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Have you been thinking of writing a book or being in a book, but some things are holding you back?  They could be one of the five myths that you've been led to believe that are stopping you from being an author. The reason why I want to cover this is because I keep meeting people who are so impressed that I put out four books on my own and I've also been in six books that other people published. It's not that hard. In the beginning, I felt it was hard, so I really want to share this because you have a story and you have a message that needs to be heard. You actually have multiple messages that need to be heard. I want to make sure you don't get stuck by these myths because they're lies. They're not the truth. I'm going to tell you what the truth is and the solution as well. Myth #1: “You’re not famous, and you don’t have a big network, so you shouldn't write a book.” Actually, it doesn't matter if you have a big network or a big following. If you're trying to get pre-paid to write a book, then yes, you need a platform, meaning you need a lot of people who will buy the book once it is published, so that the publisher is guaranteed you’re going to get the sales they really need to be able to pay you for it. But you don't have to do a book through a publisher just to get paid. The solution is that the book itself is going to bring you opportunities and help you to grow your business. It will give you:
Those are 10 different ways that you can grow your business with a book. You don't need to have your own platform right off the bat. Having the book can help you to build your platform. Myth #2: “You don’t have a good enough story or expertise.” That is just a lie. All you need is great questions to pull out these answers and great stories. A lot of times, especially when we're writing non-fiction, in that case, it is about our expertise. It's about our own stories, rather than writing like we're going to write a professional development or personal development book. You are the expert on your own topic. For a moment, think about your business, your career or your life and answer these questions:
Usually the answer people give me is “Yes, of course. I've done that for social media” or “I've done that for my website.” Right there, you’ve been able to write and publish something. Also, look at the ideas you have written on social media. Those posts you've done are opportunities for content or opportunities to expand out.
It could be something as simple as, how have you been able to have the habit of going to bed at a good time? How have you developed that habit? That could be something you teach or share. Another example is how you were able to get out of a sticky business partnership, that in itself has lots of learning in it.
The answer to these are solutions that really need to be shared.
Where in your life have you had success, and now you have the story, the expertise and the learning to share. Just from those five questions, I'm sure you have lots of things you can write about. You don't have to have a Masters Degree. You don't have to have been in business for 40 years. You just need a starting point, and maybe a new perspective on something you already know. Myth #3: “Writing, editing, and publishing a book takes such a long time. I don't know how I would fit it into my already busy life.” I'll be honest here. For my first book, Dynamic You, I did almost everything myself. I came up with the topic and book outline. I wrote the timeline. I figured out the word count, layout, and formatting. I had three different editors edit it and paid for them. I figured out the cover design then had it made. I did the publishing, shipping, PR, promotions, social media, marketing, sales, and the list goes on. Yes, there is a lot of stuff to do. BUT the solution is there are many done-for-you options out there. Plus, you could already have the content created. You just haven't used it yet or used it in a way that can be published in a book. You can take the things I was saying before about social media or maybe an article, and you can repurpose it. These done-for-you options by publishers or maybe even collaborative books like anthologies are out there. We have our own series, the “Dynamic Women Secrets Series”. We did Success Secrets and Confidence Secrets. Next is Trailblazer secrets. You can be part of one of these collaborative books where all you do is write your piece that goes in the book, and then we take care of everything else for you. That makes it doable. My team and I take care of all the formatting, editing and the publishing. We give you all the PR materials once the book is done. We throw the party, so we do all the heavy lifting, and you just get to write something and enjoy the celebration. That's always an option. Myth #4: “Publishing is so hard, I don't think I could figure it out. How do I even get published?” You have a few options. 1. You can go with a publishing company where you put forward your ideas or your manuscript that's already done. You see if that publishing company will take you on. You might have to go through hundreds of different publishers to see who will take you. 2. You could self-publish. You could go to something like Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, which is how I published my first book through Amazon, and then subsequently the other books have been put on there, too. When you choose option 1, your publisher takes care of so many things like formatting your material, adding your bio and your headshot, doing the layout, editing the book, designing the cover, and they are going to then get the publishing done, submit the book for printing and so on. But when you self-publish, you need to do all of those things yourself. There are ways to do that. I've done that myself. I've also helped other clients to be able to do that. 3. In a compilation/anthology/collaborative book, you are not getting a publisher and you’re not the publisher. Someone else does all those pieces for you and really walks you through the process. Yes I do my own collaborative books, and have coached clients to write and publish their books, so you may think I'm a publishing company, but I'm not. Instead, I love offering a solution for how my clients can easily be a published author.  The benefit is my team has already ironed out all the kinks. And since we cover all of those details, it's really, really simple for you. It's a breeze because you just submit your piece and we do the rest. You get your piece published without having to pay heavily for a publisher, without having to schlep your book or your ideas all over the place to try and get a publisher, without having to do all of the work yourself by self-publishing. All you really need to do is decide to be part of it and decide what you'll write about. Then my team or the collaborative team, they take it from there. Myth #5: “It’s really expensive to publish a book.” It can be really expensive. If you do it all yourself, then you're paying for editors, designers, PR people, and a marketing team. You're paying for all the people separately. If you pay a publisher (because you can pay a publisher if they're not going to take you on and pay you), then you're paying them to do the whole process for you. If you are getting brought on by a publisher, then they are taking the chance that you’re going to sell enough books and if in the end, you don't sell the number of books they need you to sell, then you’ll find yourself with a bill. When you join an anthology or collaborative book, they're doing everything for you. Yes, you are investing in the opportunity because they're doing all the work for you. However, without it being a solo book (a book that's just you), you're going to share the investment with the other authors, which takes away a lot of the risk because it's not just you trying to sell the book. Everyone will be selling the book. That also reduces the time it takes it to be done because you're not trying to find everyone. It takes away the overwhelm. I know, because when I did my first book, there were a lot of learning curves. You don't have to feel overwhelmed about getting your book published. It will just be taken care of for you. Wrapping Up At this point, maybe some of you think you’re not going to fall into those five myths and that you’re going to self-publish. For those of you who are thinking, “Well, I like that collaborative idea of someone else doing it all for me, and a smaller investment of time, energy, and resources.” We do have a few spots left in the Trailblazer Secrets Books that is coming out in 2023. I'm also happy to answer any questions you have, you can email me at [email protected], and I will talk to you about it. The key thing is don't let someone else's myths or society's myths or false truths be the thing that holds you back. Your story is important. Your expertise is really important. It's crucial to get these things out there because so many people go through life wanting to do a book and don't ever get the chance. That moment where you get to hold that book in your hands is amazing. I have seen the faces of the authors when they hold their first copy. I can remember when publishing Dynamic Women Success Secrets, and I dropped off books to one of the authors. They held it, and they joyfully said, “Oh my goodness, I'm really an author, like it's real.” To look at the book and to see their photo on the book and to open it up and to see their story, and what they're teaching in the book. They said, “Wow, I'm really an author.” Then that moment where they autograph their piece, and they give it to someone or they sell that book, and they hold that money in their hand, that is such an amazing experience. Having a book opens up so many doors. Read other blogs here:
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