What Problem Does Your Book Solve?

Are you a problem-solver?

The friend who girlfriends come to as a shoulder to cry on because not only do you make them feel better about what’s going on for them but they walk away with a solution to their problem, an antidote for their heartbreak?

You, my friend, are the perfect author.

In fact, something many of the women I work with have in common is that they’re the go-to person in their friendships, because they have the answers their friends are looking for.

This is essential in a book.

Answering your reader’s question is the exact reason a book has a place in the world. The exact reason a book needs to exist.

And your book is oh-so-needed if you’re solving someone’s problem.

I’ve written before about your book solving a problem in What’s Your Problem?

Now it’s time to figure out what you have to say about that problem.

What solution do you provide?

It sounds obvious, but get clear. Just because you have a bunch of information that can change people’s lives doesn’t mean you will change people’s lives just by telling them all you know. Why? Well, because we have a tendency to tell rather than demonstrate. And that doesn’t present the information in a way that is memorable and that people need to hear it to really truly learn it.

When you sketch out your book, know what your solution is to the problem you’ve posed, you know where you’re headed and your message becomes clear.

It's that simple.

Your book must keep coming back to the solution to the problem, what you stand for, your lessons.

Have you ever noticed how autobiographies are chronological accounts of people’s lives, whereas memoirs teach you a lesson?

This crucial difference is the crux of writing something life-changing.

You are selective about the parts of your story that you share, always making sure that the bits you choose demonstrate an angle or lesson you want to get across.

Your stance, your story, is all you have to set you apart.

It’s your uniqueness.

Isn’t all the information out there already?

#becauseGoogle

But don’t let that put you off. You still have your uniqueness and some people will only learn the lesson they need when expressed through your eyes, when they see themselves in your story.

What answer are you driving towards? What lesson do you have for them? What’s your stance on their situation?

This informs and becomes your content.

This, in short, is what they'll get out of reading your book.

It’s what’s in it for them.

“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves in your heart--your stories, visions, memories, songs: your truth, your version of things, in your voice. That is really all you have to offer us, and it's why you were born.” ~ Anne Lamott

Can’t figure out if you should write this book? Not sure if your idea has a place in the world?

Find out if your book idea will make it. Go here to schedule a consultation.