How to Write a Book on a Topic You Know Nothing About

7 lessons I learned writing Car Dog Millionaire

Hey, check this out:

All the way at the bottom there, see “with Michelle Lenzen”? That’s me!

For the past year, I’ve been quietly working chapter by chapter on a marketing book for car dealers. If you know me, this is all very strange and funny because I personally have no experience working with car dealers. See the bigger name above mine? That’s Jim. He’s the automotive marketing expert. I’m just the story teller.

That’s the beautiful thing about being a writer. You can dive into someone else’s world and help them collect all the pieces to their story.

If you too want to write a cool book like Car Dog Millionaire (or a book about anything ever) here are 7 lessons that just might help you out.

1. Tell someone you are writing a book and they will ask you to write theirs.

“I’m going to write a book,” I declare to one of my clients. After recently relocating to Rio to chase love and new beginnings, it seems like the perfect time to start my memoir.

“Really? I want to write a book. It’s on my life bucket list. Do you want to help me?” he replies.

Next thing I know, I’m looking at a project proposal with a rough book outline and premise plus the research to back it. My book is an idea, but this — this is real. I see his passion and confidence and as a writer, helping driven people share their stories drives me.

In December of 2014, I sign on to help Jim Flint write his marketing book for car dealers.

2. Team up with an expert.

The more I talk to Jim, the more I realize this book isn’t about the cars — it’s about the people. The dealers.

Our goal is to teach dealers how to market their business. How to sell cars and make money.

“Car Dog Millionaire. Doesn’t that name just kill you?” Jim says.

Jim knows dealers. He’s a 15 year sales and marketing veteran, and in 2010 he built Local Search Group — a marketing agency for car dealerships. By 2015, his company landed on the Inc. 500 list as the 10th fastest growing advertising agency in the nation.

He knows how to turn car dealers into millionaires.

And the name Car Dog Millionaire just kills me too.

3. Think creatively about book structure. But not too creatively.

“Are You Ready to Be a Car Dog Millionaire”

Our book opens with a game — one we all know too well. Inspired by the movie Slumdog Millionaire, each chapter features a trivia question and dives into the stories that unravel the answers. We show dealers how each lesson applies to selling cars and how it can be used strengthen their marketing strategy.

In the second part of the book, we break down the steps of solving a Rubik’s Cube as a guide to solving a dealership’s marketing plan. The parallels are complicated; the chapters are dense. We send it to a manuscript editor and her feedback comes in loud and clear:

So we keep Part 1, and nix Part 2.

3. Write a chapter a week and no more — unless you want to fry your brain.

It’s Monday morning. I’m ready with Microsoft Word on deck as I log on to meet Jim virtually via Skype. When Jim starts chatting, I start typing. He talks marketing and then connects it to something right out of left field like baseball batting averages. I follow his thoughts and capture his words and try to get all my questions out now so I can research and weave it all together later. By the end of the week, I will deliver a 5–10 page chapter.

I learn my daily burnout threshold. I am deeply focused on writing for hours in the zone and suddenly — I can’t look at a computer screen anymore.

*sizzzz*

My brain, it hurts. I can’t write anymore. I need to get out of my head and outside to do human things like feel sunshine and Rio things like drink coconuts.

I set goals to write no more than 6 hours a day or 20 hours a week to conquer one chapter at a time.

When writing a book, be kind to your brain.

4. Scheduling interviews with important people is easy. Just show up unannounced.

After finding a dealership online with hundreds of incredible reviews, I decided I should interview the marketing person in charge over there. I call, leave a voicemail. No response. So I drive to the dealership. Palms sweaty, rehearsing my intro lines. The receptionist asks if I have a meeting scheduled with him? No, no…but that’s okay because the man I am looking for actually offices out of a different location— you know the fancy Mercedes Benz dealership down the street.

So I drive over and try to be incognito about parking my Pontiac G6 in a garage full of Mercedes. Hey nothing to see here. I walk in, ask to speak to this man. No, no I don’t have a meeting but I’m writing a book and so…

Next thing I know, I’m being escorted into the glass corner office. I meet a man with bronzed skin, white hair; charismatic and wise…this guy is a real Car Dog Millionaire.

As he listens to my nervous rambles he assures me, he knows how to read people. He trusts me *phew* so he’ll talk to me.

And he did. For close to an hour, he shared his insider tips on reputation management. By the end, I had enough material to write a killer chapter — if you have the book, see Chapter 15.

All I did was show up and listen.

5. Fast, cheap and good publishing sounds enchanting. Do not fall for the sorcery.

When one company says it will take 6 months at X price to edit and publish your book, and another company says it will take 2 months at 1/2 X price, which do you chose? The magical solution is number two, right?

-_-

We thought so. And if you want to hear how that works out for us, you can read the gruesome details here if you wish. But here’s the gist of the lesson learned: pay for proper editing. Do research on your options; get involved with local self publishing groups and seek editor recommendations from other writers. You want an experienced editor that will take their time to help you edit and strengthen your manuscript. Publish with the cheap and fast guys at your own risk.

6. Mistakes in print are the worst. Forgive yourself anyway.

For writers, releasing your work into the world is exciting and scary. After you spend so many hours of your life pouring over a manuscript, the moment you publish is the moment you let go, opening the barn doors for your horse to run wild. You watch it proudly scamper off into the distance.

Until you realize you let it leave the barn with a spelling error. Then that peaceful moment shifts into a frantic wild chase.

YOU MUST CATCH THE HORSE AND CORRECT THE ERROR BEFORE ANYONE SEES IT!!!!!!

So you run and yell and get all sorts of worked up, stopping only to hide your face in your hands and wonder how in tarnation you let this happen.

When you finally catch your breath, you realize a simple error does not make your horse any less of a horse. It is a great horse that you gave a lot of love to. You compose yourself, calmly call your publishing company and get things sorted. You make a mental note to spring for the extra round of editing next time.

7. Thank everyone who rode alongside you during your book writing and publishing journey.

Now I understand why books have that “Thank You” page in the beginning. Really, from start to finish writing a book is a J O U R N E Y.

You should thank the people that support you through.

So thanks Jim, for giving me the opportunity to share your wisdom and help car guys learn how to become Car Dog Millionaires. Thanks Jordan, for doing such a stellar job marketing the book. Thanks Joe, for being by my side and always answering my, “Which sentence sounds better?” questions. Thanks fam, for even though I may frighten you at first with my wild ideas, you always come around to support me as my #1 fans. Thanks friends, many of whom didn’t really understand what the car book was about but continually asked, “How’s the car book going?” anyway.

Last but not least, I’d like to thank the real MVPs, the Car Dogs. Thanks in advance for selling us out of all our books at Barnes and Noble.

XX

Michelle
Co-author of Car Dog Millionaire
Available now in eBook / Paperback / Hardcover/ Audio