Did you know that you can use a book as one of your primary tools to create leveraged impact around the world? Writers and authors can only be in one location at once—the book signing, the stage giving a talk, or of course, their computer writing their next book.
However, when you write and publish your book, you give yourself the opportunity to have leveraged impact in places you can’t physically be, and at times you couldn’t impact otherwise.
Your readers can learn from your writing at the same time you work on the draft of your next book. Your followers can escape their life struggles for a chapter or two while you teach at a writing conference or engage with an online webinar.
And one of the best aspects of creating leveraged impact with your book? Your impact can span years, decades, and generations after you.
So, how do you go about the process of creating this type of leveraged impact? Founder and CEO of Self Publishing School, Chandler Bolt, discussed this very topic in his TEDx Talk. He breaks the process down into three steps, and we share it here.
Why Leveraged Impact?
Writing a book is a way to serve humanity that has the potential to impact hundreds, thousands, and millions of lives. When you write a book, you take all of your experiences, lessons learned, and trials and errors and condense them into a handbook for others.
There is so much power in learning from others, and to take the time and bravery to be this type of person is a privilege. It’s not easy to write everything on the page, let alone publish it for the world to see.
But books change lives, they create an impact far greater than we ever could on our own, and they have the potential to inspire generations to come. Think of your favorite book, the message or theme, and how it impacts you today.
Whether it’s a classic like J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings encourages you to be brave as your journey through life, or James Clear’s Atomic Habits inspiring you into a healthy lifestyle, books create leveraged impact worldwide. There are three groups of people your book can impact.
#1 – Friends and Family
Roughly 200 people comprise this group. Made up of immediate family, extended family, and those you come in contact with on a regular basis, your book has the power to impact them. Not only will this group likely read your story, but even asking how your progress is going can inspire them.
#2 – Readers
Let’s say 1,000 people read your book. These readers take to heart either what you shared about life, business, or another nonfiction topic, or the characters you created in your fiction story. They walk away changed.
#3 – One Person
This one person could be from either of the previous two groups, but the impact your book has on this singular person is astronomical. Because you took the time to write and publish your book, and they chose to read it, they go on to succeed in a big way themselves. Perhaps this one reader and even writes their own book, and keeps the cycle of leveraged impact going.
What Keeps Most People From Getting Started?
While books are a powerful way to create impact, many people struggle to get started. The New York Times published an article stating that 81% of people want to write a book…but the staggering truth is, not many do. There are two myths that keep many wannabe writers from becoming successful authors.
Mythe 1: You Must Traditionally Publish
The first myth is that you must land an agent, and then a book deal with a publisher, to successfully publish a book. However, the publishing industry continues to change and evolve. If you are a great writer and can market successfully, publishing your book on Amazon is a viable option.
Mythe 2: It Takes Years To Publish
If you are willing to put the work in, you can publish a book rather quickly. In fact, depending on how formulated your idea is and if you’re willing to make time to write, you could publish your book in as little as three months.
You read that correctly—you could write your book and put it out into the world in as little as ninety days. No, you do not need to take years to write your book. In fact, it will likely serve you better to sit down and crank out your rough draft, hire an editor, and then publish your book.
This will keep all the details top-of-mind and lessen the likelihood that you forget important aspects of your books over the years you spend writing it.
How To Get Your Rough Draft Done?
“This all sounds great,” you might think, “but how am I supposed to just go write a book? I have an idea, I might even have many ideas if I think about it, but I don’t know how to organize it into a book people will want to read.” If you want to create leveraged impact, simply follow these three easy steps:
Step One: Mindmap
In your first step make sure you find a quiet space and shut off all distractions. Then spend the next fifteen to forty-five minutes writing down all your book ideas. They do not need to be neat or organized, just get them down.
Step Two: Outline
Next, it’s time to turn your mindmap into an outline by grouping your mind map into five sections. Once you have your mindmap, look for commonalities and order them into five groups. This creates a rough outline to create chapters from.
In this outline stage, choose each section, in order, and break them down into three chapters. Your mindmap has now turned into five sections, which you broke down into three parts each. Now you have a fifteen chapter outline.
Step Three: Write The Book
The last step is to repeat the process, chapter by chapter, fifteen times. Start with chapter one and from your outline, mindmap your ideas for the chapter.
Then, outline your ideas so they make sense and build on each other. Next, spend forty-five minutes to an hour and a half writing the chapter. If you feel like a slow typist or can’t type, use a speak-to-text software to “write” your chapter.
That’s it. Your entire first draft is done. Now all you need to do is edit your manuscript and get ready to start the publishing process.
Ready To Create Your Own Leveraged Impact?
Whether you are passionate about fiction or nonfiction, your writing has the power to create massive leveraged impact on your friends and family, those who will read your book, and the one person (or many) whose life will change as a result.
You now have a step-by-step guide you can follow to write your book in as little as ninety days. The only step left is to take the leap and write your book. Here at Self-Publishing School, we believe everyone has a book inside them.
Now it’s your turn to believe it about yourself! If you need some guidance starting your journey, we’re here to help. We can’t wait to see what book you write!