Get It Written

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Get It Written I help coaches get their book planned, written and ready for publication

Planning content is something most authors battle with, which isn't surprising because it's not always easy organising y...
14/10/2026

Planning content is something most authors battle with, which isn't surprising because it's not always easy organising your thoughts and working out what order to put them in. Here are three ways to approach creating your book outline.
1. Write it like a story - pick a character (your reader) and write their story, taking them from struggle, through false dawns to using your solutions and success. What does that pathway look like?
2. Work out 3-5 key points you want to include in your book then create content around all of them. You can create anything you want, from blogs to videos and from quick posts to short guides or trainings. It'll help you work out what the main idea really is and how you can communicate it using the best language.
3. Write out the key points in each chapter you're planning then create bridges between them. How does one chapter lead to the next? Cliff-hangers are a great way to encourage your readers to keep reading, so use them wherever you can.

The important thing to remember is that most outlines develop out of mess. So be willing to make a mess because when you sort it out, you'll feel much clearer about what you want to say in each chapter and how those chapters work together.

Writing a book is a challenging project for most of us - not only is it a long project, but it has a lot of moving parts...
13/10/2026

Writing a book is a challenging project for most of us - not only is it a long project, but it has a lot of moving parts... and many of those parts feel mysterious and bit confusing. What I've noticed that not everyone struggles with the same parts of the process and I'm doing some research to find out where business authors struggle most. So, if you're thinking of writing a book (or even you've written one), which steps feel like the hardest: coming up with an idea that'll sell; structuring and writing the content; producing and publishing the book itself; or promoting and launching it? It's okay to say all of them! Or even none of them.

Being the author of a book can do a lot for your business. But, although you can get a lot from authoring a book, it's a...
12/10/2026

Being the author of a book can do a lot for your business. But, although you can get a lot from authoring a book, it's a good idea to identify one main result you want from it. Of course, you can have them all, but it you don't pitch for one, you'll find it harder to make strategic decisions about your book. So, if you had to choose, what would it be for you? Bringing in clients, building your authority, open speaking and podcasting doors or something else? I'd love to know.

When I was a commissioning editor, I rejected a book on free-diving because, funnily enough, pictures of naked women div...
08/10/2026

When I was a commissioning editor, I rejected a book on free-diving because, funnily enough, pictures of naked women diving wasn't what I was looking for.

Apart from that objection, it wasn't a commercially viable book. The market was tiny ( just like the images of the naked divers), the content was negligible (as in there wasn't any) and it would have cost a fortune to produce.

When you're forming the concept for your own book, test your ideas against some of the questions I used so you produce a book that delivers for you, your business and your reader:

- is publishing this book going to support my goals?
- is there a market for this book (and will my book stand out)?
- is the book going to solve an urgent problem for the reader?
- will it make a profit or deliver a result I'm looking for?

My free guide, Nail Your Business Book Idea, walks you through all of these questions and more. The link is in the comments.

Question: do you think the price of a Kindle book should be lower than the price of a printed book, so it reflects the l...
08/10/2026

Question: do you think the price of a Kindle book should be lower than the price of a printed book, so it reflects the lower costs of production? Or do you think the price should be about the same to reflect the value of the content (and so the author makes a bigger profit)? And would your answer alter depending on whether you're the reader or the author?

07/10/2026

Be honest: is your business book an idea in your head, a few messy notes or a half-written book that's got stuck?

I went to an event in London recently - I go to London quite often (I used to live there) and the event was in an area I...
05/10/2026

I went to an event in London recently - I go to London quite often (I used to live there) and the event was in an area I know pretty well. So I wasn't expecting to have much trouble finding the venue.
Except I couldn't.

I checked the map before I left and I was sure I knew where the venue was but when I got there, the map and what I was looking at didn’t add up.
I got increasingly flustered.
I was reminded of what my NLP instructor had said about the map not being the territory. In other words, the real world isn’t the same as a representation of it.

Of course, eventually I found the venue, but my experience made me think about how our maps of the world are like our book concepts.

A concept can sound perfectly good when you first come up with it – it’s an interesting subject, you knows what you want to say – it all seems astonishingly clear. Yay!

But that doesn't necessarily mean the concept works when you start writing. You find yourself going off on a tangent, repeating yourself and feeling increasingly muddled.

Here’s the problem… if the concept isn't working, you end up with the writing equivalent of the map not being the territory. You have content, and ideas – you may even have several chapters drafted, but nothing fits together. After a while, you find you can’t figure out what belongs in the book, what doesn't or where you're actually trying to take the reader.

That's the reason why the concept matters so much. It isn't just a sentence you use to describe your book. It gives your book its structure, content outline and overall sense of direction.

If you've started a book and found yourself meandering around in the manuscript and wondering where you're supposed to go next, don’t just keep writing. Look at the map again to see how it actually relates to the territory of your book.

That's a big part of what I do in Unstick Your Book, but if you want to self-diagnose, use my free tool: Why Is Your Book Stuck?

Answer the questions and get a heads up on what’s really getting in the way of your book. Once you’ve found out what the problem is, you’ll work out what you need to change.

The link to the tool is in the comments.

10pm last night, I realised I'd lost the return label for an online order - the courier was arriving the next morning. A...
23/09/2026

10pm last night, I realised I'd lost the return label for an online order - the courier was arriving the next morning. Aaargh!! Cue panic. Usually, I would just print another one, but this order came with a ready-printed label.

I hunted high and low for it, getting more and more sweaty and anxious because I started imagining the driver refusing to take the parcel or having to pay for another label or (worst case scenario) being told I couldn't have a refund. Eeek!

Then sanity returned. I realised I couldn't be the only person who'd ever lost a return label. I mean, I’m pretty organised so just imagine how many lost labels there must be!

So I logged into my account and discovered I could request a duplicate label. Yay! Who knew? Not me, because I’ve never lost a label before 😂

But it made me think about how often we make assumptions and build stories around our problems – especially if we’ve never had to find a solution to that particular problem before.

It happens a lot with books - because there's always a first book, so every problem is new. What I see is that author gets stuck and assumes it’s because they haven’t spent enough time writing. They blame themselves for not being disciplined enough, ‘If I only wrote consistently’, they tell themselves, ‘everything would be okay.’

Except, in my experience, that’s not necessarily true.

Sometimes the writing grinds to a halt because something isn't working. When that happens, it's like a torpedo punching a hole in a ship. First, everything stops moving and then it sinks.

When it comes to your book, being stuck is the first sign that something's wrong. In which case, rather than pointing the finger at your lack of discipline, start asking, ‘What’s getting in the way of me writing this book?’ Because once you figure that out, you can start to fix the problem.

If you need some help with that, get my simple diagnostic tool: 'Why Is Your Book Stuck?' It’ll tell you where the problem lies and give you some pointers about how to put it right. The link is in the comments.

Grab it now and get your book unstuck!

If you’re writing a book, there’s quite a high chance you’ll get stuck at some point. But being stuck is a symptom of th...
21/09/2026

If you’re writing a book, there’s quite a high chance you’ll get stuck at some point. But being stuck is a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself. To help you out, I’ve identified 7 reasons why your book is stuck.

Here they are…

1. The concept isn't clear enough.
2. There's too much content.
3. The positioning isn't right.
4. You’re trying to write the wrong book.
5. Your book doesn’t feel connected to your business.
6. You’re trying to solve a structural problem by simply writing more.
7. You don't know what happens after you finish writing your book.

Do any of these ring a bell or feel as if they might be what’s getting in the way of you finishing your book? The good news is that you can fix every single one of these issues.

To find out what’s keeping your book stuck, get my free quick and easy diagnostic tool so you can work out what’s getting in the way of your book getting written - link is in the comments.

In my experience, one of the biggest mistakes self-publishing authors make is not setting a deadline. Without one, most ...
01/04/2026

In my experience, one of the biggest mistakes self-publishing authors make is not setting a deadline. Without one, most books swing wildly from full steam ahead to the back burner. In the end, the whole project gets heavy and bloated by an increasing level of perfectionism. Far from being exciting and challenging, it just becomes another source of stress. That’s not fun.

I know this because when I worked at BBC Book, I'd been given one of a few non-TV tie-in books to manage. I ended up working on it for months because the schedule had a rare degree of elasticity. But strangely, this made it harder to get the book over the line. It was a nightmare! One day, when I was very close to the end of the project, I decided to work all night on it in the office just to get the blasted thing off my desk and finished. If there had been a harder deadline, that book would have got done sooner - and far less painfully.

In contrast to that project, I also worked on another book with a phenomenally tight deadline. In fact, it was so demanding none of the other editors wanted to touch it. This book was a total joy to produce. Everyone on the team was motivated by the tight deadline and the challenge of producing a great book in very little time. We were focused, invested and excited by the challenge.

So, if you’re planning to write a book, set a deadline - ideally one that’s both motivating and achievable for everyone involved.

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