Welcome to Scribe Book School!

It’s not obvious if you should even write a book. In this video, Tucker will help you understand exactly what goes into writing a book, whether this makes sense for you, and help you commit (or not) to this project.

There are two major types of non-fiction books you can write, and in this lesson, Tucker goes into deep detail to explain what they are, how they differ and which one you should pick.

Congratulations on starting the Scribe Book School!

You’ve already done more than most people in your situation by committing to write your book. You’ve also found the best course possible to help you.

Now you know you are committed to writing your book and you know what kind of book you want to write, it’s time to get in the optimal state of mind for the journey ahead of you.

What is positioning? It’s the most crucial part of both writing and marketing your book.

We’ll review a quick history of positioning, how you should position your book and how much of your story should go into your book.

Imagine it’s a year after your book has been published. What’s happened that made writing your book worth it?

Of course, everyone wants their book to sell lots of copies and be a breakout success–but if you make that your objective, you are setting yourself up for failure. You need to set realistic objectives, so you give your book a chance to actually succeed.

Once you understand what your objectives are, the next step is to understand exactly who your audience is for the book.

Why? In order for your book to reach your objectives, it must appeal to an audience.

You don’t have to get this perfect at first, you just need to get something down that is directionally accurate (you’ll work more on this later).

The basic idea is to write a one-paragraph description of exactly what the book is about. Don’t worry about writing the perfect description – just get something down that answers the three questions we discuss in the video.

Next, we’ll walk you through what we like to call the “North Star Check.”

This is what the entire book positioning has been working towards. This one sentence should be able to sum up the entire book and precisely how it will work.

Your outline is the structure of your book, and thus incredibly important. If you start writing without a structure, the process will take forever and the product will be haphazard and incomplete.

The purpose of a good introduction is to prove to the reader this book is worth reading. It grabs the reader & compels them to keep reading.

It makes them excited to start the content and answers the most important question the reader has: “Why should I read this book?”

The goal of the conclusion is to tie everything together, neatly summarize your book, and then provide a specific call (or calls) to action for your reader.

Don’t overcomplicate the conclusion—just let it do its job and it’ll work great.

A writing plan is nothing more than a specific plan that lays out exactly when and where you’re going to write each day, how much you will write when everything is due, and what your accountability is.

Let’s create yours.

After working with thousands of authors, we’ve found most of them know how to write out their ideas. Where problems arise is in the topics we’ve already covered, or the mindset around writing.

Let’s talk about that.

It feels amazing to get through the first draft. Reward yourself with some time to rest and relax. The hardest part is over. You now have a real book in your hands, even if it is rough.

Then, we’ll dive into Scribe’s 3-step editing process to polish your book.

Now that you’re going to become an Author, you have to deal with all the fears and anxieties that come with writing.

You’re not alone. All Authors start where you are right now. We start insecure, unsure, and afraid. Let’s discuss common Author fears, how they’re destructive to your book, and how you can reframe fear to help you.

Just like companies that spend millions on naming new products, and blogs that spend hours testing different titles for their posts, you should spend serious time and energy finding the right book title.

Here’s how you do it.

What is a book dedication? It’s a way for authors to bestow a high honor on a person (or small group of people) they want to praise or otherwise spotlight.

It’s not fundamentally different than dedicating anything else but let’s walk through what you need to know.

What are Book Acknowledgments? This is the section where you recognize and thank everyone who helped you with your book. It’s a way to display your appreciation to them in a public and permanent forum.

Most books do not need a foreword. If you’re unsure if your book needs a foreword, then it does not.

But if you think it might, we’ll help you decide if it truly does and how to write one.

Although the terms “copyediting” and “proofreading” are often used interchangeably, they describe different processes that benefit your book in unique ways.

Essentially, copyeditors catch all the mistakes the author missed, while proofreaders catch all the mistakes the copyeditor missed.

It’s not quite that simple, though, so let’s walk through it.