Is there a book inside you? Most of the soul-guided entrepreneurs I work with feel in their heart that there is a book inside of them with a signature message. They'd like to get out there someday, even if they don't consider themselves a writer. In this episode of She Grows, I chat with Jyotsna Ramachandran, a bestselling author, book publisher, TEDx speaker, to talk about how to expand the reach of your soul-guided message by writing a book. During our conversation, Joytsna shares her 3-step process for choosing the perfect topic for your first book and explains how writing a book can help an entrepreneur grow their audience and expand the reach of their soul-guided message. She shares four core habits that you need to have to finish your book, as well as the top mistakes she sees authors making while trying to self publish. We also dive into how how can land your first TEDx talk, so stick around until the end!
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Allyson: Well, hello there. How are you today, my friends? This is Allyson Scammell, and I have a really great episode for you today with a super cool guest. Today we're speaking to Jyotsna Ramachandran about how to expand the reach of your soul guided message by writing a book. Most of the soul guided entrepreneurs I work with feel in their heart that there is a book inside of them with a signature message.
[00:00:35] They'd like to get out there someday, even if they don't consider themselves a writer. So in today's episode, we explore how an entrepreneur can choose the perfect book topic for their first book and how this process can also help you identify your signature brand message. Jyostna then shares how writing a book can help you grow your audience and authority.
[00:01:02] And help you to land your first TEDx talk. How fun is that? And we end on a very powerful challenge that we'll have you calling in the book you were meant to share, so you can. Offer that to your audience and expand your reach. So stay with us until the end. Welcome to She Grows a podcast for soul guided women entrepreneurs, ready to be seen and get fully booked using their unique genius.
[00:01:36] And to, to voice and spirit guides each week, we'll explore how to create offerings based on what you do best. So you can have a wait list of ideal clients and bring in continuous income. I'm your host. Allyson Scammell. Let's get growing.
[00:02:02] Hey there she grows nation. That is the name of this sisterhood of soul guided entrepreneurs. If you're not already a citizen, if she grows nation, then I invite you to join our Facebook group of nearly 1000 women running heart-based businesses that are in service to each other. And the planet today, I had the absolute pleasure of speaking to Jyotsna Ramachandran about how to expand the reach of your soul guided message.
[00:02:29] By writing a book, Jyostna is a bestselling author book, publisher TEDx speaker, and is an international author success coach who helps coaches, trainers, speakers, and experts to build a super profitable author funnel with the help of their first book. She founded author success Academy to help aspiring authors finally finish their book, get it professionally published, market it into a bestseller and use that position to grow their business so far.
[00:03:00] Jyotsna has helped over 400 authors from 35 different countries through her global publishing agency. Happy self publishing. I had a blast speaking to Jyostna. She has amazing energy, amazing ideas. And they're very specific and actionable. So I hope you enjoy this exchange because I really believe you will receive so much from it.
[00:03:31] We have such a cool episode for you today. I'm so excited to welcome. Jyostna Ramachandran to the show. Welcome.
[00:03:39] The Guest: Hi, Allyson. Thank you so much for having me on your show. Oh, my
[00:03:44] Allyson: gosh. So this is a great topic. And I think that, you know, this podcast is for spiritual entrepreneurs and I would say a good many of them either have a book, are writing a book or are, or have a book inside of them.
[00:03:59] So let's start with that. If a listener feels like they have a book inside of them, how can they go about choosing the perfect topic for their first book?
[00:04:12] The Guest: Sure. I have a three step process for this, which I suggest to most of my clients who are still struggling with the bookstore, because unless you nail the topic.
[00:04:21] Writing is going to be so difficult if you constantly keep changing your ideas after you start writing. So it's really important to get the topic right. So here are the three steps are listen. The first is to go inside and ask a bunch of questions. So that's the look inside approach which I think is something that all spiritual entrepreneurs will really appreciate because you can't find answers outside, you need to find them inside. So in this step, what you do is you ask yourself a bunch of questions, and the answer to each of these questions could be potential book topic ideas . Questions like: What is it that I love doing? What is it that I enjoy doing? What kind of topics really, just spark joy inside of me because I'm so passionate about it? Or what kind of discussions do I really get interested to contribute about? Or, what kind of questions do people keep asking me, because they think that I'm an expert at that. So by asking these kinds of questions that are directed towards you, what you're good at what you enjoy doing, what, these kinds of questions will help you come up with a set of answers, and each of those answers could be potential book topics. But then one cannot write so many topics at a time, so we need to narrow it down, and that brings us to the second step. Where you.
[00:05:33] Try and ask yourself, can you make this book really unique so that it stands out from all the other books out there on that particular topic and not every topic can be made unique. So cure are the two things you can do and see if that particular topic can be made unique to you. And the way you do that is to ask yourself, If you can target this to a particular smaller target audience.
[00:05:57] A lot of times we think that our topic is too generic, but if we choose a smaller niche and try to cater the book to that particular reader, the book automatically becomes unique. You know, for example, I could be productive with the expert. But writing a general productivity book is not going to serve anybody because there are millions of books out there already.
[00:06:17] So I need to ask myself, should I write a productivity book for an entrepreneur or should I write for a new mom? So who is my real target reader? So that's one way of narrowing it down the other way to narrow down the topic and to make it unique is to see if you can apply your unique trademarks solution.
[00:06:36] For that given topic. And a lot of first-time authors will feel, Oh my God, I really don't have any trademark solution or that unique system to offer. But if we just trace back our journey on whatever topic we want to write about, we will find a pattern. And if you just join the dots, that becomes your unique system, because it's based on.
[00:06:55] Your life and your experience that you've gone through. So that's the second step. Not every topic will fall through this filter because there will be only a few topics that you can really own. So that's a good way to narrow down. And here's the final third step. Once you have maybe a couple of topic ideas by now.
[00:07:12] You need to ask yourself if that topic speaks to you because the topic may have a lot of demand on Amazon. Everybody may want to read a book on that topic, but does that connect with you internally? So you need to do a litmus test to check that you need to ask yourself three things. Is it related to my profession?
[00:07:29] If yes, it's great. Because most probably you are choosing a career or a business based on what's your true calling. So if it's got some connection with that maybe I'm a weight loss expert. And my book is for you know weight loss for people who are diabetic or something like that. Then it's definitely a connect or I need to ask the second question if it's not related to my profession, then should I is it a mess in my life that I'm now trying to convert it to my message.
[00:07:55] So maybe I don't have a PhD in that subject, but based on the life experience I have. Can I just make this my message because I've gone through the difficult times and I've come out as a winner. So I want to share this through a book. And the third question Alison is to just see if. You may not be an expert.
[00:08:13] You may not have that as your profession, nor is it your life experience, but you're so interested in the topic that you just want to gather the best information out there and put it together as a book. Even if that expertise doesn't come from you, you may want to interview 10 or 20 or 30 people and gather all of that and put it into your book because you are really passionate about it and want to share that to the world.
[00:08:34] So I think I know it's a very long answer, but I think unless you go through these three steps, it's really difficult to nail the book's topic.
[00:08:40] Allyson: Yeah, that's awesome. No, thank you. And I think the way you presented it, anybody who listens to this could kind of plug in their own questions and reflections into that.
[00:08:49] So a couple of follow-up questions. What do you say to listeners who say, well, I have a topic and I want it to be unique, but I don't want to consider a smaller niche because I don't want to. You know, cut off of the potential for more people reading it. I don't want a smaller niche. I want a bigger niche.
[00:09:12] What would you say to that person?
[00:09:15] The Guest: See, this is what I would tell any author or even any entrepreneur who's targeting an audience for their business. I think authoring a book and running a business. It's kind of similar in so many ways. So this is what I would tell them. See, unless you really you know, become.
[00:09:30] The influencer in your industry. It's always better to start off with a smaller audience, because when you are targeting a smaller niche, you may have the expertise to serve a bigger market. But when you are laser focused on one particular niche, what happens is. You will be able to have the direct connection with them.
[00:09:49] And when a bunch of them start working with you, they become your raving fans and they help you grow your business and your readership, and then you can broaden it because otherwise, even to market that book as a first time author, you may not have all the budget in the woods. So if you have a limited budget, it's easier to.
[00:10:07]You know, run ads, go on podcasts, do all of that for a smaller audience rather than be very generic because when the answer to questions are very general, then what happens is people don't feel that instant connection with them. And they may not even pick that book, but even if a hundred people read your book and it gives results to those hundred people, they will become your ambassadors and they will start spreading the message about this book.
[00:10:32] So I think that that way, your second, third, fourth book can be for different audiences, but let your first book really be laser focused.
[00:10:39] Allyson: Nice. I love that. And I would agree with that advice. So you said in step number three, to take a mess in your life and turn it into a message. Did I get that correct?
[00:10:51] The Guest: Yes, absolutely. No, actually I was going through a seminar. I think it was a Tony Robbins and Dean Grasiozi. I think so. And these two guys were having this conversation and they were talking about running a business and they just spoke about this and I felt, wow, this is exactly what I've been telling my clients as well, you know, converting your mess into your message.
[00:11:14] And it just resonated so well with me that I started teaching the same to my clients as well.
[00:11:20] Allyson: I have never heard it described in that way. And I really, really love it. Martha Beck if you're familiar with her, she, she says, if you're if you're trying to figure out a niche, she says where in your life have you gone to hell and back? The go to hell and back technique for finding a message as well.
[00:11:39] And I, I just liked the way you said it. So let's stay with that message part of this equation. So how can this process that you've taken us through or something similar also help us define our signature brand message for our business. So maybe it's not necessarily a book, but, or maybe it is, but it's also, we want to use, we want to pinpoint our signature brand message.
[00:12:05] The Guest: This is such a great question, Allyson, because I feel. That a book and a business can go hand in hand a lot. And a lot of principles that apply for a book also applies for a business. So there are some entrepreneurs who are already running their businesses successfully, and to grow the business, they choose to write a book, but many other people have just started out their business.
[00:12:27] They are still confused about their unique positioning for their business, and they feel that it's a good idea to write a book so that they get that instant advantage over the other people in their industry. And for such people choosing the books topic can also give clarity on their brand message because the brand message and the book's message should be one and the same.
[00:12:49] So if they have identified a mess, for example, a client of mine the, you know, the the hell the, I think the darkest hell in her life was the phase when she went through. A very bitter divorce and now she wanted to coach people, but she was not really sure if she wants to be a general life coach, if she wants to coach them on starting something on their own.
[00:13:10] And then when she had this book strategy call with me, I asked her this mess to message question. And she said, Hey, you know, what, what really is my calling is to help out all those women who want to have a separation who wants to start a new life, but they somehow they feel lost. They are scared because it's, it's actually a very tough experience for a lot of people.
[00:13:31] So based on her life experiences, now she wants to help people have a better, smoother divorce so that you know, they can have a chance to have a better life. So she realized that's going to be hard. Brand's message. So she's now a divorce coach for women and her book is exactly on the same topic as well.
[00:13:50] That is
[00:13:50] Allyson: awesome. And I just love mess to message. I'm going to start, I'm just quoting you mess to message, to find your signature message. That's so awesome. So tell us, Jyotsna how can writing a book, help an entrepreneur grow their audience and really expand the reach of that soul guided message [00:14:15] The Guest: Sure.
[00:14:15] So as Andrea, we are all the time looking for new ways to market our businesses so that we can be in front of the target customers. And we can go in front of other people's audience and see if they could be a good fit. And so we do a lot of different things, right. So I feel. Other than doing everything else.
[00:14:35] So continue doing whatever you're doing to market your businesses. But one missing piece in that puzzle could be your book because I feel a book instantly positions, a person as a, as a level one thought leader. So there are different levels of thought leadership. I think nowadays anybody with a smartphone is a thought leader because we constantly post on social media.
[00:14:56] We share our thoughts. So we do make an impact in the world with, or without our conscious knowledge. So people keep posting, which is great. People write blogs. They, they post videos, which is even better. Another level could be doing webinars, doing master classes, boot camps. So all those, all that is great to position your thought leadership.
[00:15:16] But I think the best and more long-term strategy would be to write your book. Because once you write a book, there is no doubt in people's minds that you are an expert in that subject because Hey, not everybody writes a book, right? So that clearly cements your positioning and talking about connecting the book with your business.
[00:15:35] I think one mistake that a lot of authors make. They have a great business and they have a great book, but there is no connection between the two. So first of all, the book has to be for your target clients. So your target reader is exactly the same person as your target client for your business. So remember that and what are the problem?
[00:15:51] Your business is solving. The book should solve the same problem for the reader. And more importantly, there has to be a way for the reader to reach out to your business. So give away something for free inside the book, how the lead magnet inside the book, which can add more value to your readers. So if you're a book has given a lot of strategies, then have an action guide attached to the book.
[00:16:11] So that way you can collect your readers name and email ID and they can become a part of your list. So you add more and more value in terms of podcasts and other stuff that you're doing. And then eventually once they are ready, You can pitch your offer and that's how they become your clients. So I think for business owners, for entrepreneurs, writing a book is super important because otherwise you're missing out on this big chunk of people who are on Amazon.
[00:16:37] I think Amazon is a better search engine than Google also because an Amazon people have actually registered their credit cards. They are willing to buy immediately. Right. So when they're searching for their problem inside Amazon, you know, how do I solve this? How do I do that? And your book shows up. I think you have a very qualified lead over there.
[00:16:54] Oh, that's
[00:16:55] Allyson: a really good way to put that. No, I think a book is a brilliant part of any sales funnel, and I like to call the sales funnel, the soul client courtship. So that process where you take someone who's never heard of you before and turning them into a raving fan and referral source. And in that.
[00:17:12] Journey to get to know you and connect to you. Like get getting a book in their hands is so perfect. So I can hear some of my listeners right now. I can read their thoughts and they're saying, yeah, Jyostna that's really great. And all, but I'm overwhelmed. And I have so much to do, and I don't have a big staff cause I'm new to business.
[00:17:31] And how could I even possibly think about adding a book to all this? So can you offer anybody who might be having that kind of thought or something similar? Some tips or habits that could help them actually write and finish a manuscript, like incorporate the writing of a book into a busy schedule.
[00:17:55] The Guest: Sure.
[00:17:56] So let me just give a few tips to start with, and then four core habits that you need to have to finish your book. So a few tips initially would be to get absolutely clear about your purpose. Why are you writing the book? Because if the purpose is not big enough, The goal is just going to move to next year.
[00:18:13] Next year, it's wishlist. It's not going to happen this year. So make the book your priority and have a good reason why it should be a priority. So that's really a good starting point. And then also decide when I'm going to publish this book, have a launch date in mind. You don't have that end goal in mind and another great.
[00:18:32]Strategy would be to actually announce to the world that you're writing your book. So a lot of the clients get scared when I tell them that, Hey, why don't we just create your books cover first, even before you write your book and we will just upload it on social media, let the world know that you're going to come out with this book.
[00:18:47] It is scary, but it is such a great way to tell the world that you're writing a book and hold yourself accountable. Because now all those people on social media are going to ask you, right? So. Those are some initial tips that I want you know, aspiring authors to first implement. Once you have these in place, you know, why are you writing?
[00:19:06] You know when you want to finish it. And you've also told the world that you're writing, then you need to have a daily ritual to ensure this actually happens. So there are many things you can do, but let me tell you the top four. The first one is to read your author pledge every day. So an author pledge is basically like your powerful mission statement.
[00:19:25] For your book. So this includes your why, this includes, who am I writing this book for? How is your book going to help them and your launch date? So by reading this before your writing schedule really empowers your mind, it's like this positive affirmation that you give yourself and you put yourself in the right state of mind to write your book.
[00:19:44] So reading your author pledge is the first habit.
[00:19:47] Allyson: Hey, can I just check in here? I love that author pledge and I would just add, this is a great thing to do for your business. Do this when you write your book listeners and for your business in general your mission statement for your business, your why, why you get up out of bed in the morning, why you care, why it's so important to you.
[00:20:08] If you read that once a day that's this is such an awesome tip. It just keeps you in that energetic alignment of, yeah, this is why I do this and it's not probably to you know, post on social media. It's not, you know, it's not to like figure out how to you know, do an email automation, all that stuff we do for our business that we don't necessarily, maybe love to do.
[00:20:29] But if you remind yourself once a day of your why it can get you in that really positive energy that keeps you naturally motivated to keep
[00:20:37] The Guest: going. Exactly. I mean, you've put it so well, and I think this applies for all the important things in our lives. Right. So yeah, it applies for the book as well as the business.
[00:20:47]The second ritual that one can follow is to have a distraction free writing zone and this means to have a clutter-free workspace. So just have a particular place from where you're going to write every single day. So a lot of authors will go to a coffee shop one day they would sit on their dining table the next day.
[00:21:07] So don't do that. Assign a space. And that's your sacred zone for writing? And please write from that same space every day and preferably at the same time, because once you do this on a daily basis, it kind of becomes like your ritual. So our most successful authors do this every day, even if they don't feel like writing.
[00:21:26] So if you have one hour of time blocked in your calendar for writing, just show up, be on that desk and write, even if you don't try to just be there thinking about your book, because if you do that every day, then on most days you'll end up writing something. So that's a great way to have some progress.
[00:21:42]The third tip would be to the third ritual is actually to track your writing on a daily basis. Anything that gets measured gets done, right? So how I call this a writing track sheet? You can have it as a Google spreadsheet. You can have it as a dashboard on your wall, but just track the date and the number of words you're writing every single day, because you know, you can, you kind of know your book should be about.
[00:22:05] 30,000 words, long or something. So if you know how much progress you've had so far that can, that can really motivate you to keep going. And the fourth ritual, which is fantastic. I have personally experienced this when I wrote my book is to have your accountability partner. So I believe if you find another author, who's also writing their book.
[00:22:25] That would be perfect. But even otherwise, if you have your accountability partner, they may be working on some other important project. But how have your daily checks with your accountability partner so that, you know you know, that somebody is going to ask you. So I think these four rituals really go a long way in helping an author finish their manuscript and anywhere between 30 to 90 days,
[00:22:46] Allyson: these are brilliant.
[00:22:47] And again, like plug any big business dream or goal or intention into these four habits. And you're going to be getting stuff done. I have to ask this question because I definitely most definitely have a book inside me. I've written two books, like full length books that I spent years on that I just, after I was done, I was like, well, those just aren't the books I want to share.
[00:23:12] And I know the book that I want to share is inside me, but I also know that it's just not now. So like, do you have any tips or guidance for folks who are like, it's inside me. I just don't know when. And it's like, and I think like sometimes in that space you can get kind of like you can maybe overly rely on the thought it's not now and just keep kicking the can down the road.
[00:23:36] So how do you honor the truth with you know, when, when it really is the time, like any tips on that, like really finding that divine timing to birth your book?
[00:23:49] The Guest: this is such a wonderful question. Allyson, nobody has asked me this before. And when you asked, I was just thinking, what can I actually say? And this is what I feel.
[00:23:58] I see a lot of people. Procrastinate their book project, because they don't feel the time is right. Because most people think writing a book is a once in a lifetime kind of an achievement, and you can just do it once. So you better do it well, and you're not an expert at it yet. So just wait for some more success you know, successes to happen in your life, you know, some more achievements and then you can qualify yourself to write.
[00:24:22] So a lot of people just think that the book has to be so perfect that they are not yet ready to have that perfect product coming out of them right now. So what I feel is how many, how many years of experience you have, we will still be. Not the number one expert in anything that we do, because there is no such thing as the number one expert, there will always be people who are ahead of us, more qualified, more intelligent.
[00:24:47] I think if we just look back at our journey and look at those people who are still you know, just praying to be in the position that we are. I think if we have the intention to serve those people who are a few steps behind of us, Then I think now is the right time to put any book out there. And the best part about self publishing.
[00:25:06] Your book is nothing is like carved on stone because a couple of years later, if you want to have an updated version, because you have changed your strategy, or you have something more to offer, you can always come up with the second edition. So I really feel that if you have that thought that you should write your book, that thought doesn't come to everybody.
[00:25:24] Right? So the reason you have that thought is because. Divine is telling you that you have a message and you need to be the messenger for all those people who can resonate with you because sometimes people are just a few steps behind all of us can relate to us more. We'll take action. If we tell them to take, rather than, you know, the number one influencer telling them, because Hey, those people are so far ahead of you, that your readers may not be able to relate to them, but they could be able to relate to you.
[00:25:52] So I think that's why I think it's our moral responsibility, or I would say good karma to write your book now, in spite of understanding this, if you still feel stuck and you're not able to push yourself, I think we don't have to do this alone. You can probably work with somebody like a book coach who can try to help you, you know, be clutter, your thoughts and help you get that clarity on your message and your topic.
[00:26:16] So that then you become confident that yes, this is the right time to, you know, go ahead and write your book.
[00:26:22] Allyson: Beautiful. Beautiful. And that makes perfect sense. So you have given a Ted X talk.
[00:26:29] The Guest: Yeah, it's actually.
[00:26:31] Allyson: Wow. Congratulations. That's unbelievable. Can you share with us one of your topics or the topic that you feel will share us, your talking topics?
[00:26:41] Both of them actually
[00:26:42] The Guest: the topic of my first TEDx Talk was don't wait to become an expert. And that's exactly what we spoke about a minute ago. Right? So, and the topic of my second talk was a hire your own boss, which is basically about how do you hire your own coaches, especially for entrepreneurs, because we want freedom all the time, but we can be such a bad boss for ourselves.
[00:27:05] So it's good to have mentors and coaches and intentionally work with them, hire them because they can hold us to our highest standards and we can progress at a much faster pace if we have a coach. So those were my two TEDx topics.
[00:27:19] Allyson: Those are brilliant topics. That's really awesome. And I really aligned to both of them.
[00:27:24] And I remember kind of this realization is I became a coach and then I was hiring coaches, but I was sort of like work with a coach for a while. And then I would. You know, kind of slug through it, on my own for awhile. But then I started to realize that the bigger name coaches always had a coach. Like they were never without coaches.
[00:27:44] And I thought, well, if they can always be with a coach, I can always be with a coach. Why they're the only ones? Like, why do I have to deprive myself? Like, Oh, I can only do it once every couple of years, I think. And so then I kinda got serious in investing in coaches. And then, then lo and behold, my business really started to grow.
[00:28:05] And I'm kind of to the point now where I'm not going to be without a coach for too long. Right.
[00:28:13] The Guest: I went through the same journey. Allyson, when I started my business, I didn't know anything. So I really felt the need to have coaches, but after a year I felt, Hey, now I know everything. So why do I need a coach?
[00:28:23] And I was on my own for about five years until recently when I realized that, Hey, my big business is too stagnant because I really did not invest in a coach. And now I have two business coaches who are taking my game to the next level. And I'm so grateful that I took that position. Oh,
[00:28:40] Allyson: yes. I know. And I do hear it from from people and they just say, Oh, well, I just want to I want to listen to my own intuition for awhile and I want to you know, just be on my own path for awhile.
[00:28:51]So I'm not going to hire a coach for awhile and I think that's good. Of course, we're all on our own paths. We're all on our own intuition, but I just, I think that when people say that there's also a little shadow in there. That might be like back to those thoughts, like who am I to always have a coach or that's a special treat that I can only invest in myself from time to time.
[00:29:12]Because a good coach is always, it's just going to help you tap into your intuition. It's just going to take your own path that you are the ones, like, I always say your, the director of the movie of your life, and a good coach is just going to help support you and hold the space in that. So, anyway,
[00:29:31] The Guest: I love this thing that you spoke about intuition because I too believe a lot in listening to our in our calling and the, you know, that little voice and intuition, but that there's, there are two things that are so important, intuition and action.
[00:29:46] If we only you know, I'm left to ourselves, we will, we may not even listen to our intuition with clarity, but. When we have a coach as you rightly said, they'll help us tap into that intuition and they make us take that action. So I think that's why it's really important.
[00:30:00] Allyson: Absolutely. It gets back to your, like the coaches, your best accountability buddy, you know?
[00:30:06]So anyway, where we, I, I totally agree and fully support your Ted talks messages and you are awesome. So tell us how can our listeners land their first TEDx talks? People out there like, Oh, I want to share my message on the TEDx stage. What tips do you have for people to get that invitation? Get that acceptance.
[00:30:30] The Guest: Sure. For me as well, it was a goal for many years. And then finally, a couple of years ago, I said, I'm not going to postpone this to the next year. I'm going to make it happen somehow. So what I did was I did Plus, I just went to the website of ted.com and I made a list of all the upcoming events in my country or the cities closer to my town.
[00:30:50] And there were about 10 events happening in the next couple of months when I saw the website. And the good thing was all those events had the name of the curator and their contact information. So I reached out to every single one of them in that list. And here are the three things that I wrote to them, which I'm sure all the listeners can do as well and benefit out of this.
[00:31:11] So the first thing I told them that is that I. Had a topic in mind while contacting them. So I just went to their upcoming event and most TEDx events have a theme. So I found out what the theme was and I'm sure all of us can have multiple topic ideas. So I kind of tweaked my topic to suit that theme.
[00:31:30] And I reached out to them saying that, Hey, I have this new idea to share with you guys. And I think it's a perfect fit for your team. So that's the first element I added to that email. The second thing I told them was. Because now I have an idea, maybe they liked it, but then also would be curious to know if I can speak well.
[00:31:47] So I had a bunch of my normal videos that I posted on my YouTube channel, talking about book publishing and marketing and stuff like that. So I shared the link to my YouTube channel so that they could actually see me speak and be convinced that yes, I can do a good job on stage as well. So that was the second thing that I added to the email and the third thing, which was like, The magic wand for me was I spoke about my book.
[00:32:11] I said, Hey, I'm, by the way, I'm also the author of this book. And I think that's really. Made a lot of people believe that I could be a good speaker because usually authors are considered to be intelligent. You know? So all of those 10 people about seven people reached out to me and. My, you know they were at least happy to respond to my message and I felt great about it.
[00:32:35] And three people offered me a chance to speak on their stages. And two of them worked out with my dates and I went ahead and spoke. So I think that was a good success rate. Right.
[00:32:45] Allyson: Gosh. And so you're saying the fact that you had a book really helped you get accepted?
[00:32:51] The Guest: I truly believe that because I'm sure not every speaker.
[00:32:54] Getting on their stage has a book. So they also want to have a couple of authors on on their, a list of speakers. And I think that really helped me.
[00:33:04] Allyson: That's awesome. Thank you so much. And definitely I am another one where I would love to get on a TEDx stage myself. So thank you for these tips. Super, super helpful.
[00:33:14] Do you know ha have any idea how TEDx has, or Ted has pivoted with coronavirus and like, I'm imagine there's online opportunities. Now, do you have any insight on that?
[00:33:26] The Guest: Yes. I've seen a few of my friends posting on their social media, handles about their upcoming speech on a TEDx platform and it is virtual nowadays.
[00:33:36] So I think it's a good thing in a way, because. Now you have a chances of getting accepted on more platforms because it's virtual, your geography should not really matter. But I think only the only flip side is you will not be standing on that red dot and speaking. So I think I see that happen. Yeah.
[00:33:55] Allyson: Yeah. All right. So let's move on to how entrepreneurs. Can build a business around their book and, or incorporate a book into their business. We've talked about this a little bit, but can you say more about it?
[00:34:11] The Guest: So I called this the auto funding because as I already said, a lot of authors have great books and they have a business idea or an existing business, but they don't really.
[00:34:22]Ha intentionally connect the two. So here are a couple of things that one can do. Firstly the book could be the first place where somebody is reading your message and they are quite impressed, but you need to bring them to your universe, which is your website, right? That's your ecosystem. They need to come there.
[00:34:39] So there are a couple of ways to do this one, as I told as a free bonus that you can give in the book so you can collect the names and emails. Otherwise, Amazon is not going to tell you who your readers are. Even if you sell a million copies, we will not know who your readers are, unless you make that extra effort to collect those leads.
[00:34:55] So that's one way, the other way is to you know, just sprinkle a lot of case studies and anecdotes about your awesome work that you do throughout the book. So it shouldn't look like your business brochure. But at the same time, please, don't shy away from sharing all the good things that you have done for your clients.
[00:35:13] Because that way it gives a kind of social proof to the reader that, Hey, if all these clients can benefit from this method that this author is teaching, then it should work for me as well. And then if you have any events, any masterminds, any groups do share about all of that in the resource pages so that people.
[00:35:31] Oh, can voluntarily reach out to you and become a part of your tribe. So that's the first step, you know, offers something about your business inside the book. Now once they come to your website, if you don't have a business yet, then at least start out by posting regular content. Because I think the conversation with the reader should not stop with the book.
[00:35:52] So how a way to have a strategy to put out content regularly. It can be blogs. It can be podcasts, it can be reduced, but just do that consistently so that your readers get more and more Engaged in having conversations with the author and then have something which I call the paid value level, because once they have so much once they consume a lot of this information, they are now ready to take action.
[00:36:17] And sometimes they actually feel obliged to buy something from you because they've got too much value for free so far. So have something which is a lower dollar price, like $47 or $97. Something like that. It could be a mini online course. It could be access to your community, something like that, which which will actually help people qualify themselves and move to the next level.
[00:36:40] Because not everybody who reads your book will become your client, but some people will want to do it. So have that. Level for them to taste what your service or product looks like, and then offer your most premium thing, which could be our coaching. It could be a done for you service something, which is of premium value, which again, not everybody's going to take, but have that as the next level, once people Already become a part of your client list.
[00:37:05] So I think having all these levels in place some of you may have one or two of these, but just hassling. What is missing in this funnel? If it's probably you have all of this, but you don't have the book, then have the book of there. Then if you don't, if you have the book and you have your podcast, but you're not selling anything, then maybe you should have a $97 product and then something that's more premium.
[00:37:25] So I think having all of this can really create a rock solid
[00:37:28] Allyson: business. Yeah. So it's just like a great tool to have in your, your toolkit. You're as for your branding and for establishing yourself as an expert, into opening up doors of opportunity, like TEDx talks, like there's so many different ways you could go with it, right.
[00:37:44] To leverage your business. I love that. So you're someone who really helps people with self-publishing. Is that, is that correct?
[00:37:52] The Guest: Absolutely. Yes. I'm a huge advocate of self publishing.
[00:37:56] Allyson: Nice. So if a listener is thinking about writing a book or is writing a book and is thinking about self publishing, can you share some of the top mistakes you see authors make while trying to self publish?
[00:38:09] The Guest: Sure. So a lot of authors. I think that they should self publish because they don't have any other option. So they really don't take pride in self-publishing. I think that is the first mistake. It starts with the mindset. I think one must consciously make the decision to self publish because they believe it's the right thing for their book, because you have all the freedom, the flexibility you can own the rights you have the royalty.
[00:38:33] So. Self published for the right reason. And not because you did not get accepted, but how the publishing houses. So if you consciously do that, then you take pride in the whole process. And that is I think, a great first step. So that's one mistake. I see a lot of authors make, they feel that, Hey, nobody's going to accept my book.
[00:38:49] So let me say publish. So please don't do that. Second mistake. I feel that authors make is they think that, okay, so if I'm self publishing, it makes, it means I need to do everything myself. Not really. In fact, there are people to help you with every single step. So do what you think is something that only you can do, which could probably be adding your message to the book and all of that.
[00:39:16] And everything else needs to be outsourced, especially things like. The cover design, the editing, the formatting. You can try to do the cover yourself on Canva, but it's going to look ugly until unless you're a designer already. Right? So use other tools for social media posts and things like that, but not for your books cover because that's so such a valuable you know marketing tool for your business, your, your books cover.
[00:39:42] So please don't try to do everything yourself because you're self publishing. You can always hire professionals and get it done. Well, in fact, there are so many authors who also outsource the writing. You know, this may sound funny for people who really love writing, but not every author needs to be a writer.
[00:39:59] They may have the message. They may have the passion, but they may not be good at writing, so they may not have the time. So I believe in the service called angel writing because it's, it's not like ghost writing where you're just outsourcing the book and forgetting about it. It's much more intimate where you're actually going to work with your writer.
[00:40:16] They're going to interview you for hours and ensure that your voice is not lost. So if you're able to. Find the right angel writer and you don't want to write the book yourself. You can seek their assistance for so many things. So I think not I mean, trying to do everything yourself could be a big mistake, but just working with the right professionals for things that you don't want to be doing.
[00:40:36] Is I think would be wise. So that's the second thing. And the final thing that I, I see a lot of self-published authors do is they feel that if I just put out my book on Amazon, it's going to sell by itself. But I'm sorry. That's not how it works. There are so many authors who are publishing their book every single day.
[00:40:54] So, unless you treat your business, your book also like a business and put the right effort in marketing it, it's not going to sell on its own. So go out, share your message. Go on podcasts, go on other people's virtual summits. Look out for every marketing opportunity to share your message and also talk about your book.
[00:41:12] So that way there is a constant marketing plan running for the book. So I think these are three mistakes. If a, why did can really make the self-publishing really successful?
[00:41:24] Allyson: Yes, those are that's brilliant feedback. Thank you so much. And it's just funny as I listen to you talk, I re I realized now that I.
[00:41:34] I get a lot of people pitching me to be on this podcast. And so I go, I have a little process that I, and my assistants go through to decide who gets through, like, who's the right fit for my audience. And I tell you what, if somebody has a book. On a topic that's directly relevant to my audience. They have a more likely chance of getting, getting into the very prestigious stores she grew up.
[00:42:00] That's awesome. And I never realized that before, but I realized that now that I just, I just did that like kind of without realizing it.
[00:42:08] The Guest: Yeah, it's actually a very subconscious thing because we all know that if a person has spent six months to a year of their life on a project, like a book, then they should be really serious about it and they should be good at it as well.
[00:42:21] Allyson: Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. This has been a fantastic episode. I've learned so much and it was really like you had some real points. Specifically for me in my life. And whenever that happens, I always get a lot of feedback from listeners that they, they, they got a lot from the episode as well.
[00:42:39]One thing I like to ask our guests to do, I like to put them on the spot and ask them to leave our listeners with a challenge.
[00:42:49] The Guest: This is such a great thing, Allyson, I would love if the. If the listeners can come up with a tentative title for their book and for this, I don't mind if you even go to canva.com and design your own books cover and just post it on social media and please dive missing challenge accepted and let the world know what's going to be the upcoming topic of your book.
[00:43:11] I
[00:43:12] Allyson: love that. Challenge accepted. So here it is people, and this will be in the show notes, come up with a tentative title. And I will say, you know, you don't have to be overly creative with this thing. You know, you don't have to like nail it the first time. This is your working title, design your book cover.
[00:43:30] That is fun and then post it on social media, hashtag challenge accepted, and then tag, it's not, and we're going to leave all of the ways to contact her and tag her in the show notes. But could you please tell us for those listeners who want to get to know more about you and get on your lists and in your world, how they can
[00:43:51] The Guest: find you?
[00:43:51] Sure. I would suggest two places. One is HappySelfPublishing.com. Which is our website. And there is this fantastic tool called Arthur scorecard, where you can actually take this nice assessment and find out what's your author success score, which is basically what's your probability of becoming a successful author and what you need to do to up your score.
[00:44:12] So that's a nice little tool on our website. Go check it, check it out. And if you also want to be in a community of authors who are there to support one another. Do check out our group inside Facebook called happy authors tribe. We've just started, started building that tribe and I have some great plans for it.
[00:44:28] I'm going to host a lot of boot camps inside that. So please do join us there.
[00:44:32] Allyson: That is amazing. Those links will be in the show notes and I love the author success score. I'm already thinking, how would I score on that? I'm sure
[00:44:42] The Guest: your score will be pretty high on,
[00:44:47] Allyson: Oh my gosh. This has been a really fantastic episode. I'm really grateful for you and the work you're doing in the world. It's so important. Thank you for your time and being so generous with sharing your
[00:44:57] The Guest: wisdom. Thank you, Allyson. It was such a pleasure to be on. She grows. Aw,
[00:45:02] Allyson: thank you. And I want to thank you dear listeners so much for tuning in, and if you're loving this episode, go ahead and hit subscribe wherever it is you listen, and I'd be super grateful sending you lots of heart emojis.
[00:45:17] For a rating and reviews. So more people can find she grows podcast. And if you'd like my help calling in your ideal soul clients into your business right now, then download my free checklist to remove the five visibility blocks that are preventing your ideal people from finding you your offerings are just too important to remain unseen.
[00:45:43] So this checklist will help you. Be seen and get fully booked. You can find a link to download on my website, AllysonScammell.com as well as in the show notes.