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How to write a book in a week

A 7 step guide to wri ng and self-publishing for

entrepreneurs and non-writers

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Readers reactions
“I just published my book. What I haven’t been able to achieve in the past three years I
did in just 7 days!” Chris, owner of a so ware company

“This book is extremely useful for busy people who wish to grasp the essentials …” Tal
Gur

“I am currently writing a book and it has taken me well more than a week! If I had had
this detailed how-to guide available I can immediately see how I could have cut my time
way down. And avoided some mistakes I nearly made along the way.” Entrepreneur
Michaela

“Catchy title, and it delivers! This book is one of the few quality books that helps readers
navigate their way through the jungle of self-publishing.” Mark

“I wish I had read this book before spending 3+ months planning, writing, and marketing
my own book!” Kiri Masters

“Everything you need to know in an afternoon reading session! Wish I had read the 10
ideas for a successful book before I started writing my book. 5 stars for totally over
delivering on my expectations!” Alicia

“Simple but easy to implement so no bulls***. What makes this book unique is that it is
written in a clear language. I finally found a way to write and publish my book without
my other projects getting delayed. No excuses!” Entrepreneur Patrick

“A must have for those not looking to lock themselves to a desk for 2 years. Through
real-world case studies and their own experience, Esther and Marie illustrate how one
can write a bestselling book in under a week. They provide step by step instructions for
how to do this that are incredibly actionable.” Jan Roos

“This book is an easy read, whereby the writers will not shy away from letting you know
that they have written it in a day. But that is a good thing, as it actually proofs that their
methodology works! I just read the book in a little over an hour. Now inspired with new
ideas I know I will pick it up again as a reference when writing my next book” Peter
Simoons

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Table of contents
Introduc on

Step 0: Before you start

Why you should write a book

Message versus Money?

No excuses!

10 ideas for a successful non-fic on book

Step 1: Composing the back-cover text

Begin with the end in mind

Step 2: Title/Sub tle and Designing the Cover

Title and sub tle secrets

Design a kick-ass cover

Step 3: Outlining: the secret behind easy wri ng

Step 4: Pre-promo on and sales of your book

Create a network of ‘ambassadors’

Step 5: Wri ng, wri ng, wri ng

Alterna ves to wri ng the book/wri ng it yourself

How many words or pages make a real book?

Step 6: Edi ng and Proofreading

Kill your inner perfec onist: when good is good enough

Step 7: Publishing ninja ps

Get your book published

Ninja Tips

The AFTER publishing game

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Improve, improve, improve

Your next book?

Success stories

About the authors

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Introduction
Esther and Marie met at a conference for successful loca on independent entrepreneurs
in Bangkok. Esther, (co-)author of 25 books, gave a ‘write your book in a week’ workshop
where Marie found that she uses the exact same method for her Amazon best sellers!
They instantly connected and shared experiences and ps.

Soon people who had been in the workshop and other entrepreneurs who had not been
able to a end started asking for more informa on about the book wri ng process and
how to publish their book. Both Esther and Marie had already been considering
condensing all their knowledge into a book and an e-course. They decided to sit down
right then and there and write the book together. In just one day (!) they created this
7-step guide, using their own, tested method.

The e-course was filmed a week later: It provides even more inspira on to create your
book! You can find a special offer here: estherjacobs.info/en/wri ngecourse.

So this book was wri en in one day, but to be really, brutally honest: the design, promo
and publishing process of this book took a few days longer than just the one day... :)

The en re process breaks down into these seven steps:

1. Composing the back-cover text

2. Researching Title/Sub tle and Designing the Cover

3. Outlining: how to structure your book for easy wri ng

4. Pre-promo on and sales of your book

5. Wri ng, wri ng, wri ng

6. Edi ng and Proofreading

7. Publishing

These 7 steps will help you to structure and speed up your process of wri ng, book
crea on, promo on and publishing. You can do this in seven consecu ve days, or spread
them over more me. You can also allow yourself more me than a week if you wish.
We consider wri ng your book in a month s ll to be a tremendous accomplishment!

Each step doesn’t necessarily correspond to a day in the week. You might write your
back cover very fast, but the design might take longer for example. Realis cally the

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wri ng itself will take a few days, so make sure, you go through the other steps faster to
leave enough me for the actual wri ng. Ideally, you write a part of the book every day.
You might work on two steps at the same me: while wai ng for the designer to deliver
your cover, you might start the outline process for example. Whatever you do,
remember that it IS possible to write a book in a day (we did!), but then again it depends
on the topic, the length of the book, your experience with the topic, as a writer,
availability of materials you might re-use etc. The most important thing is to get your
book out to the world. We strongly believe that there is an author in each of us!

Marie Stern & Esther Jacobs

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Step 0: Before you start

Why you should write a book

Some people just want the experience of wri ng and publishing their own book even if
they are a non-writer. We can guarantee that it is a mighty feeling to finally hold that
first physical book in your hands!

Others feel that they have a story that just needs to be told, a message that needs to be
shared with the world.

Marie was never interested in wri ng, was never trained as a writer and was always a
C-student when it came to wri ng essays at school. But she had a message to share - a
message about how to overcome adversity in life. She first started outlining and then
wri ng books even though she felt her wri ng was not good. This feeling did not hold
her back and soon her books would receive 5-star ra ngs on Amazon and became
category bestsellers.

Some take a more ra onal approach. They know that publishing a book will give them
expert status and may increase sales of their other products and services. It may even
kick-start or boost their public speaking career.

Esther started giving keynote speeches a er raising €16 million for chari es, without a
budget or experience. She talked about ge ng big results without resources and shared
her personal story. Before long her audience asked her to write a book about this
journey. Esther did: her first book ‘What is your excuse?’ started her career as an author.
The 17 books that followed really boosted Esther’s speaking career: she has given over a
thousand keynote speeches all over the world.

You never know where a book might take you. It can be the start of an exci ng journey
and a legacy that you leave behind.

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Message versus Money?

Your objec ve drives some important considera ons about the pricing, publishing and
promo on of your book. You must make choices. Some people might want to maximize
for profit others might want to maximize for spreading an important message.

You need to think about what your main reason for wri ng a book is. Let's have a look at
a few different objec ves and what the best publishing strategy for that goal is.

“I want to create awareness about XYZ.” or “I have an important message to share.”

A free PDF will reach a bigger audience than a paid book. Even if you just charge one
cent, people must go through a payment process, which will result in less book
circula on. If you do decide on a paid book, make sure you create a free ‘sneak preview’;
a PDF with the first 10-40 pages of your book, made available as widely as possible.

“I want to be considered an expert in my area.”

Keep in mind that expert status doesn’t mean that you must be the best at something,
just that you are slightly be er at that something than most people are. Being the
author of a book instantly gives you that ‘expert status’. Having the book is more
important than selling (m)any copies of it. Print only a few books and give them away
like business cards. Make sure the book is visible on your website and social media.

“I want to use the book as a stepping stone to my other products and services.”

Great idea! This is how it works. You start with a simple ‘entry product’, priced around
$7. Then you create an e-course or another e-product for $47 and finally, you have a VIP
offer for $147. Depending on the product or service the prices may vary of course. Sell
the book at a low price, possibly free and include a page (or more) about yourself and
your other books, workshops, speaking or other products and services. In the sales
process, or a er delivering the (e)book, make sure to men on or even ac vely upsell.

“To make money! Why else?”

We need to do some expecta on management here. Wri ng books rarely makes you a
lot of money. Unless your name is Stephen King or you write the new Harry Po er or 50
shades of Grey series of course. But these well-known examples are excep ons. 99% of
all authors write books for the reasons men oned above. However, it is possible to make
a decent income out of books especially wri en and targeted for Amazon. There are
courses specifically targe ng this and will help you get all the details right: choose a
popular topic and use Amazon SEO methods to sell books (see chapter 7 for more
informa on). Make sure you have a marke ng budget reserved for Facebook ads and

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other promo ons. If you have your own audience (for example if you are a speaker),
consider prin ng a stock of books, since the costs will be lower, but mind storage and
fulfilment expenses.

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No excuses!

Many people have reasons excuses to NOT write their book. Which is great, because that
means there will be more a en on for YOUR book, once it gets published. So, let’s deal
with the most common excuses before we start.

“I don’t have time.”

Of course, you are busy. But if you want to get this book out, you must block one week in
your schedule to fulfil a lifelong dream. And did you know that you don’t even have to
write the book yourself? (See chapter 5 for more informa on). By the way, you’re not
the only one who is busy; readers don’t have me to read long books anymore. The
short-read category on Amazon has become one of the most popular categories.

“I can’t write.”

You decide on the concept of your book and make the outline, somebody else can do
the wri ng. You will be amazed at how easy this is. Or you can record audio files to be
transcribed, or publish them as a podcast! (See chapter 5 for more informa on)

“I don’t know where to start.”

Fair enough. Wri ng a book can seem like a huge project and can feel overwhelming. It is
more important to start somewhere. Just get the ball rolling, once you start
brainstorming and outlining the book, the process will become much easier. By
following the seven steps in this book you will feel more in control, by focussing on the
task at hand.

“It’s too much work.”

It IS a lot of work, especially if you don’t know what you are doing. Having to rewrite and
restructure parts of your book takes a lot of energy and may make you lose your

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mo va on. That’s how a lot of book projects got stranded. Therefore, we made the
process logical and easy for you. The key is to structure the book well at the beginning,
you can focus all your energy on crea ng instead of having to go back and rewrite en re
parts.

“I don’t have anything interesting to say.”

Really? What did you say your work was? List the ques ons you get asked most. To you
this might seem like ‘nothing special’, but apparently, people ask them because you
know something that they don’t. Look at the list with 10 book ideas in the next sec on
to see which one resonates.

“Who would want to read my book?”

You’d be surprised! It’s unbelievable what other people want to read. People have a ton
of different interests. Even an ‘old’ story can be new when told from your perspec ve
because your perspec ve is unique. Things that seem special to you, might be special to
somebody else and you might not even see it that way.

“There’s already a book about this topic”

Great! That means that your topic is a popular one. Now take a good look at your
‘compe tors’. What do you like about the exis ng books? What is missing? What could
you do be er. Make sure your book is be er, more complete, or addresses a different
angle of the topic. Each of us is unique and can give their own unique perspec ve on a
topic.

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10 ideas for a successful non-fiction book

Some of the best book ideas are very simple. It’s the content that ma ers. Star ng with
a proven format will make the wri ng process much less overwhelming. Let's dive into
the 10 most successful non-fic on book models to get you inspired.

1. The Memoir or Biography

Most of us love hearing other people's stories if they're compelling and well told. That's
why memoirs and autobiographies o en show up on bestseller lists, like Richard Branson
or Nelson Mandela’s books. And you don’t even have to be ‘famous’. Elizabeth Smart
was kidnapped at a young age and her book about the experience became a bestseller.
Esther’s first book ‘What is your excuse?’ is her autobiography, which is the basis for her
other work. Consider telling your own or a family member's life story or sharing lessons
from your life.

2. The How-to Book

“How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie is one of the famous
examples. You can turn any topic into a ‘how to’ book: from graphic design to paren ng
to business. Some authors are concerned: “Will people s ll buy from me if I give away all
this informa on?" Yes, they will be more inclined to buy from you because they KNOW
you. Dan Kennedy is a well-known copywriter who gets paid tens of thousands of dollars
to write a sales le er. But he s ll wrote a book called The Ul mate Sales Le er. By

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revealing how difficult it is to write strong sales le ers and how much work goes into it,
Dan's book has brought him many new paying clients. When you give readers good solid
informa on but don't tell them everything you know, they will want to contact you to
find out more. Plus this establishes your expert status in a field.

3. The Mistakes Book

People are always interested in learning about mistakes they can avoid, so this is a
popular format. Examples are books about diet mistakes, paren ng mistakes and: “New
Sales Speak: The 9 Biggest Sales Presenta on Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” by Terri
Sjodin.

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4. The Book of Interviews

This format allows you to create a book without providing the content yourself. You pick
a topic and interview (famous?) people on this topic. J.M. Trippon is a CPA who followed
this model when he wrote How Millionaires Stay Rich Forever. His book became a great
networking tool that enabled him to connect with millionaires and interview them. The
people in your book might also help with the promo on, once ‘their’ story is published.

5. The Question and Answer Book

Do people ask you ques ons when they hear about your area of exper se? Which
ques ons are you asked most o en? Maybe they could become the basis for a book.
Imagine having a book tled "Answers to Your Most Common Ques ons:" (about your
topic), and see what comes to mind. We found books answering ques ons about
religion, diet, health and certain specific diseases.

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6. The __ Ways to Do Something Book

You might have heard of the bestselling book 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the
Earth. This is a format that many authors have successfully imitated. You can use any
number—7, 10 and 101 are other numbers that are frequently used. Other examples are
“100 ways to use your android device” and “10 ways to focus on what ma ers most”.

7. The How to Hire Someone Book

Two books that use this format effec vely are How to Hire a Nanny and Before You Hire
a Contractor. This a great way to showcase your exper se and gain new clients by
sharing informa on you've learned in your line of business.

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