Your Life Matters Soul Connection Podcast Episode 6

In this episode, host Junie Swadron talks to fellow author, speaker, and book publishing expert, Becky Norwood. Becky is CEO of Spotlight Publishing™. She is widely recognized for the empowering and intuitive way she guides others to weave storytelling into their books and marketing. She incorporates her methods with sound marketing that is the pathway for business expansion and audience growth.

Becky has brought over 300 authors to #1 bestseller. Through her Author Studio TV Show.

Transcript

Welcome to Your Life Matters Soul Connection Podcast and I'm here today with Becky Norwood.

Welcome,

Becky.

Oh,

I'm so excited to be here and just so honored to be able to just have this conversation with you and to share the things that we have so in common.

Thank you.

We love you,

Don't we?

What a wonderful discovery finding you and discovering how much we have in common.

Here we are in other parts of the world.

You're in the United States.

I'm in Canada and here we are.

I just love this medium that brings us together.

It's truly,

We're really blessed to be able to have this at our disposal and just think of how small our world has become because we have the use of social media and all these other tools that keep us connected and help us to grow.

I know,

I know.

I'm so grateful for that,

Especially now,

Right?

Absolutely.

Oh my gosh.

So I'm just going to say a little bit about you,

What you've sent to me and I don't,

I'm going to read it so that I don't miss anything and of course,

And then we're just going to have a conversation,

Okay?

Alrighty,

Thank you.

Alright.

So,

Becky Norwood is the number one international best-selling author,

Speaker,

Book,

Publishing,

Expert and Becky Norwood is the CEO of Spotlight Publishing.

She's widely recognized for empowering and intuitive the way in which she guides others to weave storytelling into their books and marketing,

Which is pretty unique.

She incorporates her methods with sound marketing that is the pathway for business expansion and audience growth.

I want to hear more about that,

So what are my authors?

People who are about to be.

Becky has brought over 300 authors to number one best sellers.

Through her audio studio TV show,

Countless listeners have heard her interviews of both authors and experts authoring sage advice.

She offers an extensive catalog of services,

Supporting emerging and established authors,

Right?

Becky believes that a well told story,

Oh gosh,

Yes,

Is a gateway for growth.

Isn't that so true?

It's a gateway for growth sharing and a way to unite humanity.

She's an advocate for the positive that comes from sharing our creative genius and impacting our world in positive ways.

Oh gosh,

I can hardly wait to hear more.

So Becky,

Tell me and tell the listeners,

What is it about storytelling?

Why is it so important in our world today?

Oh,

You know,

I feel that storytelling is,

Has actually been with us since the beginning of time.

And yet,

You know,

Before COVID happened,

I would observe if you were,

If my husband and I were out to dinner,

I would observe entire families sitting around the dinner table at a restaurant and everybody's on their device and nobody having a conversation.

They're just all on their devices,

Each in their own little world.

And it strikes me that,

You know,

Storytelling,

This,

This together time as a family is a time for telling stories,

A time for paving the way for others,

For our children to grow and to learn,

But also in society in general,

If we have the courage to stand up and share our stories and we have so much that are available to us to be able to do this,

It's then that we can make an impact on the world.

It's then that we can,

We can shine the light maybe for somebody that does not know that there's a,

There's a different way to look at life.

Maybe we've gone through dark times and they don't know a way out,

But they hear somebody having the courage to share a very similar story.

And because there's nothing new under the sun,

So we all do have similar life experiences and in different ways.

And it's in the telling of the story that it can change it for somebody else.

Oh,

Isn't that the truth?

Yes.

And we don't even know.

Often we don't even know when we tell a certain story or we hear one,

How it's going to affect us,

Right?

Or how it's going to affect people out there.

It's so amazing.

It is truly amazing because I,

You know,

For even for myself,

I wrote a book called The Woman I Loved and that woman was me that I had to learn to love me.

You know?

And,

And I said,

When I wrote it,

If it was just one person that I could impact,

It would mean so much to me.

And that story,

I had so many people reaching out to me and saying,

Thank you for having the courage to share,

For talking about,

You know,

What you had gone through.

I had gone through a lot of abuse as a child and it took a long,

Long time for me to figure life out,

You know,

And to feel joy in my life because I didn't have anything like that when I was growing up.

And so,

And I revel in the times that I have a conversation with somebody and they maybe do a certain work in the world and you wonder,

How do they know how to do this?

And then they tell their story on how.

You know,

Like one lady wrote a book called Breaking to Be Me and her name is Jenny Harko wrote when she tells the story of what that meant and she actually took a jump and fell and broke her back.

She was challenged and it broke her back,

But then she lived in incredible pain,

So much pain that she was just constantly on medication to alleviate the pain and it still was bad.

And then she came across somebody that taught something about your mind and the way you're thinking and everything and now she teaches people in amazing ways.

I just love that.

But when you hear the story,

It just changes even your perception of the individual.

A hundred percent.

A hundred percent.

I think that that's what the beauty of storytelling is all about is it's us and them until you hear their story.

Right.

And it's like,

Wow,

It's that connecting fiber.

It totally is.

So with respect to that,

I just want to go back if you don't mind for a second in terms of how did you move from that childhood that had abuse in it and that you didn't know how to love yourself to writing a book about falling in love with me.

What was the name of your book again,

Please?

The Woman I Love.

The Woman I Love.

I mean,

Whoa,

How did you get from someone who was disempowered as a child to recognizing that you are the woman you love,

That you love yourself?

You know,

It's been quite a journey and it's not been always been an easy one because even when you think you've got about whipped,

You know,

There's trigger points.

But it,

You know,

I always had that inner thing,

Even when I was growing up that said,

There's got to be something more.

There's something different.

My heart kept yearning for that.

And early adulthood,

I attracted the same kind of person as far as my first marriage was the same kind of person as my father was very,

Very abusive.

And that lasted about three years.

And then I was a single mom to two daughters by then.

And I absolutely refused to get remarried until they were grown.

And I wanted to because I was so fearful of attracting the same thing again.

But during those years,

There was quite a journey of discovering myself and learning the power of thought and learning that there's more to life than that.

And it answered that yearning inside that was kind of always seeking there's got to be a better way.

And,

You know,

And a belly myself of the opportunity of taking courses and going to events where people were talking about this.

But it was a gradual thing,

Moment by moment that that we grow and we continue to learn.

It's never that we're always over it,

Or that we're out that it's that it doesn't kind of slap you upside the head again.

But it's what we do with it and how we approach it and how we we could stay depressed,

We could stay feeling less than and having no self esteem,

Or we can choose to say,

You know what,

That's not how I'm going to react.

And that's not how I'm going to be I'm going to grow from this.

Wow,

That is so beautiful.

And you see that I mean,

We are so similar in that way.

Because as you know,

I help people to write their books.

And,

And to me,

It is about their story,

No matter what their if they're not writing memoir,

But they're an entrepreneur.

And they're writing a story about,

You know,

What it is that they the service they offer,

With products they offer,

Like,

Who are they?

And and no matter what,

I mean,

The common denominator I found again,

And again with people is they don't think that they've done enough.

They're not enough.

You know,

That's why I wrote the book,

Your Life Matters.

And so when I hear you writing a book about,

I fall in love with me,

Right,

The woman I love,

And to hear how you got there,

And it is a gradual,

You know,

Coming to know that there's more to life than what we were necessarily born into.

Yeah,

I call it I there's this quote I heard once that says life is like photography,

We developed from the negatives.

Oh,

I love that.

I love that.

Oh,

My God,

Tweetable moment.

It is,

It is.

And I just feel that,

You know,

I don't think there's one individual on the face of the earth that can get through life without something that just slops them upside the head.

And it's,

And it can knock you over,

It can knock you down.

But it's what you do about it in it,

The choices that we make.

Right after I published my first book,

I was,

I had started a Facebook group,

And I was very active in social media with the launch of my book,

We started a Facebook group and a Facebook page,

One was just for those that just getting exposure to it.

And then the group was for those that are wanting to go deeper.

So we wrote two more books,

And there were 50 women in between the two books,

And each had a chapter in the book.

And the name of the book is We Choose to Thrive.

And many of these women were the very first time ever telling their story in just one chapter of a book.

And then we did Facebook Lives,

And we did videos,

And we did all kinds of things.

And I have watched those same women,

Even years later,

Now writing their own books,

Now coaches,

Now doing all these different things.

Because there's such power in sharing our stories.

I know,

And in fact,

I want to get into this place where you have developed something,

Right?

They call the four pillars of storytelling or a well told story.

What's that about?

Like,

I've watched people sit down and I work with many,

Many authors,

And I,

You can almost feel the trepidation when it comes close to publishing time,

Because is their story worth it?

Is it,

You know,

Who will want to hear my story?

Who,

Why?

All of these things.

But I learned that when you can look at your storytelling differently,

And realize the bigger picture of sharing your story and what the impact it can bring,

That it makes all the difference in the world.

And so,

Advocacy,

We become an advocate for somebody else.

We become an advocate for somebody that maybe does not have a voice right now.

And so,

We speak up on their behalf by sharing our stories.

So,

The advocacy is who could benefit from hearing your story?

Who can be inspired from hearing your story?

So,

An advocate,

What do they do?

They talk on behalf of others that don't have a voice.

It takes it away from the personal.

So,

You're not so afraid of getting your voice anymore.

It's the motivation behind writing it,

That it becomes to help even one other person.

And when you can put somebody else in that,

Oh,

If I can help her,

I can help him,

I could do that for that reason.

And then,

Is that part of that?

Yeah,

I think that,

You know,

Sometimes when we get it outside of ourselves,

That when we think of,

Most of us really,

Really want to make a difference in the world.

Most of us really want to know that we've impacted another life in some way.

And I think having to think,

Well,

Maybe I could be that voice for somebody else that has never really realized the full impact of what they could do.

And that they can rise above their situation.

And it changes it dramatically.

Absolutely.

You know,

It just totally makes the difference.

Oh,

Gosh.

Yeah,

How many just naturally,

Of us just naturally will go to help somebody?

Right.

Or do something for someone we don't think of doing it for ourselves,

And it's just don't think about it.

And so,

Putting it in that perspective makes all the difference.

So,

Is that the first pillar?

That's the first pillar,

Is advocacy.

And the second pillar is truth teller.

So,

When we shine the light of truth on a situation,

Whether it be sharing what happened,

You know,

Our journey and what happened to us,

But also beyond that,

That there's a certain amount of sharing the light of truth and showing another way to look at it.

Another better,

Maybe a way out.

I'll give us an example.

You know,

If you've been abused,

Whether it's domestic violence,

Or maybe you grew up in a family with abuse,

Sometimes you think that that's the only way,

Even though those callings inside of you says differently.

Some women have never had the courage to leave an abusive situation.

But if they happen upon your book,

And you talk about the things that are available to you,

For instance,

There's a woman that's publishing a book that this next week,

Her name of her book is Revealing the Missing Peace,

P-E-A-C-E.

And she had come up with,

Oh man,

Terrible abuse from her father,

Much like my situation and many others.

And the journey that she went on,

But she talks about,

You know,

Standing up and speaking your truth and learning different way and to put those puzzle pieces together to what is actually missing in your life right now,

So that you can take home and love yourself enough to remove yourself,

To heal and to remove yourself from that situation if you're so.

Exactly.

Wow,

That's beautiful.

So the love of truth,

You know,

Being the truth teller is incredibly amazing.

Yes,

I think it's essential.

And I think it's the hardest thing for so many people.

The hardest one is kind of what will happen to me if I tell that story,

You know.

I was justified to write my own.

Right,

Me too.

I'm still,

You know,

I'm starting to write the stories I never dared to tell.

And which I'm looking to,

But like publishing to put that out in the world at some point.

Awesome.

Yeah,

Thank you.

We've talked about that.

I'm not putting you on the spot right now.

But the point is that it's taken me all my life to open my mouth and actually speak the truth about certain things where,

You know,

When you've been sworn to secrecy or that,

You know,

That thing about loyalty to a family,

You know,

Even if it hasn't been covert,

It's this unspoken law.

You don't go outside of the family and what they did,

You know,

Or do.

So it takes so much courage to do that.

So I love that.

Oh,

It does.

Very much courage.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So what's the third pillar?

Unifier.

So you unite people for a cause,

Just like that group that I said that I had for the woman I love.

Yes.

And those women,

Many of them formed friendships during that time in the United for a Common Cause.

There are some of them that have big movements where they're uniting others to show them there's a different way.

So then you're a unifier.

And we can all do that.

We have the tool sets to do that just with social media.

And it can grow and expand.

How many times have we seen it?

I published a book for Marsha Ingle and it's called The Amazing Woman.

Amazing Woman.

I published a whole series of books for this last one is Amazing Woman,

It's Your Time to Emerge.

You know,

And she has a huge group of people.

And when before COVID,

She would have hundreds and hundreds that would attend her events.

But that's uniting for the cause.

Right.

Right.

Right.

That's it.

We have this available to us now.

Absolutely.

We just need to stand into our truth and our courage,

Our power and claim.

Absolutely.

And who we know and who we are.

And be willing to stand tall in it.

I love that you've got these,

A system.

Wow.

So what's the fourth pillar?

It's the way-shower.

We show,

We can show people that there is a way out.

And we can also show them how they can use their sacred gifts that those tough lessons have brought them.

Because each of us,

If the dark times often show us the course in life that we need to take,

Maybe that's where we excel and shine now.

But sometimes we don't see it when we're lost in the darkness.

But we discover our sacred gifts,

We show them the way to discover them.

And then step into their magnificence because we are all truly magnificent human beings,

No matter what we've gone through.

You know,

It's just the realization of that and then really digging deep and understanding what,

Why we shine and where we shine right now as a result of those life lessons.

So true and it's turning our mind in a different direction sometimes.

It's like shining the spotlight on us,

Right?

Yes,

Yes.

Right?

Absolutely.

It's usually,

Oh wow,

That person is so amazing and that one,

And they are,

Right?

And you actually turn it inside and say,

Wow,

Look how far I've come.

Look what I was able to do in spite of this,

That or the other and start to take stock of that.

You know,

It's interesting because so many times I'm in especially big events where there's lots of women and the overall overriding thing is a feeling of lack of self-worth.

And why would anybody want to hear my story?

And I'm sure it's the same with men too,

But I've heard it so much because I do,

I'm in a lot of women's groups and it just amazes me.

It totally amazes me because who are you not to share your story?

You know?

Were we not?

And Mary Ann Williamson says it so beautifully in her poem,

You know,

It's not the darkness,

It's our light that scares us.

Yes,

Our light does scare us.

Yes.

And I think that is because I think part of humanity is that feeling that who are we,

You know,

That it's something that just goes really deep and it's probably part of our culture.

Probably a lot of the way are not just how we were raised,

How were our parents raised.

Our world is constantly evolving and I'm hoping that is we,

The more of us that stand up and share our stories and the more of us that take lead and make an impactful influencers,

I'm hoping our children,

Our grandchildren start to realize their self worth way earlier than most of us did.

I think that's coming.

I think it is too.

I do too.

And what I love about the way in which the culture is evolving is that it's not coming from both.

And look at me.

No,

No.

It's coming from a sense of true deep inner self worth that we are so excited to see in each other as well.

It's not like any more competition or if I can do this,

You know,

I mean,

No,

Look up to none of that.

It's about embracing all of our abilities to step up to see our own uniqueness and be able to acknowledge it.

And then we're the first to say yes,

Yes.

Right.

And it's not about blowing a horn or anything like that.

It's just that deep.

You know what I see it like there was a teaching and I can't remember the guy's name that talked about the vibrational frequencies of human beings.

No,

Keep going.

I think we'll keep talking.

I think I have his name in my book.

He talks about by you rising above,

Oftentimes we live in shame,

Guilt and fear.

And as we begin to show that we rise up into acceptance and courage and even love and forgiveness.

And as we do that,

How we show up,

How everything vibrates out differently.

And I think of it is as simple as if you go to the grocery store and you smile at somebody and somebody smiles back.

And what a difference that makes.

Whereas somebody just walks through the store with this face of,

You know,

Not so happy and doesn't respond.

Just that little example is what I'm talking about.

It's raising the frequencies.

And they say that in his book.

Okay,

And I will carry on.

Power versus force,

Is it the one?

I think that's so I think this is for us,

Which is,

Oh,

Gosh,

I don't know why it should probably should have brought it up.

But it says that it becomes a ripple effect out to the world that one person doing something more positive and better ripples out.

And then it goes not only just within your family,

It goes out into your neighborhood and then out to your city and then it just keeps spreading.

And it's that vibrational frequency.

Absolutely.

I know.

It's,

We just don't know how far something that we do because that smile that that person needed that day,

Right,

Will take it home to their family.

And one of their kids is going to be playing with another kid or talking to someone or whoever it happens to be.

And it goes beyond where we could ever count.

And it's a beautiful thing.

It's important.

It's essential.

And we don't know that we don't recognize everything now because of quantum physics and so much more is being talked about that these days,

That we are aware of energy and how energy carries.

We are.

Do you know,

I think that I seen on the cake of all of this,

These four pillars,

I say that I seen on the cake almost the ceiling or the being the cap on it is that we become legacy makers too.

We leave a legacy when we share our stories.

Oh,

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And that's so important.

So important.

And it's important that we start to realize that it is.

Absolutely.

So,

Right.

So tell me,

How did you get interested in the publishing field?

Well,

I never dreamed that this would be my life course.

After I wrote my book,

And then did the other two books,

I had more and more people reaching out to me and say,

Could you help me get mine?

You know,

Could you help me do mine?

And at first I was like,

Well,

Okay.

And then it's developed and it has grown.

It is amazing.

I'm thinking I have writers right now I have about 40 authors I'm working with.

And it's growing like crazy.

It's amazing.

And I,

It just,

It just evolved into something that I never dreamed would happen.

It was,

And I have grown,

I get to serve the most amazing authors.

And I learned from every single one of them.

It is so incredible to see the work that is coming to the world and whether it's a fiction book,

Because I have an author who's an attorney who is very passionate about the environment.

So she's writing a book called Change Agents,

Whispers in the Wind.

And I love the name.

And I do too.

And it's a story,

A fiction story,

But with so much truth in it.

And it's kind of the starting and the launching of her career and changing how we look at the environment and what we do about it.

You know?

Oh,

Wow.

And she's a lawyer.

I love it.

A conscious lawyer.

And I have a lady that is publishing and she's very,

Very concerned.

She's kind of a whistleblower with the nursing homes about what's happening in a lot of the nursing homes.

And wow,

This is quite a book.

And then I have Revealing the Missing Piece.

And you know,

The books that are coming are from so many people,

From so many walks of life and so many different experiences.

There's such a wealth of goodness out there.

Oh,

Absolutely.

Do you have a particular genre?

You obviously do both fiction and nonfiction.

I do.

And I've done children's books as well.

Oh,

Fantastic.

I have a couple of cardiologists that I've published for.

I've kind of had a wide array.

I have a lot of you can kind of see the books behind me.

Heroes in Our Midst is from an organization called a nonprofit organization called Helping Hands for Single Moms.

And they showcase the stories of these single moms.

Now what they do for single moms is just amazing.

They get them.

The girls still have to work very hard,

But they make sure they get their education.

During the time that they're getting back on their feet,

They have a car that will get them to and from.

Many of them don't.

They do social things with the kids so that,

You know,

Take them to the ballparks and to different events.

They make sure they get educated and totally supported.

And the cool thing about it for me is this newest author with the one that's writing the book on the nursing homes.

Many years ago,

She was a recipient from that same organization.

She did not know that they had published a book,

But she said,

I was a single mom with five little kids and this organization made sure I got my education.

They made sure.

And it was just,

It was,

Oh my gosh,

Look at that.

Look how they came together.

She didn't even know.

And it's the same one that the book you published of this organization that she went through was a single mom.

And now she is a whistleblower on seniors homes where people are being abused.

Oh yeah.

Well,

The abuse,

The abuse,

The lack of care,

The stuff that's happened.

There's a lot of things and she's amazing.

Wow,

I love it.

Oh my gosh.

You know what I,

It's so exciting.

I mean,

I feel the same way as you do Becky,

Because I too,

I'm privy to so many people who are writing their books,

Obviously as you know,

As a book writing coach.

I'm hearing incredible stories and have been for so many years of people who are taking it the next step of their life,

When they step up to want to share whatever it is that they've learned.

And in I'd say every single case it's to help others.

And even many of the people who've come to me because they want to write their memoir because they are now retirement age and they feel that they've gleaned a lot of wisdom throughout the years and now they want to share it.

They will talk about,

So they want to leave it for their family.

They want to leave their memoir to their children and their grandchildren and many stories that they didn't,

The kids have never heard.

And then as they start writing their book,

They realize,

Well,

Wait a minute.

I think I want to just go a little further in the world because I have learned this stuff and if I could help others moving from this to that.

So many of them take them beyond their family into a bigger arena,

Which they never ever even would consider before writing their stories.

And just the writing of the story itself,

Would you find that as the people that come to you to publish their books is just that in itself and you yourself when you were writing,

You know,

The woman you fell in love with.

There's so much about yourself,

Such healing.

Yes,

Such healing.

And you know what's interesting is my book,

The Woman I Love,

If I was to write that right now,

It would be a different story because I've grown so much from that.

And you know,

In the writing of your book,

It's truly amazing what happens because it's like it gives you a whole fresh perspective.

When you have to put pen to paper or start tapping those keys,

It really,

Really makes you go deep and makes it gives that whole,

When you need to put words on paper that convey what your heart is and what that what it is,

Sometimes you discover things you never understood.

I know.

And it's just brilliant.

In the publishing of that book and others getting to hold them and reading it,

It's like it releases the pain of whatever that you had,

It's like it's just gone.

It just releases it.

It's out to the universe and released.

Wow,

It's a beautiful way of putting it.

It really is.

It's freedom.

It is.

It's total liberation at that point.

I've written it,

I've lived it,

I've done it,

I've said it.

I'm letting it go.

So I love that you do that.

I love that you went from somebody who was people were saying,

Well,

Can you help me write a book to opening a publishing company?

Who knows that?

Some crazy lady here.

And would you change it for a second?

No,

No,

No.

Of course not.

Oh,

It's opened the doors for me in so many ways.

So many beautiful ways.

I have a book coming up from,

It's actually a compilation.

There's 35 authors in there right now.

Wisdom of the Silver Sisters.

And another one,

The Silver Sisters.

Wisdom of the Silver Sisters.

And the other one is,

Become being extraordinary or become extraordinary movement.

And it's so beautiful.

And I think I was going to introduce you to them,

The Wisdom of the Silver Sisters.

Oh,

That's them,

That's why I was thinking of you.

I need to introduce her,

Got to do that.

Okay,

Well now it's on air.

Yes.

I'll be delighted to meet them and learn who they are.

Wow.

So how do people,

They approach you because they heard of your company of Spotlight Publishing,

And what sets you apart?

What can they,

These writing,

These about to become authors,

And I think in some cases authors already that are coming to you to publish their books,

What can they expect?

What sets you apart from maybe other publishing companies?

We take a really close look at the book and we talk about what can we do to set this book apart.

So I ask them what's your why?

That's the first big thing.

And who is this book for?

So we make sure that it's geared to reaching exactly that one person that the book is for.

Then we look at each chapter.

For most of my authors,

They do a short video and we put a QR code in the book.

So they kind of give a wrap up on the chapter and extra little tidbits.

And basically that becomes,

The book now becomes interactive,

You know,

They get to really capture the essence of who you are.

And then do you have a course?

Do you have something that you can add to like,

They could get a free download of 10 Tip Step,

You know,

Stepping into your brightness or whatever they're teaching.

So we look at all of those.

I always tell them marketing your book starts the moment you put pen to paper or start tapping those keys.

You need to start talking about it in social media and you need to,

You know,

Really,

Really convey that the two others start talking about it.

Get the conversation going.

I teach them how to build their launch team,

Their book launch team.

These are people that know,

Love them,

Trust them,

That will support them in a book launch and share with others that they know.

We talk about how to use social media properly to get to,

Because you know,

There's so many books being published right now.

And I can,

I know all the tools,

I know all the techniques to help that book become a best seller.

But if they don't continue talking about it,

If they don't talk,

They don't continue,

They don't look for opportunities to really get exposure for that book.

And they only hired me to do the publishing.

Well,

We can get it out there,

We can get it really a lot of exposure,

But they need to keep that message going.

So I introduce them.

I have a team of joint venture partners that I work with.

One lady has a radio show that reaches 300,

000.

And the name of her program is Give Your Book Wings.

So she does that interview process.

We create a media kit for you if you want to get opportunities for exposure.

We have press releases.

We teach you how to,

You know,

Do a book,

Like a book tour type of thing.

So there's just so many pieces.

And I have people that do Amazon ads,

And people that do,

You know,

Create the websites and people that do Facebook ads,

You know,

Facebook ads.

So it's a combination.

I don't do,

I don't try to be all things to all people.

But I have vetted these individuals that are,

And my authors usually pick and choose,

They'll say,

I only want your publishing package now when I come back.

I'll add this,

And I'll add that and all that.

So I kind of get them to step through the process so they don't get overwhelmed.

I have a mobile app they can get,

Or a digital business card,

You know,

All the things just for the marketing aspect of it.

So that they can see exposure.

Wow,

Becky,

That is so fantastic.

Because it's not just a matter of taking a book and reading it and saying,

Yeah,

This looks like it's marketable.

Yes,

Okay,

I'll publish it.

You help the people who are writing the book get their message out in the world through marketing.

And most people in my experience and my own personal experience too,

As a writer and author,

That's one hat.

The marketing is a completely different kettle of fish.

Well,

It is so different.

It's like all of a sudden,

I,

You know,

I have to turn on a left logical linear brain to figure out how the world works in terms of marketing books.

So that's a huge other aspect.

It's like,

I just want to be a writer.

And so for you to have those services in place for authors,

Writers,

Authors to be to have that done basically for them and teach them how to keep it alive,

Because you're right,

You know,

Initially,

Yeah,

It's great,

But it may not stay number one,

If there isn't an ongoing drive or conversation.

There's too many books being published,

It won't stay number one.

And I always say your book could get lost in the cobwebs of cyberspace,

If you're not promoting it somehow.

You know,

You're doing the things that you have to do.

We can't create book trailer videos,

We create the wonderful media kit,

We do a flip book of like a couple of chapters with videos,

So people can get a pre book,

You know,

At the book.

But those are all just tools,

You know,

To just use to get the exposure for the book.

Right.

You mentioned one thing,

And it's one of the hardest things that some of the people that come to me to write their books find to know what to do.

And it seems to be getting better.

I must be communicating in a bit better way.

But you know,

You said,

Okay,

And how do we get that,

You know,

Your book out to that one person who's going to read it?

What does that mean?

I mean,

I tell my book writing clients,

Yeah,

Imagine there's one person.

No,

No,

But the whole world needs to read your book.

But not the whole world.

So tell us what that means.

So that one person,

I have them clearly define,

Are they male or female?

What's their job?

You know,

What is their profession?

How many kids do they have?

What are their hobbies?

Where do they like to go on vacation?

Just really just dive deep,

You know,

What are their pet peeves?

What are their what are they really?

What's what's that dark secret or that dark pain that they have?

Listen,

You know,

Just write it completely out.

Right.

Right.

And when you write to the one,

You end up writing to the many,

But the whole world is not meant for your book.

No,

It's meant for a certain type of person.

And you know,

If you if you do it that way,

Then you're very clearly writing to the one.

It makes it so much easier,

Because otherwise,

You're all over the place and trying to really define your message.

You know,

What you want to really say,

You know,

And I also teach them how to do research on on Amazon,

Amazon,

Such a good major search engine.

So I have them go and look at other books in that same type of genre.

What did they write about?

What are the reviews talking about?

Especially not the five star reviews of the two,

Three and four star reviews?

What are they saying?

What's missing?

What did people want to see that isn't there?

Kind of get us an idea and sometimes even purchase those books to see what they did and give you an idea of what maybe you could do a little differently to get the message across.

You know,

It's just a lot of taking the time to really get familiar with the topic and what people need.

What what that one person needs.

Yeah.

And what they're asking for what will resonate with them?

Yeah,

You know,

It's great.

I do.

I agree.

And I and when I asked people that that's now,

You know,

I have a 10 I have a online author mentorship program,

And it's 10 lessons.

And the very first one I'm asking them to write who their ideal reader is.

And so that they can stay within that.

And just like you,

It's basically it is it's defining who that person is.

And then even if you're writing,

So when you're writing,

You're knowing who you're writing to,

You know,

You know,

And when she go off here,

There and ever,

Well,

Maybe it's beautifully written,

But does it really address that particular situation?

Right.

And that way,

It helps,

I think,

For for the publication of the book,

That you know who your target reader is.

Right.

And something else that I do different is often the book cover is one of the first things I think.

And the reason for that now doesn't mean it can't change.

But but for there's something about making it what they're doing,

Their writing become start to feel much more real.

So we'll take that cover.

We'll get the front page,

We're not worried about the back cover right now.

We're just doing the front,

Then I get it made into 3D images.

So it feels like it's a real tangible book.

And then we make different marketing images so they can start sharing it.

And sometimes we do a contest for cover.

If they can't come up with something,

You know,

We'll make have several different designs created and they take it to social media and say,

Which would be like the best?

I find sometimes it works really well.

Other times that for some people,

That's it becomes more confusing because they can't make up the mind.

But you know,

The cover for some reason just actually makes it so much more tangible.

Oh,

Gosh,

I know that.

I know that.

I know that when I did my first book years ago,

Rewrite Your Life,

Transformational Guide to Writing and Healing the Stories of Our Lives,

I had the cover.

I didn't have the book finished.

But I had the cover.

This is one other thing that I did,

Which I love.

It's such a fun story.

So I took the cover that I had already had somebody designed for me.

And I put it on top of a mock book,

So it looked like my book,

Right?

And then I took my time.

My hero was Julia Cameron and her book of the artist's way.

And I had been facilitating a support group for that book for 15 years.

And I wanted her endorsement.

So I took what was my book that wasn't even a book yet.

It just had the cover and some stuff and the artist's way.

And I had them side by side on the coffee table.

And imagining that I had,

Oh,

And I wrote this little endorsement in my mind that Julia Cameron had on my book,

Right?

Put them side by side.

And one day when I was ready,

My book was ready to go out into the world,

Or I felt that it was getting closer anyway,

I wrote to her publisher.

And the next thing I do,

I have her endorsement.

You manifested it,

Didn't you?

Yeah.

Yes.

How beautiful.

Yeah,

It was beyond brilliant.

We,

I mean,

Did you feel the earthquake?

I mean,

I got it on my 60th birthday.

And I was like,

What,

You know,

And initially her publisher said,

Oh,

She doesn't do those anymore.

And the next thing she wants to see my manuscript.

And I went,

Really?

It's not even finished.

Before I knew it,

I was just photocopying a million pages off to New York City to the publishing company.

And next thing I got this endorsement.

So one never knows,

Right?

When I had the cover,

That's what made it real for me.

It's exactly what you said,

Which sparked that memory.

And so it's a little,

Who knows,

Right?

Who knows?

Who knows?

Yeah.

Well,

I love what you're doing.

I love who you are.

I love what you are.

I mean,

The story is so important.

And the more we tell our stories from our hearts,

Our truths,

We just give permission for other people to do the same.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So do you have any other things that you just want to finish up with right now,

Becky,

That you want to just share with our audience?

Well,

You know,

I think that when we understand the power of story,

And there's a quote that I always use,

And I'm going to read it because I always want to make sure I get it just right.

Storytelling is a gateway for growth.

It's the path for sharing.

It brings us closer to one another.

And it's the threads of our stories that will weave together and empower the world.

Isn't that true?

And so,

You know,

That's the heart and the essence of what this whole conversation is about.

It totally is.

Totally is.

Wow.

Thank you for sharing that because I'm hoping that people who are watching this will recognize that they,

If they don't already know that they have a story in them that's worthy of being told.

They do.

And they do.

And whether it becomes a book or not,

It's a story that needs to be told even to a best friend.

A best friend to a child,

To somebody.

Somebody.

To leave your legacy in some way.

Yeah,

Absolutely.

Share your stories.

I always feel,

You know,

As a psychotherapist,

As well as what I do,

Make sure you feel safe.

And not everybody is the person that you're going to be telling your story to,

But find those people that you are.

And the more you tell them,

The stronger you start to feel,

The taller you start to feel.

And the more you recognize them when you put print to paper,

Like you said,

We learn so much about ourselves.

We do.

And then,

And it starts to just empower us more and more.

We start to stand taller and grow.

And it's like,

It doesn't become a biggest deal.

We start to tell our stories in our little safe places.

Right?

The next thing we got a book out there.

So there you go.

So why we say that if you can stand on your story instead of in your story is when the biggest transformation comes.

And standing on the story is having the courage to take that out to the world and share it.

Even if the world is one other person.

Right.

Love it.

Because sometimes we get so immersed in the story and the pain of a story that we don't shine.

We don't grow.

But if we can continue to look for opportunities to grow and stand tall as a result,

This is what we're here for.

Absolutely.

And I love that you have those four pillars,

Right?

That of a well told story.

Where can people find that?

I actually have a link and I don't know if I sent it to you,

But you can find it.

It can be on my website.

Send it to me and it'll be up on this website and everything.

So that people can see that because that is such a beautiful roadmap.

It's a tool of what we can do.

Just what you're saying right now.

When we can get beyond the fear and do it,

The very first one,

Advocacy.

And we do it because we want to be the advocate for someone else.

Get their voice out.

It transforms our viewpoint of the role that we're playing in our world.

Yeah.

It's time to stand up and be bold and be big and be beautiful.

Always.

I love this.

Yes.

Thank you for this beautiful conversation.

And thankfully it's for this Saturday.

Yeah,

It really is.

And here in Canada,

It's a long weekend.

It's Queen Victoria's birthday,

Although I think she'd be 5,

000 years old now.

But we're still celebrating.

Okay,

Maybe not quite.

Sorry.

Maybe.

Yeah,

But I love it.

We get a long weekend and I thank you so much.

And thank you.

Okay.

Beautiful.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Have a beautiful rest of the weekend.

You too.

Thank you.

Bye for now.

See you next time.