I’m an accomplished speaker, sales professional, and business owner, but I was not prepared for what writing my book, Speak with Confidence. Sell with Authority (April 2018) kicked up for me. It awakened every inch of me. I found a voice for everything I was thinking, doing, saying, or experiencing at the time: “I’m not enough. I’m unworthy. I don’t want to shine. I don’t want the attention. I am an imposter. What if it’s not really good?”
If you have any of those self-doubts humming along in your system, when you start writing your book, they will say, “Here we come!” For me, they sure came to the surface to be revealed and healed—AGAIN. I had no clue that would happen when I started writing a book. I found I had to heal from things I thought were complete for me.
Here are five insider secrets I learned by writing my first book:
1. Writing a book is an emotional awakening of everything. Prepare yourself!
Laura warned me this turmoil would happen, especially during the re-writing process. She said I would hate it. “There will be an emotional shift in you,” she told me. But I never realized what that was going to look like. I would think, “I am done.” And then she or her editor would give the manuscript back to me and say, “Here are eighty-two more things you have to do!” I would think, “Oh, God!” That was the worst! I wish I had prepared myself for the number of inevitable re-writes. I definitely experienced an emotional shift, but in the end, I’m glad I put in all that effort because my book has gotten results.
2. To save yourself time, money, and frustration, be consistent and disciplined about writing.
I wish I had been consistent and disciplined about writing. I would write for a while but then have long periods of time that I didn’t write. By doing it that way, I would forget what I wrote and end up writing the same thing I’d already written! This happened over and over again. I kept repeating myself.
When Laura or my editor got ahold of my manuscript, they kept noting they had “read this before,” which was frustrating for me. I would get my manuscript back and think, “Oh, come on!” But then I saw they were right, and it was bad! I’d tell them, “Well, it must have been a really good idea, or I wouldn’t have kept writing it!” But this repetition caused a lot of wasted time and upset, so I wish I wouldn’t have started and stopped so much.
3. Your book takes more than you might realize to get it out into the world— prepare early on and reach out for help.
I wish I had thought about the logistics of writing a book. When I should have reached out for more support from Laura, my writing coach, I avoided her instead (so I wouldn’t have to do my writing).
I also wish I had known more about what it takes to launch a book and get it out into the world. Laura informed me, but I didn’t get things together as soon as I would now. For example, I would have looked for promotional partners a lot earlier than a couple weeks before the actual launch date. I just didn’t take the launch process seriously soon enough. In my opinion, affiliate partners are what it takes to become a bestselling author. I should have had a better system for preparing and not putting things off because it would have been a lot easier on myself and everyone else on my team.
I read some statistics recently that were very interesting. On average, 600,000 to a million books are written each year just in the United States. People will sell 250 of their books, but in a lifetime, they will sell 3,000 of their books. Peacock Proud Press’s book launch system is defying the odds because I sold 250 books in just one day.
4. If you’re a business owner, your book is about opening doors and closing deals.
I have a good business, and I’ve always wanted to write a book but never took the time to do it until I met Laura. If you are a business owner, understand that your book alone is not what will make you money. In other words, selling copies of your book is not going to make you rich. Instead, your book is a tool for building your business. Use it to open doors and close deals. It will generate results for you and your business in every way.
5. Hire the “right” team, not just “a” team to help you with your book.
Your book gives you more credibility and exposure. Although even me, a sales and business building expert, never really imagined a book would give me more than what I already had—but it has. So it’s really important your book is great. My book would not be the book it is now without a team of support to leverage my business. You must, however, hire the “right” team, not just “a” team to help you write, publish, and launch your book.