Do you need to be an expert to write?

Here's the question that lurks in the back of the mind of many writers … am I actually qualified to write a book?

The book could be about … making money, controlling diabetes, training a dog, losing weight, coping with grief. But am I qualified at all?

Good question. Do you have to be an authority to write a book? The simplest answer is YES!

Ask yourself this, would you read a book on managing your property written by someone who has never done it?

No! You need someone who's done it, knows the tricks and tells you how to do it too. In fact, you want more than that! You want them to bypass all their years of knowledge and just give you the gems. You want the shortcuts, the bits that matter. You want the roadmap.

You don’t have to be a professional, but you DO have to have YOUR area of expertise. But this can be as small or big as you make it. 

I like to categorise non-fiction/memoir writers into three types of experts:

You’re a professional expert or role model. This one is clear-cut. The assumption in these books is that you, as the author and expert, have the solutions. You’re a chef, dietician, lawyer, pro-surfer, professional athlete, psychologist, or dog trainer, and you want to share your specific knowledge with others. Easy one. This can even extend into fun experts … money magic, dating consultants, sexperts. These books are straight-up non-fiction, and you can mix in your personal story.

You are an expert of lived experience. You may not have studied professionally, or got a qualification in this, but you have lived this journey. Perhaps ... you had anorexia or ME for 15 years and you want to share your story. You cured your insomnia with magic mushrooms. You learned how to cope with the loss of a child. You walked the Great Wall of China barefoot. This is the domain of memoirs (less so of non-fiction). This type of expert is going to tell the reader their personal story and present their personal solutions.

You are no expert at all, but you are going to do the research and speak to experts. You may be a professional or not, but you are going to look at what’s out there and report back to your reader. Often these books start with a Big Idea and the writer – often a journalist – finds evidence to support that idea. The evidence can be formal or informal – which means interviews with friends! A biography would be a research book.

Why is it important to know what kind of authority you are?

It determines how the publisher can sell your book and market you.

It gives you a clear indication of your genre and what needs to be in your book.

It helps you understand how you need to structure your book to lead the reader into your story and provide the information.

If you are an expert sharing personal or lived experiences you cannot offer professional solutions … only YOUR solution along with your journey.

If you are a research expert you cannot offer your own solutions, only share what others (more qualified) found as a solution

WRITING TASK

Task 1: How are you qualified to write THIS book? How has your journey made you some sort of expert in what you are going to write about? Write this in the form of a paragraph, or you could expand this into a chapter, where you talk to your readers and set yourself up as qualified.

Task 2. Now write a list of 10 - 30 lessons you have learned on this journey that you would like to share. This is a short and sharp point form list – maximum one sentence per point.

Task 3: Write a promise to your reader. This is a clear statement of purpose for yourself and your book. What is a reader going to get out of your book if they read it?

Is it going to … give them solutions, tell them a rocking story, reveal a crazy insider view into a secret life, drag them on a drug-fuelled trip around the clubs of Singapore, deliver them a weight loss journey, teach them how to code, or cook, or a map out a sales plan?

Write up to 800 words in which you spell out, in detail, exactly what your book is going to offer the reader. Most often this can sit on the back cover, or in your first few chapters.

The One Minute Millionaire by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen has a list on the back cover that tells a reader what they will learn from reading their book. Among these are:

The power of one great idea

How to develop multiple streams of income

Six forms of leverage

The essentials of marketing succes

‘In every city, often behind the scenes, there are thousands of enlightened millionaires who acquire their wealth in innovative and honorable ways—and then give back to their communities. This book will show you how to become one of them…more quickly than you ever imagined.’

The promise of The One Minute Millionaire— as stated clearly by its authors —is that readers will quickly learn to become enlightened millionaires who can give back to their communities.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki promises on its back cover it will:

Explode the myth that you need to earn a high income to become rich

Challenge the belief that your house is an asset

Show parents that they can’t rely on the school system to teach their kids about money.

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