On Writing Books + November Deals

This year I set a goal to read 52 books in total, an average of one per week and while I was slow to start my goal I am excited to say I completed the challenge last week with the amazing When Breath Becomes Air.

This accomplishment is a stark contrast to 2016 when I didn’t read much but I did write and publish 3 books. Here’s a little about those volumes, what I learned and a special deal for November.

In some ways I’ve always wanted to be a writer, I learned how to read at a young age and then bypassed every reading proficiency test I was given. Recently I cleaned out some old papers and noticed that in my PSAT results from 7th grade I was scoring at a 12th grade level in reading comprehension.

And I loved telling stories, entertaining people. So I wrote, mostly horribly contrived stories that were fiction but loosely based on movies and books I already loved. In one plot I made my main character tear down my actual junior high school in a display of my actual loathing instead of any real plot device.

But even as I went through high school and college, I mostly wrote for fun, as a creative endeavor. I’d put stories out there, get lots of traffic and comments and then go back to my day job.

When I discovered National Novel Writing Month I took on that challenge annually, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

In November 2015 I wrote the first draft of my books Every Entrepreneur Needs Systems in 30 days. 50,000 words to start and a lot of them needed to be polished up. I designed the book to be easy to pick up, read a chapter and move on, each works independently and includes a systems tip, challenge or resource for you.

(You can see all the book details and see sample chapters at www.everyentrepreneurneedssystems.com)

In the months that followed after writing the first draft, I contracted an editor for book 1 and began cutting everything that didn’t fit into the first volume which I centered on Relationships.

Some of my favorite chapters were:

• The Kanye West of Birthday Parties
• Are you an Askhole?
• The Public Facade of a Successful Business

Soon after I wanted to work on the raw content again so I began to devise a book on Marketing. Unlike gurus out there, I didn’t want to talk about what works right now because we all know it changes every 5 minutes. I wanted to talk about the underlying beliefs, actions and behaviors of marketers.

Here my favorite chapters include:

• Going Behind the New York Times
• Only Mafia Bosses Ignore this Marketing Rule
• Busting Writer’s Block

But when I was growing my business, I didn’t just dive into how marketing works but also the importance of mindset. I truly believe that 2 people can be given the same strategy and opportunities and skills and the measure of success will be in the strength of their mindsets.

So that became volume 3, a discussion of the beliefs which will screw you up if you hold them tightly and the ones that open doors.

Of all my favorites, the most powerful chapters in this volume were:

• Your Computer is Not a Tool of the Universe
• The Psychic and the Lawyer
• Eating Beans with Bums

And each of those books went up via Kindle Direct Publishing to Amazon – each edited by Kris Emery and designed by Rachel Shillcock.

But I read 52 books this year and very few of them were on my Kindle. In a world of “paper or digital” reading I’m very much a hands on gal. Plus, you can’t sign a Kindle as an author 😉

So we went back to work and compiled all 3 volumes into one print book and once again it’s available via Amazon. I’ve had a blast creating this series and now and then I continue to write new content for volume 4, when I have the energy to create it.

To celebrate the birth of this book, I’m doing a special on Amazon until November 30th, 2017 in all territories and countries. Simply log on to Amazon.com in your country and type “Every Entrepreneur Needs Systems” in the search bar (I’ve also provided links below).

The 3 digital books are on sale for 99 cents beginning November 24th or you can get the print book for just $9.99 plus shipping.

Every Entrepreneur Needs Systems for Relationships
Every Entrepreneur Needs Systems for Marketing
Every Entrepreneur Needs Systems for Mindset

Every Entrepreneur Needs Systems: for Relationships, Marketing and Mindset