Unfortunately, most aren’t professional writers, and they worry they won’t see a return on their investment of time and resources.

With the chances of completion so stacked against them, how can business owners flip the odds? How can they write and publish a book that delivers results and helps grow their business?

The 7 mistakes the entrepreneur makes as a first-time author

In helping more than 200 business owners become published authors, we’ve observed 7 common mistakes. These result in entrepreneurs publishing a book that doesn’t deliver results with many never even completing their book in the first place.

First-time author mistake #1: Thinking they have nothing to write about

A first-time author often struggles to come up with what they believe is useful content that people want to read. But if your business effectively serves a customer segment, then you have valuable content right under your nose. The problem may be that you’re so close to your business that you take for granted the unique I.P. you have.

Review your processes, methodologies, existing content – even emails, sales materials, and customer communications. It’s nearly always possible to pull out unique, compelling ideas that are excellent sources for book content.

First-time author mistake #2: Writing without a strategy

Every entrepreneur intuitively knows the importance of a business, product, or marketing strategy. So it’s surprising how few look at their book in the same way. Unlike a fiction writer, a business owner must think of their book as an integrated part of their business. Your book is part marketing asset, part sales tool, and part product. Jumping into writing it without first developing a strategy is a huge mistake.

There are three core components of this:

Your business strategy

Before writing, you need to clarify the elements of your core business that are important reference points for your book. This includes identifying specific business objectives for your book, identifying links to your products and services, and creating a business plan.

Your reader strategy

Consider the various stakeholder groups who may benefit from reading your book. Then identify your ideal reader (that is, envision a specific person you’ll be writing to). Finally, articulate the intended transformation you want your ideal reader to undergo as a result of reading your book.

Your book strategy

Book strategy goes well beyond simply stating your topic. You also need to articulate the central question your book will answer, your unique angle on the topic, and the appropriate tone given the topic and ideal reader. Your book strategy also clarifies the type of book you will write (How-to? Memoir? List book? Essay? etc.) and considers how the book will be positioned. For this, you identify book categories, search keywords, comparable books, and the like that will help define your marketing and distribution strategy.

First-time author mistake #3: Writing without a plan

Very few business owners create a plan to guide their writing. While drafting a table of contents is a common first step, this is insufficient and is usually the wrong place to start. It can prematurely stunt the creative process before it’s even begun.

Instead, use brainstorming methodologies (mind-mapping, index cards, etc.) to get ideas out of your head, and only then start structuring them into a logical outline.

Even with an outline, the first-time author often finds the writing process difficult. That's why I recommend taking it a step further. Detail out not just sections, chapters, and topics that you’ll cover, but also the key points you'll make on each topic and subtopic.

This adds time up-front, but the benefit is that you’ll have a robust blueprint to write from. You'll significantly improve your ability to both start and stay on topic when you get down to writing the content itself.

First-time author mistake #4: Applying inconsistent effort

A robust writing plan makes it much easier to write the content of your book. However, it still demands time and effort to produce the 30,000 to 50,000 words required for the average, non-fiction book most entrepreneurs need.

Let’s face it – with a business to run and personal goals and commitments, it’s hard to imagine where you’ll find time to pound out your manuscript.

There are two paths that can work, and both depend on having a rock-solid writing plan.

1) Knock it out

The first is to lock yourself away for a week or so where you can just write, write, write. Writing daily for 5-7 hours generates around 5,000 words per day and can get your first draft completed in a week, give or take. This, however, isn’t realistic for most people, let alone a first-time author.

2) Plug away

The better approach is usually to dedicate one hour per day, every day, and aim to produce 750-1,000 words daily. At this rate, you should be able to knock out 5,000 words per week and finish your manuscript in 6-8 weeks.

In either case, the key is to keep writing and resist the urge to self-edit as you go. The habit of back-tracking, re-writing, and hopping back and forth between Word and Google is incredibly common. It's a major reason why books don't get finished.

Trust the process and keep writing with the knowledge that the first draft will be ugly, but the magic comes in the edit.

First-time author mistake #7: Having no good way to monetize

The final mistake that business owners make in writing their first book, is that they don’t create an effective means of monetizing it.

If you did your due diligence up-front in defining your strategy, then you’re well ahead of most. You probably have a good idea of how you will make money from your book. Unless you’re a professional writer whose primary commercial activity is writing books, this is almost certainly not about selling lots of copies of your book.

There are many ways for an entrepreneur to monetize their book. Most, however, can be grouped into the following four strategies:

1) Authority Strategy

This strategy is focused on building your authority as an expert thought-leader in your field. It involves gaining as much exposure as possible through media, speaking engagements, social engagement, etc.

2) Lead-Generation Strategy

This strategy focuses on getting your book into the hands of as many of your ideal customers as possible. The goal is to generate pre-sold, qualified leads for your existing products and services. Your readers will already know, like, and trust you, so your job is to convert these leads into paying clients for your core business.

3) Product Development Strategy

This strategy is focused on creating new products and services based on the content of your book. While similar to the Lead-Generation strategy, this strategy creates a new line of business around the book itself, rather than using the book to sell existing products and services.

4) Book Series Strategy (note: this is NOT a first-time author strategy)

This strategy is for the entrepreneur who wants to eventually be seen more as an author than a business owner and earn meaningful income from book sales.​

It’s a long-term strategy. It depends on publishing multiple titles around a related set of topics, then developing and nurturing a community of followers. This is viable for those who love writing, but you shouldn’t expect it to provide significant direct income as a first-time author. You won't start to see the payoffs until you have published at least 3 or more related books.

Success in any of these areas is likely to support success in the others as well, but it’s a mistake not to select one as your primary monetization strategy. This allows you to set up promotional and distribution activities accordingly. It also lets you integrate the book into your broader business in a way that most effectively delivers revenue.

STEPS to write and publish a book that ROIs - even as a first-time author

To put structure around the author journey, especially for the entrepreneur working to become a first-time author, I’ve developed a framework that addresses these 7 mistakes. It focuses on 5 pillars integrated into what is called The Entrepreneur to Author STEPS Method. While there’s nothing magical about STEPS, it offers a structured way of writing and publishing your nonfiction book. It ensures your book will build authority at scale so it can deliver real, positive benefits to your business.

[S] Strategy and Planning

[T] Transfer of Knowledge

[E] Editing Excellence

[P] Presentation

[S] Sales Conversion

Let structure set you free

While there are no guarantees in business or publishing, success in both arenas benefits from tried-and-true approaches. They provide structure to what can otherwise feel like an ambiguous and risky endeavour. By using a framework like STEPS, it’s possible to avoid common pitfalls. Then you can focus your efforts on developing strong, compelling ideas and on leveraging your book effectively within your business.

Far from limiting creativity, such methods provide guardrails. These guardrails give the first-time author comfort that their time and resources are well-spent. They leave them feeling confident that their book will enhance, rather than hurt their reputation. They know their book will help scale their business and ultimately allow them to enjoy the entrepreneurial lifestyle they’d envisioned.