078 - Greatest Lessons Learned After Becoming An Author

Hey Guys! How are you holding up with all the chaos in our world? I’m sorry I missed my podcast last week, but I was on the road traveling. I told you I bought what I am fondly referring to as the “super bus”? Well, the pups and I packed her up and took a drive to visit mom and dad in Michigan. I know it’s crazy to think I haven’t gone south in the winter, but with all the chaos in the world it was just time to go home for nurturing. Sometimes life gets wild and returning to familiar gives you a bit of grounding and comfort. So, here we are being mobile in the super bus! We have a home and an office on wheels! There is something quite freeing about this. With all the chaos we can pick up and go wherever we need. We aren’t bound anywhere. And we left Utah just in time for the arrival of snow! In fact, up on our arrival here in Michigan we had mid 70’d and sun. It was awesome to have a few nice days to get acclimated.

Anyhow, I hope you are doing well and have made peace with whatever changes you’ve had to make in these strange times.

I wanted to talk about some of the greatest lessons I have learned since becoming an author. As always, I want to give you the reality check on what to expect once your book is complete. Now of course, in these times we can most certainly expect the unexpected.

I got a call from a potential new client yesterday and, as I often do, I am told about how much the book is going to help grow their business once it’s complete. But, the clear misunderstanding with this concept repeats itself regularly with all new authors. You see, it’s not like a book is going to magically draw in all kinds of business just because you wrote it. This brings me to item #1…

1. No one calls you when it’s done. You are not instantly famous and very few people find your book if you’re not out promoting or selling it. You have to get out from behind the book! Thousands of authors are writing books every year and when yours is done it gets uploaded to Amazon just like all the other thousands of authors doing the same. Bookstores are basically obsolete so unless you create awareness you will not get any attention.
2. The book will not make you much money. You have to move away from the concept of selling books and into the idea that, as an entrepreneur, you are always building out your platform, products, and services and a book is just a tool in the tool belt. You have to always focus on the thing you do as primary. The book just becomes a new way to share the same message. Think of it like this…it cuts out the repetition in your sales cycle. Whatever you find yourself repeating daily can be captured for clients to reference. You can engage clients with high-level concepts then have them reference a books content for the details. The book builds out your content in an organized fashion and it will make you look very professional, but you’ve got to have a core thing it simply enhances or organizes.
3. You have to Build A Platform. So, this is where we circle around to your core offerings.  If my platform is helping authors produce books then my book becomes one of my how’s. The basis of my offering stands outside of the book. But, as I’ve said before, the process is the same, but each client’s needs are a bit different. So, the client engagement is more on overall process and strategy while the book defines the details. But, of course I don’t give everything away in the book because I want people to call me.
4. Use the Book to Enhance the Offering. When someone looks to do business with you because you are out there doing that thing you do and they like what they hear, then you also let them know they can learn more at your website well then you are in the majority. But, when you can also let them know more about your, your business, your why, and 50,000 more words of detail in a book, well then you’ve just earned credibility as an expert in that thing. You have showcased that you are dedicated to your craft, your organized and detailed because writing a book isn’t easy…you have to know a great deal about something to tackle writing a book on the subject, right?
5. Get Clear on the Offering. Not everyone is entirely clear on their offering. The basic concept is there…I want to enhance my business…I want to get attention…but when you actually sit down to write the book you are knocking out the details of your “why”…why you’re writing in the first place. You ever meet a sales guy with pie in the sky ideas but no real tangible material to grab onto? The gift in a new business call I received the other day was the idea of making my offer crystal clear. The guy says “I talked to your competition and here’s what they are offering…what do you do?” I had to think about how to answer for a minute because quite honestly, he’s been sold of bill of goods that is unnecessary to complete his book. (Most people in this business are over-promised with the system or the accolades they will receive once the book is complete.) But, what he was hung up on was a system where he was held to be accountable for certain deliverables. I told him that my online book publishing program is geared toward the new author that wants to go at their own pace. It’s interesting that he made me aware of the idea that people simply want to pay someone as an accountability partner to keep them on track. He also let me know that he needed help with developmental content editing. I told him this is a very tedious job and a specialized editor is needed for this. This isn’t the job of a book coach per se. But, what many people need to know in the book writing process is who to call for what and when. It’s not that complicated when you break it down, but when it’s all new it can be quite overwhelming.
6. You Are The Expert. Whatever your topic is, you are an expert in it. Choose that topic wisely because you may begin to get frustrated if you don’t enjoy living, eating, or breathing your subject matter. It can be frustrating when you become an expert of something. You see, everyone calling you wants base-level information all day long. You never really get to toot your own horn about the more specific concepts of the thing you are an expert in. I know that sounds strange, but you need people around you that know very little about the subject you are an expert in because you need clients paying you to coach them. Personally, I always want to enhance my base-level understanding of any topic I’ve just taken interest in. I want to talk to others and learn more to gain mastery. But, sometimes it can be a lonely road at the top and so little of your knowledge is tapped into. Wherever you go and someone introducing you “This is my friend Nicole and she’s an author…” The most generic first question is “what is your book about?” I don’t ever respond with anything other than “I’ve written a few books, but my latest is actually a book on how to write a book…” and this opens the door for new business.
7. Write Where You’re At. You will grow, expand, and evolve as an author (and as a person). If you feel like you’re not quite where you want to be physically, spiritually, or emotionally and it’s stopping you from writing, you will never get your book done! Remember that at some point you will expand beyond where you are at and the book you wrote ten years prior will likely no longer resonate with your current reality. It takes an emotional charge of some kind to give birth to your book now but later the charge will neutralize. When you choose your topic for now consider how broadly it will reach into the future. Also consider that the content should be timeless. You will appreciate this later.

Its a general tendency of most authors to have a busy mind full of ideas…”my next book will be" kind of thinking…sometimes even before you’ve finished writing the book you’re currently working on. Whatever doesn’t make it into this book can always be put into another. My coach taught me that you have to get it all in now because you may never write another book. But, this puts too much pressure on you that it’s all so final. I’m a bit more flexible now that I’ve written four books. I know it’s as easy as “just write another” when the urge hits. It’s not really as permanent as it seems.

There are so many more things I’ve learned since becoming an author. I’m sure I could do a far more humorous version of this same topic. Nothing is ever as it seems. The current state of affairs in our world sure prove this point, huh?

I wish you great comfort and peace as we move into the winter. Stay focused, safe, and know that our creator really does have a plan. Trust and hold faith.

As always, wishing you peace, love, and light!