Write And Don’t Look Back

0 CommentsMonday • February 27, 2012 • by Imei

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Write And Don’t Look Back
by Imei Hsu

When I was in the seventh grade, one of my poems was published in a list of the top 100 poems in Washington State. I had submitted about half a dozen entries without a belief that any of them would be selected, and when my teacher told me one of mine made it on the list, I could barely contain my joy (and my inflated ego!) that something of mine was being read — by strangers, by other teachers and students, by critics and lovers of poetry alike.

Every time someone picks up one of my blog posts, a tweet, or quotes me from an email, I experience that same thrill. When someone says, “Could I reprint what you said about [whatever content]?” I am transported back to my 12-year-old happy child self, the one who skipped and laughed all the way home. But other than my blog posts, and tweets, and Facebook updates, I remain an unpublished writer.

THAT is about to change forever. And with your help, I will write a book and I won’t look back.

Write A Book

Why write a book? Is there even a market for it? After attending an important book publishing seminar this past week, I’ve learned that publishing a book is the best marketing practice there is to building your business. People get to know you, they like what you do or what service you provide, and then they want MORE. They want to take a piece of you home with them. They want to bring you back  to their world, their business, their boss, their co-workers. If they can’t do that, you fall prey to this reality:

OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND

I’ve always wanted to make a difference in the lives of those who entrust themselves to my care, whether it’s one year at a time (such as in my private practice as a therapist), one visit at a time (as an RN in a clinic or on the phone during triage), or one hour at a time (such as at a speaking engagement or workshop). While I’ve had the privilege of doing this on a very small scale, I have always known that these experiences were just that: meaningful, but small.

The challenge for me is that I’ve had more than one passion, and I didn’t exactly know how — or if I even should — try to combine them. The truth is, whatever your first book is, your next years of writing should share a common thread. For all the work you’ll do to promote one book, each book can ride on the success of the previous one if they are somehow related.

 

My Ah-Ha Moment

They say that if you put yourself in the stream of creativity, you will have many “ah-ha” moments. But creativity is actually a kind of work, according to Scott Berkun, author of Mindfire. It isn’t the idea, but what you do with it.

A week ago, I delivered my first presentation to an audience of about two hundred creative thinkers and medical personnel on the topic of technology and Social Media for helping professionals. It was so well received that people were asking me if I had a book with this information in it. I was smart enough to say, “My book is coming out later this year!” But the truth was, I had been carrying the subject of this book — designing your own private practice using the arts, technology, and Social Media —  in my head for a few years, and I was suddenly struck that I already had the keys to how I would pull my passions of art and healthcare together: they were right in front of me, in the form of hundreds of blog posts, tweets, updates, and videos over the past few years. They were in the requests of my clients over the past twelve years. I would not need to think of what topic I’m passionate enough to write about, because my passion has been evident.

Where Do I Go From Here?

Besides getting the title, outline, and the skeleton completed for the book, the path to publishing a book professionally can take several directions. I’ve selected mine by opting to secure angel investment in the publishing of my book. Last week. I began looking into hiring a book coach for life, and working towards becoming a dynamic speaker and presenter.  The road is long, but it contains so many elements I’ve already studied.

Did you know that I completed two semesters of pastoral speaking in a religious educational setting? Did you know that I received formal training to speak on a stage when I entered several scholarship contests in my college days? What about all the piano lessons and performance lessons I received in order to make me comfortable speaking in public and getting my point across? Put that together with the last few years studying Social Media trends as a side interest, and attending technology-oriented workshops? I had no clue this is where the roads would converge, but converge and collide they did, and it’s a beautiful mess.

And like so many others, I’ll now be chasing down the dollars to fund my book publishing project. It’s the first time I will have to engage in self-promotion in a way I’ve never felt comfortable doing, yet this is something I absolutely know I must not only do, but succeed famously while doing it.

What do you think? Do artists need to spend time writing intelligently about their work to succeed?  Are you ready for HFH (and my other web presence, Seattle Direct Counseling) to experience a huge change? Will these worlds come together quietly, or will they be the provocative upstarts in the community I hope they will be? I’d love to hear what you think .

P.S. If you wish to have a copy of my Angel Investment letter, please request one and the email address you wish to send it to. All inquires can be made at info at hipsforhire dot com [I spelled it out here so bots can't send me spam].

 

 

Posted in: Art, blogging, blogs

Tagged with: book, book publishing, book writing