Transcripts for Episode 155

These transcripts were generated by robots, not writers.

Stacy: Hello and welcome. A friend. I think I can call you friend at this point. I’m doing a little bit of a different episode this week because I am on like a love balloon from a celebration that happened yesterday. So I had a meetup with authors that I’ve worked with. So these are either one one coaching clients or they’re people that have gone through my programs or they have gone through the self study version of nonfiction book school.

So they’re basically the best. They’re the best humans. I work with authors who have a bigger mission in this world. They are here to do something bigger, important, meaningful in the world. And so when I bring this group together, it is so wonderful. So today I want to share a little bit about that meetup, some of the things that I took away from my time with those authors. And then I thought, hey, while I’m at it, why don’t I share a little bit about behind the scenes on my work, because I don’t really talk about that much on this podcast. So you can understand a little bit more about what I do, how I do it, who I work with, all of those things. So let me start with this celebration. It was so wonderful. We had authors from all over the world join.

We got to start with a celebration of authors who have books coming out. And then we got to do a training with my dear friend and world class speaker trainer Misty Mejia. And that was so good. She taught script scoring, really taught authors how to read their own work in a powerful way, the way you would in theater. We get to do things like this every so often as a community to learn to grow together and to really connect and be together. So that was so much fun. We started in the beginning with celebrating some authors who have books coming out. So we started with Giovanna Gonzalez. She has a book coming out called Coutura and Cash that’s coming out in January. It’s such a good book. I’m so excited for her.

We also got to celebrate Regina Lawless, who has a book coming out in February. Her book is called Bu. I love that title. And her book is so incredibly powerful. And then we also got to celebrate Luisa Caprano. Her book is coming out in February 2024, and her title is Push Then Breathe. And I should say Dr. Luisa Caprano. She tells her story really overcoming so many hardships to become a doctor. And all of their books are so profound, so powerful, and I’m really excited that their book launch dates are just around the corner. We also got to celebrate Joel Perez, who will have a book coming out in probably, I think, toward Q Two somewhere in that realm. He doesn’t have a firm publication date, but he has all the steps lined up to get that book launched.

And his book is called Dear White Leader. Such a provocative title and such a powerful book. I’m so excited for all of them. We also got to share community news. So during these celebrations, I love to invite people to share when they have wins along the journey, because it’s a long journey. You write your book, you edit your book, you have to publish and launch your book, and then you have ongoing marketing. There’s a lot to it. So it’s really important along the way that you are celebrating milestones. There’s so much to this journey, and those little celebrations of little big milestones along the way really help keep you motivated and moving along. So I got to celebrate people who had signed with an editor, got a draft back from an editor, had picked publishing pathways.

So there’s all these different things that we get to celebrate as a community. Certainly there were other people that didn’t share their wounds that had things to celebrate as well. But I really love to get to celebrate and to join together in community. I also got a letter, an email from one of my past client students. She came through a program of mine. This was when I was offering the ten week program called Nonfiction Book School, which I have not currently decided to offer again next year. I’ve switched into a six month format. I’ll talk about that a little bit in the future. I really loved a lot of things about the ten week format, this nonfiction Book School ten week program that I ran.

But the challenge for me is that I didn’t get to see the books all the way to the end. And I know that having that support to get that first draft completed is huge. So now I run a six month program instead of a ten week format. This person joined my ten week program. And I wanted to read to you this gorgeous message that she sent to me. And I’m only going to read a little bit because it was a nice long letter. And at some point, I will share the full letter with she’s already given me her permission on social media, but she said her name is May Lamb Rocco. She said, I would encourage those who are working with you being me, Stacy, on this journey of putting their experiences into words, to share it with the world.

There is no contribution, big or small. We all need to share it to make a difference and make this world a better place. I want to thank you for this life changing opportunity that led to a meaningful purpose for my life. And she tells me in this letter that writing her book really changed her life trajectory, that now she’s doing work that is so anchored and so purposeful and so meaningful for her. So I’ll be honest in saying that for me, there is the meaning of celebrating all these authors, but it also is so encouraging for me as an individual human who’s doing this work in the world. I need my cup filled too.

And so getting to see all of these authors, getting to gather together, getting to see all of their faces, to have them together, to celebrate them, it’s a really powerful thing for me and really to get to see their work in the world and that I played a part in them. Getting to do that work in the world, it’s so amazing. It’s so cool. I love that about what I do, because the interesting thing about my work is that I am facilitating other people’s impact. That’s how I see it. And the reason I feel so joyful and so anchored in the work that I do is because I work with a person. That person goes out into the world and they impact hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands and beyond lives. So when I think about my work and my impact, it’s actually huge.

And I have to remind myself of that because I’m just like you, where I can kind of go about my day to day. And I’m working with this individual, and I’m really inspired by them and really in it with them, but I have to remind myself of the bigger purpose and bigger meaning behind the work that I do. So this celebration for me was such a cup filler. It was so beautiful, it was so joyful, and it was just great. I mean, what else can I say? So with all that said, I wanted to share a little bit about my work and how I work with authors and really why I’m so passionate about the work that I do.

So let me just start with how I work with authors, because I think this will also help give context to what I just shared for the celebration that I had. I work with authors, either one to one, so we work together privately over six months. I also run a program called Idea to Draft, and it’s very small cohort, very connected. I’m very present with the group, and then I also have a course that you can take. It’s called Nonfiction Book School, and you can do that through self study. We also offer Ghostwriting on the team, and so we always have a number of Ghostwriting projects coming through. I have a writer on the team that does that. The Idea behind Idea to Draft arose actually from my last nonfiction book School cohort.

I love every cohort that I come through with, and that cohort the last cohort in particular. I felt this real tug to continue, and so I actually ended up adding three additional months at no charge with that group. I really felt like they needed me, they needed more of me, they needed more support from me. And so I set up a once a month call with them where we could connect, have community together, and I could support their forward movement. That felt really good to me. It felt like that’s how I should be doing things in my one one work. I’ve always done a longer format. I started with four months, then I went to five months because I realized that most people needed more time.

And then I went to six months because I realized that in order to get them through the draft and be able to help them figure out what the next steps are and have them really poised to continue, I really needed six months. So I thought, okay, why don’t I take what’s working so well in a private capacity and put it into this group capacity in this group format? What I realized is that when I created my ten week program, I was designing that based on what other people told me I should do. Because what I kept hearing from people who ran online programs is that people wouldn’t commit to long term. That was actually the biggest one that I worried if I were to launch a six month program, nobody would sign up because it was too long and too big of a commitment.

And I let my concerns about that shape how I designed my program. Now, let me just say, nonfiction book, school, the ten week live version of it was amazing, phenomenal. Such a great group, powerful group. I love that program. I loved running it. But when I really think about how I show up best for people, it’s that it’s seeing it through with them, it’s supporting them to the end of the draft and then giving them what they need to continue forward. And so I created the idea to draft, author, mentorship and coaching program to do just that. I’m with my current cohort of future authors right now in my six month program. It has been such a joyful journey already. And I’m opening my next cohort in January. So this one I’m running now, we started in September.

We will wrap up at the end of March, early April, and I’ll be starting a new cohort in January. This is going to be that same style. We’ll go together for six months. We meet twice a month. The first three months I really focus on this nurturing little bubble of outlining and writing. So we’re really focused on getting you anchored, getting you clear, and getting that momentum moving. After about the halfway mark, then I start bringing in some experts to further support you. So with this cohort, currently we’re bringing in a New York Times bestselling ghostwriter. I’m bringing in a publicist, I’m bringing in a public speaking coach, all kinds of different things to support this group. And we will be focusing on writing the draft. But we’re also focusing on in addition to that number one goal of getting a finished draft.

By the end of the program, I want to make sure that they are well poised to move out of their work with me and get that book out into the world. Because there is so much more beyond that first draft. And I want to make sure they have the education and the understanding and the knowledge to be able to move forward and get that beautiful book out into the world. And I want them to also understand how to maintain their energy, how to project, plan, give them resources of where to go, who to meet with. All of that stuff is so important. And so that’s what I do with my private coaching clients and that is also what I do with this group program. So it’s been such a joy and such an honor and I’m so excited for this next cohort.

We currently have applications open. I have a couple of really amazing people already enrolled, and we enroll until we are full, meaning we’ll take somewhere between ten and 16 people depending on the applications we receive. How I feel the balance of the group is I’m very careful about this and I think this is really important to understand about me in particular, and hopefully this is true of other people who do the work that I do. I am very careful about the clients and the projects that I take on. I’m really mindful about making sure that every author I work with and every book that I work with adds good into the world.

So this means that while we get more applications than we actually invite into the program, I would so much rather, if somebody is not a good fit, I give them a referral or another resource to go to versus take them in and not be able to serve them with my fullness. Because I realized that my mission in this world is to put good into the world. That’s why we focus on business leadership, social equity, personal development, and health and wellness. These are really important to the world. These are things that change the world. And so I love putting my energy and attention into those areas. All that said, we do get a lot of people working on memoir, but I really want to emphasize that the type of people that we best serve are working on what I call memoir with a message.

This is memoir that lends itself to this person landing on the keynote stage. Memoir that is about personal development, self actualization, adding good into the world, sharing one’s story to lift others up. So this is a really important piece for us as a team when we’re looking at people that we may be able to serve, that they really are fitting that criteria, and that if they don’t, that we give them resources. I never want to just say no to somebody. I want to say, hey, maybe we’re not the right fit, but let me give you at least one place to go next. I want to still be able to support people, even if my work is not the right place.

The system that I teach and how I guide authors through this journey I will say is very deliberate, very step by step, very structured. I believe that structure begets creativity. I believe that planning allows you to create. And so I put a big emphasis on creating a really solid book outline, so that when you move into the writing process, you can be very present and engaged as you move through that writing journey. I also provide a lot of education on editing, publishing. We talk about brand development, we talk about marketing. There’s so many different things that I focus on supporting authors on that are really beyond the scope of writing the draft.

But at the core of it for me is I want to get my authors to that solid first draft and have a really clear pathway from where they’re going to go next. Now, the process that I created is based on my own work. I spent eight years ish as a book editor. I wrote a book on book editing. I moved into Ghostwriting. I’ve personally written or Ghost written 17 books, and I’m working on book 18 right now. And I’ve coached so many authors. So all in total, I’ve worked with an estimated 100 plus. I’ve contributed to 100 plus books throughout my 14 years in the industry.

So when I guide authors through this is a process that works, and it’s really about helping them kind of demystify the process, organize their ideas, organize their own self, their planning, learn how to tap into their productivity, to tap into writers flow, and to be successful in writing their books. So with all that said, I have been so joyfully reflective this week, thinking about these authors that I’ve had the honor of supporting and thinking about the authors that are in the future, the ones that I am going to get to play a part in their impact. It’s such an honor. It truly is an honor. I was this little seven year old with her nose in books, dreaming of working in this world, and now I’m a 38 year old getting to do this work in the world. Like, how cool is that?

How cool is it? I am so blessed and so honored to get to do this work every single day. If this resonates with you and you’re like, hey, I really want to write my nonfiction book, my author mentorship and coaching program is such a great place to do that. And I would love to connect with you about your book project. You can reach out to me, hello@stacyennis.com can DM me on Instagram at stacey ennis, or you can fill out the contact form on my website at stacyennis.com. Any and all of the above are great ways to get in touch, and I would be honored to get the opportunity to hear about your project and see if I might be the person to help you bring it to life, to bring it out into the world.

Thank you for your time today for joining me on this podcast, letting me gush a little bit and letting me share a little bit about my work, because, like I said, I don’t normally get to do that on this podcast. It’s not something that I’m typically getting the opportunity to just talk nerd out, I should say, on all the ways that I support authors. So this was really fun, and I really appreciate your time. I want to thank, as always, Rita Dominguez, for producing this fine podcast. And Rita and I would both be so grateful if you would take a minute to rate and review this podcast. It truly, of all the things that you could do to support me and my work, that is it.

It makes a huge difference, and I would be so grateful for you to take the time to do that. I want to thank you for your time and energy and for showing up and letting me be with you for this 20 minutes today. Have a great day, and I will be back with you before you know it.