Introduction: Why Write a Book?

I know why you want to write a book.

Maybe not literally, of course.

I’m going to make an educated guess about why you want to write a book.

If I’m correct in my guess—it means this is the perfect book for you.

If I’m wrong in my guess—then I just saved you a lot of time. You can skip this book; it’s not right for you.

Here’s my guess. See if it resonates:

You had a problem.

It was probably a difficult problem for you. You suffered because of it.

This problem might have even defined you as a person—at least for a while. You spent time, energy, and effort on it, and maybe even dedicated your career to solving it.

Finally, after a lot of struggle and work, you solved your problem. You found a solution, and you made your life better.

But you didn’t just find the solution to this problem, you mastered it. You’re great at implementing this solution. Yes, there are times you doubt yourself—like we all do—but part of you is even a little proud of yourself and what you’ve accomplished. You know some things (at least about this problem).

Although you’ve never written a book before, you keep coming back to the idea of writing one, for two main reasons:

1. You want to share your hard-earned knowledge to help people solve the same problem you used to have. You want to give this wisdom back to others, so it can impact them. Basically, you want to help people through your book.
2. You want some recognition for what you did. I am not implying that recognition is bad—quite the opposite. It is natural and right to want your peers and family and friends to know the real you and see what you’ve done. And it’s normal to hope this recognition will actually help you in some way as well, probably in your career (and maybe even in your personal life, too).

I’d bet you’ve been thinking about writing a book for a while. You’ve probably had people saying, “you should write a book” to you long before now.

But you didn’t acknowledge it, because the next step—writing the book—was too scary.

After all, you don’t know where to start, or how to structure your book, or if your book idea is good enough, or if you have enough to say, or if anyone will care once you write it.

And there’s the worst fear of all, the one you don’t want to talk about, but always lingers.

What if you write a bad book?

You might have even started writing the book at some point, but you stopped. You probably had some good momentum at first, and found it really rewarding to get your ideas out of your head. You thought about how people would receive the book, maybe pictured the eventual praise in your future.

But you hit an obstacle, and it stalled you. It brought up all your self-doubt and anxiety, and without a plan to get past that obstacle (or obstacles), you lost your momentum, and then you stopped.

It’s probably frustrating that you aren’t writing your book. You see other people—some of them who don’t even know as much as you about your subject—who did write their books, who have credibility and authority in their field, who are getting increased visibility, who have more clients and more opportunities, all from their book.

And most of all, you see the impact their books have on people. And you know you can have that same impact—if you could get your book done. Your book might not save the world, but it can change some people’s lives for the better…if only you could get it to them.

Does this sound familiar?

Does it describe you?

If so, this is the perfect book for you.

It was written specifically for people just like you, as you embark on your journey to writing and publishing your book.

If you follow the steps, it will get you there.

If this doesn’t describe you, then like I said, this book probably isn’t right for you, and you can put it down and move on to another book that is better suited for you (if this story has nothing to do with you, yet you’ve already paid for it, then email me directly and I will give you your money back: tucker@scribemethod.com. I’m totally serious).

Let’s say you read this book, you follow the instructions, you put in the work, you conquer your fears, you write a book you are proud of, and you get it published.

What happens when you actually finish the book?

As much as I’d love to tell you that you sell a million copies and hit every bestseller list and become famous…we both know that’s a fantasy.

Yes, it happens for a small number of people, but so does winning the lottery. You can’t plan on it or expect it.

But that’s OK, because the reality of what actually happens is pretty cool. I know; I’ve seen it happen to literally thousands of authors. It usually works something like this:

You start to “get it” when you see the pre-order page on Amazon. Your name, your book, on Amazon, next to all the other books and authors you respect and look up to.

You start to get impatient, you begin to hope…and then finally, you get the first copy in the mail.

It’s not like holding your new baby, but damn, it feels great.

You created this. It’s a part of who you are. It’s permanent. It’s out in the world. It’s a record of what you know, what value you have given to others, what you’ve left behind in the world, and the impact you’ve made. It’s proof of what you did to make the world better.

First, your friends and family see it. They get excited, they praise you, they tell you how proud they are. You might hate to admit it, but even now your parents’ (and family’s) praise means way more than you expected that it would. And in some cases, they finally understand what it is you do, and why it matters.

Then your coworkers, peers, and professional network see it. And they get almost as excited as your friends and family. And that praise is also really cool, and you enjoy it far more than you anticipated.

Then all of a sudden…people start talking to you about the book. About your ideas. People who read the book and want to discuss it with you, because you’re the author.

Then, people start to introduce you as “author.” Yeah, you are one, but still…it feels weird.

Then you start to get reviews, posted online…from people you don’t even know. About your book. And they really like it, and they talk about how much of an impact it made on their life.

Then, clients start coming to you…because of your book. They already know who you are, how you work, and what you believe. And you don’t need to sell them anymore. They sign because they were so impressed with the book, they already know they want to work with you.

Then, you get requests to speak. Some of them even want to pay you. And you go speak, and people look at you differently. They listen when you talk, they applaud when you are done, and they want to talk to you afterward.

Then, media inquiries. You do a few podcasts. The host wants to talk to you about the ideas in your book. People talk to you about a podcast they heard you on, or a blog post they read about you in.

Then, all kinds of new opportunities come in that you honestly never would have guessed. Things that weren’t even on your radar before the book are now coming to you. Requests for consulting, for proposals, job offers—all kinds of things you didn’t even realize were out there.

And of course, more and more clients.

Then, when it settles down and you have reached a new level that has become normal to you, you’re used to being called an author and you realize something…you see yourself differently.

You now realize that you really did have something important to contribute, and that people you don’t even know have had their lives changed for the better because you put your knowledge and your story down in a book.

You know for sure that your work matters to people. You know you have left a legacy behind that can’t ever be taken away.

I’ve seen this exact scenario play out hundreds upon hundreds of times.

Scribe’s site is bursting with stories and videos of real authors telling stories just like this.

This story can be yours.

It’s possible…you just have to follow the instructions in this book.

It won’t be easy, it will take a lot of effort, but it’s there for the taking.

You just have to do it.

WHAT THIS BOOK WILL TEACH YOU

In this book, we teach you everything you need to know to make sure you write a great book—one that shares your story and your knowledge, impacts readers’ lives, and cements your legacy:

• How to pick the perfect book topic, one that both displays your knowledge and impacts the reader’s life.
• Make sure there will be an audience waiting to buy your book, before you write it.
• Write a book to build your brand.
• Ensure your book gets you an ROI.
• Set yourself up for success before you even start writing your book.
• Figure out how much of your story should be in your book.
• Exactly how to structure your book so you get it correct, but it’s also easy for you to write.
• What the most common writing obstacles are, and how to beat them.
• Once you start writing, how to make sure your audience will love your book.
• Editing techniques to ensure your book sounds exactly right.
• Create the motivation and inspiration, on command, to sit down and write every day.
• Find the perfect book title.
• Price your book to maximize both sales and impact.
• Exactly who to use to help publish your book.
• The key to writing book marketing copy that sells.
• Getting to an amazing book cover.
• And of course, the most important thing you can do to make your book a success, that most authors get wrong.

WHAT THIS BOOK WILL NOT TEACH YOU

There are a lot of books about how to write and publish a book, and to be honest, most of them aren’t good. This by itself is no big deal; the problem is that those books only sell because they make all kinds of unrealistic promises and exaggerated claims. Let me be very clear about what this book will not get you, so you don’t confuse us with them:

• You won’t learn an easy hack to write your book in a week, or a month. Any book you can write that fast is going to be terrible. Books are hard, and take time—that’s why they’re valuable.
• You aren’t going to learn how to become a millionaire in the first month. A book is an important part of building your business or brand, but it’s never the big moneymaker by itself.
• You won’t learn how to become famous. Your book will help you be more well known in good ways to the people you care about, but TMZ won’t be camped outside your house looking to get pictures (you don’t want that anyway).
• You won’t learn how to get a TED talk (but your book might help you get a TEDx talk).
• You won’t learn the secret to being a media darling, and have Oprah and Ellen knocking down your door (but you will definitely learn how to get more media).
• You won’t learn how to solve all your problems with a book. No snake oil here, sorry.

I know, you probably didn’t expect any of that anyway. Just making sure I set expectations properly for this book (which I do in even more depth in the first chapter).

WHY LISTEN TO ME?

Because I know how to write, publish, and market books.

My name is Tucker Max. I co-founded Scribe (along with the co-author of this book, Zach Obront), and I’m the primary author of this book.

I’ve written four New York Times Best Sellers, three of which hit #1. These four books have combined to spend almost ten years on the best seller list, and have sold more than 4.5 million copies worldwide (as of 2019).

I’m one of four people, along with Malcolm Gladwell, Michael Lewis, and Brené Brown, who’s had three books on the nonfiction New York Times Best Seller list at one time. I was named to Time Magazine’s Most Influential People list, and a movie was made about one of my books.

Before founding my current company, I worked with authors like Tim Ferriss, Robert Greene, Peter Thiel, James Altucher, Dave Asprey, Seth Godin, and dozens of others on their books.

All told, I’ve been directly involved in writing, editing, publishing, or marketing over twenty-two New York Times or Wall Street Journal Best Sellers, that have combined to sell over 20 million copies worldwide.

Many of those books were written and published using this exact method. At Scribe—in only five years—we’ve worked with 1200+ authors, and the process I am about to detail for you comes directly from the experience of working with them. We’ve published some of the biggest hits and best-selling books of the past five years using this exact process.

Literally everything you will read in this book has been tested and proven to work, both at the highest levels of writing and publishing, and with regular people like you who are not professional writers.

I’m not saying this to brag, just to make a simple point: you’re in good hands.

If the story I just told resonated, this is the right book for you.

Let’s get started.