My Process For Writing A Best Selling Cricket Book On Amazon
I have a lifelong passion for cricket and have always aspired to put pen to paper and publish a book.
Like most people, however, other priorities combined with the limiting belief that it would be too hard had stopped me before now.
The good news is that I have not only been able to successfully write, edit and publish my book for Amazon Kindle but within one week of publishing, it was ranked number one on the best sellers list for cricket books on Amazon in Australia.
I want to share with you some key things that assisted me in moving from transforming a pipe dream into a reality. You may be able to apply some of these processes and achieve a similar outcome.
- Write on a topic you are passionate about
It is no secret to those who know me that cricket is something that I am very passionate about. When you are passionate about something, this passion becomes infectious, and others pick up on it.
Everyone has something that they are passionate about, and I would encourage you to channel that passion and write about it. Those who share your passion for your chosen topic will be drawn to your work and sincerely appreciate it.
2. Schedule time for writing
To give you some context on my life, I am a happily married father of three children aged ten and under. Throw in the fact that I work full time, host a podcast, and run a website; you could say that my writing time is restricted.
Scheduling time in my day to write ensured that writing was prioritised, and the things we prioritise usually have a better chance of getting done than the things we don’t.
For me, it was between 8 pm and 10 pm that I would have the space to get some quality writing done. Other times that I find I can get my creative juices flowing is first thing in the morning prior to other family members being awake.
3. Choose to create instead of consume
One of the things that I became aware of during the pandemic is that we have a choice to be creators or consumers in our spare time. To be fair, there are plenty of times when I feel the need to consume to recharge and find inspiration to be creative. Often when ‘free time’ presents itself, we can tell ourselves all sorts of stories about why we want to consume instead of create.
4. Find a niche
Cricket is a very broad topic and there are numerous books that people could read on the game. Haiku poems inspired by cricket on the other hand is something that has not been done before and as such puts my book in quite a niche category.
In fact, to my knowledge no other books featuring cricket themed haiku poems has ever been written.
Not everyone has to like what you do and it is ok if your work does not hit the mainstream fans.
If your work is creative and unique, there will be people that find value in your work and appreciate it.
5. Repurpose previous work
This was a genius tip from Tim Denning and Todd Brison in their online course that I completed. These two guys really know their stuff and are very good at helping people to find themes in their writing and piecing them together for chapter ideas in books. I would highly recommend you check them out.
People who write regularly will definitely have at least one book in them and you can use the work you are already doing to stimulate ideas for a book you could write.
6. Be a part of a supportive community
As mentioned above, I completed a writing course that meant I was connected with other writers with who I could bounce ideas and track their progress. Seeing the fantastic work others in the group were producing was inspirational and their encouragement and feedback helped me to keep plugging away.
Also in a group, you can also encourage others to pursue their passions and be a support to them and their work.
7. Ask for help
Most of the time, asking for help is not a strength of mine. In fact, I find it very hard to ask others for favours of any kind. However, when trying to spread the word about my book, asking others to read my work and provide me with feedback was very important.
It is ok to ask for help, in fact people will be honoured to help you. So have a think about the kind of people who will appreciate your work and ask them to have a read of your book.
8. Timing may not be everything but it can certainly help
My original plan for the release of my book was the start of the Australian cricket season in November to align with the highly anticipated ASHES series between Australia and England. As can happen with good intentions, my plans were derailed and it meant that the release date was moved to the end of the year and then moved again to the end of January.
What I did not realise that ended up working in my favour was that releasing later, actually helped my book to be discovered more easily as there was less clutter in the market.
Take some time to think through when the best time to release your book.
9. Give copies away to people who will enjoy reading
It is great to be generous and though I am an advocate for being paid what you are worth, it can be good to give books away. I have done this for a range of people from strangers to family members and loyal listeners of my podcast.
10. Use Parkinson’s Law to get it finished
Recently I finished reading The 5 second rule by Mel Robbins, actually I did not read it, I listened to the audio book. It was an excellent motivator for me to start taking steps towards achieving my goals. I won’t go into all the details here, though I would recommend that you check it out for yourselves.
What I would like to do, is highlight something in the book that I learned which I found to be of great value; Parkinson’s law. I remember someone telling me that goldfish grow according to the size of the tank they are kept in. If they are in a small bowl, they remain small. If they are in a bigger tank, they will grow in proportion to the size of the tank.
Similarly, with Parkinson’s law, our work expands according to the amount of time that we allocate for it. For over eight years I hosted a weekly sports show on the radio where I would record six segments of content to be played in among some of my favourite songs. I would then pull the best segments from the show and put out as a podcast. If I did not have the deadline of the radio show, I would have found it very difficult to be motivated enough to so consistently produce the content. So in effect, Parkinson’s law was working in my favour all this time without me knowing it.
Since then, knowing the power of the law, I have been using it to my advantage to develop my writing skills. In February, I was up in Sydney doing some commentary for the Sheffield Shield cricket match between NSW and Victoria when I decided to put the law to the test.
For years I had held a theory on the correlation between off field happiness and on field success for cricketers. My aim had been to pen these thoughts for quite some time but I had never given myself a deadline, so they remained exactly that, thoughts.
I knew I needed to do something about this so I decided there would be no better opportunity than Valentine’s Day to get the job done. I decided I would make it happen, I did the research and wrote Does the honeymoon period exist in between my commentary stints.
I have since applied the rule for other articles I have written, including the one I am writing now. Perhaps there is something you have had in the back of your mind for a long time and never got around to taking action. Today may just be the day to start using Parkinson’s law to help you to start taking effective action towards your goals.
I hope these ideas will encourage you in the work that you are doing. At the end of the day, writing is a beautiful art form that has so many intrinsic benefits.
If writing a book is something that you have been pondering and putting off, I would encourage you to cast your fears aside and start putting pen to paper today.
