It’s Not Your Fault You Haven’t Written A Book Yet

You can conquer 3 things and publish your book by the end of the year.

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

I recently received an email from someone who said they read my book (Substack Books), tried three days to write a book, and haven’t done anything since.

They told me why my books were good, primarily because they didn’t write them.

I asked them how long it had been since they last wrote.

Three months.

I asked them what their writing habit is.

They didn’t have one.

I asked them what would have helped them if I had done anything different in my book.

They didn’t know.

Then I said it wasn’t my book's fault they didn’t write a book, but it wasn’t their fault.

The reality is that YouTube, Medium, Substack, X, and so many other places will make it seem easy to write and publish a book.

And there is some truth to that, but…

The act of writing has to be done by the author. And if they don’t set themselves up for success, they aren’t going to write their book.

But how do you set yourself up for success?

What I Have Learned About Successfully Writing Books

There are three primary keys to successfully writing and publishing books. And if you can get these three things down, you can write and publish many books.

Conquering Time

People love to say they don’t have time to write a book. Yet, they watch four-hour college football games, play video games, or scroll Instagram until they can’t stay awake anymore.

The reality is that they don’t have a handle on time; they just let time tick away. And when we only have so much time, why wouldn’t you want to conquer it and achieve a dream?

Here’s how:

1. Find times when you are doing non-essential life things: Watching Netflix, scrolling Instagram, playing video games, and going out for drinks with friends.

2. Once you identify those times, replace them with writing. Write in these margin times and invest in yourself and your dreams.

3. Set up regular times for yourself. Maybe get up an hour earlier and write at your kitchen table. During your lunch break at work, go to a nearby coffee shop.

It’s all about taking control of these times. If you can do that well, you will be able to conquer time and write your book.

Conquer Fear

Writing a book is marked by “what if landmines.” We constantly ask ourselves fear-based questions like: “What if no one reads my book? What if my book isn’t good? What if someone else has written a better book on my topic?”

Yet, what we fear rarely ever comes to pass. Or if it does, it is not as bad as we imagine. When you come to these “what if landmines,” I want you to do something different than indulge them:

1. I want you to counter the negative what-ifs with positive what-ifs. What if no one reads my book? —> What if 100 people’s lives are changed by reading my book?

2. Positive Imagery: Take the time before you write and think about positive things that might happen in your book. You become a bestseller, it helps you get a job, etc.

3. Read other stories of people who have succeeded in writing books. These testimonies to writing and publishing books change everything. And they will help you push past the fear.

When you replace the negative with the positive and conquer fear, you will be unstoppable in writing and publishing books.

Grow Your Knowledge

Before I share three ways to do this, you need to know one thing: you cannot hide behind gathering knowledge when writing books. You need to gain knowledge and act!

Many would-be authors never finish their book or get it past the first draft because they don’t know what to do. But when they start trying to learn what to do, they research themselves into a pit of failure to act. And then their book doesn’t get written.

Here’s how to take action when you learn something new:

1. Learn as you go. One thing that helped me early on was to learn as I went. I learned how to mindmap, outline, and write the book. Then I did it. I went back to learning for editing, cover design, and typesetting, then I did it. Break down your self-publishing education.

2. Don’t go overboard. You do not need to read every book about self-publishing. Read one book, and if you have more questions, find answers. Start with my book to get a basic idea.

3. Find help. There are a lot of self-publishing authors out there. And some of them, like myself, enjoy teaching other writers how to become bestselling authors. Reach out, ask questions, and join coaching programs.

When learning to do something, you need to act on what you learn. Apply what you read or watch and see how much easier writing and publishing books is.

Final Thoughts

Writing and publishing aren’t as hard as people think. What’s hard is trying to do everything on your own. If you want to learn more about self-publishing or have questions, reach out, and we can set up a time to chat.

---

---

My name is J.R. Heimbigner and I am a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon with 15 self-published books. I have two things I want to share with you:

1. A short book on to help you use your Substack posts to write books.

2. The First Draft Masterclass. I share exactly how to write your first draft so you can get that book published!

3. Have a book already? See how I can promote it with my newsletter!

Also, this post may contain sales or affiliate links, so I might get a little kickback if you purchase anything. Thank you in advance!