This Tuesday evening on the 16/03/2021, the KZN chapter had the honour of having our new chapter president Mr Claude Phiri as our honorary speaker. We had a very insightful conversation on “how to write and publish your book in weeks.” Claude Phiri is a published author and independent training consultant offering a full range of ETD and management consultancy services. He is also the newest member in the KZN Chapter to get admitted to full membership as a professional speaker to the Professional speaker’s association of Southern Africa (PSASA).
Some key take aways from Claude’s talk include:
“Write and publish your book in weeks”.
- Know your why.
Having a clear reason will drive a lot of factors such as your pace, your writing style, the type of writing you will do as well as your category of writing. This also gives you a sense of direction. It is also important to establish whether you are…
- An expert in a particular topic.
- Wanting to solve a problem or offer a solution to a particular problem.
- Writing to entertain.
- Know yourself!
- It is especially important to know your writing style because this will inform how you write.
- it is also important to write in the same way you speak to really be true to yourself.
- Know your audience.
Before you start writing ask yourself who you want to reach, target your message to a specific group. it is important to Taylor your message accordingly.
- Know your story.
- Out of all your ideas, you need to decide on the strongest idea and your most best-selling concept.
- Make sure to craft the title of your book to be short, sweet, and catchy, it should not be a thesis.
- It is also important to decide on whether you will outsource the publishing of your book or if you will self-publish. Its important to note however that to be taken seriously its best to use professionals.
- Make sure you choose a category that you will thrive in, and also make sure that you have a secure platform and people who will buy your book. It is important to establish this before writing and publishing your book, its also important to have clear and realistic deadlines for yourself.
- Get up and get writing!
- The first step when you start your book is to make sure that you simplify everything for yourself, from the appropriate size for your book, to the format you will be using, to the number of chapters you will have, and the page numbers you will use in each chapter.
- If it’s your first book, make sure it’s no longer that 10 chapters, Peter Thompson once said that “if a book is too long, many people will not finish it.” Make sure to keep it concise but as informative as possible.
- Once you start writing your ideas will flow and you will finish in no time, always start with the chapter you are most comfortable with. Make a habit of writing something every day.
- Make use of writing aids, here is a few:
- Google assistant
- Transcribe – speech to text.
- Speech notes
- Voice notes
To engage further with Mr Phiri you will find him on Linked in, Instagram as well as facebook
