How to Share Your Personal Story for Your Readers Benefit: Author Spotlight with Shelley Buck

Are you writing a book about your personal story? If you're trying to share a story and do it in a way that benefits others as much as it respects the people you're writing about, then this video with special guest author Shelley Buck is 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 also help you grow your brand, build your business and make you money. The best part? You keep all rights and royalties. All right, today is a special video for you. My guest, Shelley Beck is the co author of Leave youe Light the Musical Mantra Left behind by An Illuminating Spirit when her son Ryder was diagnosed with cancer and the journey went to unimaginable places, she poured her heart into writing their story. Her lessons in parenting through tribulations, combined with the power of Ryder's larger than life spirit offer profound messages for living in the light. Sharing a story of loss and celebration of a loved one's life is quite difficult to do and she did it in a way that really pays tribute to her son and offers massive value for her readers. So I thought she'd be a great person to hear from on how to do that. So please Shelli, say hello and let everyone know who your book is for.

This book is for anyone who needs the courage to be who they really are, no matter what challenges they're facing. This is my son Ryder's legacy, which we brought to life so others could see what it means to leave your.

Light on her book and this story is something really special and I highly recommend you check it out. Her son Ryder beat cancer only to die in an accident a few months later. Shelley was not only brave enough to share her story and what she learned from Ryder in her book, she was also kind enough to share her writing lessons with you to help you position a personal story for others benefit. Here's what she had to say about how you write a personal story that will benefit the reader.

This book was originally the journal I wrote from the time Ryder was diagnosed with cancer through his ultimate triumph over it and into the beyond after his accidental death a few months later. What was really important to me was painting a portrait of Ryder and the light he shone from the day of his birth. His refusal to be anything but himself through all that life threw at him taught me so much. In fact, it was this light that carried me through my grief. So my advice to anyone sharing A personal story is to find the big picture in the details of your experience and share that and stay on point. It will help you identify your audience as well. It's kind of like leaving the trees, going up on a mountaintop, and looking down at the whole forest. Book Launchers has a wonderful staff of storytellers and writers to help you. Once you've identified your audience and you know who will be most helped by your story, focus on them during the writing and afterwards during your book launch. It's important and really critical that you identify your audience.

I love the visual aspect she gave to you to picture that audience, but she really nailed the point there. Your personal story becomes valuable to someone else when you know who you're writing it for and you always, always, always think of that person. Thinking of your audience while you write a book is vital to the success of your book. My suggestion is to keep working on it until you have a really clear sense of where your readers will be found. For example, a book like Shelley's, you can easily see how parents of children with cancer are a clear market, but so are people dealing with grief. Where do these people hang out? What are they listening to or paying attention to already? Podcasts, groups, associations? As long as you create a core message around the book that has everything to do with offering value and insight to that reader, you're going to be able to write your personal story in a way that is appealing to those target readers. But until you can clearly see where you're going to find readers, you don't have a clear enough audience. That's kind of my litmus test. If you can tell me where your readers are hanging out, then I'm feeling much better about who your audience is. Her book started as a journal, which was written for herself, but to have that message go wide, she had to write the book with a clear audience and with the help of her co author, Kathy Curtis. I think they did a beautiful job of bridging bringing that core message to a group of people who really, really need it. So you've all been asking me to make sure I ask our authors what the experience of working with Book Launchers is like and how to make the most of working with us. So I asked Shelley. Here's what she had to say.

Book Launchers offers an amazing array of talent, knowledge and process management to support your journey and beyond a successful book launch. While they can do it all, I would advise you to bring as much clarity as possible with an idea of who your audience is. Don't try to be all things to all people. Be you. Bring your message and let them help you do that. I found book launchers eager and willing to help elucidate your project.

And my favorite question Shelley, what has been the biggest surprise to you after you wrote this book?

The biggest surprise for Leave youe Light on has been the vast array of people that have been drawn to it. From young adults launching into their adult lives, facing whatever challenges they're facing, whether it be a life threatening disease or just the challenges of becoming an adult and separating from their parents, to those parents who are either caring for a child with a life threatening disease or just launching their child into adulthood. And then there are the grieving parents or people who are grieving any loss. We've been thrilled by the vast array of people that have been drawn to this book.

Thank you for sharing with us, Shelley. If you want to buy Shelley's book, which I highly recommend, or you want to reach out to Shelley personally, you can find her@riderbuckmusic.com I will link to it in the description below. That's ryderbuck and it's R Y d e r buckmusic.com There's a contact form there, so if you want to send her an email, you can do that as well as purchase her book in all formats including audio. Did you appreciate Shelly sharing her story with you today? Of course you did. So please hit that thumbs up button and head on down to the comments down below to say hello and share your gratitude with her. And of course, if you have questions, you can post them there too. And when you comment the day a video is released, you'll be entered to win some sweet noboringbook swag. We have new videos every Tuesday and Friday, so make sure you catch everyone by subscribing to the channel and turning on those notifications. I sure enjoyed spending time with you today. Would you like to hang out a little bit more? Great. Okay, maybe you'd like to meet more of our authors. This link right here is to a playlist of all the authors we've interviewed so far. You're going to meet so many fabulous folks that we've been lucky enough to work with at Book Launchers. Or if you're wondering how to tell personal stories without hurting people's feelings or getting in trouble. This video on personal stories in your book is a must watch. Click on the one you want to watch. I'm really looking forward to seeing you there.