Writing Clients – Keeping Your Sanity

My favorite writing client is the person who knows what they want written. I mean they know specifically both what they want to accomplish and how they want it done. If it’s a ghostwriting client, that means they know why they want to write a book, what they want the book to say, and maybe, at least in a general way, how they want that said. This kind of client is a cakewalk.

The kind of client that drives me nuts are the ones who have only the vaguest notions about why they want a book written. Since they don’t know what they’re trying to accomplish, they don’t know what they want to say, nor do they have any clue about how they might want it, whatever it turns out to be, presented.

I actually try to make sure a client has some clarity before they hire me because my experience tells me if I don’t, the project is likely to go wonkers in a hurry. In order to help a client get some clarity I usually use three primary tools:

1. Visioning – an almost meditative way to get in touch with your higher purpose for the book.
2. Purpose – 10 words or less that sum up what your book is about.
3. Working Table of Contents – often just a list of what the book needs to contain.

With each of these items in place, the writing usually proceeds fairly easily.

Write well and often,

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Image from http://www.sxc.hu