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Does Everyone Have a Book in Them? #selfpublishing

shelleywilson72

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At the beginning of March, I attended the Women In Business Conference in Coventry hosted by the team at Socially Shared. I wrote about the day over on my motivational blog; you can read that post HERE.

As well as attending this empowering event, I was also honoured to run a couple of the afternoon workshop sessions on the topic of self-publishing. Getting me to talk about writing, publishing, or books, in general, is an easy thing to do, but trying to shut me up can be quite a challenge. As it happens, I had forty-five minutes per session to share my knowledge, experience, and tips with my audience, so keeping it brief was a necessity.

Normally, when I attend various fairs and author talks throughout the year, I am inundated with people telling me how they would love to write a book. Some people are still shaping an idea, others have begun getting their story down on paper, and a few have reached the stage where publication is the next step. At the self-publishing workshops, there were only two ladies who were thinking about or had started to write. I was initially surprised by this feedback, but the more we got into the session, the more I realised how difficult it could be for people to know how or where to start.

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As I write non-fiction, it was easy to base my talk on writing to enhance your business. My first two books were based on personal development classes I ran as part of my holistic health business; Meditation for Beginners and Vision Boards for Beginners.

Choosing a section of your business and turning this into a guidebook, a how-to book, or even a memoir can add another income stream to your company. It also works the other way too, as I am now asked to run talks and workshops based on my book How I Changed My Life in a Year.

Talking through the process of publishing via platforms such as KDP, Smashwords, Lulu, and Createspace showed my attendees how easy the procedure could be. We didn’t discuss dominating the best seller lists, or hitting huge sales targets; this workshop concentrated more on writing a book to use as a promotional funnel, sales tool, or a corporate giveaway.

I was delighted at the end of my sessions, to hear the majority of the ladies tell me how inspired they were to write. I was equally excited about the ideas they had unlocked throughout the forty-five minutes I’d been talking.

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Does everyone have a book in them? Yes, I believe that’s true. I’m also fully aware that not everyone has the skill, time, or desire to write. However, it only takes one idea. A concept that can be cultivated into something wonderful, even if it means employing a ghost writer to pen a book with you.

I thoroughly enjoyed running both workshops and received incredible feedback during and after the event. I hope to continue to support the ladies who were inspired, and hopefully, in the future, run more self-publishing and writing workshops.

The photographs included in this post were taken by the event photographer, Faye Green. You can find Faye on Facebook HERE.

Let me leave you with a couple of questions. For the authors – is there a book you long to write but haven’t started yet? For the novice writers – do you believe you have a book in you, and if so what genre would you like to write for?

Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you enjoyed this post. Want more? Connect with me here:  Twitter @ShelleyWilson72, Instagram or check out my Facebook pages http://www.facebook.com/FantasyAuthorSLWilson and http://www.facebook.com/MotivateMeBlog. You can also find me on Pinterest

Published by shelleywilson72

Hello, I'm Shelley, an English multi-genre author. I write young adult/middle-grade supernatural and fantasy fiction and motivational adult self-help. I'm a proud mum of three and live in the West Midlands, UK. I love travelling in my VW camper, reading about Tudor and Viking history, and obsessing over to-do lists!

23 thoughts on “Does Everyone Have a Book in Them? #selfpublishing”

    1. The beauty of writing a business book is how you can make it fit the needs of your clients rather than follow the ‘rules’ of publishing to a set pattern or word count. My meditation book is only 5000 words and that works for my students. Hope you get around to writing up your ideas 😊

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      1. That’s very useful Shelley. One of my ideas would be very short and felt not much more than a pamphlet, but if you’ve done one for 5000 words then it’s worth thinking about. Thanks 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  4. I think many people may have a book in them,but not all have a publishable one! Let me qualify: writing for oneself, as therapy, or for the family, to tell a story is one thing,entering the very crowded world of book publishing is another. A few days ago I read another puff about a writer offered a £80,000 contract for her work. A friend ‘in the biz’ says these pieces always generate a flood of submissions from would-be writers, none of which are publishable. It IS ‘easy’ to self-publish ( I do it) but too tempting for the would-be writer to slam something on Amazon without the requisite editing, proof-reading or copy-editing. I’d encourage anybody to write, if they have something they want to get down on paper. I’d discourage anyone from thinking publishing is a necessary follow-on. Surgeons train for years. Ditto architects and lawyers. Writing is a craft as well as a gift. It must be learned, practiced, honed. Join a writing group, try out your stuff on a ‘free platform’ like Wattpad and get some feedback..send s short story to a magazine, subscribe to Writing Magazine, ease yourself along to publishing a whole book. Small steps avoid big disappointment which can put you off continuing ….

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    1. Fabulous feedback, Carol. Thank you. I spoke about the same things during my sessions. The best money you’ll ever spend is for an exceptional editor, proof-reader or copy-editor.

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  10. Pingback: Writing Links 3/27/17 – Where Genres Collide

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