Author Fears: 5 Things that Scare Authors and How to Overcome Them

There are tons of reasons you may feel fear as an author, and most of them are perfectly normal. But if you aren't able to get past those fears, you're not going to be able to have an impact with your book. So let's name those fears right now and work on ways to get past them so you can get that book published, make a profit and help people. If you're feeling some fear as an author, you're normal and this video is absolutely for you. Hey there. I'm Julie, the book broad from Book Launchers. We're your professional self publishing team helping you write, publish and promote a nonfiction book that will help you have a huge impact on your readers. And done right will help you grow your brand, build your business, and make you money. The best part. You. Yes, you, my friend, keep all the rights and the royalties. You are quite likely destined for greatness, and you are only going to achieve that if you're able to get past those fears. Notice I didn't say get over your fears because you're probably not going to ever get those fears to leave you. You're always going to have fears traveling along your path with you, but if you get to know them and understand where they impact you, then you can find a way to move forward with them. Let's meet the most common fears and figure out which ones you need to get to know better. Shall we? Fear number one, Imposter syndrome. You may be afraid of not having enough to say oh, or that what you have to say isn't good enough. You may find yourself wondering, have I done enough to write a book? Or who am I to write a book? Well, let me tell you, I get it. This is one of my fear friends. When I was writing More Than Cash Flow, which was my first book, I had only bought about 30 properties at the time. I found myself constantly looking at the people who had done 100 plus deals and wondering who the heck I thought I was to write a book when I hadn't even done half as many deals as those folks. I also had the added challenge challenge of the fact that several people had said my book idea was too general and Wiley, the major publisher, had turned me down, saying I wouldn't be able to sell enough books for them to give me a book deal. This fear, it comes up for me all the time. But I also know this fear very well. And I know that for me to get over it, I have to look at who needs me for my real estate investing book. It wasn't for the people who'd done dozens of deals or hundreds of deals. The book was written for the person who didn't know if they should invest in real estate or, or for the person who'd taken get rich quick type real estate courses. And things were a mess. Ultimately, this is a big part of it. I knew I would forever regret it if I didn't get that book out of me. So I look my imposter syndrome fear right in the eyes and I say, I'll regret not doing this more than I'll ever regret doing it. So step aside, I'm doing it. You have to connect with what is driving you to write the book and know that you don't have to be the biggest, the best, or even the brightest doing what you do to have a huge impact with your book. You just need to be further along the path than someone else and you need to have a clear sense of what that person behind you on the path needs to know so their journey is easier, faster and more lucrative. Fear number two, fear of writing a book that nobody reads. This one's terrifying and I know this one personally as well. Wiley, the major publishing house, told me to my face, okay, well to my email that I wouldn't be able to sell enough books to matter after we'd worked together for three months on a book proposal. So the secret to this one is use this as fuel to do it better. Write the best book you can and market it harder. Write a book that you know people need to read because you've clearly visualized who the reader is and what the outcome is for the reader. And when you do this, you will be really aligned with the book that you know people need and you will do the work necessary to get that book into those readers hands. Now come in just a little closer. I want to tell you a secret. The authors I meet that don't have this fear, they've usually written a self centered book and believe readers will buy it because of how great it is. They are oblivious to the work that needs to be done to make the book a reader focused book and to deliver massive value to the reader. So if you have this fear, you're probably on the right track to writing and marketing a book that will sell. The key is to keep going and use this fear. Okay, let me introduce another big fear I see all the time. Number three, meet fear of judgment. This is the judge. This one can be fear of bad reviews on Amazon. A fear of what other people will think of you and what you've written. A fear of looking Bad for sharing your truth. A fear of losing business. Because what you say in your book, oh, this one runs deep my friends. This one can cause you to get paralyzed or it can cause a pursuit of perfection. Neither one is healthy or productive. Paralyzed authors never publish. And let's be real, your book will never be perfect. And if you pursue perfect, you'll also never publish. The pursuit of perfection is a journey with no destination. And because we're all about no boringbooks, I have to tell you that if you hold back out of fear of judgment, if you don't really say what you believe or what really happened for you, you're going to write a boring book or about noboringbooks. So you have to take a risk and tell your truth or your book won't matter. When you're real, people will trust you more. They also know you've made mistakes and they don't want to make those same mistakes so so you can help them avoid them. Fear number four, the most mysterious of fears. For it doesn't seem like it is what it actually is and that is the fear of success. This one rarely comes out looking like the fear of success. Usually it's the underlying cause of self sabotaging behavior. We see this when an author refuses to put on an amazing cover or give their book a great title or they Change their mind 15 times and dilute their message and delay. Just as an example because sometimes people don't believe it's a real fear. I've seen it when someone has been raised by a super successful parents who were never home and they're quite likely fearing that they'll never be there for their kids if their book blows up. We've also had some business owners who are very busy already and they know that their book blowing up is going to make them even busier and that feels really overwhelming. The reality is a book can become a massive success and take on a life of its own. We've had one author get requested to be on major media outlets from 2020 to Dr. Oz and beyond and it was too much for him. He said no to many of the opportunities because it was overwhelming. But the other side of that is that massive success that is not that common. It's more common. You have to bust your butt to sell books. And if you've written the book to have an impact on your audience, then you should welcome the success because that means you're going to help so many more people. Number five. Finally, the most common and crushing author fear is a fear of asking for Amazon Reviews I gave this one its own category, even though I think it's ultimately all the fears mixed up into one. Because Amazon reviews are the single most important thing you can do and to create success for your book, yet it's one of the things that authors seem the most terrified to do. It's most certainly a fear of success, a fear of rejection, a fear of judgment rolled up altogether. And of course there's also a little bit of that fear of looking salesy or imposing on people. There doesn't seem to be much I can tell you to help you overcome or work with this fear, except to prepare you for the fact that your book supporters are likely to be an unexpected, delightful surprise. So you won't get surprised if you never ask people. And remember, if someone doesn't support you, it's usually not because of you, it's usually their own issues. So move on and keep asking. I always tell people the greatest gift you can give any author is a review. So also support your fellow authors, write reviews for the book you read, and go ahead, ask others to do the same. Ultimately, I'm going to brag a little here, but I have become rather good at being terrified and doing it anyway. And my tried and true way to really do the things that scare me is to ask myself, what is the worst thing that can happen if I do this? And then will I be okay? Will I survive that worst thing? Assuming the answer is yes, then I ask the killer question, what am I going to regret more? Not doing it or doing it and it goes wrong. Ultimately, that gets me past my fears most of the time. It also ends up making me do crazy things like move to a new country with a brand new baby and launch a brand new business in an entirely new industry. Or where I don't know anybody but if I hadn't have done that, I would not have met you and I wouldn't have helped hundreds of authors nor started book launchers, which is absolutely the greatest adventure of my life. Well, next to motherhood. So for the record, I'm still afraid. I just do it anyways. And that's generally what I would recommend for you too. So what fear are you going to take along for a ride? Let's chat about it in the comments below. And when you comment the day a video is released, you'll be entered to win some sweet noboringbook swag like our oh so soft journal and and our lovely mug. We have new videos every Tuesday and Friday, so make sure you've subscribed to the channel and turned those notifications on. So you know, when a new video comes out, if you don't know where to start to write a great nonfiction book, then this video right here is one you should watch. And this video over here is a fun one on the surprises you'll uncover when you become a nonfiction author. Both are fabulous. And selfishly, I just want to hang out with you a little longer. So I hope you choose one because I'm waiting for you over there.