Blog
How to Turn Your Podcast into a Book
All that content out there can be used for more, right? Have you thought about turning your podcast into a book that goes with your brand? It can be pretty simple, but there are some definite rules to follow for ethics and to make sure that everyone is on board, if you have guests. Want to know more? Check out this month’s blog!
How to Work Effectively with Your Editor
So. many. red. marks. Are you afraid of red pens? Do you feel like you’re wrong when you see those lines? Guess what. You’re NOT wrong. Your editor is working with you toward a common goal: making sure that your book is easy for your reader to understand. There really is a mindset shift needed when you start working with an editor, so check out my tips in this video!
How to Reframe Your Tough Story so You Can Write
Writing a book is hard enough without all the stuff going on in your head while you’re trying to do it! I have a trick, though, that can help you pull back from all the negative thoughts and get you to flow through the writing process. Check out the video to learn more!
How to Effectively Write a Chapter for a Group Book
Right now, it’s popular for a group of authors to band together and put out a book with each chapter featuring a story from a different author. I love that this makes book writing really accessible for everyone, especially because the costs can be split among all the authors and because there isn’t as much pressure on one person to do it all. However, I find that a lot of these projects lack direction or
How Long Should My Book Be
New authors often wonder about parameters for their book that are easy to spot. I’m constantly asked how long a book should be or if there are rules for the length of a chapter (nope!). There are absolutely typical lengths based on the genre, but in general, especially for nonfiction, we need to look at guidelines that come from our stories themselves. Watch the video to learn more!
How to Keep Your Book Relevant
Have you had a book in your head for a long time? Feel like you should write it exactly like it was when you first got the idea? You don’t have to commit to that oldest version of your book. Really. Here’s why …
Your Intuition and Your Book
Nothing is more challenging than trying to work on a heart-centered project and feeling pulled back to a structure that you “have to” follow. Remember that the rules of book writing are way more flexible than most people will have you believe. Writing something that is aligned with your heart and your brand is the most important part of sharing your story! Watch the video to find out more.
Impact with Story
You don’t have to be a speaker or coach already to really make an impact with your story. Plenty of people are sharing how they overcame a challenge in their personal or professional lives and are helping others. You might initially think that you have to be a business owner to write a book and impact a lot of people, but the truth is that all it takes is a big dream and small goals
Copyright Questions
As a publisher, I get a lot of questions about how written work is protected from theft. We copyright our books–the proper way–to make sure that our authors’ retain rights to their work. You might have seen the little C in a circle beside titles on various documents or on the copyright page of a book. That’s a good thing! But it’s definitely not the whole story. Check out this video to get some of
How to Expertly Utilize Vulnerability in Your Writing
I absolutely love that we talk about “vulnerability” so much today, but we need to address how it’s used in our writing. It’s not airing your dirty laundry or a full-on gripe fest about what happened. It’s not about complaining, shaming, or blaming, but rather about owning our truth. It’s about opening up, being raw and real, and connecting on a deeper level. In this month’s blog, I share some of my favorite tips for
How to Narrow the Focus When Planning Your Book
Business owners have tons of ideas swirling around in their heads most of the time. Snatching onto a few and putting them in your outline should be pretty simple right? The problem is usually that we pull a lot more than “a few” when we sit down to plan that outline. The nice thing is that you should have plenty of ideas to populate that outline. When you do your brain dump, you can get
What is a Book Editor?
For this post, I’m answering the second half of the question on the differences between a writing coach and a book editor. While they both have a similar goal, helping you get a book published, they handle different parts of the process. To read about what a writing coach does, see the previous post. For the editor portion, see below. When writers think of editors, they often picture someone wearing a black pointed hat, devil
What is a Writing Coach?
This month, I’m tackling a topic that I get asked about a lot: what is the difference between a writing coach and a book editor? Though it seems like they would be doing the same thing, the jobs are very different. For starters, the writing coach’s job is to help you get the book out of your head and on paper, while the editor’s job is to clean up the text and make it publishable.
Create without Judgement
Have you ever watched children playing? It’s carefree. It’s not full of concern or doubt or fear. My kids play dress up a lot with various pieces of clothing that they decided make up a character’s costume. Usually, it looks nothing like that character, but they tell me that’s who they are. They name their dolls, animals we see, and people they don’t know. My oldest is a little more grounded (most of the time),
How to Serve by Writing a Book
When you work one-on-one with your clients, you want to help them as much as possible. I know that so many coaches give more than they have to just to make sure that the lesson sticks, that the mind shifts, that the client is able to get over that hurdle and achieve what they’ve been looking for. But you’re only one person, right? You can only give so much. And when you have a lot
How Connection Through Your Book Leads to Healing
I was doing an exercise suggested by a creative thought-leader I’m friends with when I stumbled upon an idea that I didn’t realize was at the heart of what I do. For this exercise, we were asked to write “I believe” statements about our work. My work is coaching writers and editing their books so they can create the best version of the book and connect optimally with readers. I want the coaches, speakers, and business
How to Write About a Topic that Triggers You
Writing is a very personal thing to do. It involves a lot of emotion, both negative and positive. It bares the soul. It’s an act of cleansing. An act of rebirth. Writing can bring out our best. It can heal. There is a very good reason why everyone from teachers to therapists to business coaches encourages people to write. Getting the words out of our heads and on paper can give us a new perspective
How to Do a Call-to-Action at the End of Your Book
The End You’ve told your story. You’ve analyzed. You’ve provided the reader with a path to take, guidance, solutions, and the knowledge that you can help them through to the end of their journey. Now what? Before you send to printing, take another look at that book. It’s really a marketing piece, not a stand alone. What do YOU want to get out of that book? A client, of course. So you need to have
Mosaic Writing: Working Backwards from Writing to Planning and Beyond
You know the feeling you get when you open a box and the puzzle pieces are already assembled into the perfect final puzzle? You don’t? Me either. Part of the beauty and the challenge of creating a puzzle is to look at all the pieces and figure out which pieces go where. Which parts are the frame? What about the basket? The butterfly? The giant hulking monster with crazy eyes and pointy teeth? Maybe we
How to Inspire Others with Your Story
You’re finally ready. Something has pushed you to write a book about your experience, your methods, your way of thinking. But why does it actually matter? And why would someone want to read it? People are often inspired by others who have overcome challenges or developed a plan of attack to help them out. They want to read stories that will show them that they can get through what they are going through, someone has