Pat Iyer’s Blog
Book Writing
The Class Paper that Started Everything
She sat slumped in a wheelchair, staring back at the graduate students gathered around a table. Our psychology professor interviewed her about her injuries. Softly, she told a halting story of an abusive husband who habitually beat her. She never understood what would...
Should You Write a Chapter in a Compilation Book?
You see an opportunity to contribute a chapter to a compilation book. It sounds exciting. Before you say yes, here’s what to consider. Yes, a chapter in a compilation book makes you a published author. And it can be a great way to lead you to the next step: a book of...
What Makes a Good Topic for an Authority-Building Book
Most experts think the best book topic is the one that shows everything they know. If you are an experienced person, that book could be massive, right? Instead of writing a huge book, think more narrowly. The topic that becomes an authority-building book is the...
Book Coach, Editor, or Ghostwriter: Which One Do You Actually Need?
Do you know which one you need: a book coach, editor, or ghostwriter? Most authors don't. They pick a term because it sounds close enough, hire the wrong kind of help, and wonder six months later why their book isn't progressing. The three roles overlap, so they blur...
How to Organize the Chapters in Your Nonfiction Book
Most authors think the chapter order will show up once they start writing. But it often does not. Ideally, you organize the chapters before you start writing, not during it. If you wait for the draft to sort itself out, you'll rewrite the same three chapters five...
Your Book Has Too Many Ideas: How to Organize and Limit Them
A client of mine — a consultant with twenty years of experience — sent me an outline for her book. It had an outline of 47 chapters. Forty-seven. She was drowning in ideas and felt she had to include everything. Every framework she'd ever taught, every client story,...
Why Version Control is Crucial: Which is the Current Version?
A client came to me recently in a bind. He’d been working on his book for months, revising chapters, sending them to a publishing company, getting feedback from the editor, and saving new drafts whenever an idea struck him at midnight. By the time he reached out to...
7 Writing Mistakes That Make a Good Book Look Amateurish
A few years ago, I read a memoir by someone with a genuinely compelling story to tell, sharing the intriguing details of her husband’s involvement with underworld criminals and his unexplained death. She had a unique story. But I almost put it down after I started...
When Your Book is Stalled (And The Hidden Price You Pay)
“Michael was reaching for his son’s pack as he started to say, ‘Good job, Son’. But he couldn’t finish his sentence as he slumped to the ground like a stone. I ran over to catch him so his head would not hit the cement. After I laid him down, I ran inside to the front...
Why Shorter Business Books Win (And How to Write One That Delivers)
When my client hired me to help him write a business book that was part memoir and part guidance on being a leader, I envisioned a book of about 40,000 words. The project ballooned to 70,000 words before we concluded that it was best as a two-volume set. Books Have...