The Secret to My Success. [You Can Do It Too]

The morning I sat down to write this I thought, 

Maybe I can skip my run today. 

I’m awfully tired.

Rest would probably be better. 

I could totally skip it.

But then I thought: BULLSHIT.

I went running. I did give myself the teeniest break by not setting a target distance on my watch like I usually do. I just went. I felt sluggish toward the end, but a run was totally within my capability that day.

After all those thoughts, I ended up running the same distance and speed I normally do.

I knew that my thoughts about skipping the run were excuses because I have developed a finely tuned bullshit detector. It’s one of the secrets to my success. By paying attention to my inner monologue and the thoughts I think, I can tell if I’m legitimately too physically tired to go run . . . or if I’m talking myself out of it. 

And that allows me to make the right decision — instead of defaulting to the first choice that comes to mind. It’s important to know and remember that our mind is hardwired for survival. Fear and doubt are ways to protect us from harm — including doing anything new.

Deciding that you want to be a bestselling author is easy. 

But actually taking action toward that goal can feel difficult and scary. It’s new. You don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s a lot of uncertainty. Your mind is unsure and saying DANGER to your body. And once you learn that building your audience and author platform does not guarantee success, your brain is even more likely to offer up a gazillion reasons why you shouldn’t take action. 

That’s why you need to activate and hone your own inner bullshit detector.

So that when your mind comes up with thoughts like . . . 

It’s not the right time. I need X, Y, and Z before applying to work with her.

When my schedule frees up . . . 

Or my favorite — 

I’ll do it when I have more free time. 

I encourage you to question that. Is that thought the real, absolute, capital-T Truth? 

Or is it simply your mind doing its job and keeping you safe and the same?

Why Representation Matters

Last week I sent an email about why inclusion matters to me, and how MSB is doing compared to the rest of the traditional publishing industry. (Check it out here.)

In case you missed it, traditional book publishers have a big problem. 

Between 2019 and 2021, only 23.5% of authors, illustrators, and translators with book deals at Penguin Random House (the #1 publisher in the United States) identified as Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color. 

Those numbers are disproportionate to the U.S. population as a whole, 60% of which identify as white and 40% as BIPOC. And that’s just racial and ethnic diversity. The report didn’t get into gender and sexual identities, ability or disability, or socioeconomic status. 

I feel strongly that these numbers need to change, for two reasons. 

First — your voice matters.  

Research overwhelmingly shows that when we have diversity in basically anything — whether it’s business or books or friendships — we all benefit. A recent article from Marketwatch showed that companies with diverse staff earn 19% higher revenue and are 70% more likely to capture new markets than organizations who do not actively recruit and support talent from diverse identities. From a purely business perspective, publishers are missing out by not offering book deals to a wide array of folks. 

Second — what’s available to read matters. 

In 1990, a professor named Rudine Sims Bishop published an article called “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors” that explained how people of all ages see themselves (mirrors), understand others (windows) and can imagine themselves in worlds outside of their own (sliding glass doors) in books. 

To simplify her findings — a lot — mirrors help us understand ourselves, windows help us have empathy and understanding toward people who are not like us, and sliding glass doors encapsulate the magic of reading by bringing us into another person’s mind, world, and perspective.

The reason I do this work today is because I fell in love with reading and writing at an early age thanks to my hometown’s public library. Words empower and inspire me. I saw people and characters like me in the books I read as a child, as a teen, and as an adult. 

But that doesn’t happen for all children. In fact, according to the National Education Association, children in 2015 were almost five times more likely to encounter a talking truck or a dinosaur in the pages of a book than a Hispanic character. 

As entrepreneurs and readers, we need to care about what and who gets published because when more diverse voices are represented, the quality of what we read and what we learn improves, too. You are reading this email because you are an entrepreneur or an expert who wants to write a how-to book — and that’s awesome. My team and I are here to help you — and everyone else who shares your dream and ambition — get a book deal with a major publisher. 

Not only does a focus on equity level the playing field for all entrepreneurs and experts, but it improves what we have access to in our own lives as readers. Whether you head to the bookstore because you want to buy a vacation read or improve an area of your life, everyone needs more mirrors, windows, and sliding doors.

At MSB, Inclusion Is a Core Value

Last year, my assistant put together a slide that showed a photo of every entrepreneur and expert who had successfully landed a book deal with our help.  

And I immediately noticed something.

The photos were overwhelmingly female — and overwhelmingly white.

In fact, half of the people in the slide were white, blonde women (like me). 

This isn’t unusual. In fact, it’s the norm.

Between 2019 and 2021, 74.9% of the contributors at Penguin Random House —   including authors, illustrators, and translators — identified as white. That means only 25% were anything outside the “norm” that is white people dominating book publishing. 

When I was an editor, I saw firsthand how authors of color were ignored and marginalized by the people who made profit off their work. When I was an editor at Simon & Schuster, I had to fight for my authors of color to get anything outside of a stock photo on the cover of their books because it was assumed that the cover didn't matter as much for Black readers. (Say what?)

As a woman who identifies as queer, I know what it’s like to have to constantly fight for inclusion because of who you are. In high school, I was sent home because my classmates threw things and spat at me after I had been asked out by a female friend for a date. In my adult life, I stood out in my career because I am from a middle-class, rural background and went to a state university. (And yes, that’s what passes for “diversity” at traditional publishers.) I may not have all the intersections of race, class, and sexuality that my clients and audience have, but I do understand exclusion. 

Inclusion is important to me and my work. It’s a core value in my company. And I’m proud to say that in 2021, the majority of our clients who got a book deal — 63% — did not identify like I do (as a white, cisgendered, queer woman). 

Shockingly, this number is triple the industry average. 

Whether you are treated differently because of your ethnicity, sexuality, background, gender identity, lifestyle, education, or what you are brave enough to stand up and say publicly — I want to champion your voices, get you paid and your words published.

What to Expect When You’re Expecting to Write a Book

A few weeks ago, I came home to find my husband on the patio with an iPad and an iced tea, ready to watch the Preakness Stakes. 

We like all sorts of sports. In “horse season” we usually watch the Triple Crown races (which also include the Kentucky Derby and last Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.) While watching the horses line up in the starting gate, I thought about all the effort that owners, trainers, jockeys — and the horses themselves — put into that day. It’s a lot of work just to get to the race. There are years leading up to the moment before the gun goes off. Sometimes generations.

And then of course, one horse pulls ahead and wins.

I think a lot about publishing, so my mind makes connections to it everywhere. 

Watching the Preakness, I thought about how many horses run these big races. Up to 20 horses run the Derby; nine horses are in the Preakness; and up to 12 horses compete in the Stakes. 

There’s not just one horse out there. 

The same can be said for books. There’s not just a single relationship book out there. Nor is there just one health book, one personal finance book, one inspirational book, or one guide to making work more productive and fun. 

So many authors I talk to worry that someone else is going to beat them to publishing or that somehow, their idea will get “stolen” when in reality, they are just one horse in a bigger race. (And whether you beat the others is up to a lot of factors.) 

The truth is, you will have competition. There will be another book like yours. The likelihood of someone else having the same idea as you is high, and gets higher every month you put off building an audience or creating intellectual property from your idea. Another reality is that there will be many entrepreneurs with businesses like yours, and results like yours.

But don’t let those fears stop you from getting to the race in the first place. 

Because there’s always the opportunity to win. 

In horse racing, there has been a Triple Crown winner only 13 times in history (most recently Justify in 2018). To me, a horse winning the Triple Crown is a lot like becoming the What to Expect When You’re Expecting in your niche. 

Once in a while, a confluence of magical forces comes together to make a remarkably successful horse — and a remarkably bestselling book. That may or may not happen to you and your book. I don’t think anyone in horse racing would guarantee a Triple Crown win talking about a pony and I can’t make similar guarantees about your success either. (You should run away from anyone who makes those kinds of promises in publishing, by the way.)

However, what I do know — for absolute sure — is that you need to show up to the starting gate to be in the race.

Get Used to Building Your Platform

Here’s an inconvenient truth. 

Your audience can always be bigger. 

In fact, everyone in the publishing industry — literary agents, publishers, and even me — always want your audience to BE bigger. To continuously grow.

The clients I work with range from brand-new entrepreneurs to Internet famous leaders with eight figure businesses (as well as rose farms, ranches, and vineyards). Even clients who have millions of views on YouTube and get recognized in foreign countries by fans . . . are expected to grow their audiences.

And it’s not because the whole publishing industry is a bunch of demandy-smurfs.

Instead, it’s because building and maintaining an audience of engaged fans is essential to keep your business thriving and new customers coming in. It’s also really good for consistently selling books. 

I encourage you — and every client I work with — to think of platform-building activities as a process and not as something you have to do in order to get what you really want. There are more reasons to build an author platform than just securing a literary agent and a book deal. By getting visible, creating content that attracts fans, and interacting with a growing following you’ll also be able to make better offers, gain more clients, and generate more revenue. I see that in my Author Platform Builders community and among our clients everyday. 

Get used to building your audience and author platform. Because, in order to get a book deal and have a successful business, you’re never ever going to want to stop.

Not Feeling 100%? Read This.

Not every single day is easy — for me, for you, for anyone really. 

That’s especially true when you’re trying to make a difference and showing up for something you care about. The entrepreneurs and experts I get to work with go through many challenging moments. 

Whether it’s a launch that fails, a moment where you’re really not sure whether you’ll make payroll that month, or just a crappy hater landing in your email on a morning when you didn’t get enough sleep, this journey can be hard.

Recently, I experienced a string of tough days. It felt like every client had an emergency. I hadn’t been sleeping well. My husband was going through a transition at work. Even our dog was sick. 

I was tired, emotionally spent, burnt out on work and desperately needed a pick-me-up. 

I decided to watch Dear . . . on Apple TV+.

I chose to start with the episode on Lin-Manuel Miranda. I love Lin-Manuel because, for a brief time, we both lived in the Heights (Washington Heights, in Manhattan). I feel like he’s a kindred spirit and I love his music. 

When I watched the episode, well — I lost my shit. I came unprepared for the tears and the sheer amount of Kleenex I needed. 

If you’re driven to do the work you do — and write a book — because you want to make an impact, this series is a must. I would even say that it’s as good, if not slightly better, for inspiration than Ted Lasso. 

But — because you’re reading this email and probably not looking for TV recommendations right now — I want to share a few quotes that I’ve taken from the amazing leaders profiled from the series that I think apply to what we’re all doing out here on these Internet streets. (Enjoy.)

“When I’m afraid of something, I make it my best friend. Doing that always leads to something better.” —Jane Fonda

“There is no one way. There is no right or wrong path.” –Misty Copeland

“You’re one of a kind, and that’s something to be proud of.” —Big Bird

“Every individual has some role to play in this life, and every individual makes a difference every day. We have a choice as to what kind of difference we are going to make.” —Jane Goodall

“If every single one of us focused on something we want to see changed, the ripple effect of that could change the world.”—Aly Raisman

So You Want to Write a Book . . .

I have a few questions for you.

• Are you writing how-to (prescriptive) nonfiction?
  If your answer is no, then I can’t help you.
  

• Do you have a business that is related to your book and will promote it?
  If your answer is no, then I can’t help you.
  

• Is what you’re writing about proven to work and get results for people?
  If your answer is no, I suggest that you focus on that.
  

• Have you proven that people are interested in what you have to say?
  If your answer is no, I suggest that you start sharing your message — publicly.
  

• Do you have an audience?
  If your answer is no, building an email list and social media following should be your top priority.

These are the questions that my team and I ask when people apply to work with us. 

It might seem harsh, but I’m trying to help you. Here’s why I ask these questions.

• If you’re writing another kind of book — fiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir, children’s — the advice I give may be unhelpful, even wildly inaccurate. That’s why I suggest folks who are writing other books — or who want to self-publish — unsubscribe. It’s not for me, but rather for you.

• It’s incredibly hard to build an audience just to promote a book. I don’t recommend building an entire brand around a book, which is why I work with entrepreneurs and experts for whom a book is just one piece of a greater business and brand puzzle.

• Results matter the most — to your business and your book. If the method you’re promoting only works for you, the publisher has no reason to believe it will work for anyone else.

• If no one is interested in what you have to say . . . your book is unlikely to sell. 

• Books don’t sell themselves — which is why publishers require authors to have an audience (aka an author platform) — to help them promote and sell a book. 

Hopefully this has done its job — and helped you understand what will make you successful in your goal of getting a traditional book deal. 

You (Probably) Need To Hire Help to Publish a Book

A lot of people ask me: 

When’s the right time to hire someone like you to help with my book proposal? 

Or if they know a little bit about me, the work I do, and the publishing industry:

When should I start building my platform?

My answer — to both questions — is typically: now.  Or if I’m feeling snarky . . .  yesterday.

Trying to get a book deal is a little like trying to build a million dollar investment portfolio. You have to start small and take consistent action to achieve the end result you want. 

So, if you:

• Have a good idea but no idea what to do with it

• Are not a publishing professional

• Are busy and successful

• Have an idea that is tied to your business

• Are trying to grow your audience and reach

• Are like me and feel allergic to most DIY projects

• Dream of writing multiple books

• Love the idea of talking about your literary agent, your editor and how you need to visit them in New York (because that really does happen)

• Want to see your name and “Penguin Random House” on the same page

• Want to make a big impact with your work

Then I encourage you to hire the help you need to make it happen.

How Long Would You Wait to Publish a Book?

I was recently approached by a colleague who had a client that wanted to write a book. 

I asked to set up a call and my next available time was two weeks away.

The colleague responded and said that date was too far out for her client, who needed to make the decision sooner.

Y’all — that is a red flag because publishing, or at least publishing well, is a long game. 

In my opinion, there are certain things in life that you want to do well — not fast.

Like — 

Building a business. 

Choosing a life partner. 

Establishing an engaged audience.

And writing a book.

But so often, I see entrepreneurs and experts try to rush the process of getting a traditional book deal, or even to make decisions around their book’s publication. 

It’s as if what you’re writing will disappear into thin air if you don’t meet the deadline that you’ve created . . .  out of thin air.

The next time you think, I have to get this book out or else — just remember:

Writing the music and lyrics for Hamilton took Lin-Manuel Miranda seven years. 

Seven years! When I heard that, my first thought was his poor wife.

Can you imagine hearing the same songs over and over and over again while your husband workshopped them, likely in a small Manhattan apartment? 

Kudos to Vanessa Nadal, because I don’t know if I could do that.

Anyway — my point is that good things take time. 

Yes, it took Lin-Manuel Miranda seven years to write Hamilton . . . but in its first production at the Public Theatre, the show generated $30,000,000 in revenue. Wikipedia doesn’t even list how much he’s generated as a result now. 

So — hang in there. Take your time. 

Publishing has been around for centuries and around here, we’re creating books that last.

Trust me, you can wait for it.

When To Give Up Your Dream of Being a Published Author

I’m going to share a personal story that applies to something I see a lot in my business.

My best friend from high school never went to college. 

And not because she couldn’t get in. She applied and was accepted to the university I went to. There was only one hurdle: she needed an updated transcript from the guidance office.

She never did it. 

Advocating for ourselves is scary as fuck. 

Doing something different than everyone else around us is hard, because as human beings we are biologically wired to prioritize belonging. 

I don’t know why my friend never went to the guidance office. I don’t know if she felt insecure about moving to a new place, or worried about being able to get the money for tuition and books. Perhaps she was experiencing an “upper limit problem” (as defined in The Big Leap) where we feel afraid to leave people behind. To this day, I don’t know if my former bestie regrets her decision, or is happy with how her life turned out. 

What I do know is that sometimes, it can be the right decision to not leap. 

To stop progressing forward on our dreams or what other people think we should do (even if that’s your best friend). Sometimes, we SHOULD quit. 

Over the last decade, a handful of the clients I’ve worked with made the right decision to give up on their dreams of becoming a published author. A couple faced unexpected medical issues or family emergencies. Others didn’t see any momentum while building their author platform. And many, when educated on the process, simply decided that writing, promoting, and selling a book wasn’t for them. And that’s OK. 

But what’s not OK is giving up on your dream because you don’t see instant results. 

Or because other people doubt you and question what you’re doing. 

Or because you’re turning excuses into reasons to quit (I see this a lot).

Because the truth is, no one will care more about your dream than you do. 

And when we think we’re doing “everything” there’s usually something we haven’t thought about or been open to. Perhaps that’s hiring household help to free up a few hours every week, or outsourcing some of your content creation. Maybe it’s making your goals just a little less ambitious so that you can score some easy wins. Or allowing yourself to have the time and support you need to create your dreams in a sustainable way. 

So. If you need clarity on whether you have a shot at a traditional book deal --

Or want a book team at the ready to cheerlead you on days you doubt --

And to feel like you’re not alone in fantasizing about your spot on the bestseller list - 

Then you should sign up to chat with my team of publishing insiders who can support you in making the right decision. 

Don’t let your dreams die because you were afraid to ask for help. 

The Hardest Thing You Will Do As An Author

The hardest and most challenging thing you will do as an entrepreneur and author isn’t writing your book. 

Instead, it’s going all in on your dreams. 

When you go all in, you have to:

Stop hedging.

Stop hiding.

Stop pretzeling (my word for people pleasing).

Stop being a consumer in the world of online entrepreneurship (where you buy help and attend all the classes and calls, but don’t take consistent action and therefore don’t get consistent results).

Stop putting other people’s needs, desires, and preferences first. 

Stop thinking that the doubts you have mean anything outside of the very real factual truth that you’re a human and this is what human brains do. (I have doubts too — and when I doubt myself, I think “doubts are normal but so is success.”)

Stop wondering when you’ll succeed and reach your goal, and instead put time and effort into the small steps that you can take to move toward that eventual success.

When someone tells me that they’re going to go all in, I feel really excited for them. 

I know from personal experience how scary but also how important that declaration is, especially when you say it to someone else. You’re saying I believe in me. 

And when you believe in yourself  — like, truly believe in yourself and the very real possibility that your dreams can come true — anything is possible. 

Especially when you get the right help.

Why Self-Publishing a Book Doesn’t Work (For Me)

At the beginning of 2022, I decided to stop working with any author who had previously been self-published. There are two reasons why.

The first reason is practical. Many people don’t know how much work it takes to market, promote, and sell a book. Most of the authors that were coming to us with previously published books had low sales numbers and wanted to overcome that history with a traditional deal. 

But here’s the catch — publishers and publishing experts (like me) can guess at what a book’s sales history has been based on data like the book’s ranking on Amazon, the number of reviews (as well as the number of stars) the book has received, and even by what the cover looks like. On average, I would say that it takes me about 10 seconds of looking at a book on Amazon to guess whether it’s been self-published — and how the author approached the publication of that book. And that’s before I even take the extra step of looking up actual sales numbers in Bookscan, a database I have access to. 

And — since Amazon is the #1 distributor of books in the United States, a poor sales history with a book available on Amazon is incredibly tough to overcome. It used to be that you could easily remove a book from the Internet . . . but that’s not so true anymore. Agents, publishers, and even independent experts in the industry like me have caught on to the fact that once you have a book that sells poorly — other books are likely to sell poorly too. That’s why most authors can’t overcome a bad sales history, self-published or otherwise.

The second reason my team and I don’t work with self-published authors anymore is because of a problematic mindset — the idea that a book will somehow promote, market, and sell itself . . . and somehow promote your business as well. I’m not sure where this idea got started or why it proliferates but it makes the work my team and I do incredibly difficult. Frankly, I’m in the business of making dreams come true, not arguing reality. 

Books are incredibly useful tools — for teaching, inspiring, and yes marketing too — but it’s important to remember that a book is only a calling card for what’s most important: you.

The 3 Ps Every Entrepreneurial Author Needs to Get a Book Publishing Deal

I’m really excited to share this tidbit of publishing know-how with you today, because when I came up with it I felt like the most brilliant writer ever. (#humblebrag).

But seriously — it distills what you need to get a book deal into three simple words. 

I call it the 3Ps of Publishing.

P #1 — POTENTIAL. 

You need a great idea with the potential to sell at least 10,000 books.

P #2 — PLATFORM.

You need an audience that you can sell the book to — or, in publishing industry speak, an author platform.

P # 3 — PROPOSAL.

Nonfiction books deals are made in a unique way — with a book proposal.

So that’s it — my 3Ps.

The Book Publishing Process: Why Publishers Won't Market Your Book For You

A publisher is not a non-profit. It’s a business. 

When you bring a book proposal to a publisher and try to get a deal, you’re making a business proposition. You are saying, hey want to get into business with me? 

And if your business sucks, then the answer is likely to be no. 

That might seem harsh, but most people have no clue about the volume of people with a great book idea who want to be published. There’s a lot of you and therefore, a lot of competition. Since last April, over 150 people have applied to work with me. I only handle a tiny sliver of the overall publishing market, but turn away lots of people (85% of those who apply). 

One reason I turn down people is because of their visibility and audience, or lack thereof. I talk to self-published authors a few times a month who come into our call already discouraged because their book didn’t magically sell. This problem is almost always directly related to that author not having an audience of their own. 

Marketing a book without an audience like having a business with no paying clients or customers. Without an established market and audience prior to publication, your book is sunk. Publishers know that. Unfortunately, most have had LOTS of experience with books that didn’t sell. The majority of books, including those that are self-published, sell less than 5,000 copies even when the author has an established platform and audience. 

The reason for this is simple: there are a lot of books available to read. 

(As well as a ton of other options for people to choose from when they’ve got a problem to solve or want to be entertained.) 

Traditional book publishers don’t have the time, resources or frankly the responsibility to figure out who will be interested in or benefit from your book. Nor do they have the capability to build an audience for you. That applies to agents, too. 

I’m gonna say it again: traditional publishers publish books for profit. 

Sometimes that includes coming up with the idea and the audience. 

Most of the time it doesn’t.

Every time a publisher offers a book deal to an author, they’re placing a bet. Their approach is to make a broad variety of calculated bets, hoping that some find their audience and become bestsellers.

What you can do — and what is entirely within your control as an author — is to learn the rules of the game and make your bet as sure as possible. So, you might ask — how do you make your bet as sure as possible? 

By being visible. 

By knowing your audience inside and out.

By understanding that publishing is a business proposition — and that you are going to set both yourself and the publisher up to profit by doing everything you can to make your book (and likely your business too) a success.

How Much Does it Cost to Publish a Book?

I’ve worked in traditional book publishing for nearly 20 years, and a statement I hear all the time is that “books don’t make you any money.”

So: this can be true, especially if and when you choose to self-publish because the money to produce the book is paid upfront by the author. In that model, you only make money when and if you earn those costs back. So — let’s say you paid $10,000 to self-publish and your book is $10. You would need to sell 1,000 books to make any money.

In traditional publishing, the math works the same way except that the publisher pays you an advance on earnings — basically money that the publisher expects to recoup after the book is published and sold. Let’s use the same math as before — you got paid a $10,000 advance (for what it’s worth, my clients earn at least 10x that) and your book is $10. You would have to sell 1,000 copies again before making any money — but instead of getting 100% of the profits, you’d likely get a small percentage — 15% or less — as a royalty from the publisher. 

That might seem unfair, but in traditional publishing, the publisher is taking the risk of loss — whereas in self-publishing you are. But let’s talk about where the money really is because it’s not in the sale of the book. 

I tell my clients that their advance from the publisher is nice and all, but the real money is in their author platform. Even before you have a book, the amount of money you’ll earn as an entrepreneur who is building their audience is way bigger than if you chose to stay small and remain a best kept-secret. I see this constantly in Author Platform Builders, where entrepreneurs are showing up and starting to share the advice and wisdom that will eventually exist in their book.

In my own business, I saw both an increase in followers, email subscribers, and the number of clients I served — and a substantial increase in revenue (nearly 300%) when I concentrated on building my platform. For my clients who have significant audiences already, a bestselling book not only increases their following but also their bottom line because the book acts as a selling tool for higher cost services, products, and programs. 

So while those entrepreneurial authors who chose traditional publishing may receive a small royalty check a few times a year, they’re also making substantially more in revenue month over month — because, as I said before, the real money isn’t in book sales but rather in the visibility and audience growth that a book can create for you. More visibility equals more profits — and not just from your book deal.

What You Do To Get a Book Deal

When I lived in New York City and worked for major publishers, I was broke. (As an editorial assistant, my salary started at $27,500 per year — and when I left Penguin 8 years later, it was only $40,000.)

Around that same time, I read the same poem by Tracy K. Smith — The Good Life — over and over again on my way to work. The poem was featured in Poetry In Motion, a program where poems were put up in transit systems including the NYC subway. 

The author described subsisting on bread and coffee until payday, when she would splurge on roasted chicken and red wine for one or two nights like everyone else. I knew what that felt like at the time, and every time I roast a chicken (and often, pop open a bottle of red while it’s cooking) I think of it. But riding the subway a few years ago, I realized that poem had done more than made me think. Tracy K. Smith had HELPED me. 

By sharing her story she made me feel less alone.

If you’re reading this email, I’m guessing you have a story too. (Everyone has a story but that’s for another time.) Most of the people who contact me want to publish because they want their story, advice, or lessons learned to “get out there.” 

But here’s the thing: you can do that now — days, months, and maybe even years before you get a book deal.

You can help people now — by sharing your wisdom in bits and pieces on social media, by offering up tidbits of useful advice and information in emails like this, by working with clients and creating results that only you can create. 

Then — and only then — you’ll actually be ready to put that all together in book form. 

Because wisdom, as The Good Life taught me, takes time to land. 

It took me 10 years to figure out exactly how I could help authors. It took at least a year of writing emails and posts like this to discover what messaging I wanted to put out in the world. And like Tracy K. Smith, I walked to work thirsty to make an impact. 

But I’m here now, eating roast chicken and drinking wine because I showed up, put in the work, and took the feedback I received seriously and with good intention. You can do that too.

A Secret About the Impact You’ll Make With Your Book

Did you know that hummingbirds live year-round in the Pacific Northwest?

Up until recently, I did not. (I promise, this fact relates to you getting a book deal.)

I have the pleasure and privilege to live in Seattle in an apartment with a balcony, and when we moved in I bought a hummingbird feeder. All summer long, I enjoyed watching the birds come and drink sugar water. I remember my mom doing the same thing where I grew up in rural Wisconsin.

But then when I saw a hummingbird come to the feeder in November, I was surprised. Aren’t hummingbirds migratory birds? Shouldn’t they be somewhere warmer? I told a friend who has lived in Seattle for 20 years about my bird. She told me, in a very serious tone, that I should keep feeding my hummers because other people stop when it gets cold outside. 

So I did. Pretty soon I noticed five or six “regular” birds coming to drink lots and lots of sugar water. And when it snowed six inches unexpectedly in December . . . even more hummingbirds arrived. The first few fought through the snow covering the feeder and tried to drink from the partially frozen sugar water.

I was aghast. 

For a week, every night at dusk I would bring the feeder in so it wouldn’t freeze. I set an alarm every day during my Christmas vacation so I could put the feeder back out right before sunrise so the hummingbirds could eat and survive. I even bought a heated hummingbird feeder so my birds would always have access to fresh food in the future. 

One day, I saw a hummingbird sitting on the railing of our balcony. I was afraid it was sick, or worse . . . but then the bird looked directly at me and fluttered its feathers. When I started to be a little obsessed over mothering my hummingbirds, I pulled out a really cool book I bought a few years ago — WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A BIRD. (If you are a bird nerd like me, I highly recommend it.)

That book taught me that hummingbirds survive the winter by lowering their heart rate to almost nothing, allowing them to be very, very still until they are able to warm up. This particular hummingbird was doing exactly that, sitting in the winter sun, waiting to get warm enough so he could flutter and eat. 

What I realized in that moment was two things. 

First, that hummingbird seemed to trust me enough to allow me to come relatively close to him. Which made me feel really fucking cool.

Second, it mattered that I was showing up for that bird and all the others. By putting out the feeder day after day, I supported that little community of hummingbirds. 

Just like YOU do when you show up — in emails like this, on social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and in paid offers that get results for clients. 

What I want you to know is that publishing a book is just one tiny slice of your greater impact. Will you change lives with your book? Of course. Definitely. That’s why I do what I do and why most of my clients work so hard to get a book deal with a traditional publisher. 

But will you impact even more lives by simply showing up now?

If your audience is like hummingbirds in winter — who need support to thrive — then the answer is yes. Of course. Definitely.

I Don’t Build Author Platforms For Anyone.

I don’t believe in building author platforms and audiences for you.

Here’s why. 

A lot of would-be authors see platform- and audience-building as a means to an end. 

The thinking — which some folks say out loud — is I know that I need to build an author platform to get my book published — BUT.

. . . you’ll never have to promote yourself or your book again?

. . . people will find you with zero marketing through energetics, osmosis, or an algorithm?

. . . your book will have magical powers and do all the promotion, marketing, selling, and showing up for you?

None of that is even remotely possible or true. 

Very simply:

 If you do not have an audience to directly promote, market, and sell your book to, there’s nothing my team and I can do to make you appealing to literary agents and editors at major publishing houses. 

That’s the bad news. 

But the good news is that the size of your audience and author platform is completely up to you and entirely within your control. My business is anchored in the belief that entrepreneurial and expert authors today have the tools, data, and ability to build an ideal audience and an author platform — at the same time. And in large enough numbers to satisfy literary agents and traditional publishers. 

Eventually, you can hire (a lot of) help to do some of the work for you. In fact, you have to. None of the entrepreneurs I got six-figure deals for were solopreneurs. It’s a lot for one person to do: email marketing, social media, advertising, building a network, etc. And that’s especially true after the book deal happens where you have to do all that, run a wildly successful business and work your ass off for two years writing the book and promoting it to the platform you’ve built.

Don’t get me wrong; traditionally publishing a book is a hard and long and winding road.

But if you’re committed to making that dream happen, my team and I can support you. We can help you figure out how to reach your goals while also avoiding common pitfalls other authors experience, like self-publishing too soon or using an e-book as an opt-in. We can help you write a proposal that kicks m’fing butt and positions the audience you’ve built in a way that supports your strongest assets and minimizes your weaknesses. 

But we need your help. My team and I need you to be all in on your dream and unfortunately we won’t and don’t build platforms for you. Because, as you may have heard me say before, that would cost you sooooooooooo much more.

When YOU Will Be Ready to Land a Book Deal

When will you be ready to write a proposal with me and my team?

I get asked this question a lot, but I’m turning it to you because that’s more appropriate. 

A lot of entrepreneurial and expert authors want to know exactly what to do and exactly what numbers they need to get in order to get a book deal. 

If you are nodding your head right now you are not alone.

Unfortunately, there is no magic number. And there’s not a singular “right” way or exact process to build an author platform. And, in case you’re wondering, there’s not a specific timeline either.

If this feels frustrating to you … believe me, I get it. 

I hear from authors on a daily basis how annoying it is that the process of getting a book deal is (mostly) subjective. After nearly 20 years in the industry, I don’t even know if a project is going to appeal to literary agents, editors, and publishers.

But here’s the deal (pun intended). 

Every author and every book is unique, so the parts of an author platform you have are unique too. There’s no singular number of followers that will land you a book deal. 

Instead, it’s a combination of things including:

• Proof that your methodology and advice works 
  (for my clients, that’s usually through testimonials and results)

• Thousands of followers on free, public platforms like social media 
  (the big exception to this being LinkedIn because publishers don’t understand that marketing happens there)

• A unique concept for your book’s content that stands out among your competitors

• Evidence that you can market and sell to your audience directly through email, podcasting, and/or speaking

So . . . when will YOU specifically be ready? I don’t know. 

What I can tell you is that 90% of the people I meet aren’t ready, and need to focus on growing their audience before writing another word of their book (or proposal). 

And I can also tell you that the good thing about your author platform is that it’s entirely within your control.

When you’ll be ready — is up to you. 

How fast you build your audience is up to you. 

So, I encourage you to ask yourself: What are you willing to do?

Are you willing to put in sweat equity, and/or hire people to help you?

Are you willing to invest time, money, and energy . . . for years with the idea that you will see wins along the way before you write a word of your proposal and get your book deal?

And are you willing to give up the idea of the “right” way . . . to find YOUR way?
Because if you are, we’re here for you. 

Author Platform Builders is a one-of-a-kind program that helps entrepreneurs and experts build an audience that’s aligned with landing a book deal and creating a bestselling book. 

The mission of Author Platform Builders is to give you the knowledge, clarity, and accountability to get you ready . . . to work with me and my team on a book proposal that will land you a six-figure book deal. 

So while I can’t tell you exactly what number of followers or email subscribers you need to land the book deal you want, I can give you advice along the way to help you reach that goal.

3 Ways to Not Get Your Book Published

Today I want to share three very real stories with you. These three stories represent the 10% of our clients who finish a book proposal with me and DON’T get a book deal.

(By the way, since 2019 . . . this has only happened once, and I’ll tell you why in a sec.)

The first story is pretty simple. I collaborated with the author on a proposal in 2014 . . . and we sent it to his literary agent. But then he completely lost his shit. When the agent said something he disagreed with, he yelled at her and called her names. He apologized, of course, but he couldn’t take back the tantrum and I couldn’t, in good conscience, send the proposal to other agents. So that person .  .  . never got a book deal. It also inspired my rule of never promising to introduce authors to literary agents. (Because once in a while, people get a little . . . reactionary.)

The second story is about a celebrity who went through the entire proposal process with me. But when her agent was ready to send it out to publishing houses, the celebrity author decided that writing a whole book and having to promote it was too much work. So she didn’t get a book deal, despite being part of the Marvel Universe. 

And the third story is something that happened more recently. 

In 2020, my team and I started work on a proposal where the author had a tremendous amount of promise, but needed to invest in growing her platform. I told her that the process of writing a proposal takes six months. In that time, I said that she would need to substantially grow her email list, hire a social media manager, and basically do a ton of work to increase the amount of people she was reaching with her free content. I advised her, like I do with a lot of authors, to hire people to help her execute that work so she could keep delivering her higher-priced services to corporate clients. I also recommended that she pay for advertising on platforms like LinkedIn to grow her audience quicker because paying to build your audience tends to speed up the process of building a platform.

And this particular author did invest . . . in a rebrand of her visuals that was beautiful but did absolutely nothing to increase her audience. My team finished her proposal but I didn’t feel comfortable sending the proposal out to literary agents. I knew every agent would want her to do exactly what I had recommended to grow her audience . . . so we had a tough conversation. The author was (rightfully) pissed at me, and I decided at that moment to never again work with someone on a proposal who wasn’t ready.

You see: A lot of people in this industry — ghostwriters and collaborators like me, who work within traditional publishing as well those who help authors self-publish — will take your money when you’re not truly ready to write your book. But I don’t, and won’t, do that. 

I have a 10% fail rate . . . since I’ve been in business. (I started in 2012.) 

But since I introduced the rule that we won’t write a book proposal for anyone who isn’t ready, my fail rate is zero for getting clients represented by a literary agent. Out of the 11 proposals we finished last year, seven sold to publishers and four are being revised by their agents right now, before going to publishers. 

Next week, I’ll talk about how people become ready to write a proposal with us, so be sure to check your inbox next Monday to get all the details. And if you want to know whether you’re personally ready, the only way to know is to take our quiz.