Has this ever happened to you? How I screwed up last week and what I learned
Last week I hosted a mini-summit called Beyond the Book, where I interviewed experts on how to make the most of publishing a book to grow your brand, business and impact.
It was a great success (powerful interviews! Major takeaways! New friends and connections!), and also a great pain in my butt (major tech issues! Emails not going out and landing in spam filters! 🤷‍♀️).
Which is all to say, it was a great learning experience. Here are some of my top lessons learned:
💥 The power of email: When email is working (unlike mine last week! 🤬), it’s a powerful outreach tool. I usually ask my interview guests to promote our collaborations to their email lists and newsletter audiences, because it generates better traction. I missed to communicate this and while my guests did a great job of promoting my event and were super generous on their social channels, it just didn’t create the same results I’ve had in the past. Which is why I’m such a big fan of email list building, and encourage all my clients to focus on building theirs. When you post something on social, people may or may not see it. But if you send an invitation to their inbox, they can’t miss it. That’s the power of email.
💥 FU: My dear friend George Tremis taught me this years ago, but like a stubborn problem child, I can still resist it from time to time, not wanting to be a nuisance. Over the past couple of weeks I had a few amazing calls with dream authors and clients, only to be ghosted. I was left scratching my head, wondering if I missed something. Then one of them reached out TO ME, because she hadn’t received my emailed proposal. In the words of Homer Simpson, doh! 🤦‍♀️ Like I said, in the past couple of weeks, some people have been getting my emails, and some haven’t. I took that as a cue and reached out to the other potential clients on other platforms, and each one got back to me right away. Lesson learned: Follow up. You never know when ghosting is actually communication that didn’t reach its intended recipient.
đź’Ą For takeaways from the actual event (such as how to protect your IP and publishing rights, scale your business and your impact through group coaching, appear in your favourite media outlets, and what successful authors do when they launch their book), sign up at catmargulis.com/beyondthebook, where you can still access the recordings and replay.
You got this.
Cat xo
Writing tip of the week: 120 Hours
Recently I had the honour of speaking in front of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers – Alberta Chapter, on how to book more, earn more and publish with purpose. In addition to sharing the keys to book publishing success and how to author a book and build a brand that establishes credibility, I shared one secret to writing and finishing a book that I’ll share with you here and now:
120 hours
That’s all it takes.
Just 120 hours to create your shitty first draft.
That’s 500 words an hour, 1 hour a day.
Seems doable now, doesn’t it?
You can do it over three 40-hour work weeks. You could write a first draft on an extended vacation, or mini-sabbatical, or summer break.
Or you could halve your output and make it your part-time job for 6 weeks.
Or you could write for 2 hours a day and give yourself the weekends off to finish your book in just 3 months.
Or you could just do an hour a day if that’s all you can find, and have a finished first draft in 6 months, without having to quit your day job or your life.
All it takes is 120 hours to write your book. But what that looks like in your life—whether you work 9-5, have kids or others to care for, juggle multiple projects and responsibilities, etc.—varies person to person.
I have clients who have finished their book in 6 months, 1.5 months and 12 days—you heard that right, 12 DAYS!
It’s totally doable. Now you just get to figure out what 120 hours looks like for you.
PS: If you need help figuring out how to fit those 120 hours into your life, along with support and accountability, fill out a discovery call application form here.
You rock!
Here’s what the folks at CAPS Alberta had to say about my book publishing talk:
“Cat made my first book seem doable with actionable tips, thank you!”
“It is clear that Cat understands the process to write and publish a book and she presents the info in a way that is easy to understand and inspiring to get started myself.”
“Love your calm presentation manner and deep knowledge!”
“If you are looking to write a book, connect with Cat first!”
If you would like me to do a workshop, talk or seminar/webinar for your group, email me at hello@passionprojectpod.com