The LAZY Way To Write a Great Book.

If you’re like a lot of people, you love the idea of being a published author. But, the thought of sitting at your keyboard for 200 hours to write a book? Enough to cause you to table the idea for next year.

Let’s talk about the absolute fastest way to become a published author right now given all the tools we have available.

This is an approach I use to write high-quality books for my clients in under one month, and I’m NOT just copy/pasting content from AI which I highly recommend against doing

When I first got the desire to write a book, I stumbled upon a course by Brian Tracy called “How to Write a Book and Become a Published Author”. Brian Tracy is like the “OG” Tony Robbins. He’s published 50+ books, many of which became bestsellers. I bought it for $497 and dove right in.

The book taught me a lot of powerful concepts, like the Windshield Wiper Method, where you write in a way that oscillates back and forth between the right and left brain (like a windshield wiper). This causes you to alternate between story and teaching. This makes your writing more fun to read and helps the reader absorb the lessons more easily.

But here’s the tip I learned that matters for us today: Instead of writing a book, you can dictate it. In other words, “speak” your book. Tracy went on to explain that he dictates all of his books. He speaks into a recorder—either off the top of his head or using bullet points. This causes the material to come out in an unfiltered, conversational way, which tends to make for better writing. Then his assistant transcribes it. Finally, he shapes it into a written book.

Today, AI tools are a much more powerful transcription tool. They go beyond dumping words onto a document. They clean it up, format it, and even rewrite it entirely. 

In a moment, we’ll break down the process of using AI to turn your transcriptions into your book.

But first, I have to share a major idea with you. I don’t believe Tracy’s method is the most optimal. There are two better approaches that will allow you to write your book more easily + get more from your efforts.

Approach #1 - Use Your Existing Content for Books

If you’re like my clients Joe and Jason, you’re a prolific content creator. You might:

• Publish on YouTube
• Host a podcast
• Write regularly on LinkedIn. 
• Sell an online course
• Write a regular newsletter or blog post.

All of these are a treasure chest of content for your book. Yes, online courses, too. In fact, those can sometimes be the best source, because the material is the most in-depth and organized.

You simply take the content you’ve already created and use AI to help reshape it into a book. (By the way, Claude is my AI writing tool of choice, because it writes in a more conversational tone). 

I have developed a prompt for turning content into book chapters. I’ve included a link to my most updated version. Just paste your content, give it the prompt, and watch high-quality chapters appear.

Turn Content into Book Chapters — AI Prompt:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zFG2Ujutrady6m0q6Hlds21Nb6hBzGXdmiF9hDvmheE/edit?usp=sharing

Now, let’s talk about the second approach, which is best for you if you do not yet have a treasure trove of content to pull from.

Approach #2 - Create Content With Intent to Repurpose as a Book

If you are not yet a content creator, you have the opportunity to get strategic. If you want to publish YouTube videos, for example, make your next 20 YouTube videos on the same topics you need for your book chapters. 

Then you have:

• Videos you can publish to grow your audience
• Videos you can transcribe into your book

Or, you can start by writing newsletters, article, long-form post for Facebook, and then turn those into your book chapters. You need to post content to grow your brand and get customers anyway. Why not get strategic and squeeze a book out of your efforts? 

How to Use AI To Turn Content into Books

OK, you have a plan to use (or create) the content for your book. Let’s discuss how to use AI to shape it into your book when the time comes 

In theory, you could ask AI to write you a chapter and leave it as-is. But, I don’t find AI’s writing to be good enough to leave untouched. I like to refine my writing a lot. I believe the real magic is when you edit ruthlessly down to the essentials. When I write my own books (or for my clients), I never just use what AI created. I refine it over and over.

There was a time when I got overexcited about the possibility of using AI to write books quickly. But as I used it more and more, I found AI’s true value is being an expert translator, not an expert writer.

AI does a fantastic job of taking your content and transcribing it. You can upload large databases of information and train it to pull exact material out in seconds. It gets the stuff on the paper. 

Then, it’s your job to do the hard work of refinement. You have to carve your “David”, like Michelangelo. AI can lay the slab of marble down and draw an outline on the rock. But you have to carve.

Closing Thoughts

Here’s the takeaway to consider:

• Books are content
• YouTube videos are content
• Emails are content
• A conversation with a friend is content

It’s all the same raw ingredient. Learn to be strategic with how you capture, use, and repurpose.

You will get a lot more bang for your buck. You can create a flywheel where all your efforts to produce content also get you a book once per year. This is totally realistic and only requires a little planning.

One of my clients already had hundreds of YouTube videos published. I found the material for his book among them, and wrote him a great book in about a month. He’s about to launch his funnel and make a killing, And, he didn’t ever write a single word.

To speak with me about writing you a book that will boost your brand and bring you customers, go here:

www.brianellwood.net/book

Here’s to you publishing a whole bunch of books (and changing the world),

Brian