Book Title: Don’t Write a Crappy Book by James M. Ranson
Category: Adult Non- Fiction, 210 pages
Genre: Business, Authorpreneurship
Publisher: Master Wordsmith Media, in association with Thanet House Books
Release date: Oct 1, 2018

Synopsis

A great book can launch your business into the stratosphere. Unfortunately, most self-published business books rank somewhere between “meh” and “flaming pile of crap.” But your book doesn’t have to suck!

In “Don’t Write a Crappy Book,” editor and entrepreneur James Ranson unpacks the most common–and toxic–mistakes that first-time nonfiction authors make. Peppered with wisdom from a panel of industry experts, this book debunks the dangerous myths that can torpedo your text and offers clear, practical guidance for writing a book you’re proud of. This is the resource for the aspiring authorpreneur who wants to write and publish a book with minimum hassle and maximum results.

This book will teach you:

– How a self-published book can make or break your business (and the THREE factors that determine which it does)
– The biggest blind spots no one tells authors about (and how to look for them BEFORE it’s too late)
– How to write a first book that will get positive reviews on Amazon (and why that’s a better goal than becoming a bestseller)
– When writing a business book is the right move for you (and when you should NEVER write one)
– How to self-publish on Amazon to actually get good results for your business (a lot of it happens before you even start writing!)
– What NOT to do when you’re looking for an editor (and how to find a great one)
– Why trying to write and publish a book in 90 days or less is a recipe for disaster (and why no one tells you that!)
– How to avoid do-overs, sunk costs, and other self-publishing headaches (and how to get out of them if they sneak up on you)

Stay out of the crap pile! Discover the secrets to creating a highly valuable book that will expand your influence and grow your business for years to come.

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Interview with James Ranson

You are professionally involved in writing in a number of ways. Tell me about it!

Sure! There are a number of different ways that I help authors create high quality books.

• If an author wants to write the book themselves, but is needing some guidance and maybe some accountability and strategy help around that, then I can essentially be their book-writing sherpa and guide them through the process as a book coach or book consultant. That’s one of my favorite things to do – I love getting on the phone with a client and helping them get ready to write.
• If they know that their business needs a book and their business is ready to support one, but they themselves don’t have the bandwidth to write it, I can be their ghostwriter; I can write the book with them or for them. We’ll have a number of calls where I interview them and get to know their content, and then I’ll write them a first draft. They’ll respond to the draft and say, “Ok, I like this and I like this, I don’t like this, we can fix this…” Then I’ll do a rewrite and it will go on to editing from there.
• If they’ve already written the book, there’s actually a couple of things I can do. I can either work with them to edit the book – I’ll be their editor and we’ll go through rewrites and responses and so forth to get the book from rough draft to polished final draft. Or again, if they don’t have as much bandwidth, I can rewrite it for them. That’s called book doctoring, and I actually love doing that. It’s sort of a hybrid of ghostwriting and editing.
• And of course I’m a published author now, so that’s another way! Don’t Write A Crappy Book! is technically my second book, but it’s the first one that’s really meant to raise awareness for my business. And I plan to write several more books over the next few years.

How do you balance your personal and professional life?

Better than I used to! I try to keep my mornings pretty laid back; that’s the time when I’ll go for a walk, or go to the gym, or read and kind of just enjoy whatever I’m doing. If I do any work or take any calls in the morning, it’s pretty rare, and it’s more likely to be personal work like writing than client work (unless I’m on a tight deadline). Late morning/lunchtime through late afternoon are more of my working hours, and unless I’m on deadline, I try to stop usually around 5:00 or 6:00 and just relax in the evening. And I also try to minimize work on weekends. Does that all work 100% of the time? No, but it’s what I try for, and I’m getting more consistent as I keep working at it.

Do you ever get writer’s block? What helps you overcome it?

Writer’s block is really interesting, because I don’t tend to struggle with it that much. But I think that the main reason for that is every time I sit down, I know what I want to write, because I’ve outlined it thoroughly beforehand. One of the things that I write about in Don’t Write A Crappy Book is that the #1 mistake everyone I talked to said that authors make without realizing it, is that they don’t make and work with an outline when they write. That was a little bit surprising to me–I knew it was probably going to be top 5, but I didn’t think it would be #1. If you have an outline, and that outline is really detailed and straightforward, defeating or navigating writer’s block becomes a lot easier. Because then you have clear ideas about what you can say next. Or if you get stuck on one chapter you can just jump to the next chapter and say, “Alright, I need to let this one percolate for a little while, but I can start on the next one because I know what I’m going to say there.” And it may not work 100% of the time, but it probably works 90% of the time! If you have a clear idea of who you’re talking to, what they need, and how what you’re saying can help them, and you’ve taken that knowledge and put it into an outline, writer’s block honestly becomes a very easy thing to overcome. The main reason most people run into writer’s block is because they haven’t done any kind of preparation. They just sit down and think the ideas are going to flow. And maybe that can work if you’re writing fiction (I doubt it, but that’s outside of my knowledge base), but if you’re writing a business book, you’ll need to have an outline.

What are you most proud of, professionally speaking?

Well for starters, I am so proud of this book! It’s the culmination of everything I’ve done in my business so far, and I’m super proud of it. But aside from the book, I would say that it’s how well the clients I’ve worked with are doing now, because of the books that we’ve worked on. One of my clients got a legit book deal for his second book, because of the first book that we worked on together. And getting to see all these clients have great launches, with books that they‘re going to use to represent their businesses for years that they’re so super proud of – I love that. It makes what I do worth doing.

Why 17? How did you determine the mistakes you say will kill a business book?

That does sound like an arbitrary number, doesn’t it? But it actually came from talking to 26 other book professionals and then adding my own experience and expertise, and then categorizing all that insight and figuring out how it all fit together. That was a process! The initial outline and table of contents probably changed form at least a dozen times, if not a couple dozen. What ultimately fell together were these sets of three main categories and the most prominent mistakes within each category, which just happened to add up to 17. There wasn’t a plan that it would be that number, but that’s the number that it worked out to be when all of the value was put together in the best way.

What do you like to do when you’re not reading or writing, or working with people who read or write?

Sleep! (Just kidding, but not really…getting enough sleep is super important for me.) But when I’m awake and not working, lots of different things. I love to go for walks and go hiking out in nature. I love animals; my fiancé and I volunteer at a no-kill animal shelter here in Atlanta, which is a lot of fun. We also like to go to shows – plays and musicals and stuff like that. There are a lot of great restaurants in Atlanta, and we like to go and explore those with friends. And I’m always reading anyway, so my fun time tends to involve books as much as my work time–just fantasy and sci-fi instead of entrepreneurship.

What’s one of your favorite book-related memories?

What a great question! There was this one Saturday morning, I was probably eight years old, where I decided to sit down and read Treasure Island in one sitting, to see if I could (it worked, too!). I did something very similar with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. When it came out, I got off work at like noon, I got to Barnes & Noble at 1:00, sat down with the book at 1:30 and just sat there in the café and read the entire book. I finished at like 5:30. And then I went home and started reading it again! I’ve got plenty of those memories, of reading books with amazing stories that I just can’t put down and want to read in one sitting. Another favorite memory is of the first book I ever edited professionally. It was called Profit Hacking, by my friend Steve Daar. That was really the first time where I was like, “This is something that I can do, and it’s something I feel really amazing doing.” And again, Steve was very happy with it; it became a cornerstone of his business for the next couple of years. Any time I help an author have a book experience like that is always a great book memory for me.

About the Author

James Ranson, The Master Wordsmith(TM), is a Wall-Street-Journal-bestselling editor, ghostwriter and book coach who has helped over 200 consultants, coaches, speakers and other thought leaders create high-quality books. Clients of his have gone on to sell thousands of books, receive book deals from publishing houses, and be featured in regional and national media outlets. In addition to his own clients, James is a writer and book doctor for Thanet House Books, and is on recommended professional lists for Scribe Media(formerly Book in a Box), My Word Publishing, BrightFlame Books and Authors Unite. His second book, Don’t Write A Crappy Book!, will be published on October 1, 2018. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, James lives in Atlanta, GA, with his fiancée and a very needy cat.

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Giveaway

Prizes: 5 winners will get an ebook copy of Don’t Write a Crappy Book, 1 winner will get a $20 Amazon GC and 3 winners will get a $10 Amazon GC (open to USA and Canada / 9 winners total)

(ends Nov 7, 2018)

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