5 Things You Need to Plan Before Writing a Book

Before you start writing at all there are some tasks you need to do. Research is one. Choosing a subject is another. But there is a whole plethora of things that you need to plan before you can start to write.

This article will discuss 5 of the things you need to plan before you can start writing your book:

1. What will be the size of the book? Let's face it you can write any number of types of books. And each of them has a different size. You can write a long eBook of about 60 pages, or a short eBook of only 15 to 20 pages. Or you can write an executive length book (100 pages) or a short book (200 pages). Or a textbook (300-400 pages). Or a long textbook (more than 400 pages). But without a target, you really can't design your book. And the length also determines how you can market your book. Trying to sell a long textbook as an eBook is probably not going to work very well. Selling a short eBook as a traditionally published book will probably leave the purchaser unsatisfied.

2. What style will you write in? Your topic can probably be written using many different styles of writing. However, the length and type of your book will make certain styles unacceptable. And vice versa. Why? Because length and type will help determine who is going to buy your book. And that buyer is going to have an expectation of your writing style. For example, an executive reading an executive length book is not going to expect to encounter a formal, academic style. And a university student will be somewhat taken aback when the 800 page textbook is written in a chummy conversational style.

3. What will be the story and slant or angle behind your book? Every book needs a story to justify it. And a non-fiction book will not be an exception. Why are you writing this book? What is the story behind why you have commandeered it? Why is it so important to you to communicate the book's contents?

4. Who is going to read this story? You've probably already made that decision. But there are always multiple people who may be interested in this topic. So the reality is you've chosen several different people. And that's okay... for multiple projects. Choose the readers you want to target. But each book needs to target just one of them. So what reader do you want to target with this book?

5. Who is going to write this book? You really don't need to do it all. That's where Ghostwriters come in. In the planning stage you need to determine who is going to do what. Are you going to design the book and let someone else write it? Are you going to research it and let someone else design and write it? Are you going to turn everything over to a ghostwriter? There are an infinite number of ways you can split up the work. So pick the one that is best for this project.