Write Your Own Book

There's a fashion in thought leadership and business books just as much as there is in everything else.

One minute everybody wants to write their version of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Then they all want to write their own version of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. Currently, a lot of people want to write their version of Atomic Habits. And they always want to write books like Ryan Holiday.

It's no real surprise, because a lot of people involved in writing thought leadership and business books spend their time listening to the same kind of audiobooks, and the big fish in the pond help shape the narrative.

However, just as no-one has been able successfully to sit down to write the next Harry Potter – and many, many people have tried – you cannot set out to write the next Atomic Habits. You have to write your own book. You can write it in a format you’ve seen in other books, such as a parable style. You can write it in the same spirit. You can write with the same tone.

But you should write it based on your own insights, not on other people’s insights.

By all means, be inspired by other authors. But if your content is different, the fact is your book will need to be different. That's why it’s worth discussing in detail with your ghostwriter the books you admire or aspire to, the books you can’t stand, and the best way to present your information.

Ghostwriters love it if you tell them, “I like the humor in this book” or “I like the short paragraphs in this book” or “I love the lists of takeaways in this book.” That helps them understand what you want.

They’re less happy if you say, “I want to be the next David Goggins.”

We’ve already got one of those.