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 anytime 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 wanna challenge?
What are they thinking about right now
that you wanna kinda tap into?
What are they dreaming about?
You really wanna 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 kinda 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 wanna take Sundays off, that's cool,
just write 2000 words a day.
Regardless, you'll need to give yourself time every day,
and ideally, you do it at the same time every day
'cause there's something magical that happens in your brain,
it'll just know that's writing time (laughs).
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 'cause 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 gonna 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
at booklaunchers.com/application.
Are you gonna participate in NaNoWriMo or start your own?
Share that in the comments below.
And when you comment, on the day of videos released,
you'll be entered to win some sweet
#no boring book swag 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.
(upbeat music)