Facing your fear of writing or publishing your book
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid but he who conquers that fear.”
~ Nelson Mandela
You truly must believe that what you are writing is going to help others!
The subject of your book is unimportant in that it can be fiction, or non-fiction about self-help, self-image or empowerment. Each of us needs something different than the other. There are times in life where you just want to read a good novel, for pleasure, to relieve stress or to allow your mind to travel to places you have yet to go. There are other times where you need a swift kick in the butt to get out of that place you are in, to motivate yourself to diet, to clean yourself up or to begin to take action to change your life. Regardless of the subject, there is someone out there who wants to hear what you have to say. Honestly, they do!!
As a Publisher, we are faced daily with authors saying, “As I get closer to the release date, the pit in my stomach gets larger.” Trust me; it is very NORMAL to feel this way.
Or “It’s been over a year (or years, in some cases) since I started. Why can’t I get this book done?” It reverts back to whether you truly feel you have something to offer others. And you do. What you have to say does Matter; YOU matter!
Have you ever listened to someone talk about their experience and heard them say that they had certain results, yet when you tried it — it didn’t work? For example, going on a diet. If one method of dieting worked for every single person in the world, there would be no Weight Watchers, Atkins, Keto diet or any one of hundreds of other methods. We would only have one diet plan if all of us were the same. But we are all unique individuals and what works for one doesn’t necessarily work for another. Therefore someone came up with a “different” method of dieting. And that is what you are doing with your book — giving your perspective on an idea, method or work of fiction.
“Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.”
~ Sir Winston Churchill
Something else authors say: “There is nowhere to hide; this book represents me and what I believe in.” We are all human. We all have our thoughts, energy and patterns of life and each is different and special. It is okay to believe something other than what other people think; it happens every day. Have you ever heard Bob Proctor talk about Napoleon Hill? He cites his sayings; however, he then interprets them, and gives you his perspective. There is nothing wrong with that, as we all hear things differently.
When you create and release things into the universe, like a website, anything can be changed, at any time. With a book, once it is released, it is out there and it is NOT easy to make changes or to remove. In fact we have attempted to remove books from circulation many times over the years but there is always a copy out there somewhere.
My best advice to any aspiring author is to be confident in your purpose and trust that what you have to say really does Matter!! There truly is no right or wrong, just an opinion.
One of the most interesting things one can learn about fear is that it never really goes away until you’ve faced it or dealt with it.
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
~ Joseph Campbell
… There’s so much more to this article. And it’s free.
Bestsellers is what we do. In fact, it separates us from the herd. It’s no coincidence that 100% of authors who signed up with Hasmark to be bestsellers – were successful!