Do I Need An Editor For My Book?

Yes, you do need an editor for your book. That’s the simple answer. Whether you’re writing fiction, children’s fiction, non-fiction, memoir… if you want anyone to be interested in reading your book you need to go through editing.

There are other useful stages of the writing process too which can help you control the financial cost of hiring an editor. These include alpha readers, beta readers and self-editing. 

There’s a massive elephant in the room, though. Let me explain.

“The first six chapters are unnecessary worldbuilding and backstory. Start the story 20,000 words later.” …

“I can’t really care about your lead character and your reader won’t either.” …

“The plot of the novel isn’t driven by any significant character motivation. Your character needs a much stronger reason to go after their goal and go through all those difficulties.” …

“The style isn’t engaging yet. There’s a lot of ‘telling’ in places where ‘showing’ would be much more effective.

The editor might go further and say, “The premise of your novel is severely flawed. It just doesn’t work.”

Not a great feeling.

You’re pretty much back to the drawing board. Unless you decide to ‘publish and be damned’ and discover the hard way through terrible reviews that the editor was right.

Learn to Tell a Great Story

Editing is valuable. Actually it is invaluable. You should definitely get your book edited. But that isn’t the first point at which you should seek support. When you write with support, learning and developing your awareness of structure, characterisation and style, you’ll create a much better first draft than you would have all on your own. 

While writing can be a lonely business, being a writer doesn’t have to be. The act of writing is often solitary but learning about it and developing your skills can be a highly sociable thing.

Investing in help and support doesn’t mean you won’t need an editor. It does mean your manuscript will be in a much better state when it does go to an editor. This makes the editing process less painful, you’ll understand why the editor points out certain things – and it’ll certainly make it cheaper and quicker. In the long run, you’ll also get better reviews on your book and greater success as an author. Win, win, win.

It’s sort of like knowing the cheat codes to a game. You end up further ahead of the others by working smart.

Whether you’re a new writer or writing your third novel, a community to share ideas and receive encouragement is something special.

Follow my Club (Writers’ Pool) on Clubhouse to get this benefit. A community for writers to discuss, collaborate and support each other. It’s a non-judgemental, non-stuffy space which welcomes writers of all experience levels. It’s about helping each other up rather than knocking each other down. 

I run regular ‘rooms’ on the app about lots of aspects of writing and storytelling. Sometimes I invite special guests to join me in the room who can offer all kinds of valuable insights into the writing process and industry.

Writers’ Pool on Clubhouse

Clubhouse is an audio-only mobile social media platform which promotes real connection between people. There’s no pressure to speak in any of my rooms if you’re a bit shy. So whether you’re a speaker or you’d prefer to stay in the audience, my Club is a great way to get support and motivation in your writing.

How to start writing a novel

You want to write a novel. You’ve got some story ideas bouncing around your head, but you don’t know how to even begin. Every novel you read makes you want to write your own book too, yet it also scares you. 

Those novels you read are just so… good. They’re polished and clever and well written. It makes you feel that you could never write something good enough so you maybe shouldn’t bother.

Advice for writing a novel

If you’re a new writer, I’ve got a reassuring message for you here about how novels get written. Before you start searching for advice like ‘Tips for Writing a Great Novel’, there’s something very important and powerful to understand.

A novel – in its finished form that you’ve always read – is not downloaded onto the page in a perfect flow. It does not pop out of the writer’s brain, down their arms, through their fingers and onto their manuscript as a crafted story. Novels do not appear as a manifestation of their authors’ stream of consciousness.

Every writer of a great, good, or even decent novel has a process. This process does not involve being a conduit through which a perfect novel streams out fully formed.

How to write your first novel

It’s unhelpful to think of writing your novel in terms of typing Chapter One and trying to get the words to come out right.

You’ll get on better if you think of the story in your mind as a lump of marble. It’s unformed at the moment. It’s not much to look at. But the potential is there for something beautiful. In fact, the material that the final work of art is formed of is already there. Your job as a writer – as a storyteller – is to find that story and to shape it into what it’s meant to be.

All novel writers do this in one way or another. They take an idea – their lump of marble – and they start shaping it. The rough shape of their plot and characters often begin to emerge first. The world the characters live in starts to become real. 

Gradually the story becomes more defined. The problems, emotions and motivations of the characters come into focus. Eventually, the novel is ready to share with the world. It is unveiled like a statue at an exhibition. Everyone marvels at the writer’s talent and skill, perhaps unaware of the work behind the scenes.

You can do this too. You can write a novel. It is not only for those ‘special’ ones. The only difference between them and you is the place they are on their writing journey.

Advice for Writers: Show don’t Tell

The advice writers are most often given is ‘show don’t tell’. In Facebook writing groups, critique groups, writers’ circles, creative writing workshops, the mantra is ‘show don’t tell’.

What does it even mean? What are you supposed to achieve with that?

It sounds confusing. It sounds like you’re meant to draw pictures for your readers rather than write them a story.

Creating a world of story

I remember when I was a child visiting my grandparents. My grandfather was a reader of crime novels, war stories and spy thrillers. Every week, he would visit the public library and take out another two or three books. 

I watched him reading them. I would try to guess what exciting things must be happening in the story. I always knew when he was in the middle of a dangerous bit because of his physical reactions. His legs twitched and jumped as if he were running away from an enemy soldier or spy. His fingers ran along the edges of the pages almost like he was grabbing for a gun. 

He enjoyed the thrill of those stories. He felt the excitement as if the events were real. He felt it physically.

The writers he enjoyed most were those who drew pictures for him so that he could see, hear, feel, smell and even taste what the characters were experiencing. They didn’t go in for long descriptions of scenery or detailed character sketches. Those writers created a world of story and dumped my grandfather into that world unceremoniously.

Those writers focused on the experience of the characters in the story, how it made them feel, and what they were struggling to achieve, and made it become real.

Writers who ‘show don’t tell’

That’s what writers who ‘show don’t tell’ are trying to achieve. A good writer will get out of their own way and stop dictating facts to their readers. They won’t tell their readers what they are supposed to think. Not directly. A good writer will show their readers the world from the point of view of their characters. Then they let their readers experience the events along with the characters.

It’s like living another person’s life. Even sat in your armchair in front of the fire, just like my grandfather did, you can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone. You can be James Bond. You can catch that spy and hunt down the criminal mastermind.

As a reader, you know that. You’ve had that experience yourself, whatever genre you read. As a writer, it’s your job to give that gift to your own readers.

I can help you start doing that exact thing. Access my FREE workbook to help you learn the difference between showing and telling in your writing…

Write a story that will make someone cry

Many writers wish they knew how to write a story that will make someone cry. They want to know how to make their readers feel such strong emotion that they sob while reading about fictional characters. Many such writers get part of the answer on their own: they understand that to make people cry they need to have characters in their stories who feel strong emotions themselves. However, they are often still missing a key part of the characterisation process. That key part is character resilience. 

Once you’ve created this character we admire, give them something to struggle with. Give them an event that’s really hard for them to cope with, because it challenges the thing they care most about. If they care most about their young family, threaten that family. If they care most about getting a promotion that they’ve worked for since forever, introduce a character who’s even better qualified.

OK. You’ve challenged your character and they’ve answered the challenge. What next? Your character now needs to encounter hardship and difficulties on their journey to solving the problem. Things have to be hard. You have to give them something that’s difficult to achieve. You also have to make the obstacles in their way tougher and tougher to overcome. Their emotions need to be stretched tighter and tighter as they start to crack under the pressure.
They might feel a great temptation to give up and let the bad guy get what he wants. They must sink into a pit of despair. And there must be a terrible loss. To make someone cry when they read your story, you must put your character through an event that is too much for anyone to realistically bear. But even that is not enough.

You must go a step beyond this. What will make your reader cry is not so much the fact that something awful has happened. What brings your reader to tears is your character’s reaction to this event. There will be the immediate despair, of course. But then he or she must show their true mettle. They must pick themselves up, look their defeat in the face, and face it anyway. They must be defiant and resilient even though it is surely impossible that they will overcome.

Again, The Hunger Games offers us a great example of defiance and resilience. Katniss loses a friend and ally. She initially despairs but then shows her true courage and is defiant in the face of the enemy.

It is the resilience of the human spirit that makes a reader cry, not the sight of a character crumbling.

Will your character finally overcome the obstacles to their happiness and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?

Maybe. That’s up to you. You’re the writer. In a sad story with a tragic ending, certainly your character won’t. But they’ll go down fighting. The key to making your readers cry when they read your story is always your character’s resilience. 

How to Write a Book to Generate Leads

It seems that every business owner wants to know how to write a book to generate leads. They want to stand out from the crowd and attract more clients. Writing a book will position themselves as an expert in their industry.

It has been some years since self-publishing became possible for everyone. In the early days, it was easy to stand out from the crowd just by having a book with your name on it. But lots of people have jumped on the bandwagon and today people expect more. Everyone knows that it’s possible to publish just about anything you want on a platform like Amazon, get a swanky cover for it, and call yourself an author. People aren’t impressed any more.

To position yourself as an expert, you have to offer something better than the average self-published book. People have become immune to ‘average’.

How Do You Generate Leads With A Book?

Most of the business messages and new books people are being bombarded with are ignored. This is the way to write a book that gets through to people…

Write a book your audience finds useful.

That is what it boils down to. If you want people to change their habits, you must show them how. If you want them to work with you, you must show them that you can make a difference to their lives. If you want them to think of you as the expert in your field, you must share your expertise.

Your audience is savvy. They’re too savvy to want to work with you because you told them all about your life. They’re too wise to do what you tell them to do just because it worked for you… they’ll come up with a thousand reasons why they’re different from you. They’re too used to seeing new books published to believe that you must be the expert because you’ve got a book with your name on the cover.

The only way to make the time and effort of writing a book to build a brand, generate leads, etc. worthwhile, is to write the book your audience want to read. You can’t fool them into thinking you’re worth their time. You have to prove that you are worth their time.

If you want to write a book that makes a real difference to your audience’s perception of you… and you don’t want to stick any old thing up on Amazon… find out more.

How to create a huge following

Are you asking Google how you can self-publish a book to build your brand and make your audience fall in love with your message? Looking for the magic answer you’ve been searching for to create a huge following of loyal customers and super-fans? You’re asking the wrong first question.

It’s not a wrong question entirely. It’s just not the first question to ask.

Of course you want to attract more customers and position yourself as an expert. And a book is a great way to do that. It’s low cost to the reader and is incredibly shareable in its format. But going straight to asking ‘how do I publish a book?’ is not the place to start.

It’s a great question for a later part of the process. I can recommend a company that will publish your book for you, help you publicise it, design your cover – all the whistles and bells. Or you can do it yourself through a platform like Amazon. Different options suit different writers. But don’t START with the ‘how do I publish’ question.

Position yourself as the expert

Your customers expect the book you write to engage their attention, to be relevant to their needs and to give them the means to start solving their problem. When you show them you can give them that, then they will believe in you.

This means putting your ego to one side. It means not making yourself the hero of the book you write. Instead it means making your reader the hero instead. It means placing the focus on the kind of person you really want to help… your ideal client… and then going ahead and helping them.

When you actually help your ideal client in this way, that’s how you can end up achieving your own goals. Whether that’s positioning yourself as the expert, attracting more customers, growing your following. Or getting your message to resonate with people so they need to share it, you only get what YOU want by pleasing the people reading your book. You won’t achieve those goals by shouting about yourself and dazzling people into working with you. Although you can achieve them by being genuinely useful.

Thinking of writing and self-publishing a book to help, lead or coach others? I’m a writer. My coaching will help you write a book that’s good enough to make people believe in you, work with you, and spread your message on your behalf. 

How do you build your brand with a book?

Many branding experts recommend writing a book. Often, their top tip for building your brand is to write a book. Yes, it is a good idea to do this, for all the reasons they say it is. More specifically, it is a good idea to write a GOOD book. Let’s be honest, though… You know those gurus who tell you that the world is waiting to hear from you? The ones who say you just need to put your story out there and the world will love you, listen to you and be converted to your message? It’s as easy as that? They’re telling you what you want to hear.

What kind of book should you write to start your climb to the top?

If you haven’t reached the top of your industry yet, you’ll need to write a different kind of book. Sure, you’ve got something that can help other people. Of course you can lead others. But ask yourself this… would YOU go for help from someone who does nothing but talk about themselves? Most self-published books that claim to help, lead or inspire people are crap. Full of good intentions, of course. The writers have lived experience and wisdom to share. They set out to show their community the way to fix their problem, and they want to build their brand in an authentic, unique way. Total respect. But these new writers make a fundamental mistake. They write a book that doesn’t solve anyone’s problem. It might be a readable account of their own journey, put up a framework of principles to follow and give some sound advice, but few people who read it will be able to unpick all of that and make use of it. Even fewer readers will recommend it to others.

You need your writing to give people that feeling of having to share it with others. If it doesn’t, all your efforts to publicise and spread your message will go to waste. Your story can make a difference to others BUT you need to weave it into a greater story tapestry. A story in which you do NOT play the hero. Let your reader be the hero.

Let me say that again. You should NOT be the hero in your book. The hero should be the person you want to benefit from the book. 

Would you get up tomorrow and decide run a marathon?

You might decide you wanted to run a marathon, true. You might decide that you were going to start running this week and plan to build up to longer distances. You would probably reach out to your park run organisers and local groups. You would almost certainly ask those in the know how you should start and what equipment you should invest in.

You would NOT, however, dust off the trainers you’ve not worn in ten years, step out your front door and run twenty six miles.

Imagine how that conversation would go with a fitness coach…

“Hi! Let’s start with your fitness goals. What do you want to be able to do? Walk a mile? Walk up flights of stairs without getting breathless? Run 5k? …”

“I want to run a marathon.”

“OK, wow! Good on you. How long have you had marathon running as an ambition?”

“Years. I’ve always thought I’ve had a marathon in me. I’ve just never got around to starting.”

“And now you’re ready? Fantastic! Well, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll start with finding out what your fitness level is like and then work on building up your strength and stamina. If you look around the gym you’ll see there are different areas for different types of work – ”

“Oh, no, no! You don’t understand. I don’t want to do all those things.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“No, I don’t want to do those things. What I want to do is run a marathon.”

“Yee-ess. I understand that. What we are able to do here is train you from the place you’re at right now to a place of fitness and stamina that will mean you’re able to run that marathon.”

“Hmm, I see. But there must be another way of doing it. I mean, I’m not saying you don’t know your job or anything, but I learned how to put one foot in front of another when I was really young. Can’t you just show me how to do it – you know, how to get my breathing right and how to go at the right pace and all that – then I’ll just put my name down for the next marathon?”

“You’re kidding me, right? You know it doesn’t work like that, right?”

“Why not? That other gym, the one down the road, say they can do that. It’s on all their advertisements.”

“Is it?”

I have lost count of the number of people I’ve spoken to who have a novel or personal story in mind. They know exactly what it is about and feel they just need to ‘get it out’. I understand that feeling. Of course they want to produce the great work they feel so passionately about.

Then, all too often, I hear the words I dread. The words that mean the person in front of me with such a great story to tell simply isn’t ready to work with me. The words that mean they are going to have to go through the painful process of trying ‘quick fixes’ and falling for flattering words before they can see what’s actually going to work.

What they say is, “I just need someone to start me off and show me what bits to put where and I’ll be fine.”

I used to try to re-educate those people, to try to save them months or years of pain in which they try to write their story but still can’t get it to come out right. I wished they could have understood me when I told them about the need to learn to tell a story that is irresistible – it’s not just about getting the events of the story down on paper. The actual principles of doing that are not very complicated but they take training, just like running a marathon does. I have learned that they will just look at me with that, “Yeah, what do you know?” expression.

They often end up with their confidence crushed, convinced there must be something inferior about them because they can’t do it … it was supposed to be simple and straightforward, wasn’t it? It was just a case of ‘getting it out’. They’re not ready to hear the truth until they’ve learned from bitter experience, which makes me really sad. I wish there was more I could do about it. Horse to water, and all that.

These days I content myself with wishing them the best of luck and reassuring them that my door is open should they change their mind.