In this episode, I’m breaking down the mistakes I see most often with future authors and why so many great books stall out before they ever reach readers.
A muddy book message is one of the biggest culprits; without it, writing and marketing both suffer. I’ll talk about why skipping a detailed outline costs you time and structure later, and why writing for “everyone” instead of one ideal reader weakens your message and your promotion.
We’ll also get into why treating book writing like any other kind of writing—rather than the distinct skill it is—leads to unnecessary struggle, and why forcing your writing time into an unsustainable schedule is a fast track to burnout. If you want your book to actually make it to publication, this episode is for you.
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Common mistakes that keep great books from being published | Episode 269 Transcript
These transcripts were generated by robots, not writers.
Stacy: You know what keeps me up at night and gets me out of bed in the morning? It’s all the amazing books that haven’t been written. And I’m often so consumed with how to help authors really find that book within them, clarify it, write it and get it into readers hands. Unfortunately, there are a lot of mistakes that first time and even multi time authors make along their author journey as that keeps their book inside and keeps that book, their books from making their way out into the world. Or honestly even worse, writing a not so great book because they’re actually afraid of the success of writing a great book. There’s a whole, probably a whole rabbit trail I could go down there.
Stacy: But I think that a lot of authors try to rush the process and hurry because they’re afraid of not following through rather than focusing on creating great work. So with that said, today I want to talk to you about some of the mistakes authors make that keep their books from being written and published. Welcome to Beyond Better, a podcast that explores a simple but profound idea. We all deserve to lives we love. And that includes our work lives too. I’m your host Stacy Ennis, an author, book coach, speaker and longtime location independent entrepreneur living in Portugal with my family of four. Join me as I talk business, location, independence, writing, publishing and so much more. More. All focused on building a life that is beyond better.
Stacy: Before I go any further, perhaps we are new to each other and if not, let me reintroduce myself. I’m Stacy Ennis. I am a long time publishing professional. I have personally authored Ghostwritten, co authored 18 books. I’m working on number 19 right now. I have contributed to more than a hundred books throughout September, seventeen years of publishing and I’ve learned a thing or two. I’ve watched a mistake or two, I’ve made a mistake or two. And so part of my mission is to save authors from a lot of the really easy to make mistakes along their author journeys. So we’re gonna cover today five of those mistakes. I’m going to hopefully save you pain and money and save your book because sometimes these mistakes are project killers. So with that said, let’s get started. Number one is writing without a clear core message.
Stacy: And this applies to pretty much every book. Now we put aside certain fiction works, especially I would say probably of the thriller or murder mystery or some other ones. We won’t mention variety, but for the authors that I work with especially those in the nonfiction space, or perhaps those working on what I call memoir with a message they need to Have a clear core message. What is a core message? A core message is the really crisp, well articulated, guiding message of the book. It is the connective tissue of the book. It makes everything feel cohesive, from the first word to the last word. When I work with authors, we go through a multi step process to uncover this core message. If you don’t know it, that’s fine because it takes work. You probably won’t just know your core message. Most people don’t.
Stacy: You have to go through the steps of uncovering it, clarifying it, workshopping it. It’s a process. So put in the time. Don’t make the mistake of skipping it. Number two is writing for everyone. I know it would be amazing to have Oprah invite you to Super Soul Sunday. Believe me, that’s on my list too. That and brunch with Taylor Swift. But the fact is that if you are writing for that end goal with this idea of everybody in mind, it’s pretty likely that your book is going to serve no one. When you write to everyone, you write to no one. And one of the reasons this is a book killer is because it becomes really hard to make decisions when you’re trying to write to a huge audience. And it becomes really easy to make decisions when you’re writing to one person.
Stacy: Even Stephen King writes to one person, one that’s his wife. In nonfiction, this becomes especially important because you eventually will need to lean into marketing and you’re going to need to market to people that will find your book useful, transformative, whatever your end goal is. So you need to understand that one person that’s representative of your larger reader group and tailor your work to that individual. If you have listened to my podcast, watched my videos, read my emails, seen anything that I have shared, you’ve probably heard me talk about the almighty outline. An outline, it is necessary. There are some rare humans out there who can we call it Pants? A book that’s mostly fiction, writers, novelists, but for most of us mere mortals, we need a roadmap. So you need to put the time into it.
Stacy: When I work with authors, we put together a high level book concept. It’s like the organizing center of your book. And then we create a really detailed outline, usually 15 to 30 pages. And what’s amazing about that, is it such a beautiful map for you as you’re writing your book? Do not skip this. Don’t make this mistake. Number four is waiting until you have more time. Because newsflash, it ain’t coming. I know it seems like we’re Gonna have more time next month and three months and six months. But unfortunately, we’re humans and our calendars never seem to clear even. Even when we plan for it. But there are times when you have a little more margin, which means you have a little bit more space to give to something outside of your normal daily work or daily life.
Stacy: And this is when you strike when the iron is hot. So when energy and momentum and margin meet, that is the moment to lean in. Don’t wait until you have perfect, endless time. Find the time when you can make some time and lean into that. When I work with authors, one of the things that I work on them with is lifestyle design. And I have worked with some of the absolute fullest schedules you can imagine. And some authors, they get up quite early to get their books done. I also work with authors who are recently exited from a company or they’re recently retired, and they have a lot of time. And interestingly, sometimes a lot of time magically still fills up, even when you don’t have the daily commitment of work.
Stacy: The thing is that time has to be created and it needs to be honored. And of course, there are certain times when writing a book maybe isn’t the best idea. If you just had a baby, now’s probably not the time to write a book. Although, to be honest with you, I thought when I had my first child that I would have a bunch of time to write. Now I look back on it, I’m like, what was I thinking? But really, there are phases and periods of life where maybe it’s truly not the right time. But then there are times when you do have some margin. That’s when you lean in. Okay, number five.
Stacy: And here’s where I think you might feel seen this mistake is a big one, because I have a lot of authors that come to me, future authors, aspiring authors, who believe that they are motivated enough and disciplined enough to write a book. Those two things are hugely important. I work with high achieving, disciplined people. These are my clients. They are go getters. They get stuff done. They build companies, they launch social missions. They found nonprofits. They are amazing. And those things are not enough. Being disciplined, being motivated, that is not enough to be able to write a book. Because book writing is a skill.
Stacy: Just because you can write an essay or an email or that you journal, that does not necessarily translate over to the skill of book writing is hugely helpful if you have some writing chops coming into writing a book, of course, because book writing, the skill of book writing builds on the skill of writing. But they are not the same thing. So. So you do need to learn that skill. When I work with authors, I teach them this. And the thing that I love about approaching it like a skill is that then you can deploy that over and over again for as long as you want. And it’s truly a delight when I see the authors that I’ve worked with write their next books and they don’t even need me a lot of the time. Sometimes they want still to work with me.
Stacy: They value that thought partnership, but I’ve taught them well enough. I’ve given them the tools that they truly can go it alone. They’ve learned this skill with, of course, some thought partnership like any project benefits from. So if you have tried in the past to write a book and you really were motivated and you were really disciplined and you showed up every day and it wasn’t clicking and you didn’t make progress, or maybe you wrote a chapter or. Or two and then you just kind of dropped it, there’s nothing wrong with you. You are capable, but you probably have a skills gap that you need to close. If you have made some or all of these mistakes, congrats. You’re a human being.
Stacy: You’re in good company with all the other people listening to this or watching this, and also with me because I’ve made a lot of these mistakes myself early on, and I see them all the time. So really, you’re fine now. You know, now you can move through these or avoid them. I really hope that this has been helpful on your author journey and it helps you avoid some really costly mistakes. I want to thank, as always, Frita Dominguez for the production of this podcast. I am so grateful for her and her work every single week. I just am so thankful for everything she does. And if you’re still listening to this or watching this, please take a moment to subscribe. If you would leave me a review, you would be my bestie. Like, for reals?
Stacy: Because it makes a huge difference for me in reaching more people with the message of living a life that’s not just better, but beyond better. And of course, we use a book as a catalyst for that life. And I will be back with you before you know it.
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