by Seun Yewande Williams | Nov 9, 2017 | Life lessons and Others
I wrote an exam thrice – I failed it twice but passed it the third time and I wanted to share what it felt like failing and the lessons I learnt on how to bounce back from failure.
I remember the second time I failed this paper the first feeling that came to me was “I was a failure” and why there were justifiable reasons to have felt this way allowing myself stay this way was wrong. I wanted to sink down and just forget about everything but that was when I remembered – or more correctly reminded myself who I was and what failing was.We all fail at something but it is how we perceive failure that determines how we would bounce back.
Failing in anything we do is an event not who we are as individuals, yes things might not be working the way we want them to but that doesn’t make you a failure – it just means you need to work on your approach in a different way and now you know one way that doesn’t work.
how do you turn an event of failure to an event of victory
Realize failure is just an event and never personalize your failure to mean who you are.
Learn to distant the event from the person we all will fail at somethings we do in life. I wish there was a better solution but it is inevitable but when we do we need to never take it personally this subtle change is the winning force that turns things around.
Review what didn’t work and why the failure happened.
For me, it was asking why I didn’t pass after so much reading and then realizing my mistakes was that I had failed to practice and so by realizing what was the missing link I decided to focus on that.
Do what you think will work and trust yourself
The thing about failing Is that you start to doubt yourself and your ability to provide the right answers for your situation , you might think the answers you discover for what didn’t work may not be good enough, you begin to doubt yourself thinking you are not good enough but the truth is you are, all you need to do is trust in yourself and do what you believe works (now if you also believe you need to get help you should do that it is totally fine so far it is not coming from a place of low self-esteem in yourself as an individual)
Give it yet another try
I remember clearly after picking myself up from the depth of self-pity that I had dragged myself into how I made one commitment to myself – even if I had to write that exam 100 times I was going to write it till I passed it – and I meant it – so don’t be afraid to give it yet another try.
Victory will always come and when it does – make a big deal out of it, celebrate, eat, have loads of fun and above all don’t forget to look back at all your failures and let them know – “I conquered you”.
What was the biggest failure you had that you believe you might never bounce back from let me know
by Seun Yewande Williams | Oct 26, 2017 | Book writing, marketing and publishing
Now that you have written your book it is time to get it published.
The big question asked after writing and editing your book is usually what next – it is time to publish your book.
You should know upfront that publishing a book is more business-like than it is creative you need to think about the option available and what next steps you need to take.
Here are the things you need to consider when publishing your book.
Choosing how you will publish your book
Basically, there are 2 main options for publishing your book
- Traditional publishing
- Self-publishing
Now they may exist some kind of hybrid between these two types of publishing but it is majorly these options that are available.
Traditional publishing
is a method of publishing where a publishing company uses their resources e.g. editing, copywriting, marketing, design, publicity etc. to get your book published to the world.
They usually determine the price of the book, the design, what is accepted and not accepted. Overall, they determine how your book will be published and seen by your readers, to get your book read by traditional publishers’ you need to hire a literal agent, submit a book proposal, some chapters of your book and a query letter to get them interested, after which you then allow the agent pitch your book to the publishers.
The publisher might pay you upfront, there is also a royalty percentage you get as the author from any sales but it is usually not as high as what the publishing firm would collect, although this might be subject to negotiation.
This option is usually taken by well-known authors and people with a very big market, but even recently books by well-known celebrities are a hybrid of this thereby not giving full control to the publisher’s alone.
Some top traditional publishers are Tyndale, Zondervan and Thomas Nelson – now under Hyper Collins Christian publishing, Baker publishers etc.
Self-publishing
Here the books are published by the author using their own resources. There has been some variation to this so I would like to explain some more popular option I have seen
- Imprints – here a publishing firm publishes your book with your resources but take over the marketing and publicity of your book.
Here your book is also subjected to review by the publishing firm, most times these imprints have mother companies that run traditional publishing option so an advantage is that your book can get managed by the traditional company if it does well.
- Independent publishing – here you take charge of the whole publishing, marketing and publicity of your book. You leverage your existing network to sell your book.
The advantage is that you are in full control of what, how and where your book goes and this control enables you to price efficiently for the book.
Due to the technology and options available, this has now become a method which most entrepreneurs and new writers use to get their book published to the world
For the rest of this article, I would assume you are taking the self-publishing path – especially the independent publishing path.
Choosing the form of your book.
There are basically two forms your book can take – a Physical copy and a Digital copy
A physical copy these you get in a bookshop or in a library as the name implies it is physical and hard you can touch it, underline and even spoil it
There is also the Digital copy this take on an electronic form and can be read on mobile devices, e-reader and kindles one commonality amongst the various way by which it is consumed is these books are stored electronically
Audible book – this is a form of a digital book that has become quite popular recently – thus is basically listening to the book as audio. To achieve a premium price for your book, having an audiobook is definitely a plus.
The Pros and Cons
There are definitely advantages and disadvantage to picking any form and I would list out some of the most common ones, you need to keep in mind.
Pros of having a Physical copy
- It makes your book more real to the reader and to you
- You can get higher sells quickly due to events that can be created around it
- It has more preference from traditional readers
Cons of having a physical copy
- It is more expensive to produce
- Distribution and Logistics challenge
- Physical storage can become an issue
- Refund and returns issues can become a burden
- It can easily get damaged
Pros of having a Digital copy
- Can be easily packaged and market
- Quick sales
- More Convivence for readers to take along
- Can be used to build your email list
Cons of having a Digital Copy
- It is most times sold for a less premium price
- Can be easily pirated
- Sales can dwindle after a while
My advice for which form to pick – start with a digital copy to check the demand for your book, only publish a physical book when you get more orders for it to be published in its physical form and even with that do pre-orders so you are sure there is actually a demand for it
Pricing your Book
Determining the price of your book can it in itself be complex but a simple method to do is to get the cost of producing your book, add a profit margin that you feel compensates for the work done and then sell it.
Another method is to see the ranges of price in your category of book and then choose a price based on it.
Another method is to add tiers to your book – adding an audiobook with the physical book will sell at a much premium price than just selling the eBook alone.
Where to place your Digital Book online
The following are the places to put your book online
- Amazon – this is the biggest marketplace to sell your books
- Okada books – this is Nigerian based
- Gumroad
- iBook – helps you sell your book on Apple store
- Barnes and nobles
- Set up a book payment platform
- Independent book sites
When picking a place to sell your book some things you need to know
- The marketplaces your book will be available to
- How easy it is to receive funds
- Any setup cost involved
- Customer purchase experience
- Scalability
- Payment system setup and options
by Seun Yewande Williams | Oct 12, 2017 | Book writing, marketing and publishing
This article is the last in the series of how to write – a book a simple step by step method to use.
The first step is getting your big idea
The next step is the outline of your book
The next phase would be actually writing your book but how do you write your book from start to finish – by following your outline, how do you develop your outline
I will share 2 methods to use
- The Journey method
This is probably the easiest and my favourite because as it states you create the outline like a journey. It is liking taking a bus where would you start if you were going to a particular place, what bus would you take, then what next and then you progress from there.
It is the same for the book if you were to write the book where would you start it from – that should be chapter 1 then what next would you do – chapter 2 and so on and so forth.
- Linked detached structure
Here you break your big idea into part your big ideas still run through each of the parts, each section can stand on their own but are linked together by the big idea.
An example could be if you wanted to write a book on health – it could be broken down into taking water, exercising your body and the food you eat each of these parts on its own can stand alone but make a greater story when brought together to talk about health.
Your next phase is to – WRITE
There would never be a finished book if it isn’t written, you can think, brainstorm all you want even research at length but your book would never see the light of day if you don’t write it down.
Let every word you write count and earn its place in your book – a piece of advice from Max Lucado
Some methods that can help you writing better and faster
- Get a writing calendar – actually put in the day and time you will be writing and on what (you can use your outline to do this).
- Record yourself and then get it transcribed – this is how the late Sidney Sheldon wrote this method actually inspired me to start writing which changed my whole life.
- Get a ghostwriter – well I don’t like the name ghost added to writing but the meaning should ring true get someone to write the book for you, you will have to pay them but yep that works just fine.
- Set a writing goal – set the total number of words you need to write per day, 1000, 5000 – you set this based on when you want the book published.
- Get accountability – this is a missing link to achieving your goal set, get a personal accountability partner, create public accountability and get personal in your accountability, let your words mean something to you.
- Write areas you like the most when you struggle to keep up.
- Have a reward system you gift yourself when you follow through on your goal.
Next Phase – now that you have written your book – you need to read it and rewrite it
I truly believe your first copy is definitely not your best copy.
Read your book thoroughly and then fix areas you notice are missing in your book areas you skipped because you were writing too fast or too slow.
You can take some time out, leave the book and then come back with fresh eyes and read the book just another time (personally I hate rereading my work but I have recently learnt that it is important to do this, so I just do it)
Get someone else (a professional writer or critic) to read your book apart from you and get their input on areas you need to edit, delete or improve on.
Any feedback gotten before you publish are valuable feedback that would make the book better
Remember you are not writing to be perfect but you are writing knowing that you have done your best to make a masterpiece out of your book.
The last phase of the writing Journey is Editing and Proofreading your book.
Send your book to an editor and await professional feedback, make the necessary correction and off you go your book is now ready to be published to the world
Need help with any of the areas I mentioned above you can reach out here and let us have a chat
In all the stages mentioned above which have been the hardest for you to do?
by Seun Yewande Williams | Oct 5, 2017 | Book writing, marketing and publishing
Okay so to continue from the previous post on how to write a book part 1. Let’s move to the next phase of writing your book – your masterpiece.
By now – you know your book has to have a big idea you want to share, you also know that you have to choose one idea you are most passionate about.
The next phase is for you name your book
This is probably the hardest for me to do especially when it comes to my novels but one thing I have found that work is if you can think of your big idea and let it consume you as it should, then one or two words will consistently jump out to you that you can use or you can simply just pick a name that sounds very interesting to you – it doesn’t have to be overly complicated.
Other ideas you can use is
- Choosing a name that radically captures attention by the sound of it an example would be “How stupidity saved my life” by Okechukwu Ofili
- Another is looking out for names in the topic you are discussing and see how the best selling authors name their book.
- Using a big word and then explaining what you mean below an example is Overlap: Start a Business While Working a Full-Time Job. Go from overwhelmed and feeling stuck to getting clarity and creating financial freedom. by Sean McCabe.
The next phase – RESEARCH
This is probably an area really skipped in a lot of books today the author only shares his or her perspective without relevant data to back it up. While that can make for a good book it really doesn’t make for a great book that will last years after.
And when I say research it really doesn’t have to be you leaving in the jungle for month to explain how a jungle life works but if for instance you want to write about marriage don’t write what marriage means to you alone based on only your experience test out the hypothesis you are putting forth with other people marriage and see it there are tweak you might need to add to yours.
You can even do your research by speaking to enough people about your ideas. Now someone might say doing this type of research may take forever – it really doesn’t, all it takes is lots of patience and a determination to not only write a good or average book but a book that actually solves peoples problems in that area.
When you research your topic you move from just writing a book you want to read, to writing a book that would help people. Write that book because it is worth it not just because you want to become an author
The last phase for this post is to create your content outline
The place of an outline cannot be overemphasized.
I have written with one and I have written without one and I will tell you, I got more work done when I knew what I wanted to write about.
I write novels and I definitely advise you use it even the master tell us to use one – Jame Peterson uses an outline he never writes a book without having fleshed a fully completed outline he gets it very detailed. Even John Grisham uses one – now if the masters are using one what is your excuse.
And please don’t mention the so-called creativity flow or letting the story tell itself. I believe in creativity and I truly sometimes get this whole twist and turn that totally change my book but I also know that if I waited for every time I felt creative to write a book I would never finish my book.
Sometimes letting the story tell itself can put you in trouble you end up in a place where your character can’t seem to move forward in the story and then you have to go back and rewrite loads of pages or worse get frustrated and stop writing – simple advice use an outline
If you are writing a non-fiction book the use of an outline cannot be overly underestimated you need it to keep you focused on what to write next.
Are these all the phase to writing that book – no I would share a lot more in the next post lookout for it
If this has been helpful to you – please share it and if you feel stuck in your writing process and you need help why don’t you reach out and let us talk
by Seun Yewande Williams | Sep 21, 2017 | Book writing, marketing and publishing
Most first-time authors find out that writing a book is hard that is simply the truth they would say completing their manuscript was probably one of the hardest things they have ever had to do but that is the reality. Now to the good news it doesn’t have to be hard if you follow a structure.
Knowing the big idea for your book – every book has one
Authors struggle to write because they don’t know what to write about which is not supposed to be – the reason is simply that a book is really just a big idea spread into different chapters or pages.
Most books usually have just one main big idea that they want to convey, some might have two or three, some people explain system or processes in their books, but in all honesty, one big idea is usually enough for a book.
Now you might be wondering how that plays out to form a whole book – well it is simple you have a big idea you probably have spent a tremendous amount of time understanding, testing and experiencing. what you do in the chapters is to expound on it more, you try to break it down into pieces that form the whole puzzle so that by the time your readers have finished reading the book they understand your idea fully.
The next area is figuring out what your big idea is – we all have ideas
This really shouldn’t be a big deal but what I found out it is – people are looking out for the perfect idea to share in their book
Well stop looking for it, it might never come – we all have experiences, skills, and knowledge that we have developed or experienced based on our time on this planet, we all have perspectives that other people need to know about.
As Zig Ziglar says – if you have a skill or knowledge that can benefit the world it is your moral duty to share it with others (Author paraphrase)
So your task is to pick one the numerous ideas you have and ask yourself am how do I feel talking about this topic for days unending imagine yourself writing about it – make sure the one you pick is something you are very passionate about.
Next Phase is understanding the type of book you are thinking of writing
There are majorly just two types of book – fiction or nonfiction (this is different from a genre of a book). Your book is neither telling a story using characters (fiction) or you are writing out your point directly(non-fiction).
There are also cases where there are a mixture of both (I am liking this method a lot) here you mix a story with the point you want to share
Majorly choosing the type of book you write depends on three things
1. Your preferred style of writing
2. Your readers
3. Your idea
If your preferred style of writing is to use characters to explain your concept – a fiction book might be your way of telling your story.
You always want to keep your readers in mind when writing your book – simply ask how would they understand this idea better and then your answer would decide the type of book you write
Your idea – Ask yourself how best can you explain this idea in a book
CASE STUDY – Finding Grace
Okay so I thought I give you a case study from my book
The big idea of finding grace originated from my new-found knowledge of what Grace was and indeed the practicality of it, I learned this lesson during my service year. This understanding of grace took my relationship with the Father to another level and I wanted to share it.
So my big idea was explaining what grace meant to me
How did I share it – by writing a novel which at that time and even now is my preferred method of writing and I didn’t want to write another book on grace I just wanted to tell a story of what it meant to me and set the novel in the character’s service year also.
If this article was helpful to use to you, share it on your page and let others also know about it (thank you in advance)
Lastly, watch out for part two of this article.
What areas covered today would you be working in your next book writing session.
Hi my name is Seun Yewande Williams and I help individuals and businesses share their knowledge, skills and experiences through books. Welcome.
