The process of writing a book is much different than I imagined. I’m not sure what I thought it was, but I know it was much more complicated than I thought it would be. Before a person ever signs a book deal, there are hours of meeting, writing, editing and selling that takes place. There are literary agents and publishing people that need to come on board.
One of the most critical steps in the publishing process is writing a book proposal. This is an exhaustive look inside the book you are trying to write. It is filled with chapter titles and target audiences and book summaries. There is a section of a book proposal called Marketing. In this section you outline how you will market your book, then you list books on the market that are similar to yours, that would be in competition with your proposed book.
Lots of people have written marriage books. What makes yours different? What makes yours unique? How will your book be better than your competition?
Trish and I were talking yesterday, two weeks after we released Beyond Ordinary, and came to a conclusion: Other marriage books aren’t our competition, they’re our teammates.
Our competition isn’t Sacred Marriage, Love and Respect, The 5 Love Languages or Love and War.
Our competition is divorce. Our competition is lost hope. Our competition is stale love. Our competition is living together but not doing life together.
Our greatest competition is ordinary marriages…and Trish and I…we’re going after that competition with reckless abandonment.
It is easy to turn allies into competition. We do it everyday.
So just a reminder for you. Your spouse isn’t your competition today, they are your ally. They are in this with you. You have one enemy,and its not your spouse. Don’t compete to be right. Don’t compete to win. Don’t compete to prove a point.
Don’t fight with them today, fight for them.
