I have a confession.
When I was writing the first edition of Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business I didn’t know how to write a book.
I’d written blog posts and SEO-optimized articles but that’s very different than writing an 80,000 word, 300 page book with a deadline.
At the time I was working full time as an Online Marketing Manager, taking care of my mother who was struggling with dementia, and writing a book with a 2-month deadline.
I woke up early to write before work. I would squeeze in a couple of 25-minute sessions before bed (I discovered the Pomodoro Method of writing in 25 minute, focused sessions which really helped).
Some days I wrote a lot and other days not so much.
As I said, I really didn’t know how to write a book but I learned a lot of tricks during the process. The Pomodoro Method helped me accomplish a lot by focusing on short sessions.
Remember I was talking about coincidences the other day?
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was using the same techniques that the best copywriters use to write their sales letters.
I was listening to some old recordings of Eugene Schwartz and I started seeing references to him everywhere.
In one of the recordings, he said he never suffered from writer's block.
Of course, I started seeing references about writers block from other top copywriters like Dan Kennedy, John Carlton, Ray Edwards, Ben Settle, and others.
None of them suffer from writer's block.
How do they do it?
When they are writing a sales letter or a book, they immerse themselves in the topic they are writing about.
They research their target market in excruciating detail.
They read the magazines and newspapers that their audience reads.
They read the same books.
They watch the same television shows.
They know where these people shop and what products they love.
They know where they vacation and what kind of beer they drink.
They create swipe files of marketing materials used by competitors, not to steal the copy but to see the angles they are using.
You get it.
If you can speak the same language as your target audience, there’s a good chance they will resonate with your message.
These famous copywriters all say they immerse themselves in the content their target audience consumes and then they put it away.
They go for a walk, exercise, go to bed or they take a shower.
During that time, ideas come to them.
They capture these ideas immediately in a small notebook that they always carry, or record a message on their phone.
It’s imperative you capture these ideas immediately because they disappear as fast as they come to you. (see my post about Otter.ai for a great tool)
Next, you start writing in a stream of consciousness.
Write as fast as you can. No editing, no judgment.
Ideas flow to you out of nowhere and they’re related to the content you have been consuming.
Your subconscious mind pulls together ideas which is your take on the content you’ve been consuming.
You’ll see the same phrases your target audience uses.
The rhythm in your writing will match the pace of the content you’ve been reading.
Your target audience will resonate with your writing because they see familiar words and a familiar pace in the writing.
This is how top copywriters write copy that earns millions of dollars.
When I was writing the Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business, I didn’t realize I used the same technique.
I didn’t know how to write a book so I purchased the top five best-selling books about LinkedIn.
I compared the table of contents to see what other authors wrote about.
I looked for topics they weren’t addressing.
I read their books to see how deep they went.
When it was time to set my 25 minute Pomodoro timer, I put on classical music to get me in the flow.
And the words flowed and flowed out of nowhere.
If you’re struggling with writers block, give it a try.
It works like magic!
