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The Strategic Path to Book Launch

Behind the “Seens” with Burnout Prevention and Resilience Expert Paula Davis

Paula Davis knows firsthand about burnout. As a successful lawyer she burned out. But she didn’t initially recognize what was happening. Stress caused her to begin having panic attacks almost daily and when she ended up in the hospital, she knew things had to change.

So begins Paula’s journey into becoming burnout prevention and resilience expert and ultimately the author of Beating Burnout at Work: Why Teams Hold the Secret to Well-Being and Resilience. 

After attending the University of Pennsylvania’s Applied Positive Psychology program and starting her work in helping others, she knew she wanted to write a book. She was approached to write proposals several times, to subsequent “no thanks” or “not right now”. 

That ended up being a good thing. She explains that originally, she saw her book being in the “self-help” section. As she did more research, gained more experience, and saw how she was helping people and organizations, she realized that she was a business writer and she wanted to write a business book. 

“. . . if you want to be a successful business owner you have to be willing to ask the right questions, you have to be willing to listen to the type of feedback that you are getting from your clients, you have to really start to dig into their challenges about become very curious about the world that they are experiencing.” 

When Paula listened, the thing she was often asked was how do we address burnout from a leadership perspective. It was clear that this was the deeper, better conversation and it informed the direction of the book. 

Once this direction was clear, it changed everything. Her business name, her website, and the content she was creating were all focused on teams and leadership in the business world. 

She credits this focus (and her online presence) with another request for a book proposal with Wharton School Press. This time, it was a yes! Timing is everything and she was notified on November 6, 2019, that she would actually be writing her book. 

You don’t know what you don’t know, and Paula knew she needed help. Here’s the team (of which I am honored to play a part) she assembled over time to help her with the book. 

  • Agent 
  • Editor 
  • Website team
  • Marketing content team 
  • Virtual assistant
  • PR support around launch time 

Paula knew that she didn’t just want to write a book that no one read. That’s why creating a promotion and publicity plan was key. She credits finding the right PR person as a big part of the success of her book launch. 

Paula explains how getting the team coordinated was the critical support she needed. She was intentional so that everyone understood what steps were being taken, and how all the moving parts worked together. 

The book launched March 16, 2021 – with burnout quickly becoming a trending topic. It continues to be at one of the most important issues companies are dealing with in a post-Covid world. Beating Burnout at Work was chosen as a “Next Big Idea” book club nominee and was the #1 best seller in 2021 for Wharton School Press. 

Paula continues to do interviews about the book, about burnout, and about building resilient teams.  

Post book launch – now what? Paula is back to doing workshops, giving keynote speeches and working with her corporate and legal clients around the globe. The book has become an integral part of her curriculum and work. If you are interested in beating burnout and creating resilient teams in your organization, reach out to Paula and check out Beating Burnout at Work.

Connect with Paula:

LinkedIn

Stress and Resilience Institute

Interested in exploring where you are in your expert journey? Let’s chat! If you want to learn more about how to be seen, be found, be heard, please connect with me on the socials or let’s set up a call to chat.

3 Key Marketing Strategies for Self-Publishing Your Book

Behind the “Seens” with Amanda Miller from My Word Publishing

Deciding to become a published author is no small decision – for many it’s a dream come true, for others, it’s a calling and for others it is a way to share their expertise, experience or their point of view with the world.

After committing to your book, the next major decision is how will you publish book? If you are thinking that the traditional publishing route might not be for you then considering the self-publishing option could be a good idea

My guest in this episode is Amanda Miller, is a self-publishing consultant with My Word Publishing. In our brief time together, she runs down several tips and strategies you can use to self-publish your book.

If you’re considering self-publishing your book, then this episode will help you figure out how to do it successfully.

Things to consider when self-publishing

  • Review different publishing models
  • Money, time, and control are major points
  • Key players to involve in the publishing process

Amanda explains why it is so important to understand the different publishing models and the full spectrum of options available to you. You can go the traditional route and submit multiple queries, or you can try the other extreme and keep it really basic by uploading a PDF copy.

The main thing to remember is that you have options and they vary based on your individual needs and tolerance.

Money and time are both major factors to consider when you think about all of the key players involved in the self-publishing space. There are things you can do for yourself that may take time and effort to research, learn and implement. While other things such as hiring an editor and a book designer ideally require more money than time.

“If you want to keep your rights and royalties, you want to make a good book, you want to get it out into the world in a timely manner, self-publishing is a really good option for you.”

Key Strategies

  • Watch out for overwhelm
  • Optimize your sales page
  • Get the foundational marketing done well

Amanda touches on the importance of avoiding overwhelm. Publishing a book through any route can feel overwhelming, but it comes at you even harder when you’re not sure what to publish, where to start or how.

Know what needs to be done when. Things like getting your ISBN before or after the cover design matters. Having a consultant like Amanda to help guide you through self-publishing can really relieve overwhelm and give you peace of mind. 

Another major part of self-publishing to consider and plan for is how you will optimize your sales page. This includes Amazon and the book page on your personal author website

Amanda shares tips and about where and how you want to optimize the blurb on the back of your book and your Amazon sales page.

Making marketing foundational from the beginning of your journey as an author will be a huge benefit once your book is published. 

PRO TIP: Work on two book marketing tasks every week for a year.

Reach out to Amanda with any questions. She is amazing with the execution of strategy and figuring out the marketing to strengthen your brand and improve recognition for your self-published book.

Also, check out Amanda’s upcoming author platform marketing classes on email marketing. 

Connect with Amanda:

Website

Email

Interested in exploring where you are in your branding journey? Let’s chat! If you want to learn more about how to be seen, be found, be heard, please connect with me on the socials or let’s set up a call to chat.

A New Way to Use Personal Brand Photos for Marketing & Business Growth

Behind the “Seens” with Alice Patterson, Photographer and Owner of Loving My Company

Alice Patterson is not just another photographer. She specializes in personal brand photography for women entrepreneurs. She has created and designed her business, Loving My Company, to be a unique membership for female business owners who are expanding their businesses and their networks through very engaging social media and content marketing.

It’s not complicated in the entrepreneurial space to understand the importance of personal branding. Growing your business and expanding your reach is part of the job. Personal brand photography, however, is what allows organic and curated traffic to see you at your best.

“It’s what you do and who you are…You’re trying to merge your personality with your marketing messaging.” – Alice Patterson

Alice explains and shares the following key points around brand photography, her company and the unique space she’s created:

  • Why people need pictures of themselves for their work
  • The importance of showing up
  • Things to know about marketing yourself in your business
  • Benefits of fresh images
  • How to do a group photo session

Participating in personal branding photoshoots can be a great investment for your business. Instead of putting off updating your photos or filling space in between professional photoshoots with your own possibly sub-par photo quality, Alice’s subscription model creates the opportunity for so much more. 

Alice’s model of personal branding photoshoots goes well beyond her talent in photography:

“It has become, like a community. It’s become networking. It has shown me that it’s actually easier and more fun to have other people there.”

-Alice Patterson

Connect with Alice at Loving My Company:

Alice Patterson Website

Alice Patterson Instagram

Interested in exploring where you are in your branding journey? Let’s chat! If you want to learn more about how to be seen, be found, be heard, please connect with me on the socials or let’s set up a call to chat.

How to Set Up Your Content Planning for Success

Behind the “Seens” with Lizzy Fox, Social Media & Brand Strategist at By Elizabeth Fox

Lizzy Fox is a Social Media Manager and Brand Strategist at By Elizabeth Fox. She joins me to discuss content planning. She shares her insights about content strategy with the goal to help us all get organized to be more effective, starting today.

Like all of us, Lizzy was affected by the whirlwind of events in 2020. The same exact situation happened to everyone around the world, and while people were losing jobs and businesses were shutting down, some people saw an opportunity.

Lizzy opted for a career change. Lucky for us, she chose to help a friend with her business startup. She discovered her passion for developing websites and content strategy.

“I exist to set others up to win”

Lizzy walks us through her thought process. Understanding the mindset and logic behind why you do things a certain way, or why things should even be done is critical when it comes to anything, especially managing the social media and content for your business.

It gets overwhelming in content management fast! Take a deep breath, grab your coffee, a pen and a notebook, and dive in.

Beginning with the end in mind and planning backward is a strategy that Lizzy also uses, but before you get there, let’s orient ourselves around what content strategy and social media management are.

Lizzy gives the most direct definition of and it’s worth memorizing.

Strategy is your why, management is how you accomplish it.

We dive into explaining how a developed strategy is executed so it grows your business. Lizzy encourages you to understand that setting up your strategy, which is largely researched-based, will help you navigate what you will and will not do.

“When you have that why that creates the boundaries in which you’re going to engage online.”

According to Lizzy, without a strong why, your brand and social accounts can just sound like NOISE. It’s also the problem that leads to burnout, which we are all trying to avoid.

Lizzy Pro Tip: set a timer as a “physical” boundary to get on social media to like, comment, or go live

While Lizzy gets you through the ABCs of content management, she also discusses resources and tools you can use to make planning the growth of your business and managing your social accounts much easier.

Now for some goodies!

Lizzy and I mention a few resources and tools that we find to be very useful and as promised I want to share those so you can check out what may or may not work for your business.

Build-in time, creativity, and efficiency into your content planning and it will remove much of the stress and frustration. Lizzy’s success with planning started with a scatterbrain 5th grade Lizzy that lost 10 jackets in one school year!

I know all the moms are cringing at the thought of this, but this is where Lizzy discovered her now-superpower to plan and execute so well.

Favorite Tools Mentioned:

Asana – a project management system that’s simple and team-friendly

Google Drive – Docs, sheets, calendars are all great ways to share real-time

Evernote  – personal blog post for ideation – digital file cabinet

Hootsuite – social media manager, great for 10+ clients specifically writers and business professionals

Later.com – great for creative, changes on the fly – analytics

There are tons of resources, and the key is to not get overwhelmed. Try something and see what you like, what you don’t, what features are an absolute must for you. If it’s too much of a struggle to use, chances are you won’t use it at all.

Lizzy Pro Tip: leave your digital project management system and calendars open on your computer so you always see them (don’t ignore them)

Lastly, although digital is incredible and has changed every one of our lives, sometimes pen and paper are still best to have. Lizzy likes to use a physical planner to also track personal life with business life, and that’s important.

Our Favorite Planners (for now)

Golden Coil Planners

Best Self Planner

Best Laid Plans Podcast – a podcast dedicated to planner addicts that we both adore!

“In order for me to remain in a creative space and not just be a systems person which can sometimes be where I hide in order to not show up the way I need to online […] I need to have spaces where I’m constantly pushed to do that.”

Continue to nurture your creativity and never neglect your self-care!

Build an incredible business and change lives for the better. Be confident knowing you can tackle social media and content planning with more clarity.

Want customized best practices, better content ideas, and a game plan for social media for your business? Check out Lizzy’s Content Strategy Intensive! Take the guesswork out of content planning and start showing up online like the expert you are!

Connect with Lizzy:

Lizzy Fox Website

Lizzy Fox Instagram

Interested in exploring where you are in your writer or author journey? Let’s chat! If you want to learn more about how to be seen, be found, be heard, please connect with me on the socials or let’s set up a call to chat.

The Ideal Working Relationship Between an Author and Editor

Behind the “Seens” with Brooke White 

While Brooke and I met waayyyy back in our magazine publishing days, she has since worked in nearly every capacity of the book publishing world. She now balances her book work between the roles of ghostwriter and book editor. In addition to being one of the most fun AND funny people I know, Brooke has really smart things to say about helping authors.

Here are the highlights of our conversation:

Brooke’s journey from magazine publishing led to book publishing work (Hello South Beach Diet!) then a stint with a literary agency and onto a hybrid book publisher, on the editorial side. Now she has her own firm supporting authors as a ghostwriter or editor. 

Authors need a ghostwriter when they have a really great idea for a book but they don’t feel comfortable writing it themselves or they don’t have the time. One of the most important things ghostwriters can do is get into an author’s head and articulate their thoughts and their messages and also being able to do it in the author’s voice so that their brilliance, knowledge and insight comes through. 

Typically, people know when they need ghostwriting help. But for the best success, they need to be prepared to be real, be vulnerable and be raw! Everyone has a story and a why. Brooke likes to help them figure out how to pull that story out – as well as how to present it. 

Often, when working with a ghostwriter, the initial book idea takes a turn and the original story will evolve from where it began. Also, the process typically takes a little longer than expected. And for a truly successful book and rewarding experience, authors should still expect to be involved and collaboratively.

Now what happens if a person has a manuscript and feels ready to go? 

EVERY SINGLE BOOK NEEDS TO HAVE AN EDITOR!

No matter what. 

The role of a book editor is to elevate the author’s words of the book to be the best it can be.

A book editor is that crucial second pair of eyes that can go very deep and will help expose the weaknesses in the story, fix them and make the book so much better. 

When going the self-publishing route (versus traditional publishing when an editor is provided) an author needs to find the right editor. Otherwise, you are uploading a Word Document to be printed! Don’t do this! Also, we explore how a hybrid publisher works in the middle of traditional and self-publishing. 

What makes the best working relationship between authors and editors/ghostwriters

  • TRUST!
  • Respect for deadlines
  • Flexibility and patience for the process
  • Ability to think about the reader

Brooke thinks publishing a book and releasing it into the world is like birthing a baby!

If you are going the self or hybrid publishing path, it’s key to think about who you want on your team (yes, there are so many specialists!) to support you. In addition, to an editor, consider marketing support (yay marketing!) and also start doing your research about publishing partners as soon as you can!

Connect with Brooke by email, Linkedin, or check out her portfolio on her website! 

Interested in exploring where you are in your writer or author journey? Let’s chat! If you want to learn more about how to be seen, be found, be heard, please connect with me on the socials or let’s set up a call to chat.