TCC Podcast #297: How to Write and Publish a Book with Mary Adkins

Our guest for the 297th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast is Mary Adkins. Mary is an author and writing coach who helps her clients start and publish a book. She walks through her process to writing her first book and how she’s gone on to publish three. This episode is the journey of getting permission to pursue the passion project that so often gets left on the backburner and to fully embrace where your creativity takes you. And it goes like… Mary’s journey from law to fiction author in the span of a few years. The affirmations Mary kept top of mind when there was too much rejection to count. Feedback – What’s the right way to get feedback without crushing your vision? What is your first draft meant to be? The reality of how we give feedback and why it’s all wrong. How to find the topic you are meant to write about and how to open it with curiosity. Building the skill of perseverance when you feel like your story belongs in the gutter. How to create something new to your project when things get a bit dull and how it can translate to the copywriting world. Where the best place to learn how to write, edit, and pitch a novel. How much money can you really make in the book writing world? Is there room to negotiate? What’s it like to work with a literary agent? Do enneagram types affect the book writing process? The struggles that may get in your way and how to avoid them. How to properly set writing goals based on your enneagram type. The reminders you need to keep in mind during the process of writing and publishing your book. Tune into the episode or read all about it in the transcription below. The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: The Accelerator Waitlist The Copywriter Think Tank Kira’s website Rob’s website Mary's website How Much Money Can an Author Expect to Make on Their Book? Blog The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground Free month of Brain.FM     Full Transcript: Rob Marsh:  Do you want to write a book? We've interviewed a couple of book specialists on the podcast over the past couple of years, but in those interviews, we've focused on non-fiction books that you could use to grow your business. But a lot of copywriters want to write something a little more creative, something like a short story or a screenplay, or a novel. Today's guest for the Copywriter Club podcast is best-selling novelist Mary Adkins, who has published three novels and, in addition to writing, helps others figure out how to write and publish their own work. This is a pretty fun discussion that got us thinking about writing something that could be turned into a movie instead of a workshop. If you listen between the lines, there are a lot of good ideas and some good advice that applies to copywriting too. Kira Hug:  But first, this episode of the podcast is sponsored by the Copywriter Accelerator. This is our program designed to give you everything you need to start your copywriting business, to pivot your copywriting business if you're changing it up, or to grow your copywriting business if you feel like you've hit a plateau. We have blueprints, we have structure so you know what to do, or we provide coaching and an incredible community so that you can work through and build your business with your peers and you don't have to do it alone. We're kicking it off in August and you can jump on the waitlist if you want to learn more about that program. Just click on the link in our show notes, and you'll hear more information about it soon. Let's get into our interview with Mary. Mary Adkins:  I always loved creative writing since I was in 7th grade actually is when my English teacher turned me on to creative writing. I loved it and I always wanted to be a writer, but at some point along the way, I don't know, I think I lost some confidence and felt like I needed to do something more practical and...