Always Be Choosing
Today’s blog post comes to us from Author Accelerator CEO Jennie Nash. If you enjoy today’s content, you can sign up for Jennie's weekly newsletter here.
In my work as a book coach and as a coach of coaches at Author Accelerator, one of the things I most often talk about is the importance of choosing. Choosing is one of the first and most foundational stepping stones on the path to success.
A book writer must first choose which idea to bring to life out of the many ideas that are swirling in their minds. Then they must choose, among many other things, a genre or category, a structure, a beginning, and an end. When you think about it, all a writer does is choose – this scene or that one, this argument or that one, this word of that one. In order to write well, you have to master the art of choosing.
A book coach has a similar number of choices to make. They first have to choose what kinds of writers they want to serve—new writers, sci-fi writers, wellness writers, writers who are stuck, writers who are pitching, or writers on publisher deadlines? Then they have to choose how to help them, how to price their services, how to craft their messaging, and how to market their business.
There is a constant trial and error in running a small business, and having a growth mindset is key. In order to run a sustainable book coaching business, you have to master the art of choosing.
Choosing Is Hard
The problem with choosing is that it doesn’t feel good because choosing always involves taking some kind of risk.
If I choose to write my next book about writing memoir, for example, I am risking the opportunity cost of not writing all the other possible books I could write—about revising, about the importance of mindset to writing well, about next-level skills for book coaches.
I have a client who has a publisher who has contracted with her to write three books. They came to her and said, “We have a new idea for a new book and we want you to write this one before all the others.” She didn’t want to write the new book. So her choice was to give the publisher what they want—which is good for the relationship, good for the bank account, good for so many reasons—or to risk all of those possible rewards.
Making a choice is always risky for a writer—and for a book coach, too.
If a book coach chooses to focus on LGBTQ+ memoir writers, for example (looking at you, Suzette Mullen), they aren’t focusing on helping writers of sapphic YA retellings of fairy tales.
If a book coach chooses to focus on historic novels whose origins can be found in the writer’s family lineage (looking at you, Susanne Dunlap), they aren’t focusing on helping writers of historic novels whose knowledge comes from deep academic research.
One of Author Accelerator’s newest certified coaches, Megan Clancy, has this message on her website: “In 2020, the pandemic hit and I gave birth to my second child. My life was consumed with trying to stay afloat and one of the first things that got jettisoned was my writing time. And it took me far too long to realize this was a huge mistake. I have always needed writing in my life, especially during times of crisis, and I had to find my way back. And, with a lot of help, I did. Now I'm a writer and mom who loves stories and loves helping other moms find their way back to their life with words.”
This messaging is not going to speak to men. It’s not going to speak to empty nesters. It’s not going to speak to retirees who can put book-writing at the center of their days.
But it’s very good business. You can bet that anyone reading this who needs the kind of coaching Megan is doing is going to think, “Oh hey that’s me and I sure could use some help.”
The alternative to choosing is not to choose—but that path is also risky.
Not Choosing Is Risky
Not choosing feels good because we are keeping all the doors open. We are holding the possibility of perfection—because after all, the book you dream of or the business you dream of that only exists in your mind can be perfect and whole, but the book or business you actually bring to life is going to be flawed and imperfect and full of holes.
But the risk of having all the possibilities always available is that you will never finish anything. You will never “ship” as they say in the world of entrepreneurs. And if you don’t ship, you don’t sell. Your book or your book coaching business will be dead in the water.
So not choosing is a trap. It keeps us in a place of inaction, and if we are going to accomplish anything, we have to take action—to write, to market, to decide, to engage.
Choosing Is Both Tactical and Philosophical
I just finished reading Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear. It’s a fantastic book for writers and book coaches alike, and I’m quoting it all the time. One of the central ideas is the concept of choosing an identity and adopting the habits of the people who are already living that identity. He writes:
"Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. This is one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change. Small habits can make a meaningful difference by providing evidence of a new identity. And if a change is meaningful, it is actually big. That's the paradox of making small improvements."
This is very actionable advice you can put to use every day as you make the choices for what you want to write or to become.
But choosing is also deeply philosophical.
I am now reading Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman (trading off with Book Lovers by Emily Henry – such a fun read!) Burkeman is lighting up my brain. His central point is that choosing is the cornerstone not just of the books we write and the businesses we run, but of the lives we lead.
We only have four thousand weeks to live (!) and we have to choose how we will spend that time. We have to know what matters, and we also have to turn our back on the things that don’t.
Always Be Choosing
This concept is speaking to me right now because in my business life, I am facing the limits of what I can do. I recently dialed back my 1:1 coaching quite drastically in order to focus on growing Author Accelerator by better serving our book coaches and I thought I was done with choosing. I thought I had made the hard choice—it was hard because I love 1:1 coaching and it’s what got me to where I am. Moving away from it has been gut-wrenching.
I thought I would get a gold star from the universe for making a hard choice (yay me!) and that things would get easier, but that is not what happened.
My one choice has led to a million other choices. With more time to devote to the business, do I develop a new course for coaches? Do I update our core courses? Do I create something for writers of fiction or nonfiction?
Burkeman’s lessons are making me see that in order for me to accomplish something great with the one big choice I have made, I have to keep choosing.
I have to always be choosing.
And so do you.
Knowing Your Why Helps You to Keep Choosing Well
Clear and Burkeman and so many other thinkers before them have pointed to the fact that the best way to continue to choose well is to know what you value, and to turn to those values for guidance.
In making my choices, I keep turning to the values and the mission that guides us every day at Author Accelerator. It helps me so much to have them written down.
In case you’ve never seen them, here are Author Accelerator’s company core values:
Integrity: We do the right thing and don’t make promises we can’t keep.
Honesty: We will give tough love because being honest is the best thing we can do for a writer or a book coach.
Compassion: Writing is hard and we all understand that all too well. So is learning a new skill and starting a business. Compassion is one of our best assets as we help our writers and book coaches.
Support: We will be the biggest cheerleaders for our writers, our book coaches, AND our staff. We want people to succeed.
Beginner’s mindset: Despite our experience and expertise, we approach our work with a beginner’s mindset, with curiosity and a belief that there is always something new to learn.
And this is our mission:
We want to change the way book writers are nurtured so that instead of having to figure everything out on their own, they have expert editorial, emotional, and project-management support throughout the entire creative process. We believe that the most effective way to do this is by training and empowering book coaches to provide that core, customized support. We are in the business of building relationships—between writers and book coaches; between book coaches within our community; and between book coaches and leaders in the publishing industry.
These are the ideas that are guiding me.
I’m still struggling with the limits of time and energy, and still balking at having to choose, but knowing what matters most helps keep me from going too far off the tracks.
What big choices do you have in your creative pursuits these days?
What is guiding you as you make them?
