How many times have you wondered if you are good enough to write a book?

Notice I didn’t ask if you’ve wondered that. Almost everyone has. Not only have we all wondered it, but we’ve also all worried about it at times. That’s thanks to our old buddy impostor syndrome.

Good enough to write a book

Impostor syndrome makes everyone worry that they’re not good enough to write a book. You are good enough to do this. You have tons of knowledge. Years of experience flavor your life. You want to help people. You care, and people will be able to tell that when they read your writing.

Whether or not you want to make money with your book (and there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to make money with your book), you want to make a difference with it. You are good enough to write a book.

Whether or not you’ve written professionally before doesn’t matter. Everyone starts somewhere, and you can start by working for yourself and serving your audience in a way that you want to. You don’t have to have professional writing experience.

Your spelling and grammar skills don’t matter, either—as long as you’re willing to hire editors, which is what all smart authors do. If you have ideas and you can get them onto “paper” in some way, I am willing to bet that you are good enough to write a book.

But you say you don’t know how to organize a book? That’s okay. That’s what an outline is for, and there are several ways to go about that.

If you have a solid recipe to follow, like the one you’ll find in Your Book Bakery: Making it easy to write a book, then, when you first start, you don’t need to know anything about writing a book.

In that book, just like in my book-writing program, we start from scratch and go through the process together. As long as you have a message you want to share and as long as you keep your promises, that book is for you.

Not making progress on my writing

Most people can give plenty of reasons why they are not writing as much as they think they should be. They say things like this:

• There’s no room in my schedule for writing. I don’t have time to write.
• I don’t know what to do.
• Shiny objects lure me away every time.
• Netflix is too tempting, and I just have to binge watch ___.
• Too many other important things crowd it out, and then I’m too tired.

Most people blame others, their environment, job, or the perceived difficulty of the task.

Some accept responsibility in a way that would make my friend John G. Miller smile.

I respect them.

John’s the author of QBQ! The Question Behind the Question, a book about personal accountability. Their list of reasons/excuses might look like this.

• I overschedule myself and don’t prioritize writing.
• I don’t know what to do.
• I allow shiny objects to distract me.
• I choose to binge watch instead of write.
• I don’t make time for writing, and then I tell myself I’m too tired to write.

Notice that those sentences start with “I.” The people who say these things might have the same types of barriers or situations to deal with as the people who don’t accept responsibility, but the way they word their statements is different.

The importance of word choice

Words are important. They have meaning, and meaning affects things.

The way we frame things matters. It can completely change the meaning of and the way we feel about so many things.

You’ve heard people say, “I have some good news and some bad news.” Well, you are going to have to change some behavior if you want to achieve your goals and write your book.

The good news is I can help you do that. The great news is it does not have to be torture. In fact, it can be a lot of fun.

You might get hooked on writing. You might even decide to join one of my group-coaching programs or the sprints, and we’ll become buddies. Sound like fun?

Start with this book.

Would you like to get an author to speak to your school?

You can! Read on to find out how easy it can be to set up author visits to schools.

From preschools all the way to colleges; and private, charter, magnet, and standard public schools all need guest speakers and presenters. Every school has to fill speaking slots and educate and entertain students (and faculty and staff). Budget is always a consideration in all but the most affluent of institutions, and many districts are struggling these days. Struggling or not, many are finding it hard to source speakers and other presenters that are appropriate.

If you’re grappling with anything relating to that problem, you can relax right now. You can easily get an author to speak to your school.

Author, editor, educator, and writing coach Jennifer Harshman is available to talk to your students, faculty, and staff on a variety of topics. As a formerly licensed teacher and as a parent of special needs children, she understands the importance of keeping the topic appropriate and student/family friendly. She appears in costume as The Book Baker to make things more fun. With everything she does, Jennifer shows that writing is exciting and that if someone can follow a recipe to bake a cake, they can write a book.

Here are just a few of the topics Jennifer is available to talk about in your school:

• The Adventure of Authorship
• Reading and Writing as Superpowers
• How Books Saved My Life
• Writing a Book with Your Class

Whether it’s about the adventures of reading and writing, how to become an author, or overcoming abuse and adversity, Jennifer is available to speak at schools and colleges. Having her travel to your school would require covering expenses plus her speaking fee of $2,500, but she will appear via Zoom for a small honorarium ($300), and she does make some appearances pro bono (for free).

Get an author to read to your classroom

Since 2000, Jennifer Harshman has been reading aloud to classrooms full of students. As a formerly licensed teacher who specialized in language arts, she found that reading and writing were areas where she excelled. From daycares to colleges, from podcasts to radio broadcasts, people have always loved hearing Jennifer read aloud.

The costume

In the summer of 2022, she began appearing in The Book Baker costume, which fits her persona as The Book Baker. Over her years of helping people write books, she began comparing the process of writing a book to following a recipe to bake a cake. Participants in her writing program, Your Book Bakery, started calling her “The Book Baker” because of that.

For many years now, Jennifer has presented to groups of adults, including masterminds and group coaching programs. It’s still teaching and educating, although it’s not in a classroom.

Then, in the month of October of 2022, Jennifer was invited to read to a first grade classroom in Pennsylvania via Zoom from her home in Illinois. She read The Man Who Cooked for Himself. Here she is reading that book aloud.

The students loved her animated delivery and peppered her with questions about being an author and editor and helping others with their books. They also shared with her the things they love to read and write about.

That experience reawakened her love of presenting to classrooms of students. She thought about offering author visits for elementary schools.

What you need

It doesn’t have to be reading aloud. You could get an author to speak to your school and present on a topic. You could even have Jennifer help your class to write and publish a book! Talk about changing lives. The students would remember that forever. Let’s get you what you need.

What sparked this

Yes, Jennifer Harshman has been involved in this world for decades now. But what sparked this exact offer, and why now?

One particular monthly challenge issued by Platform Launchers, a group Jennifer is a founding member of, was to create and launch a product or service from start to finish in three days. The goal of that tight deadline is to prevent overthinking, procrastination, and so on.

Jennifer decided to do this for that challenge. She would offer to appear in other schools via Zoom or in person to read aloud, talk about being an author, or present on appropriate topics to the students, faculty, or staff members.

How to get an author to speak to your school

You can book here to get an author to speak to your school. If you have no budget, choose the Free Focus Meeting, and in the form that asks what you’d like to get out of the meeting, say you want Jennifer to read/speak to your school and what about. Also, please be aware that only four free sessions per month will be approved. If the slots are full, we may contact you to reschedule or take the option of booking a paid session.

If you have a budget for paying honorariums for speakers/presenters, use the Paid Consultation option. Up to 20 virtual presentations and 10 in-person presentations are available each month so you can get an author to speak to your school.

At least one day before the scheduled date (when you’d like to get an author to speak to your school), you and Jennifer will get on Zoom and do a tech check. This will ensure that you have the equipment and settings selected properly.

Day of

On the day of the appearance, you and Jennifer will get on Zoom a few minutes before the presentation is set to begin, do a quick mic check, and proceed to have fun.

Are you interested in finding out more? Find Jennifer Harshman on TikTok and Amazon.

Have you ever wondered about your writer personality type and how to work best with your DiSC profile as you write your book?

Recently, I was talking with a new friend, Myhriah Young, who is a DiSC profile expert. One of the things that came up during our call was writer personality type and how knowing your DiSC profile could help you write your book. We both got so excited about it, and after our long conversation (We both have DiSC type i in our profiles), I had to come here and write you a blog post.

I’m not sure why the i is lowercased in the acronym associated with the official assessment, but it is. In the paragraphs describing the types below, I’m going to capitalize it.

The DiSC types summarized

First, let me explain that each DiSC type has a motto or a slogan:

A high D person is known for saying, “Do it now!”

A high I would say, “Let’s do it together!”

A high S would say, “Can’t we all just get along?”

A high C would say, “It must be done right.”

What is the DiSC profile?

It’s important to note that rather than a true personality test, the DiSC is a situational-based profile. How you function in one workplace could result in one profile, but another workplace or situation can result in a different set of letters for you. Usually, though, there is some overlap.

For example, when I was working in schools, learning centers, and a children’s home, my profile was always SIC.

The ability to provide steadiness and support (the S) was a huge requirement for those environments. So was the drive to inspire and influence and the need to interact (the I). And because we had many regulations to follow or risk firing, loss of licensure, or even jail time, anyone who didn’t have a C somewhere in their profile would not last long.

At the children’s home, almost everyone had the SIC profile, and even those who did not work with the children had S and C.

In my own business, I have staff who provide the S factors of support and steadiness, and I’m able to provide more vision and leadership. So my profile in the context of running my own business is a little different.

I’m an IDC, so my profile slogan would be “Let’s do it together, now, and with excellence.”

My friend Myhriah loved it and wrote all of that down to use with her clients. That made my day. (There’s my high I of inspiring and influencing!) Let’s take a look at the different writer personality types based on the DiSC profile.

Disclaimer: This is all from what I have seen in my decades of working with authors and other writers. It doesn’t mean that it fits all people with a certain DiSC profile. Also, I work with nonfiction far more often than fiction, so fiction isn’t represented here in all of the types.

Writer personality types based on DiSC

High D type: “Do it now.”

People with the High D writer personality type don’t care as much as other types do about following the rules or about how something is done or with whom, only that it is done. And quickly. Yesterday, even. Taking a decade to write a book (or have it written for them) would be a nightmare for a high D person. These are the people who crank out a book in a week and expect their editors to be done just as quickly. At least until they have some experience and now how it actually works.

High D people don’t often have a problem deciding to write a book or with actually writing it. They might struggle with the question of “What should I write a book about?” I’ve seen a few do that, but soon after I started asking questions to help them figure it out, or the moment I started making suggestions, they knew what they were going to write about, and they were off to the races.

The High D writer personality type people are the ones who often rush to publication without proper editing or layout. They also tend to write business books, how-to, and other instructional “do it” types of books. If they own a business or are a speaker or other leader, they might want to write a book to grow their business.

Most of my clients have D in their profile somewhere. I’ve often said that to be an author, a person almost has to have some ego. The trick is overcoming impostor syndrome and having enough of an ego or confidence to put something out there, but not so much that you’re a jerk. There are already too many raging narcissists in this world.

High I type: “Let’s do it together.”

The High I people are the social butterflies. They are often called extroverts even if they’re not. Whether someone is an extrovert or introvert is determined by how they recharge, not by whether or not they like interacting with other people. High I types like to inspire and interact and influence others. Being alone in a cabin for a year to write a book, where they wouldn’t be able to interact with others, or influence people, or inspire people for many months would be a nightmare for most high I people.

Unfortunately, the “alone in a cabin” thing is a common stereotype and false belief many people have about what it takes to be an author. You don’t have to do that, I promise. Many of us write books in the middle of our houses, surrounded by kids and pets.

This is the writer personality type that could prefer to work in a coffee shop or coworking space, since it’s more business focused than home might be. Regardless of where they like to work, they might talk with others rather than write. It’s common to see them on social media when they are supposed to be writing. I host writing sprints for this type and others, to help people focus and move forward (S and C types, I’m talking to you, too!). This writer personality type tends to write books that are designed to connect with others, such as helpful nonfiction, memoirs, and romance novels.

High S type: “Can’t we all just get along?”

Those with a High S writer personality type can do just fine writing a book, but they might find that their manuscript gets pushed to the back burner often. This is because so many people need them and they give in to those requests. Women are far worse at this than men are, which is due to our societal demands on women to be the caretakers of the household and even people and organizations outside of it.

Many of the people who have told me their manuscript has been sitting unfinished in a drawer for a decade are High S types, and every one of them has had a list of things they “just had to” do that were “more important” or “more urgent” than writing their book is.

While I do understand and sympathize with that whole awful situation, I say, “Hogwash. Say no.” It’s time that women stood up and expected men to pull their share of the load when it comes to house and kids. And, barring that, it’s time that women at least put their writing first.

Let others handle things. I promise you that your church will not die if you don’t man the book table at the annual rummage sale this year. The food bank will not die if you don’t spend every Saturday this year there. (I ran one, sometimes alone; it doesn’t take that many people, and someone else can step up for a change. You, my High S friend, have done enough). Years of volunteering and running nonprofits taught me that I didn’t need to do it all, that someone would always show up when I released a task. Organizations find a way to keep running without you. So let them.

You are important. You are not what you do for others. And your readers need you just as much as the people close to you do—and there are far more of them! Coaches and other leaders find that their audience members listen to them more than their family members do. I’m not saying that you should stop helping your family members or IRL friends, but isn’t it smarter to help people who actually want your help?

If and when a High S type does write a book, it’s most likely going to be one that is helpful and supportive (helpful books are so important).

High C type: “It has to be done right.”

High C types are the ones who are excellent regarding accuracy. They do their research. Citing their sources is something I rarely have to instruct high C types to do.

People with this writer personality type are the ones who overthink everything and let their perfectionism prevent them from writing. “Procrastination is the bane of our existence,” one of my mastermind members who is a high C type told me. Once they do write their manuscript, they allow their perfectionism to keep them from publishing. They spend forever tweaking and adjusting.

They can also give their readers information overload. They want to cram everything they know into one book, and that’s not wise. Write more than one book if you need to, and keep each one focused rather than rambling. Overuse of images, charts, graphs, or tables is sometimes an issue with this writer personality type as well.

High C writer personality type people are the ones I most often need to tell that what they want can’t be done (those and high D types). For example, some authors want fold-out maps, spiral binding, or pouches for pens to be affixed to their books, but they want to have Amazon print and fulfill their books.

Amazon does not offer any of those options (yet). That may change at some point in the future, just as it did with hard covers. Amazon used to not offer hardback covers, and they do now.

The authors could have their books printed elsewhere and shipped in to Amazon, and then have Amazon fulfill their book orders, but they don’t want that. When that’s the situation, I have to tell them what they want can’t be done yet.

These authors tend to write process books, how-to books, and history books.  It might take them a long time to write their book, but they get it right.

Using DiSC to write a book

How can you use this information on writer personality types to write your book? First, know your profile. Second, look at the strengths and weaknesses of each letter in your profile as it relates to writing a book. Then set up a situation that allows for the advantages and mitigates the weaknesses.

High D writer personality types might want to allow more time for themselves and each member of their book team (editors, designers, etc.) to do the work needed. Listening to the members of that team is important, too. You hired them because of their expertise, so let them use it, and listen to them.

Most High D people have little need for accountability groups (they usually lead them). They could benefit from taking a moment to celebrate their accomplishments, though, so the sprints membership can be good for them. They also need a recipe to follow, so my book that shows you exactly how to write a nonfiction book would benefit them.

High I writers could benefit from a social but structured situation, such as writing sprints (which have social time and accountability) paired with a schedule for their writing production so they can stay on track. The manual for Your Book Bakery group-coaching program is a free download that walks you through a 12-week schedule for writing your first draft. You can find it on the book goodies page. The sprints membership lets you have some company and accountability at the same time. A measly $9/mo that will help you get your work done? What a steal!

High S writer personality types need help saying no and making time for their own writing. They’re another group of people who benefit greatly from the writing/work sprints we host and a schedule like that in the manual mentioned above. Having someone else expecting you to show up and do the work really helps S types. In my experience, it’s the only way they’ll ever get their book written. Committing to writing their book in two-minute bursts is helpful, too.

High C personalities can benefit from the sprint community because we don’t let them get bogged down. We say progress over perfection, and the writing phase is time for writing. Editing and making it look pretty all come later. Deciding to turn off their inner editor for a short time (I recommend two minutes at a time), and then writing as fast as they can during that time helps High C writer personality types to get over their perfectionism and procrastination and make progress.

Resources

Every writer personality type can benefit from resources.

Click the image (Amazon link) to order the book.

Go to the book goodies page.

Find out more about the work/writing sprints membership.

Getting testimonials and reviews can be hard. You do great work, create helpful things, and your customers and clients love it all. They might even send you an email or other message saying so.

But, as much as they benefit from and enjoy your work, they might not ever take the time to write a review online or create a video testimonial for you.

They’re busy, and there’s another problem: they probably think it’s going to take a long time for them to create a testimonial or review for you because it has to be long.

Whether it’s written or recorded in some other way, a testimonial or review doesn’t have to be long to be helpful.

Getting testimonials in seconds

Check out this super short video that Steven Tessler made when he received his copy of my book. In about 15 seconds and a few words, he conveys his excitement.

Online reviews

You can use the email testimonial on your website and social media (with permission from your client, of course), but you can’t post it yourself as a review online. The reviewer has to do it.

We all need online reviews, too.

If you go searching, you’ll find that I do have some testimonials, but I only have one online review from an editing client. Decades of doing this work, hundreds of books I’ve edited or otherwise helped bring into the world, and I have only one review?! How is that possible?

As I said above, people are busy. My clients are busy, and I’m busy editing book after book, coaching, writing… and I always took the approach of letting my work speak for itself, thinking that I didn’t need to get reviews or otherwise market my work. After all, word of mouth has sent plenty of referrals for more than a dozen years.

That’s a mistake.

More success could be had with testimonials and reviews.

Asking for reviews and testimonials

So, busy or not, I’m going to start getting testimonials and reviews.

You should do the same. A 15-second video clip is all it takes.

What your audience wants

In a previous post, I gave you some questions that will help you determine who’s in your audience. If you haven’t read that, go do that now, and then come back to this page.

Think about the people you wish to serve. Consider what your audience wants.

Maybe they want comfort, luxury, and ease. Many people want a quick fix, a special pill, or a magic bullet. Reasonable and knowledgeable people know that there really is no such thing and that chasing it will only result in heartache, broken promises, and empty bank accounts. What your audience wants might not all be feasible, but some of it probably is.

We are going to make some assumptions here.

• We will assume that you are honest and have good intentions. You’re not a scammer of any kind, right?
• We will assume that what you offer is of high quality. You didn’t dredge up some rusty object from the bottom of a lake, and you’re not trying to pass off a $1 plastic rack as a $100 over the sink rack like some companies in China did with Facebook and PayPal, correct?

• We will also assume that what you offer is appropriate for your audience. You’re not trying to get just anyone and everyone to buy your stuff, even if it won’t do a thing for them. Right? Good.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about what your audience wants and needs, and what you should do if they’re not the same.

Desire and offering

If what your audience wants is what you offer, fabulous. If they don’t want it, though, or if they don’t even know it exists or that it is for them, then you have a challenge.

You might need to educate them. That could take time. You also may have to sell them what they want first and later deliver to them what they need. We see this happen with products and services all the time.

Perhaps you know that your client really needs a solid project management tool, but what they want is dopamine hits. In other words, they want it to be fun to get their work done. Asana would be an example of selling them what they want and also giving them what they need. The colorful cartoonish creatures that fly across the screen sometimes when you click Complete on a task definitely make it fun.

I may or may not have created some miniscule tasks in Asana just to be able to check them off and have a chance of seeing a pastel narwhal zooming across my computer monitor. The hope that I might see zipping unicorn thingies may or may not motivate me to get my work done.

Think about what your audience members want. In some cases, they might not know what that is. It might not even exist yet. That was the case for many products and services before someone created them. I’ve heard that said about smartphones, MP3 players, and even cars. If something doesn’t exist yet, people may need to be led to want it. But instances like that are few and far between.

What they actually need

More often, people don’t know what they need. What they want and what they need are rarely the same thing. The “what they want” part is fun. The “what they need” part might not be. You know that people need a healthful diet, but eating things that taste like what they grew in (dirt) just isn’t enjoyable, so they don’t want it. Here’s another, more extensive example.

All humans need their blood sugar levels to stay within a certain range, or they’ll die. As a diabetic, to make that happen for me, I need exogenous insulin and extremely frequent monitoring. What I want is the opposite of all of these things that I had:

• fingers that are sore from pinpricks
• spending (wasting) two or more hours every day administering meds and testing my blood sugar
• needing to worry about where my blood sugar level is
• following doctors’ orders about timing my meals and meds rigidly and perfectly (Do they even know me?!)
• needing to keep my sugar too high overnight so I don’t have a low, have a seizure, and die
• the roller coaster of multiple injections daily, which led to ketoacidosis and time in the ICU

For a long time, I begged for an insulin pump with a continuous glucose monitoring system. I did have the pump at times, depending on the whims of our different insurance providers. When they pulled coverage and I had to go back on injections, I ended up in the ICU because I needed a better, steady insulin delivery system (a pump is a thousand times better than injections).

Now, I have what I want, which gives me what I need.

• an insulin pump
• a continuous glucose monitor
• an app that makes them communicate with each other

The system eliminates the need to poke my finger except in rare instances. It also eliminates the need to load up on carbs before bed (damaging my organs) to prevent an overnight drop in blood sugar. Imagine being afraid to go to sleep because you might die if you do. With the monitor controlling the pump and an alarm that wakes me when my blood sugar starts to drop, that fear was obliterated.

What your audience wants and needs won’t always overlap so neatly. These things also won’t always be so clear.

You need to know both what your audience wants and what it actually needs if you’re going to get in front of the members of it and sell your book and other products and services to them most effectively.

After you know what your audience wants

So, you’ve determined the wants and needs. What should you do when you realize that what your audience wants and what it needs are different? Sell them what they want. Then, once they are in your ecosystem, deliver what they need.

It’s not always easy. It could be the biggest challenge you face. For help figuring out this and other platform development issues, get a free trial to Platform Launchers.

The two brutal truths are that what your audience wants and what it needs are rarely the same thing, and it’s your job to get them what they need, which you may have to do by selling them what they want.