The average best-selling author spends 12-24 months writing their books, yet there’s a bunch of people promising new speakers they can do it in 30 days. These are the same people claiming the speaking business is easy and you can throw a speech together overnight and you don’t even have to be a good speaker to deliver it. I heard these same lies when I got started in the business in 1996, and thank God I met Bill Gove. Bill Gove was from the old school. You know, the guys who believed a hand shake was as good as a contract and your word was your bond? Bill set me straight and told me the truth. Because he was honest with me, I had the chance at fulfilling my dream as a speaker. He warned me about listening to people selling a product or program on the premise that the business was easy. Any successful speaker who’s honest will tell you how tough this business is. It’s doable and it’s worth it, but you will pay a price for your success. (like any other business) Listen this post (9 minutes) and make your decison about writing a book on the FACTS…instead of listening to people who stand to profit from ignorance. If I sound angry in this post, it’s because I am. This is the greatest industry in the world and it’s being tainted by profiteers selling snake oil who could care less if you succeed or not. (Think George Washington Duke in Rocky 5) It’s a small group of people, but they’re growing because no one seems to have the guts to call them out. I’ll look forward to your conments. Steve Siebold (9 minutes)
PLEASE DON’T Write a Book in 30 Days
Published By steve
Steve Siebold, CSP My name is Steve Siebold. I’m an author with 1.4 million books in print, and a professional speaker and consultant to Fortune 500 sales teams on how to increase sales and retention rates through mental toughness training. My corporate clients include Johnson & Johnson, Toyota, Harrah’s Entertainment, Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Ingersoll Rand, etc.
Steve, Thanks for the incredibly direct, no-holds barred post. So many people are going into these deals knowing it can’t be real, but hoping the magic dust actually works. As one of my senior enlisted men once told me “Sir, if you put out your hands and wish in one and s*&t in the other, which one fills up first?” Blunt and direct and I’ve never forgotten that advice. Unfortunately, I haven’t always heeded that advice. Thanks for saying the things that others in the industry won’t say. Regards, Peter
This is a very true blog post. I’m friends with the owner of a publishing company in PA. We also have several friends who work for the same company including the person in charge of acquisitions who happens to be the god-mother of my children. If you are going to publish a real book with solid information, the whole process is at least a year, probably two. From the time you write it until you’re holding it in your hand is two years. My wife is a published children’s author and it was still a year for her. What’s the quality of these books being written and published so fast? Makes me wonder. Good info Steve.
I couldn’t agree more. It took me 4.5 years to write mine and it was a lot of work. A tremendous amount of work.
You know those projects around the house where it takes five times as long as you thought it would? That’s what writing a book was like for me. It took way longer than I thought it would.
Great post and again, I couldn’t agree more.
Hi, I live in Australia and I am just starting out towards my dream to become a professional speaker. Having searched the internet high and low for information, I have found it practically a full-time job to sift out the quality from the rubbish. Also I have gone back to study to further my knowledge in my area of interest and it takes me about a month to properly research, write, and review a university essay so I can’t imagine being able to write an entire book in that time.
Steve,
Refreshing to hear the counter-argument to a common theme we hear daily that aspirations (and the latest 3-step process being hawked by today’s TV motivational guru) thump hard work. The difference between good and great is hard work…and in writing, part of that hard work is known as the editing process. Additionally, I suspect in your case, not only was it hard work, but it also probably wasn’t inherently enjoyable either.
I’m signed up for your speech workshop in March – can’t wait to meet you and the other attendees. I hope you bring the same passion to the workshop that you showed here…and I look forward to the hard work that will follow.
18 months to write 90 minutes of comedy. It makes me rethink how much time I spend on 1 minute of anything.
How long did this podcast take you?