Sara Canuso, President of Women That Influence, had been thinking about writing a book for over 4 years. Yet the thought of writing a book was overwhelming to her – how would she find the time to write it? How does one even start to write a book? So she kept putting it off. Then she realized how much opportunity she was missing by NOT having a published book. She spoke at a conference with over 8000 women, and was told she could promote her book; but she didn’t have one. She spoke at another conference, where the host offered to purchase 365 copies of her book for the attendees, but again, she didn’t have one. Every time she spoke, she had people asking her if she had a book, because they wanted more information than she was able to share in her presentation; but she didn’t have one.
Recognizing that she needed to publish a book pushed Sara to seek help from SkillBites. She took the SkillBites book writing workshop, which came with the workbook, Writing Made Easy. “That workbook was a huge game changer for me, as it provided the roadmap I needed to write my book,” explained Sara. Shortly after the workshop, Sara took a trip to Italy, and completed the workbook on the flight over. By the time she returned, she had a draft of her book written. Four months later, the book was published.
Within one week of the book’s publication, Sara got 2 speaking opportunities from organizations that contacted her as a result of seeing her book. The revenues from just those two opportunities more than paid for the cost of getting her book published. Since publishing her book, Sara has also gotten a TV interview, a radio interview and more speaking opportunities. She has been sending her book to her major contacts as a calling card. She is planning a workshop for readers of her book who want to take a deeper dive into the material in her book, with ongoing group coaching services as well.
Not only has the book greatly elevated her credibility and visibility, it has given Sara tremendous personal value. Sara explained that she never anticipated the impact on her personally. Completing the book was so liberating, and gave her such a huge feeling of accomplishment, that even if she didn’t get any business from it, she felt the book was worth doing.
Sara offered the following advice to prospective authors:
- If you are thinking of writing a book, do it, and do it now! It’s not as hard as you think, and is a very rewarding experience.
- Make sure you know what message you want to convey; what you want your reader to feel.
- Secure help. It’s important to know what you don’t know, and get help in those areas you don’t know. SkillBites provided the skills, support and encouragement she needed to get her book written, and made the process so much easier for her.
- Keep in mind why you are writing the book.
Sara offered to talk with anyone who is thinking of using SkillBites services. She can be reached via email at sara@womenthatinfluence.com.