What Writers Should Know Before Writing A Book - Anna David (2024)

Introduction

BUY THE BOOK - PARTY GIRL - amzn.to/3kC7KeK

BUY THE BOOK - MAKE YOUR MESS YOUR MEMOIR - amzn.to/3EATdpT

Publisher, Author, Speaker, Podcast Host, and Television Personality Anna David reflects on her writing experiences. She shares that writing every day is crucial for professional writers, comparing it to the concept of putting in 10,000 hours to excel at a skill similar to Malcolm Gladwell's theory. Anna emphasizes the importance of consistency and dedication, expressing frustration when people claim to be great writers without practicing regularly. She acknowledges that being a content writer or copywriter can provide valuable skills but highlights the distinction between those roles and being an author.

Anna David is the New York Times bestselling author of two novels and six non-fiction books. She has appeared repeatedly on Today, The Talk, Good Morning America and had a running segment on G4’s Attack of the Show that she co-hosted with Olivia Munn for three years. Her company, Legacy Launch Pad, writes and publishes books for thought leaders and her podcast has featured interviews with authors such as Robert Greene and Chris Voss. Her first book, Party Girl, is in development as a film tentatively scheduled to be shot in 2023.

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Video

I wrote a lot of books without knowing my why.

And it convinced me that I didn't like writing anymore, because I had such bad experiences with it.

How often does a professional writer write I believe that a professional writer writes every day I believe that it is one of those skills it's sort of like the Malcolm Gladwell, 10, 000 hour theory that you're not gonna excel at something and be able to call yourself that unless you do it all day every day and have for a decade or so it kind of kills me, I I, meet people all the time who say everyone tells me I'm, a great writer and I say, great, do you write every day? Well, no I mean, it's, people, don't really get that it's like, you know, it's like going into a gym and lifting weights one day and saying, everybody tells me I'm so good at lifting weights.

Well, if you don't do it every day, how good are, you gonna be what if someone's a Content writer for their job, let's say.

And so they think that because I'm great at writing copy or writing stuff for, you know, a brand that then I can write my own story.

It should be no problem.

I do I.

Do think that if you have experience as a copywriter as a Content writer as long as you're putting words together every day you're going to be in much better shape than someone who isn't any kind of a writer, but it is a totally different skill set I think you know, it's about it's about words and language and psychology I find actually, uh, copywriters are very interesting to me.

Because the work is about I became a writer because I'm fascinated with words in Psychology copywriters are all about what's gonna get someone to press by what's going to get someone to have a response.

So I, actually think that's better training than a lot of other writing.

And when you set out to be a writer, quote, unquote, you gave yourself what you said, three pages.

A day did that change? Did you add on more to your plate? No I was always pretty committed to the three three pages after rewriting the three pages from the day before because that's the thing that can take hours and hours and hours I'm.

One of these writers who I may over edit it's, very easy to get very caught up in like let me just make this perfect.

Let me just make this perfect and it's sort of like perfect as the enemy have done.

And you know, perfectionism is actually just fear wearing a disguise it's, never gonna be perfect.

And when I meet people who say I'm working on my book for seven years, I'm, like, oh, God, you might be better off starting again.

Well, what was her name Susan? She wrote, uh, quiet the power of introverts.

She did Susan Kane.

Yeah, she did seven years, but she admits that she enjoyed the process so much because she's an introvert.

And it was right.

It was all part of who she was so right? Right? Right? Okay? What should a writer know before writing their book, a writer needs to know why they're writing the book, um, I wrote a lot of books without knowing my why? And it convinced me that I didn't like writing anymore, because I had such bad experiences with it.

My second book, what happened is I had written a story for details magazine about high-class hookers in LA and I had been given.

This assignment.

The editor said, go do what I'm giving you months.

Go infiltrate this whole CD underworld, I said, great I, went and did it and I uncovered great crazy, crazy things and I had like, um, I mean, I had disk drives of things that people been in prison.

I mean, I had lists of famous people I had the craziest things.

And then my editor was fired.

And another editor came in.

And he said to me, literally, uh, we just need this to be a story about like how rich men get off.

And so I was so bitter that they had taken this.

Amazing material I had and made it into such a boring story that, um, my agent said to me was it was actually when we were walking in to make the deal for party girl.

She said, they may offer you a two-book deal.

Do you have another idea? And so I just busted out with how about a novel about high-class hookers in Hollywood.

And they said, yeah, that sounds good that's.

How I got my second book deal and I thought? Well, sex cells, it's a sexy topic.

People are gonna like it I.

The problem is I'm, not interested in the subject of hookers.

I don't have a judgment about it I'm just totally bored by it.

So I'm, writing this book that I'm bored by thinking, oh, sex, cells, I, never bothered to ask myself.

Why do you want to do if I'd asked it would have been like well, I want to do it because I'm resentful at my editor, details, well, that's a stupid reason to do a book.

So every author needs to say, what is your why? Why you why this book and why now? And if you can answer those questions, and you know what you want your reader to do as soon as they finish writing it, then you should write your book and of all of your books, which was the strongest, why? For you party girl party girl was okay, yeah.

It was.

It was absolutely, yeah, because you felt so connected to the material because it was, it was basically you, but you were sort of embellishing or tying the other stories.

Right? Yeah.

I mean, yeah, party girl was very much my story, but it had it had a real.

It had a real intention behind it and I wrote it before I knew about Publishers and book deals and Goodreads reviewers and nasty comments and Book Sales.

And all the things that were going to, um, sort of sadly, poison.

The experience I.

It was just written from such a pure heart.

What is the process of writing a book begin for you? The process of writing a book for me today begins with saying, what am I interested in that people actually want to know about and not kind of having this vague idea, but really going out and trying out material right now, I'm, writing a book that's based on my podcast interviews and I, put out there on Twitter on LinkedIn on Instagram I'm, constantly kind of taking the material I'm writing about and seeing how people respond to it.

So you're, getting actual test cases, you're getting a b testing while you're working on something so I need to I wrote many books without ever bothering to ask if anybody wanted to read them.

So now I get really clear about is this a book people are going to be interested in, and then I start writing from there.

So you said, with your second book, you weren't, really that invested in the topic.

Yeah, it was more because your article was sort of kiboshed.

And you thought, you know what I? No no I want to take this were you surprised at the feedback that you received that people actually did want to know about this like The, Client, List or whatever girlfriend experience, I, don't, um, no, I.

I.

Nobody really cared about my second book least of all me I turned that book in and I hated it.

And then a month later, I said, can I have it back I want to reread it from page one.

And my editor said, I, don't, think you need to I think it's, pretty good and I said, no, no, no I want to rewrite it and I rewrote it and I, rewrote it and I still hated it.

And honestly, when I get emails from people who tell me, they love, it I have no respect for them because I hate the books so much.

So do you think that's where there was a disconnect that maybe because you didn't feel so personally invested that it, translated and How, It, Was, Written, yeah, yeah.

Party girl is I wrote this book with this pure heart.

And there was so much excitement around it.

And it was going to be this thing.

It was going to be my dream come true.

And then it didn't happen.

And so I forgot about the pure heart, I thought, well, okay, I gotta be more strategic.

What will sell what do people care about and I used to make a really big mistake in my career, which is if somebody asked me, um to like to talk about something I took that as a sign that I, should you know, I became like a sex dating and relationship expert despite having no interest in it, because somebody offered me the opportunity to do it.

So my third book was about reality shows because at that point I was being asked to go on TV and talk about reality shows I didn't have a strong affinity for reality shows I, didn't really care.

But it was like I was taking what was showing up as ideas about what I should do and I, really if I have any regrets it's that I didn't just stop back and go.

Hey, do you care about reality? Shows, nope.

Okay.

Next pack.

Another opportunity will come along, which is your favorite part of the writing process, that's such a good question, I used to love, uh, the very end, not because you were reaching the end, but because I'm not an outliner.

And so I always feel felt like the end would it was almost a spiritual experience where it would make sense I would write myself to a place where I'm like, oh, my God.

If this hadn't happened here, this could never have like it was almost like divinely inspired, not to sound, totally pompous and self-important.

Um at this point, um I.

Do like all of it I will tell you the part I like the least is actually where I am with the book I'm writing right now, which is after I've, Rewritten it and printed it and gone through and made edits and you're.

Just like, oh, my God I'm on page, 200 Crossing things out to make changes and you're.

So sick of the material that's when it gets hard, I have found a trick, which is, um, when I'm so sick of reading, my own material, it's, almost like an acting exercise, pretend I'm somebody else, how would I feel if I was Karen reading this, you know and I almost try to embody somebody else.

So that I can actually get fresh eyes.