The Disruptive Author: Recent Episodes
Deborah Fay
The Disruptive Author is for writers. It’s for ‘the messengers’ who are called to change the world. Hear how already published authors are shaking things up with their writing. Find out how being published can help you in your career and in your business. Connect with the authors from Disruptive Publishing and become a part of the movement that is having a positive and powerful impact on our world.
Meet Katie Boulter.
She’s young and she’s savvy and she’s the founder of Like She Owns the Place, a thriving community and business hub that empowers women to succeed in the world of entrepreneurship.
Meet Sashua Benay
Sashua is a Transformation Coach Empowering Professionals in Inspired Living & Leadership with a Conscious Mindset Focus
You can visit her website @ https://sashuabenay.com.au to find out more about her.
Having been in business from a very young age, Kirsty is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder & Head of Growth at Englander Davis. Her favourite things are business growth, automation, and problem solving. And that’s exactly what we talk about. You’re going to love her.
This week I interviewed the fascinating Jimmy Sullivan who is the man behind Chilli Coffee. We had a great chat about caramel lattes and being in business which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I know you will too.
Jimmy had retired a couple of times before he fell into his current role as roaster and supplier of a unique coffee blend. And they have created some other interesting products with their blend.
Jimmy talks about what makes Chilli Coffee unique, what has worked for him and what, in his experience, he thinks is the most important thing anyone in small business needs to know.
Make sure you download this episode.
This week I am super excited to bring you my latest interview with the NOPE Coach, Suzanne Culberg, who has a fascinating story and shares some great insight for anyone in small business.
Suzanne is the author of The Beginning is Sh*t which is essentially a memoir about her weight loss journey.
She is also a NOPE coach who helps over-givers and people pleasers learn to set boundaries and say 'No' without feeling like a bitch.
Suzanne is intelligent and sassy and her perspective is fresh, so I encourage you to have a listen or watch the video on YouTube. And I’d love some feedback on the interview if you feel inclined to share it with me.
Scroll down to watch the interview on our YouTube Chanel or scroll a bit further if you prefer to listen to our Podcast - The Disruptive Author which is available on all good podcast platforms.
Whichever platform you choose, make sure you subscribe while you are there, so you don’t miss future issues.
Are You a Business Warrior?
If you haven’t already, check out the Business Warriors project. Find out how contributing to The Business Warrior’s project can help you grow your business. If you scroll down you’ll find a link that’ll take you straight to all the information you need, including pricing.
Have a great week. I’ll look forward to catching up with you again next week with our latest episode of The Disruptive Author.
"Small Biz Matters"
Author of Creating a Fond Farewell and contributing author to Touched by Breast Cancer and Forever Changed by Suicide, Rita-Marie has the biggest heart and is an inspiration to all of us. She recently graduated from the Authorpreneur’s Bootcamp as a self-published author.
One of the biggest fears I think businesspeople have around writing a book is that they are not writers, let along good ones.
They don’t believe they have what it takes to write a good book so they let the idea go as quickly as it might come to them, every time it comes to them. They dismiss the idea quickly because they believe it would be a waste of good time and resources to even try.
It's such a shame really because writing the right business book is one of the smartest things a businessperson can do for his or her business. So, dismissing the idea deprives them of a powerful and valuable marketing tool that can set them apart and help them stand out in a crowded marketplace.
When you know your business, structuring your book is more about good organisation than it is about being a good writer. And organisation IS something that many businesspeople are good at. They have to be, to survive.
If you are in business, I want you to trust me just for today when I say that you don’t need to be a spectacular writer to write the right business book. There are lots of good editors out there who can clean up your grammar and spelling. They can even organise your writing to some degree.
You just need to focus on the message, and I encourage all my authors to write as they speak so that their reader can get familiar with their voice.
From there, you need to know what information is important - and what isn’t - and you need to know the best order in which to share what you know. But I can give you a plan to help you with that.
So that means the only two things you need to know are:
- your business
and
- how to follow a plan.
If you can do these two things, then come with me because today I'm going to give you the plan.
When someone is thinking about writing a non-fiction book - a memoir, a self-help or a business book - it never even occurs to them that their book might be about anyone other than themselves.
They are the author after all. Who else would it be about?
If they are writing a memoir then it is about their life story, or a portion of it, and that makes the book entirely about them.
If they are writing a self-help or a business book, then naturally it is about them, because it is their experience and their expertise they will be writing about.
They will be writing their book in an attempt to show their ideal customers and clients that they know their business and that they know what they are talking about. They need to be seen as an expert in their field, as someone who can be trusted to advise and help the reader.
That is the reason for writing the book for many. But…in a twist of irony, it turns out that one of the most important things an author needs to know about writing a book about himself is…
Hi and welcome. My name is Deborah Fay from Disruptive Publishing and you're listenning to another episode of The Disruptive Author.
Today I am going to talk to you about writing and publishing a book, which feels a little bit weird, because I feel like I talk about this stuff all the time.
But last week at a networking meeting I was asked, "how do I go from having an idea in my head to holding a book in my hand?", and at that moment I realised that I don't actually talk about it all the time at all.
What I do is I talk around it, and I do that because I assume people already know certain things - the things I am going to talk about today.
I am almost always in the company of small businesspeople. They're my people - my tribe - and I feel very comfortable with them.
Being asked how to write a book is a regular occurrence, but I hadn't been asked in that way before, and I am super grateful that it happened, because I realised that I'd forgotten what the people around me don't know.
So that's what I'm going to talk about today.
Let's explore how you can go from having an idea in your head to holding a book in your hand.
Last week I talked about the fear of being seen - why we might be afraid to be seen and how to push through that fear so that we can realise our dream of becoming a published author.
So, in this episode, I wanted to talk about another fear that holds authors back and that is the fear of success.
Is it really a thing do you think? And more specifically, is it affecting you?
Let's dive deeper into this topic and find out if the fear of success is actually holding you back.
What happens to an aspiring author who desperately wants to become a published author but can’t follow through on their dream because they have a very real fear of being visible?
More often than not, they give up on their dream. How sad is that?
They might want to pour their heart and soul into creating something they can proudly say is theirs but instead of putting their time and energy into writing their book, they put it aside for tomorrow and we all know tomorrow never comes.
They fill up their time up with ‘more important‘ things, take on other responsibilities, put others first, and they seem to find a whole lot of excuses as to why they can’t possibly find the time to write a book.
Then, as the saying goes, they go to the grave with their book still inside.
But what if there was a way to work through those fears so that you could realise your dream and allow yourself to have the experience of a lifetime?
In this episode, I want to talk about that.
Many authors – especially first-time authors – worry themselves sick about who will read their book and what are they going to think about them. It’s actually debilitating for some authors.
Non-fiction authors in particular worry about offending anyone who has played a part in their story, and they even worry about potentially being sued by anyone who doesn’t like the way they are portrayed in their book.
The fact is, though, that there’s so much more to consider when you are writing – whether you are writing a book, a blog, a social media post or a text message – and it’s all about impact and influence.
In this episode, I want to explore the reasons why, as authors, we all need to take our writing seriously, and how we can, and should, make the most of any influence we might have.
So often I hear aspiring authors say to me that they really, really want to write a book, but they don't know what to write about, or where to start.
I remember feeling that pain. I felt that way for years. Decades in fact.
The inability to answer that question is a silent frustration for many writers who long to become published authors but they just don't know what sort of book they should be writing.
If they knew what their book was about, they could get on with writing it and get it done, and they could realise their dreams of becoming published.
But they can't get started because they can't even answer that first and most important question: what is my book going to be about?
In this episode, I am going to help you with one way to answer that question for yourself, so you can get on with what you came here to do: become a published author.
In this episode, we'll know that Publishing a book is one of the most exciting things a writer can do in their lifetime.
It is the realisation of a long-held dream for most who have carried a vision in their hearts of the day they can finally say: I am a published author.
Every single one of them will have had to overcome barriers of both personal and professional nature to become published.
Self-doubt, self-sabotage, lack of time, lack of support, lack of knowledge and lack of clear direction are just some of the things an author might have had to overcome.
Ultimately though, their resolve to realise their dream would have helped them to push through and do what needed to be done, which is wonderful.
Something I have noticed about most authors, however, is that once they have finished writing their first drafts, they develop a sense of urgency around their book that goes further than simply being excited about getting it published. And this causes unnecessary pain.
In this episode of the Disruptive Author Magazine. We're about to release Issue 13 and today I'm talking to long-standing and valued members of the Disruptive Author community Letisha Living the author of FINDING YOURSELF AFTER STROKE.
In this episode, let’s talk about forming new writing habits. We all have times in our lives where we intentionally want to change a behaviour for the better and create a new habit for ourselves.
This could be getting into the habit of eating healthier and drinking more water. Or it could be moving more and taking the dog for a daily walk. Or it could be work related, or spiritual, or…let’s face it. There are so many areas in our lives that could be improved and made easier if only we created new, and better, habits.
Getting into the habit of doing something is often easier said than done and we seem to acquire bad habits without any effort but getting into a “good” habit can be a little more challenging. Why is that I wonder?
Anyway…let’s break this down into a three-step process that makes it easy to follow until we’ve internalised the new behaviour and made it a true habit – something we do automatically without having to think about it.
In this episode of the Disruptive Author Magazine, I'm talking to our very own Annette Dersham.
In this episode of the Disruptive Author Magazine, I'm talking to our very own Tanya Fisher and we are talking about managing burnout.
In today’s culture, we’re constantly fed the message that we need to do more, be more and have more in order to live a good life. More electronics, bigger homes, newer cars, more clothes, more books, more recognition, more money, a bigger following —the list goes on. We’re led to believe that doing more, being more and having more will lead to happier and more fulfilled lives. If you make a conscious decision to go against that norm, some people may even look at you strangely, or wonder if there’s something wrong with you.
But the truth is, those who have embraced minimalism and learned to live and work with less, say they’re happier, more content, and living more meaningful lives. But that’s just the beginning.
The idea of embracing minimalism is really attractive to me and I know a lot of writers crave minimalism so I thought I would explore the concept today and see whether it was something that would work for our Authorpreneur community.
Do you ever look around and wonder how other people succeed in life and you just feel like a failure? You don’t understand why you can’t sell more books, get more clients, make more money, be happier, more confident and have better relationships.
I know so many people who’ve had a rough life and they are well within their rights to feel let down, at the very least. But one of the things I have noticed about many of the authors I work with is that they genuinely want to take what’s been dealt to them and turn it into something that will help someone else, instead of wasting their lives stuck in blame, and feeling helpless.
This really gets me thinking.
Our mindset is the sum of every thought, belief and opinion that has been passed down to us or learned through our own experience. It’s the driving force behind our action or inaction and the mindset that we choose to adopt determines the path we take in life.
One path will have you Living in abundance and the other struggling in scarcity. The important thing is that YOU get to decide which path you choose.
Today in this episode, I wanted to explore the key differences between abundance and scarcity and see how they both impact success and I thought you might get something out of the experience too.
In this episode, I want to talk to you about the power of validation and how writing a book is a great way for us to validate our experiences and our worth.
I speak to a lot of people every day, and I'm aware that many people have doubts about their worth. They're not entirely sure about the value they bring to their world, and I not only feel their pain, I know it personally.
For some, their self-doubt is so debilitating and all they can do is focus their energy on managing their anxiety and depression on a daily basis.
For others, the self-doubt is like a nagging voice in the back of their mind whispering to them 'You're not good enough' over and over, and it is exhausting for them.
And then there are those who have fleeting moments of self-doubt and after a quick check in and a little positive self-talk, they are able to find their confidence and happily get back to doing what they were doing. Now that sounds super healthy in terms of mental health, but most of us aren’t there.
If you are someone who struggles with self-doubt, read on, and let's explore how writing can be a great tool for validation and building self-esteem, whether you see yourself as a writer or not.
Building an Author Platform is something I talk about often and I have delved into various aspects of that through my blog, but today in this episode, I thought I would give you an overview of marketing for authorpreneurs to help you either create a plan and put it into place or tweak the plan you already have.
So many authors are disappointed when their books don't jump off the shelves all by themselves. They might have been dreaming about earning a living from writing most of their lives and their experience - the experience of most authors - is vastly different to the dream.
In fact, most authors in Australia earn an average of $10K per annum or less and that leaves a huge gap that has to be filled in order to make the comfortable living they want and deserve.
So, what can an author do to change that? Let's look at this strategically.
In this episode, we'll talk about why storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can use to attract attention and engage an audience.
We all want to be moved. We love a good story, and when it resonates with us or when we are moved by it, it can drive us to take action like nothing else can.
In this episode, we'll talk about publishing platforms and help you determine which direction is going to be most suitable for you as a newly published author.
The majority of new authors now have no option but to self-publish, as opposed to being published with traditional publishers who take care of everything for the author including editing, design and publishing in print and ebook format. And then they might guide the author through the process of recording their book for an audiobook as well.
In this episode, I'll be talking about how many times have you thought about writing a book about your life. Or even a part of your life?
Maybe you’ve had an experience that you think might be interesting or helpful to someone else.
Maybe your whole life has been full of experiences that would be interesting or helpful to others.
In this episode, I'll talk about many of the people I work with and publish for are working diligently toward building a sustainable business as a coach, a consultant or a therapist.
They are offering (or planning to offer) 1:1 services for an hourly rate, which is a good honest business model that provides income for lots of people across the country.
The problem is that...if they are sick, or if their family needs them, or they aren’t able to generate and convert enough leads for their business, they don’t get paid, and their vision starts to become unstuck really fast.
In this episode, I'm talking about the fear of rejection as one of the bigger fears that aspiring authors struggle with and it encompasses a number of fears all wrapped up into one.
Every author I come across can give you at least 10 reasons why someone wouldn't want to read their book or why they can't write or why they have nothing to say to readers that hasn't already been said.
In today's episode, I am talking about why it is crucial that you create your own super sexy, sacred writing space.
If you are an author, you have ideas, and you have a deep drive to explore and express those ideas. That’s just our nature. Our operating system if you like.
One of the biggest blocks I have noticed with the authors I have worked with is the need to get their writing right before they get it written.
In this episode, I'll be talking about this big block for many authors that I wanted to go deeper and explore it further.
The idea that we have to write perfectly is a massive block for many writers and it literally stops them from writing anything at all. They freeze. And of course, not only can you not edit what hasn't been written, you can't publish it either.
One of the most common doubts I hear from aspiring nonfiction authors is: Why would someone want to read what I have to say?Even if they don't start their writing journey with that thought in mind, it will come at some point. Because there is a very uncomfortable space between aspiring and published where an author feels completely exposed, and vulnerable, and self-conscious about how their book might be received by the world. It's almost rite of passage.
In this episode, you'll know what I mean it really is putting yourself out there in a big way when you share your thoughts and your experiences - both personal and professional - in a way that leaves you open to scrutiny and to the opinions of virtually anyone and everyone.
This episode is for authors who want to write a nonfiction book where they can turn their experience and their expertise into a tool that will help people.
So many authors agonise over who their target reader is because they genuinely want to help people and they are afraid that if they choose too specific a group of people they will miss out on reaching a whole lot of other people who would benefit from what they have to share. And that really is a fair enough concern.
In this episode, I am talking about technology and how someone in business might use it to get published fast and make it work for their business.
This will be of particular interest to coaches, consultants or therapists, and anyone who would like to build a coaching business around their experience or expertise.
There’s a lot of competition for anyone in small businesses and that can make it hard to make a decent living working one-to-one.
Let’s take a look at how a book might make a difference.
In this episode of the Disruptive Author Magazine. My name is Deborah Fay, and today I'm talking to a lawyer and author in her own, right. Jeanette Jifkins from Onyx legal. And we're talking about legal stuff.
Terri talks about her author journey which started at the age of 60 and continues today through her many contributions to compilation books and through her work as a ghost writer, telling other peoples' stories.
In this episode, We'll talk about the journey to becoming a published author. There are so many things to consider and put into place to make it a successful journey that brings the author everything they hope to experience.
One question I am asked most often is "How do I write a book?" And further explanation tells me that the author doesn't know where to start or how to put what they know into some sort of order that will make sense. And once they've done that, what do they do? What is the process of becoming published? So let me tell you what I think is the most important thing an author needs to do.
In this episode, I am talking to solopreneurs – particularly coaches, consultants, and therapists.
I get that you’re busy. In fact, I don’t know anyone who isn’t busy these days. It’s life now. Families need attention, cooking and cleaning needs to be done, then there’s work, clients, marketing, and the list goes on.
Finding the time to write a book is a struggle.
But given how important a published book is to your overall business growth, it’s time to consider what you can do to get your book written—even if you genuinely have no time to spare.
In this episode, you'll discover what are the steps you will do to become a Published Author. What does it look like? Anyone can be a Published Author even you!
This week I want to talk to you about another truth: you are going to have a lot of competition and you will need to be realistic.
How do you make sure your book sells?
The fact is, there are millions of books on the market, especially now that authors have access to Amazon Kindle and print-on-demand. Your books need to have a clear purpose. It needs to meet a specific need for a specific group of people and it needs to do it in a way that is unique and differentiates you from all other experts in the area you are writing about
You only need to change course by one degree to end up at a completely different destination. ~ E James Rohn
I love this quote. I have shared this quote time and time again over the years, and in particular, in my counselling practice when I had an overwhelmed client sitting in front of me who didn’t know where or how to start putting their life back together after a breakup or a loss.
It’s brought me endless hope and comfort to know that one degree can make such a big difference. One step at a time. One decision at a time. One act at a time.
Today I heard this:
You’re one decision away from a totally different life. ~ Tim Han
One degree. One decision. Completely different destination. Totally different life.
What decision can you make that will totally change your life for the better?
As a self-published author, I know what a difference being published can make. Firstly, to the author – in terms of their self-esteem and the confidence they develop around their experience and the value they bring to their world – and secondly, to their readers who, of course, benefit from the content shared in a book – whether it be shared for entertainment or for educational purposes. Here's what I have learned.
Do you want to know the real truth about writing and publishing a book?
Writing and publishing a book takes effort. It can be hard work. There I said it! It’s not the glamorous, inspired, get-in-the-flow-and-glide-through-life lifestyle we all like to think it will be.
Words rarely fall out of people and land perfectly on a page in a way that moves readers like they’ve never been moved before. To have an impact like that takes time and effort, planning and skill.
And there are many things that need to be done to become a successfully published author, many of which are a huge surprise to most first-time authors.
There are a few key principles, however, that can make the process of writing and publishing a book way more satisfying and effort-less than they might be if you aren’t aware of these things.
In this episode I am going to tell you what they are…
At Disruptive Publishing, we have a lot of experience putting authors together in compilation book projects, so we can tell you from experience that they are a great idea for first time authors and for solopreneurs who want to self-publish but are short on time and funds. Let me tell you all the reasons why.
Our world has changed dramatically, thanks, in a very large part, to the Internet. We now have a whole generation of adults who have only ever known a life where the internet is central to every part of it, and if us authors don’t get ahead of the game, we are going to be left behind.
Find out the difference between an author and an authorpreneur and make a stand for you future.
Simone from Brisbane Audiobook Production talks about why you should consider creating an audiobook from your book and what to expect when you decide to do it.
You can find Simone at www.brisbaneaudiobookproduction.com.au
Jennie Lane is the facilitator of 2 school based compilation books and shares the difference such a project can make to everyone involved, particularly the students.
Julie is a well-known and much loved speaker who shares her story on stage and through her writing.
Disruptive Author Trish Springsteen talks about her most recent book, Forever Changed by Suicide, as well as the 17 other books she has either authored, co-authored or contributed to. A very inspiring interview and one not to miss.