Shortcuts often have a bad connotation. They get you lost for one and they have the implication that you are cheating or not doing the full job. Baloney! When you are writing a book, shortcuts can mean the difference between publication tomorrow or publication next year. I vote for tomorrow, how about you?

Take a look at these three 'legitimate' shortcuts.

Shortcut #1.

Have you ever written anything else on the topic you are about to write on?

Articles? Reports? Blog posts? If the answer is yes, grab that material. You can create a book from material you have already written. Not enough material for a 100 or 200 page book? You can still use it and supplement it with content you write or better yet, have someone else contribute to the book and fill in the gaps. A book written by you and contributed to by another expert in your field can hold significant weight in your industry and will still have all of the power to create a fantastic income.

Shortcut #2 - Hire a ghostwriter.

Seriously. There are really good writers out there that will not charge you $100/page. Before you hire a ghostwriter it is important to decide how you want to work with them. Do you want them to do the research and outline the book in addition to writing it or will you do the research and outline and simply have them fill in the content? Will you record your thoughts and have the writer transcribe them and polish them into a book?

Once you know how you want to approach your book project, you are ready to find your ghostwriter. You can post your project on Craigslist, check with your local chamber of commerce to see if there are any writers registered, and take advantage of the numerous freelance websites available online like Elance. These sites enable you to post your project and have qualified writers bid on it.

Shortcut #3 - Interview people.

No time to write? Schedule interviews with people who have something valuable to share on your topic and record the interviews. Of course, tell your interviewees the purpose of their interview and get their permission. You can then take the recorded interviews, send them to a transcriptionist and then either hire a writer/editor to smooth the content into book form or leave them as is (making sure all typos and grammar mistakes are corrected). You will probably want to add an introduction, conclusion and maybe some resource material at the end of the book to add value and continuity but that does not take long and you can hire that work out too.

So you see, writing a book does not have to be overwhelming. You do not even have to 'write' it. Regardless of how your book is created, you will see tremendous benefits from getting it published and making it available to prospects and customers. Writing a book will change your life.