I want to revisit this topic this week, simply because of direct personal experience that has made such a dramatic impact on me. Until recently I had written and published two books - both part of my "Successful Speaking Secrets" series. They are sold as part of a home study box set, along with audio and video disks. A short while ago I decided that I wanted to write a "pocket guide" to accompany the full material - and this week's Impact Improver tells the story so far.

The book's format
A critical part of the new pocket guide is its size. At approximately 3.5 x 7 inches, (9 x 18 cm) it will slip easily into a jacket pocket, handbag, or briefcase, and I hope therefore that the chances of it being fully read and used will be increased.

I have a question for you:

"What can you do to increase the chances of your material actually being used, (as opposed to gathering dust on an office shelf)?"

The more your stuff is used, the greater the chance your previous customers will be reminded of your existence, and the greater the chance they'll re-engage you.

The book's title and place in the family
As a pocket guide, the new book is necessarily a highly condensed reference of the main work (the box set). It has both a title and subtitle - here they are:

"Successful Speaking Secrets Quick Reference"

"Your Essential Pocket Guide to Business Presenting and Networking"

The subtitle is designed to tell you "what's in the tin" and the main title is designed to link with the already established, award winning, box set.

I have another question for you:

"What can you do to create a family of products - of varying value - that addresses a specific need you know your customers have?

Give your customers a selection of entry points when it comes to doing business with you. Not everyone is ready to spend 'megabucks' immediately.

Getting it written
I was greatly surprised at how easy this was. I was able to write the bulk of the text in a week - about 10,000 words. I thought it was going to take me a lot longer and so I reflected on why I found it so easy - and here're my thoughts:

• I established the physical format first - a very compact book of 64 pages.
• I created a template in my word processing application (MS Word) that mimicked the page size. Once I'd written 64 pages, I knew I was done.
• I already had a 'bigger' product (the box set) and therefore my job as author this time, was boiling stuff down, not creating new processes, techniques, models, checklists, etc.
• I had amassed two year's more material, experiences, etc since producing the box set, which provided fresh material where needed.
• I applied the lessons I'd learned from reading the excellent little book, "How to write a lot" by Paul J Silva (ISBN 978-1-59147-743-3), reviewed in previous Impact Improvers and highly recommended.
• I used the "Interruptron" application - also reviewed in previous Impact Improvers.
• Since writing the original box set I've also taken to writing a lot more and a lot more regularly - this weekly broadcast being an example.

In summary, I am convinced that I now know the answer, when I hear people saying stuff like, "...I find writing so hard, it's such a chore, I know I ought to be doing more, but it's so difficult, blah blah..."

The answer, bluntly, is: do more of it

The more you do, the easier (and better) it'll become. So if you don't have an e-mail broadcast or regular blog - start now. If you have a monthly e-mail broadcast, make it every two weeks. If you have a weekly e-mail broadcast, start doing podcasts too, (they need to be scripted, so you're still writing).

In short: if you want to speak, you have to write - there's no way around it.

That's it folks for this week - as usual, your comments welcomed and appreciated, particularly with reference as to what you'd like to hear about. I do get quite a few e-mails by the way, and I read them all, so please don't feel shy about getting in contact.

Best wishes for the coming week.

Chris Davidson
Editor, Professional Speakers Journal
editor@professionalspeakersjournal.com