Most influencers that I coach in one of my coaching programs have a desire to write a book. And, why not? If you want to be a person of influence, you need to write well. Think of the “thought leaders” that exist in your field. Most likely they have at least one book to their name. In fact, there are popular voices in the business and ministry world who have zero (I mean, NONE!) experience until….you guessed it…. they wrote a book that took off. And then everyone wanted to hear what they had to say about matters where they had no training or experience. But a book showed that their insights were valued.
When one of my clients shares that they want to write a book, I do three things:
- First, I tell them to start reading everything that Joanna Penn (Website: The Creative Penn) writes. Though she is mostly focused on fiction, right now she is the most prolific in helping other writers through a long list of resources for nonfiction writers as well. Her work will help begin to show how a pro approaches the writing task.
- I then tell my clients to purchase three books – Create Your Writer Platform by Chuck Sambuchino, Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams by W. Terry Whalin, and Book Proposals that Sell by W. Terry Whalin. His book on proposals is a must-have for those who want to be traditionally-published.
- Once they have their proposals ready and I’ve looked them over, I connect them directly with a few publishers, agents, and others via my personal relationships. (If you’re interested in getting this jumpstart coaching experience, connect with me and I’ll send you an overview of how it works.) And I’m sure to connect them with Terry Whalin at Morgan James Publishing.
So, you can see that I think the world of Terry Whalin’s teaching. That’s why it was just a treat to have him as a guest on my podcast recently, one of our MOST POPULAR EPISODES of all time. Terry talks about his own story and his work with aspiring authors.
Photo credit: http://terrywhalin.blogspot.com/2016/08/three-reasons-to-do-it-yourself.html