Susan Baracco - 6 Things No One Tells You About Writing a Book: What You Need to Know About Your Book Journey Before You Hit the Road

6 Things No One Tells You About Writing a Book

What You Need to Know About Your Book Journey Before You Hit the Road

Susan Baracco

Print ISBN: 978-1-54393-200-3

eBook ISBN: 978-1-54393-201-0

2018. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

introduction

Writing a book is not something that we can put off until we retire. Its become an integral part of business for entrepreneurs and leaders. Whether you run a solo consultancy or a major organization with hundreds of employees, authoring a book puts you in a unique category and gives you a competitive advantage.

Women leaders dont write enough about their ideas, opinions or expertise. We need to tip the balance of thought leadership and build gender parity through our words. Our words demonstrate our understanding of a complex world. And when written down and shared, they become a truly powerful tool for change.

This guide is designed to help you, the aspiring woman author, as you set out on your book writing journey. So many times I hear women say, Everyone tells me I should write a book. Yes! I agree! But the unique challenge for women is finding the time to get it done. Reality : women have more responsibilities in life than men. And our societal norms pressure us to be everything to everyone. If we want a career or business thats fine, but we still have to do everything else thats expected of us.

The interesting thing is, we are doing it. Reality : it may not be perfect, it may not be pretty, but we are getting it done. We are running successful companies. We are innovating and growing startups. We are taking on big issues. We are having babies and careers. We are caring for aging parents. We are running marathons and triathlons. We are volunteering and giving back. We are working our tails off to leave the world better than how we found it.

And one of the best ways to leave the world better is to write a book. Or several books. Reality : writing a book is a big undertaking. A really big undertaking. But it is so very worth your time and effort. My goal is to motivate you to put your brilliance into book form while giving you a reality check of what you will experience on your book writing journey.

I want you to take that journey and reach your destination successfully. This guide will help make your book a reality. The purpose of this guidebook and sharing these insights is to make you aware and help you prepare for what you will encounter. I believe preparing wins half the battle. No more saying, I wish I had known that or nobody told me that.

This book is my way of reaching my big, hairy, audacious goal to help a million women become authors. But if just one more woman writes her book, tells her story, then Ive done what I set out to do. But I not-so-secretly hope for a million. Because I love helping women leaders tell their stories, so I hope this book inspires you to add author to your list of accomplishments.

reality #1: busy is your way of life

reality #2: your ego, emotions, and doubt will get a workout

reality #3: creativity is messy and unpredictable

reality #4: taking this journey alone is dangerous

reality #5: a book is an investment of more than money

reality #6: your book is one of the best things you will ever do

about the author

Susan Baracco, Story Architect for Women

Susan Baracco brings the skills of a writer, editor, project manager and executive coach to her role as a Story Architect for Women. She is a passionate advocate for women and believes that putting their stories into words is a powerful tool for change. Writing for women leaders means she gets to work with the brightest minds in business.

Fifteen years of business coaching, facilitating executive mastermind groups and working side-by-side with women leaders gives her a unique perspective among professionals in the book writing industry. Since 2013, Susan has focused her energy on being a resource for women who want to tell their stories in an effective and powerful way.

Susan began journaling and story writing at an early age, so her bachelors degree in English was a natural progression. Once in the workforce, her writing skills were put to good use creating sales proposals and presentations, answering RFPs, creating web copy and marketing content and being the resident editor when the executive team needed help.

Her big hairy audacious goal is to help a million women become authors. To reach that goal, Susan wrote this inspirational guidebook for women entitled 6 Things No One Tells You About Writing a Book . Susan shares the realities of embarking on a book writing journey from a womans perspective. She prepares the reader for the journey with tactics and action steps to get you motivated and moving full speed ahead.

Susan lives on the beautiful coast of Maine with her husband of 24 years and their two rescue pups, Nigel and Bailey. Visiting their twenty-something son and daughter in Boston is her favorite excuse to explore a new restaurant. Susan is an avid runner, foodie, and red wine fanatic. Her cars license plate is Eat & Run because those are my two favorite things.

#MoreWomenMustWrite

For more information and to engage with Susan:

www.StoryArchitectForWomen .com

www.LinkedIn.com/in/susanbaracco

www.facebook.com/storyarchitectforwomen

www.twitter.com/SusanBaracco

RESOURCES

Let the Story Do The Work by Esther Choy

The Nonfiction Book Marketing Plan : Online and Offline Promotion Strategies to Build Your Audience and Sell More Books by Stephanie Chandler

The Confidence Code by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman

BizChix.com Podcast for Women Entrepreneurs with Natalie Eckdahl

MentalFloss.com

You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero

Chasing Perfection by Sue Hawkes

Inclusion by Jennifer Brown

special thanks

For such a small book, I had big help for which I am most grateful. I am grateful for the insight and direction I received from Derek Lewis, and my launch team of Kerri Salls, Kelly Flagg, Amy Slater and Amy Sahf.

My sincere thanks to the amazing-woman-superhero authors I tapped for their contributions to the content including:

Sue Hawkes

Jennifer Brown

Raquel Eatmon

Charlena Jackson

Women have more responsibilities in life than men. And our societal norms pressure us to be everything to everyone. If we want a career or to be a leader, thats fine, but we still must do everything else that is expected of us. This is not a bashing but a simple fact. Carving out time in our day to write is no simple task.

Your book journey will have three stages of commitment. Each one requires something a little different from you. You may enjoy one stage more than the others. Regardless of how it lands on you, knowing what lies ahead on the journey will help you get through it.

Reality #1 is not about being busy, it is about self-sabotage. And self-sabotage is the natural enemy of book writing. To be honest, it is the enemy of any goal. But were talking books here, so lets focus on that for now. It would take volumes to tackle self-sabotage and do that topic justice.