Of course, there’s no law against just sitting down and starting to write. But doing the following steps, as soon as you can do them, will improve your focus as you put your book together and will save time in the long run. Whether you are going to author your book with help from a ghostwriter or you intend to write the whole book yourself, thinking through the following things will make your book easier to launch and to complete.

What is my purpose for writing this book? There are many good reasons to write one. Knowing why you’re doing it will keep you on track toward achieving your goal for the book. Is it a memoir that you will give as a gift to family members? Do you want a NYTimes bestseller? Is it a consumer-level how-to guide, or a technical book for members of a profession?

Who am I writing this to? Get your audience as clearly in mind as possible. Is it unwed mothers? Retirees? Young athletes? Your fellow sales professionals? Members of your religion?

What is my basic message to this group? To young athletes, the message might be “Know enough about preparing for your sport to avoid injuries.” To sales professionals, the message might be “A hundred ways of getting past refusals.”

What information or advice do I have that is valuable to my audience? Out of your experience, pull and list what you have to offer that will make the book worth buying.

For example, if you are a healthcare professional, recall what your patients like best about your methods and what skills or information have most often helped them. In addition you can recall what your patients feel is important about the subject you have chosen for this book — what they would want to hear more about.

You can add to the data contained in your experience by doing some research. Amazon book reviews in this subject area could be a good source of information on what questions or problems your audience seems to be most interested in.

What other books exist in this field? Online and in stores, look over other books in the same subject area to find out which have won awards or sell best. That way you can learn about what readers like to read by taking a close look at these books.

At the same time you can also decide on how to title and present your own book so it has an approach that is clearly different from the others. For example, if you are a dentist, you may find that there are already several books on the dangers of tooth decay; but another subject that is dear to your heart, how to help children have stronger teeth to resist decay, is not covered by any existing books.

Finally, do your best to picture the finished product: the audience you want to speak to, what the audience needs to know about your subject, what information you offer that answers the audience’s needs. Then use all this as a framework for the knowledge you have to share.

You may prefer to work through these steps with your ghostwriter, if you are using one. Or prefer to do them yourself. But either way, when these steps have been done you will be authoring a more focused book.