Kristen 0:00
Have you ever had that little voice in the back of your head whispering, maybe I could write a book someday? If you have, you are definitely not alone. I will be honest, the idea of writing a book has been rolling around in my mind for years. Maybe it’s sharing what I’ve learned about building an online business, or just having that something tangible that says I’m an author. But every time I think about it, I get completely overwhelmed. Sometimes I feel like I’m not sure what I would even write about or where to start, and I know practically nothing about the whole publishing process.
Kristen 0:44
So if you have ever had similar thoughts, first of all, you’re not alone, but you are going to love today’s episode. My guest, Kate Allison, is a certified book writing coach and editor who’s helped bring over 50 books to publication, and her mission is to prove that anyone, yes, that means you, and that means me, can be a published author. Kate is going to walk us through how to get started, what the publishing process really looks like, and why writing a book might be one of the smartest business moves that you could make. She’s also sharing why your story could be just exactly what somebody out there needs to hear.
Kristen 1:30
Are you a digital product or course creator, selling on platforms like Teachers Pay Teachers, Etsy, or your own website? Ready to grow your business, but not into the kind of constant hustle that leads straight to burnout? Then you’re in the right place. Welcome to The Savvy Seller. I’m Kristen Doyle, and I’m here to give you no-fluff tools and strategies that move the needle for your business without burning you out in the process—things like SEO, no stress marketing, email list building, automations and so much more. Let’s get started, y’all.
Kristen 2:05
Hi Kate, thank you so much for being here today.
Kate 2:14
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.
Kristen 2:18
So I want to start with what you have said is your mission, to prove that anyone can be an author. Talk to me a little bit about that. What makes you so passionate about proving to all of us that we can be authors?
Kate 2:33
Well, I hear from people things like, Oh, my 10th grade English teacher said I was a terrible writer and I should never try to write anything ever. And I have seen those people go on to be successful authors, people who have dyslexia or ADHD, or people who just think that they can’t write a book for whatever reason, whether it was that 10th grade English teacher, whether it’s that voice in your head that says that you’re not a writer. I have seen so many people overcome that and become an author, that I’m very passionate about anyone really can be an author. And we all, I believe, have a story to share. And I believe that all of us can become authors if we want to, if we want to put in the work to make it happen.
Kristen 3:18
Yeah, I just love that feeling. You know, being an author is something that I guess just rolls around in the back of my head, like maybe one day I would, but I don’t know what I would write about. Or, you know, it seems like such a big, daunting task.
Kate 3:34
It does, it does, and it is. But the good news is that, like any big daunting task, you can break it down into smaller steps.
Kristen 3:42
Yeah, that’s true. I mean, like everything else, one little piece at a time.
Kate 3:47
And that’s how the authors that I’ve worked with have done it, just doing it one little piece at a time.
Kristen 3:52
So let’s just kind of talk about the process a little bit. Since we’re on the subject of one piece at a time, how do you get started with with writing a book?
Kate 4:02
So the very first thing that I have my clients do is just get all of their ideas out of their head and onto paper. So we do a massive brain dump, where all that you’re doing is just listing anything and everything that you could write. Now, not everything that comes out is going to end up in your book, and you might later come up with ideas that you didn’t think about at first. So you’re going to do a brain dump of literally everything. And then what I do with my clients is I actually have them then come back the next day and add to the brain dump, because, you know, usually while we’re sleeping, we’ll have other ideas pop up. So I have them do the brain dump a couple of times.
Kate 4:39
And then once we have all of that, then we can start to organize. So we can start to say, okay, so what is it that your book is going to be about, and which of these elements fit inside that book? Because if you’re like most of my clients, you know, we all have multiple things that we’re passionate about, you know, like, I mean, I can talk about writing books. I can talk about dogs. I can talk about Lego, I have Lego in the background here. You know, there’s just so many different things that I could talk about with passion that it’s like, okay, now how do I decide what which one of those things I’m going to put into a book? And usually it’s, well, what’s going to help my business? Or what do I feel most passionate about sharing?
Kristen 5:20
So I can see myself voice recording this, because I’m a voice recording person. It’s probably why I have a podcast instead of writing a lot of blog posts, I’m a voice recording person. It’s how I process all my thoughts. So I can see just voice recording when those ideas come to mind, those things that pop in, like, well, maybe I could write about this, and just getting it all out of your head is so helpful.
Kate 5:43
It is, and that’s really the first step. And then the next step that I take them through is actually organizing it and figuring out, like I said, what belongs in this book, and then once we figure out what belongs in the book, how do we put it into an order that makes sense for the reader?
Kristen 5:58
Yeah, I will tell you, that’s one of the things I really struggle with is organizing my thoughts.
Kate 6:05
Yes, and that’s why I walk through it with my clients, and I say, okay, you know, there are different kinds of things that we write down in our brain dump. You know, we write down ideas. We write down stories that we have. You might write down like, oh, I read this study that says people who write books are 80% more likely to get more clients. You know, I’m making that up.
Kristen 6:26
That would be great.
Kate 6:28
Yeah, it could be right. But that’s something that like, so then I would start by organizing, okay, so what do we have here that our ideas, what do we have here that our stories, and what do we have here that are data that backs up what you’re saying?
Kristen 6:40
Figuring out how to piece those together. I know it’s always fun to figure out how the story connects to the ideas or the data or the whatever it is.
Kate 6:50
And it’s, to me, it’s like a big jigsaw puzzle, and it’s just about finding the right pieces and putting them in the right place.
Kristen 6:57
I love thinking of it like a puzzle to solve.
Kate 6:58
Yeah, it makes it more fun.
Kristen 7:00
Yeah, I can see that. A lot of times when I, because I kind of think about my email marketing sort of in the same way. When I’m writing emails, I’m thinking of the thing I want to share, and then I’m thinking of a story I can use that relates to it. And sometimes it is a puzzle or a story comes to mind, and I have to really think, like, how can I connect it?
Kate 7:20
How does this fit? I really like the story.
Kristen 7:24
I know it does, but let me make it fit.
Kate 7:25
Yeah, and so that’s something that I help my clients with, is helping make sure that those stories do fit, and helping adapt the stories so that they fit.
Kristen 7:34
I can see that just being so helpful to have somebody bounce those ideas around with.
Kristen 7:40
So most of the people listening are business owners, and when it comes to things we want to do, some people just want to write a book, because they just have a book on their heart that they want to write. And maybe it’s totally unrelated to their business, or maybe it is. But some people just, you know, they have this specific book they want to write. Other people just kind of want to be able to say, I’m an author, and they’re not quite sure what they should write their book about, or even just, how can it help their business. So what kind of books can be helpful for our business, and how does that help grow our businesses?
Kate 8:16
So really, any kind of book that introduces yourself to a potential client that lets them know who you are and what you do can be helpful for your business. So that can be a memoir, or it can be a nonfiction book about how you do what you do. A very popular model among authors is to write a book that illustrates, okay, this is the process that I take my clients through, and then you can do this on your own, or they find that they have trouble doing it on their own. They want accountability, so then they come to you and say, Okay, I read your book. I want to do all the things in your book. I need help getting it done. Can you help me?
Kristen 8:52
Yeah.
Kate 8:53
And a lot of people feel like, well, what if I’m giving away too much? And the answer to that is, you can’t give away too much, because people are always going to need you no matter what you do. You know, people are going to need accountability. Yeah, there might be some people who read your book, do the things and then don’t need your help, but they might want to take the next step in whatever it is that you do. Like you do website design. So for example, somebody might want, might take your book and, you know, create a beautiful website from it, but then they might think, okay, but now I want to take it to the next level, or I want to add things to my website that aren’t talked about in the book, and then they come to you to hire you for working on their website.
Kristen 9:35
Yeah, that’s so true. And one thing I’ve kind of learned is there, and we all, I guess, run into this at some point in our business, not everyone’s the right fit to actually work with you either.
Kate 9:44
Well, that’s true.
Kristen 9:45
And so some people who aren’t the right fit to work with you might be a perfect fit to read your book and do it themselves.
Kate 9:51
Yes.
Kristen 9:52
And I mean, when it comes to capacity too, I can only work with so many people a year. I would hope if I write a book, more people than that are buying it.
Kate 10:01
Yes, yes, exactly. And that’s the thing is, you can really increase the number of people that you can help. Because, you know, like you said, you’re one person, you can only help so however many clients per year. I only take on so many editing and writing coaching clients. And so having a book out there is a way to increase that and to help more people.
Kristen 10:22
And it, it does just set you up as an expert, someone who has the knowledge, has taken the time and is, you know, is able to publish a book on whatever this topic is. It really does set you up as an expert, as a professional, as someone who takes your business seriously.
Kate 10:40
It does, and it also sets you up for things like, if you want to get more get more media opportunities, if you want to get on more stages, having a book is a great way to do that. You know, you can do a book tour and get to know people in different areas. You can get on, the local news loves hearing about authors who write their books. You can get on local news stories, and you can also apply for conferences. It’s really a, it really helps your applications stand out when you’ve written a book, because there are a lot of speakers out there. How do you make yourself stand out? Show that you’re the expert with your book.
Kristen 11:13
I’ve also heard of some people, especially like in the education niche, writing, you know, sometimes we think our book needs to be about our business, and our business as an educator might be helping teachers. So some people in in that niche are writing like professional development books, like you were saying, teaching people how to do what you do. Lots of others are writing children’s books that kind of go along with the content areas or the age groups that they sell resources for and things, and that seems like such a fun way to get into writing.
Kate 11:46
It really is, yeah. Children’s books are really, are really fun. And you can have a lot of fun, you know, not just writing it, but then, you know, thinking about, okay, how am I going to illustrate this? You know, who is this going you know, like, what grade level is this going to be for? I’m, my background is also in education, so I’ve worked with quite a number of teachers who have published books on, not so much children’s books, but books on pedagogy and that type of thing.
Kristen 12:10
Yeah.
Kate 12:11
But even if you write a business book, you can also write a spin off children’s book from your business book.
Kristen 12:17
You know, I was just talking to a friend about that a couple of days ago. I think I saw a LinkedIn post or something from someone who said you could write a children’s book about whatever you do as an entrepreneur. And I thought that’s kind of fun. I kind of like that idea.
Kate 12:34
And I know exactly who you’re talking about.
Kristen 12:36
I was gonna say, I feel like it might be a mutual friend.
Kate 12:39
Yes. Yeah, Dorie Durbin is her name, if anyone’s interested in writing a children’s book. She would also be a great guest for your podcast.
Kristen 12:47
Yeah. I’ll have to get Dory on here, she talks a lot about illustrations and things too, just super fun to chat about.
Kristen 12:55
So one of the big questions that people have is, how the heck do I get my book published, because it seems like such a big thing and something that’s just so unfamiliar to most of us. Can you just share a little bit about what that process can look like?
Kate 13:12
Yes, yes. So actually, these days, with Amazon, that process is a lot easier than it used to be. You know, traditionally, you’d have to go find an agent, and then your agent would have to find you a publisher. And that whole process can take years. I mean, it can take a year to find an agent, it can take another year or more to find a publisher, and then even once you do find a publisher, they might not put you on their publishing schedule for another three to five years.
Kristen 13:38
Yeah, and I would imagine it’s also really expensive. I can just imagine paying people for that long to do things for me.
Kate 13:48
Well that way, actually the publisher pays you, so that actually works out financially, which is why a lot of people do prefer to go that route. But I prefer, and I usually work with authors who are going the self publishing route, who are publishing themselves on Amazon because it’s so much faster, it’s so much easier. Now, in this case, you are paying people, like you’re paying editors, you’re paying a cover designer in a formatter. But it’s worth it to get your book out there.
Kate 14:13
So the steps towards publishing are, you know, first you have to actually write the book. I know that’s that’s the hard part. The good news is, that’s the hard part. Then you find an editor. There are different types of editing so you’ve, so you may need to work with a couple different editors. And then after that, then you format the book so that it looks pretty both on KDP and, KDP is Amazon’s Kindle distribution, so you want it to look nice, both as an ebook and as a paperback or hardcover, whichever way you decide to go with that. And then from there, you hit publish. It’s really not a, I say it’s not a complicated process, because it’s so much easier than it used to be, but it still is a little bit complicated, and there are websites that will walk you through, okay, here’s what you do. Here are all the steps. Here’s how you get your book out there.
Kristen 15:06
It just seems so over my head.
Kate 15:10
Yeah, yeah, it does. It does feel overwhelming, for sure, like, even as someone who knows what I’m doing, it still feels like, oh my gosh, this is a lot, and it is, but the good news is that you can do it, because I’ve seen so many people who have done it and who’ve done it successfully.
Kristen 15:27
Yeah, that’s awesome. If we’re thinking about, you know, writing your own book and self publishing it, what is a kind of typical timeline that people could maybe expect? I know it varies a lot depending on how fast you write.
Kate 15:42
Yes, yes. So I would say a typical timeline if, if you’re committed to writing the book, is about a year. You know, you take about three to six months to write the rough draft. Then you want to hire the editors ahead of time. You don’t want to wait until the draft is written to hire the editors, and then you get it edited. And that can take, depending on how clean your manuscript is, that can take another three to six months, and then formatting and getting it ready for publication, that can take another two to three months. So a year is is an ambitious timeline, but you can definitely do it within a year to a year and a half.
Kristen 16:22
I can see myself. I would, I would need the editor hired, and I would need, like, the deadline breathing down my neck to make sure I got it done.
Kate 16:32
Yes, I understand completely.
Kristen 16:35
Because, you know, I mean, as business owners, we’ve got so much else going on. You have to purposefully take time to do a big project like this.
Kate 16:42
Yeah, you need to set time aside in your calendar to write because otherwise it’s not going to get done. I mean, if it’s not on our calendars, we don’t do it.
Kristen 16:50
Yeah, absolutely, goodness knows. If it is not on my calendar, it’s not gonna happen.
Kate 16:56
I actually heard one person say that she forgot to put pick up kids from school on her calendar, and therefore it didn’t get done. And that just like, yeah, every little thing for some of us really needs to be on our calendar.
Kristen 17:08
Yeah. I mean, I do have an alarm during the school year. It’s summer, as we’re recording right now, but I do have an alarm during the school year that’s like, hey, go get the kids, because sometimes I will just get, not that I forget that I have to pick them up, but I’ll get so focused on what I am doing that I don’t notice what time it is.
Kate 17:28
Yes. And you don’t want your kids to be the last ones to be picked up like, Wait, did my mommy forget me? I don’t have kids, so I don’t have to worry about that, luckily. I have dogs.
Kristen 17:41
So my kid’s school, there’s a car line, and what I’ve learned is, if I go early, I’m gonna sit for 30 minutes at least waiting for them to start the line and then getting through the line and all of that. But if I show up like last-ish, I’m in and out of there in no time. So I’ve told mine, it is my goal, before they graduate or before they both start driving, I guess, to, at some point, be the last car in that line. They don’t want them stuck alone, but I at some point do want to be at the very end.
Kate 18:15
That’s a good goal to have, and it’s good to let them know that, so that they know that you didn’t forget.
Kristen 18:20
Exactly. And honestly, my kids don’t care. They just like the extra time to hang out with their friends anyway.
Kate 18:25
Yeah, yeah.
Kristen 18:26
So we’ve talked a lot about kind of how to get started and how it can help set you up as an expert and grow your business and publishing and things. What would you leave us with as kind of your best piece of advice, or that one action step that you would encourage people to do if they’ve ever thought about writing a book? Maybe we’re not remotely ready to start yet, but it’s an idea that’s kind of rolled around in our heads.
Kate 18:56
You never know who needs to hear your story. One of my favorite authors, Jenny Lawson, she wrote the book Furiously Happy, along with a couple of others, and she tells the story about how, you know, she was writing in her book about her depression. She was very honest about it, you know. And she was afraid of, you know, being judged for it. But what happened instead was she got letters back from people saying, oh my gosh, me too. Thank you so much for saying that. You know, now I don’t feel so alone. You know, I was planning to kill myself, but then I read your book.
Kristen 19:28
Wow, yeah.
Kate 19:30
Yeah. So you never know who needs to hear your story, and you never know how your story is going to help them. And those are just the people who had the courage to write letters. Imagine all the other people struggling, who you know maybe didn’t have the courage to write a letter, but who also read the book and felt seen. I actually saw her in person once, and I was amazed that she was able to get 100 very nerdy introverts who, you know, normally hate people and socializing into a room together. I was just amazed by that, you know, and we were all talking to each other, and we made friends that day. And it was just, it was a really neat experience to see how someone being very honest and vulnerable in her book, was able to bring a group of people together.
Kristen 20:14
That’s amazing. I love stories like that. And, you know, it made me think, even if, if my story isn’t something I think is that big, or that life changing, or that whatever, your story could still be the thing that keeps someone from giving up on whatever is related to your story. You know that that teacher who’s ready to quit, and they read something that you say in your book about teaching math, or whatever it is, they read one of your stories, and it gives them the motivation, the encouragement, whatever it is that they need to stick around or, you know, maybe it gives them the courage to leave if they need to, whatever that is.
Kate 20:14
Yes.
Kristen 20:16
The courage not to give up on their business. If it’s a business book, you just never know what kind of long range impacts some little story in your book might be, even if it’s not even the purpose of the book or the way that you intended for it to affect people.
Kate 21:11
And then you never know what the domino effect would be. Maybe one person doesn’t give up on teaching, and because of that, they affect a child’s life, who goes on to become the next math genius.
Kristen 21:21
Yeah, you just never know.
Kate 21:22
Not that math geniuses are usually famous, but that could be something.
Kristen 21:27
It could be really important.
Kate 21:29
Yeah.
Kristen 21:29
They could solve some major problem for the world one day. We never know.
Kristen 21:33
Well, thank you so much for being here. This has just been really helpful to kind of start wrapping my head around the idea, and I’m sure a lot of my listeners have had that idea rolling around in their heads too. So thank you for giving us kind of a place to start and some encouragement to just get out there and do it. Before we go, let everyone know where they can find you if they want to get in touch, learn some more from you about writing a book.
Kate 22:02
So the best place to get to know me is through my freebie, which is a book map template. So that’ll help you get your ideas out of your head and start to organize them. And you can find that at kateallysonbooks.com/bookmap.
Kristen 22:15
Okay, and we will drop that link in the show notes, and I’ll also drop your socials in there as well.
Kate 22:20
Yes, yeah, I’m also on Facebook and LinkedIn, and sometimes on Instagram.
Kristen 22:25
I feel like that’s, that’s my story too, sometimes.
Kristen 22:28
All right, well, thank you again. So so much for being here. It was so nice chatting with you about books, and who knows, maybe one day I will be reaching out and getting that process started.
Kate 22:39
Yes, I hope so. All right, thank you.
Kristen 22:42
You know, there is something about hearing someone else talk about their passion that gets me excited as well. So I hope Kate’s passion for helping people like you and me become authors was as infectious for you as it was for me. You know, there really is something powerful about just recognizing that the stories that we have or the expertise that we’re just carrying around in our heads really could genuinely help other people or even change their lives.
Kristen 23:11
Well, if this conversation brought a little spark of a book idea back bubbling up to the surface for you, kind of like it did for me, then I would encourage you to grab Kate’s free book map template. You’ll find it at kateallysonbooks.com/bookmap, and we’ll put that link in the show notes along with links to her social media if you would like to connect with her.
Kristen 23:34
I don’t know about you, but I think it is about time we get all those ideas out of our heads, and start organizing them into something that maybe could one day become your very own book. And remember what Kate said, you just never know who out there desperately needs to hear your story. That book that you’ve thought about writing might be exactly what somebody else needs. I’ll talk to you soon.
