All big projects require trade-offs. Scratch that, all big life choices do. What trade-offs are you making right now?
What are your non-negotiables while working on a soul goal? What are you willing to let slide a bit in exchange for intense focus? As I have observed among my friends now having children, aiming to “have it all” while adjusting to something so monumental is not only impossible, it is self-defeating.
Instead, let’s drop some of the guilt by consciously choosing what to toggle down, knowing we can promote it back up (if we even still want to) when there is more room. In today’s podcast I share the five areas I chose to let slide while working on Pivot. Caveat: these may all be things I am terrible at even without a massive project on my mind!
On Monday I turned in the very last paper “first pass” edit. Now we work on finalizing the cover before sending it off to galley printing (advance copies for media) before the September 6 launch. Wondering how long it takes to write a book? Check out last month’s behind-the-business episode of the Pivot Podcast. On Kevin John’s The Writing Coach podcast, I also discuss how surrender and serendipity are playing a bigger role in my launch planning this time around.
Finally, HUGE thanks to my dad for his help with this last editing round! This photo shows our two first pass stacks—my dad’s super neat “flag candy” is on the left, mine is on the right. Great minds edit alike
BOOK NINJA 101
Been itching to write a book but not sure where to start? Or in the middle of one but stuck on what’s next? Join me for the week-long Book Ninja course in May with soup-to-nuts practical, tactical tips for generating momentum and getting published.
As one of my book mentors Michael Larsen once said to me, “It is no longer a question of if you will get published, but when and how.” This course includes five live workshops during the week of May 16 (at 3pm ET), with recordings if you can’t make it.
Here is what we will cover:
Monday, May 16: Systems for Outlining, Researching, Writing, and Editing—Fresh off a three-year marathon of writing Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, I will share my best tips and tools for every stage of the book writing process: how to organize ideas and research, outline the book, chunk writing into bite-sized essays, and how to get unstuck when you hit book block.
Tuesday, May 17: Craft a One-Page Book Pitch with Jennie Nash—Jennie will introduce her simple tool for harnessing your idea, framing your marketing strategy, and knowing how to answer when someone says, “What’s your book about?”
Wednesday, May 18: Traditional Publishing Q&A with my editor at Portfolio/Penguin Random House, Natalie Horbachevsky—A conversation with my genius editor, Natalie, in which I get to ask everything I have always wanted to know too! We will dig into tips for landing a coveted “Big Five” book deal, what she looks for in terms of platform, what types of big ideas are most appealing to publishers, her role as editor throughout the process, what motivates her to proactively reach out to an author (scouting), and if self-publishing first helps or hurts. You can also submit questions too, and I’ll be sure we cover them!
Thursday, May 19: Self-Publishing Success with Taylor Pearson—An in-depth conversation with Taylor Pearson about self-publishing his book The End of Jobs to smashing success—how he sold 5K copies in the first month, 12K to-date, made $35K in resulting revenue, and grew his list by 500%. For a sneak peek at what he will be sharing, check out his post Jesus Marketing.
Friday, May 20: Open Q&A with Jenny (+ Special Bonus): Map what’s next for your book project, and ask me anything that is still on your mind. We’ll also do a round-robin sharing (optional) for committing to next steps. All members of the course and the Momentum Community will receive access to my super secret work in progress, the 20+ page Behind-the-Book toolkit, including my proposal template that landed the Penguin deal, my writing tracker template, book tour planning process, and more.
Enroll in Book Ninja here ($125), or get the course for free when you join Momentum ($97/quarter), which includes every course and template I have ever created ($700 value), live monthly workshops, and optional private office hours calls with me.
PODCAST: 5 THINGS I WAS TERRIBLE AT WHILE WRITING PIVOT
Press play on the embedded player below or listen on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Overcast:
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Previous Behind the Book episodes:
Pivot Podcasts mentioned:
On Creative Sabbaticals and Social Media Fatigue with Nicole Antoinette Ross
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Check out other episodes of the Pivot Podcast here. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen, and if you enjoy the show I would be very grateful for a rating and/or review! Sign-up for my weekly(ish) #PivotList newsletter to receive curated round-ups of what I’m reading, watching, listening to, and new tools I’m geeking out on.