The Disruptive Author

I've talked a lot about fear and how it can rob authors of their dreams.

Imagining a wildly successful outcome can spark a level of joy that motivates and encourages people to take action in a big way. But it an also spark fear in many and stop people in their tracks.

Did you know that you can be afraid and be successful at the same time?

It's true. Dealing with the unknown is a natural part of being successful. There are many risks, roadblocks, and potential problems that spring up along the way and it’s normal to be afraid of what could happen.

It’s also expected that to succeed one must operate with some degree of fear as they take bold action without knowing with certainty how things will turn out.

One of the biggest fears I think businesspeople have around writing a book is that they are not writers, let along good ones.

They don’t believe they have what it takes to write a good book so they let the idea go as quickly as it might come to them, every time it comes to them. They dismiss the idea quickly because they believe it would be a waste of good time and resources to even try.

It's such a shame really because writing the right business book is one of the smartest things a businessperson can do for his or her business. So, dismissing the idea deprives them of a powerful and valuable marketing tool that can set them apart and help them stand out in a crowded marketplace.

When you know your business, structuring your book is more about good organisation than it is about being a good writer. And organisation IS something that many businesspeople are good at. They have to be, to survive.

If you are in business, I want you to trust me just for today when I say that you don’t need to be a spectacular writer to write the right business book. There are lots of good editors out there who can clean up your grammar and spelling. They can even organise your writing to some degree.

You just need to focus on the message, and I encourage all my authors to write as they speak so that their reader can get familiar with their voice.

From there, you need to know what information is important - and what isn’t - and you need to know the best order in which to share what you know. But I can give you a plan to help you with that.

So that means the only two things you need to know are:

1. your business

and

2. how to follow a plan.

If you can do these two things, then come with me because today I'm going to give you the plan.

When someone is thinking about writing a non-fiction book - a memoir, a self-help or a business book - it never even occurs to them that their book might be about anyone other than themselves.

They are the author after all. Who else would it be about?

If they are writing a memoir then it is about their life story, or a portion of it, and that makes the book entirely about them.

If they are writing a self-help or a business book, then naturally it is about them, because it is their experience and their expertise they will be writing about.

They will be writing their book in an attempt to show their ideal customers and clients that they know their business and that they know what they are talking about. They need to be seen as an expert in their field, as someone who can be trusted to advise and help the reader.

That is the reason for writing the book for many. But…in a twist of irony, it turns out that one of the most important things an author needs to know about writing a book about himself is…

Today I am going to talk to you about writing and publishing a book, which feels a little bit weird, because I feel like I talk about this stuff all the time.

But last week at a networking meeting I was asked, "how do I go from having an idea in my head to holding a book in my hand?", and at that moment I realised that I don't actually talk about it all the time at all.

What I do is I talk around it, and I do that because I assume people already know certain things - the things I am going to talk about today.

I am almost always in the company of small businesspeople. They're my people - my tribe - and I feel very comfortable with them.

Being asked how to write a book is a regular occurrence, but I hadn't been asked in that way before, and I am super grateful that it happened, because I realised that I'd forgotten what the people around me don't know.

So that's what I'm going to talk about today.

Let's explore how you can go from having an idea in your head to holding a book in your hand.

Last week I talked about the fear of being seen - why we might be afraid to be seen and how to push through that fear so that we can realise our dream of becoming a published author.

So, in this episode, I wanted to talk about another fear that holds authors back and that is the fear of success.

Is it really a thing do you think? And more specifically, is it affecting you?

Let's dive deeper into this topic and find out if the fear of success is actually holding you back.

What happens to an aspiring author who desperately wants to become a published author but can’t follow through on their dream because they have a very real fear of being visible?

More often than not, they give up on their dream. How sad is that?

They might want to pour their heart and soul into creating something they can proudly say is theirs but instead of putting their time and energy into writing their book, they put it aside for tomorrow and we all know tomorrow never comes.

They fill up their time up with ‘more important‘ things, take on other responsibilities, put others first, and they seem to find a whole lot of excuses as to why they can’t possibly find the time to write a book.

Then, as the saying goes, they go to the grave with their book still inside.

But what if there was a way to work through those fears so that you could realise your dream and allow yourself to have the experience of a lifetime?

In this episode,  I want to talk about that.

Many authors – especially first-time authors – worry themselves sick about who will read their book and what are they going to think about them. It’s actually debilitating for some authors.

Non-fiction authors in particular worry about offending anyone who has played a part in their story, and they even worry about potentially being sued by anyone who doesn’t like the way they are portrayed in their book.

The fact is, though, that there’s so much more to consider when you are writing – whether you are writing a book, a blog, a social media post or a text message – and it’s all about impact and influence.

In this episode, I want to explore the reasons why, as authors, we all need to take our writing seriously, and how we can, and should, make the most of any influence we might have.

So often I hear aspiring authors say to me that they really, really want to write a book, but they don't know what to write about, or where to start.

I remember feeling that pain. I felt that way for years. Decades in fact.

The inability to answer that question is a silent frustration for many writers who long to become published authors but they just don't know what sort of book they should be writing.

If they knew what their book was about, they could get on with writing it and get it done, and they could realise their dreams of becoming published.

But they can't get started because they can't even answer that first and most important question: what is my book going to be about?

In this episode, I am going to help you with one way to answer that question for yourself, so you can get on with what you came here to do: become a published author.

In this episode, we'll know that Publishing a book is one of the most exciting things a writer can do in their lifetime.

It is the realisation of a long-held dream for most who have carried a vision in their hearts of the day they can finally say: I am a published author.

Every single one of them will have had to overcome barriers of both personal and professional nature to become published.

Self-doubt, self-sabotage, lack of time, lack of support, lack of knowledge and lack of clear direction are just some of the things an author might have had to overcome.

Ultimately though, their resolve to realise their dream would have helped them to push through and do what needed to be done, which is wonderful.

Something I have noticed about most authors, however, is that once they have finished writing their first drafts, they develop a sense of urgency around their book that goes further than simply being excited about getting it published. And this causes unnecessary pain.

In this episode of the Disruptive Author Magazine. We're about to release Issue 13 and today I'm talking to long-standing and valued members of the Disruptive Author community Letisha Living the author of FINDING YOURSELF AFTER STROKE.