You’ve got a big idea—a message you know the world needs to hear. But how do you take that idea and actually turn it into a best-selling book?
In this episode, I share the three rules every impactful author follows to transform their ideas into a powerful, unforgettable book:
- Make a bold statement
- Uncover the simplicity
- Tell great stories
Whether you’ve been dreaming about your book for years or you’re just starting to explore the possibility, these three rules will help you move from “someday” to creating the book that truly changes lives—including your own.
Show notes:
- Read the full blog post here: https://stacyennis.com/3-rules-to-turn-your-big-idea-into-a-best-selling-book/.
- Watch the full YouTube video here.
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- Instagram @stacyennis
- Facebook @stacyenniscreative
- YouTube @stacyennisauthor
To submit a question, email hello@stacyennis.com or join my email list http://stacyennis.com/join and fill out the form on the page.
3 Rules to Turn Your Big Idea into a Best-Selling Book | Replay Episode 265 Transcript
These transcripts were generated by robots, not writers.
Stacy: Hello and welcome. As you are listening to my voice right now, I am on vacation or as they say in Europe, holiday. And so I am taking some time away. But of course I didn’t want to leave you hanging. So what Rita the producer and I have done is we’ve put together some of our favorites and your favorites as replays. Now I have done over 250 episodes, so surely there are episodes of the podcast you haven’t heard. And even if you have heard it, maybe this will be exactly the refresher or reminder that you need this week. So with that, I’ll turn this over to our replay and I will be back with you after my holiday.
Stacy: So you have a great idea, you have a story or message you want to share, and probably people have even told you should write a book. But how do you turn this idea or this desire to become an author into a bestselling book? Hi, I am Stacy Ennis. I am a best selling award winning author myself, plus a book strategist and coach who has directly contributed to more than a hundred books throughout 16 years in the publishing industry.
Stacy: And I love helping aspiring authors like you write their books and step fully into their purpose and engage in that beautiful author journey. Today I’m going to teach you three rules to turn your big idea into a bestselling book. So let’s jump into it. But before we jump into the rules, we be sure to subscribe to my channel hit the little bell so that you can get future videos from me all about the author journey. And if you have a question that you would like me to answer in an upcoming video, drop it in the comments and I might just make a video just for you. Rule number one is to make a statement. The books that resonate, the authors who really stand out, the messages and stories that impact people are bold, they are courageous, they are thought provoking.
Stacy: The thing is, if you want to stand out, if you want to truly rise as a thought leader in your industry, and I say that not just in this oh, you want to be a thought leader, but really the meaning behind thought leader, a leader of thought, that means that you are really stepping into this message. You are making a proclamation. You are sharing a bold and courageous idea. Idea. It doesn’t mean you need to be provocative or ruffle feathers, but it does mean that you need to show up and make a clear statement. You need to stake your claim. So here are a few examples. In Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, she makes the statement that creativity lives just beyond fear. And her book is organized around that.
Stacy: In the book the Body Keeps the Score, Besser van der Kolk makes a really bold claim that trauma reshapes the brain and stays in the body. And from there he explores how we can heal and we should all be millionaires. Rachel Rogers says that more women should be millionaires. And her entire book is really around helping women step more fully into this path of financial freedom. So I hope you see a pattern here. It’s one bold statement and everything is organized around that. So I’ll ask you what is one big idea that you are willing to make a statement about and stand behind? Rule number two is a really good one because it is so counter to how a lot of people think about book writing and that is to uncover simplicity.
Stacy: So many first time authors and even second time and beyond authors try to be way too complex when it comes to writing their books. And I made the same mistake when I wrote my first book. I packed it so full of interviews and call out boxes and all of these things that I think underneath everything I was really just trying to show up as an expert and I felt like I needed a lot of research and a lot of other people’s voices to validate me and validate my ideas. But actually the strongest books are often the simplest and you don’t need to over complicate things. Find that big idea, make the statement about that big idea, and then organize your book around that big idea. So, so what does this look like when it comes to actually writing the book?
Stacy: That means not having an over complicated book structure. Keep your structure very simple. Don’t pack your pages with jargon or unnecessary graphics. Now there are some books where charts and graphs make a lot of sense, but for a lot of books it’s actually just distracting and it’s not helpful. And keeping your sentence structure and language accessible for the reader you want to reach. So that means that even sometimes when you’re writing, people that are subject matter experts, don’t over complicate it. Keep your language as clear and simple as possible so that your reader can follow along so they can get your big idea. Hold onto it and be transformed or educated or whatever it is you want to do with your book. As authors, we’re not here to impress. We are here to make an impact. Rule number three is to tell great stories.
Stacy: Stories. Let’s be honest, you’ve bought a lot of non fiction books that you haven’t finished. And I’ll bet the ones that you did finish had this one quality, which is they told great stories. Now stories can be your personal stories. It can be case studies, it can be data. You can tell amazing stories around data. But don’t skip storytelling just because you think it’s fluffy or unnecessary. Stories are what we remember. They move us, they stick with us. And in fact there is research from Harvard University that shows that people remember stories three times longer than they do data and other statistics. Stories really connect with us and they really stick. So to recap, there are three rules that you should stick with if you want to turn your big idea into a best selling book.
Stacy: Make a statement, uncover the simplicity, and tell great stories. Of course there’s more to writing a book than that, but if you stick to those three rules at their core, they will guide you into writing a book that will change people’s lives and really help you step into your impact. That impact that you are meant to have on the world. And if you’re ready to go deeper, if you want somebody to guide you along this author journey. I coach authors on the journey of authorhood and you can learn more about my coaching programs in the links of this video. And don’t forget to like this video. Subscribe to my channel. Subscribe and hit the little bell so that you will get notified about my videos to help you achieve your goal of authorhood. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.
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