Karen Bouchard here.
How are you doing? I hope everything is well with you and your loved ones during these unusual times.
❤
The past four months have shaken up, well, pretty much everything for everyone. As a society and as
individuals we’re re-evaluating a lot of things. Priorities. Kindness. What “connection” really means. Life and death. Even eternity.
At some point, life will calm down and transition back to “normal” (or some new version of normal
right?)
But before that happens, I believe we are seeing a window of
opportunity to reach people with messages and stories when hearts are open and longing for some good news.
If you have a story or message of hope and you're feeling an urgency to get it into the lives
(and hearts) of real people, please don't wait.
This is the time to move
forward.
If you're not moving forward... why not?
There are lots of "reasons" people can struggle to fulfill their calling as writers. But I think the obstacle that has the greatest power to stop us in our tracks isn't time or priorities or even money.
It's lack of confidence.
Every writer worth his or her salt has looked at a blank page or set out to create a marketing plan and thought, Why did I think I could do this? I can't do it. I'm not good enough. I'm not brave enough. I should give up here and
now.
If you've had thoughts like these, welcome to the club.
If you're stuck in the marketing process, I've got some tips for you at the end of this article.
But first, in case you're stuck in the writing process, I want to give you five quick things you can do that can boost your confidence as a writer--and get you on the way to changing lives
with that story or message you know you're supposed to write.
I was going to call these tips "confidence boosters," but they are more than that. They're momentum boosters.
Because when you do these five things, you'll "feel" more confident, sure.
But the real impact is going to be momentum and results.
Momentum Booster #1: Embrace the idea that even bad writing is good news
I think we all struggle with feeling at times like something we've just written is horrible.
And I think that's a good thing.
Because if our writing is never too dry, too flowery, too boring, or too amateurish--if it never misses the mark completely--we're not trying hard enough.
If we're not willing to write badly, then we're not writing outside of our comfort zone. We're not stretching. Heck, we're probably not even writing at all.
So don't be afraid of bad writing. It means you're writing. And it gives you something to edit and improve. :) So keep it coming!
Momentum Booster #2: Write about something you know well
Not all the time, mind you--because topically we want and need to stretch our wings--but a lot of the time.
Because when we take a passion of ours--something we're confident about knowing or doing--and write about it, that confidence/passion in our topic is going to fuel our progress.
Momentum Booster #3: Learn some self-editing skills
When we understand some of the time-proven rules of writing (show don't tell, avoid adverbs, active voice over passive voice) we create a checklist in which we can have confidence.
And when we revisit what we wrote yesterday with that checklist in hand, we can feel confident that our writing has just taken a turn for the better.
And the more we revisit that checklist, we can have confidence that those guidelines are becoming second nature--and we are becoming better writers.
Momentum Booster #4: Separate your writing a bit from your identity
Look, I love the way writing is folded into my identity. I love feeling like I'm part of an amazing tribe of people who make magic with words. I love that a long time ago I set out to change lives with thoughts and sentences, and I'm doing it.
But when my identity becomes so wrapped up in what I do that a stint of writers block feels like a reflection of my worth as a human being, it's time to step back and reevaluate.
When a page of pathetic prose has the power to make me feel ashamed, or prompts me to think about packing up my pen for good, it's time to take a deep breath and relax.
Here's the truth: You and I can struggle all day long to piece together a mediocre paragraph and our worth as human beings is not diminished. Editors can roll their eyes at a chapter that took us three agonizing weeks to create, and we still deserve our place in the tribe.
To build our confidence, we have to be okay with having our writing suck (without feeling emotionally devastated) while we go about the writerly business of figuring out out how to make it suck less next time.
Momentum Booster #5: Love the journey more than the outcome
Sure, the desired outcome is a page of brilliant prose on which the words sing and bleed. Sometimes we come close, sometimes we don't. But if you're riddled with angst unless you get that specific outcome, you'll spend most of your time, well... riddled.
Loving the journey, however, is a recipe for joy. Because when you love the feeling you get when you...
- replace that almost-right word with the right word
- nail a bit of dialogue that brings your characters boldly to life
- wrestle with that last paragraph for an hour until the cadence of the syllables is perfect
...then your confidence has no choice but to grow because it's rooted in love.
And that, dear ones, is exponentially more satisfying to the soul than confidence rooted in mere perfection.
Self-doubts can be thieves... if you let them.
So don't let them.
Don't let self-doubts steal your joy, your momentum, your calling--and don't let them steal from you the window of opportunity that lies before us.
We are living in unprecedented times.
And if you have a story or message that can help people, there's an important role for you to play.
No one else has your message and your voice.
Wherever you are in the process, here are a few things to consider:
If you've got a finished manuscript...
your book can be released in as little as 10-12 weeks.
If you need help finishing your manuscript...
hopefully a few of the above Momentum-Boosters can get you going. If you need more help, know that book coaches (myself included) can get you to the finish
line.
If you've already published a book and need help marketing and promoting your work ...
there are six tools/strategies you definitely want in your bag of tricks.
Whether you're already published with Illumify or with a different publisher--or whether you are planning to publish in the future--you're going to need these things:
- a website with a great call-to-action
- an easy-to-follow social media strategy
- ways to build your email list
- videos like book trailers and author interviews
- strategies to connect with people outside your circle of friends
- scripts to help you connect with bookstores
I promise to write more about these six things in a future blog post.
But for now, just know that this is a great time to ramp up your marketing/platform building efforts. And to do that, you're going to want
these six marketing tools/strategies working hard for you.
Here's the bottom line:
We're living in chaotic times, and the best antidote to chaos is truth and hope. If you've got either to share, people are waiting to hear what you have to say.
Karen :)
Karen Bouchard
Book Acquisitions
Illumify Media
To schedule time with me click here.
Also:
Larry Yoder, Acquisitions Editor
Mike Klassen, President
P.S. You know the six marketing tools/strategies I mentioned
earlier? Even if your book wasn't published through Illumify, if you need a website, social media help, book trailer, author interview, or bookstore scripts, reach out.
Illumify can help authors of all publishing channels get
the tools they need to promote their books. To see samples of what we can do, shoot me an email.
