In this third episode of the Empower You Podcast Authorship Series, host Kenston Henderson, founder and CEO of Live With Life, interviews award‑winning international speaker and self‑published author Robin Underwood. The conversation begins with an introduction to the podcast’s mission to inspire self‑leadership and professional development, and a brief overview of Robin’s background and her bestselling book, Fat Girls Don't Eat French Fries. Robin explains that the book’s catchy title serves as a hook for deeper discussions about self‑perception, vulnerability, fear, and resilience, illustrated through personal stories and reflections after each chapter. She describes the original target audience—women’s and faith‑based conferences—but notes that the book resonated with men and a broader demographic, highlighting the importance of a focused yet flexible marketing approach. The dialogue then shifts to the challenges of self‑publishing, including fear of exposure, perfectionism, uneven book‑signing turnout, and the trial‑and‑error learning curve. Robin offers practical advice for aspiring authors: be honest with oneself, seek mentorship from those who have already navigated the process, and avoid costly mistakes. She also shares an alternative distribution method, offering direct sales via Cash App or PayPal at a reduced price to bypass Amazon’s low royalties for self‑publishers. The episode concludes with a call to action encouraging listeners to support self‑published authors by purchasing directly, sharing contact information, and fostering a community of mutual support.
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Hello and welcome to the Empower You Podcast. I'm your host, Kenston Henderson, founder and CEO of Live With Life, where we help groups and organizations get unstuck and equip them to achieve their professional development goals through keynote speaking and corporate professional and youth development training services. This podcast was created and designed to ignite, inspire, and empower you and equip you to find and operate in your purpose. Whether you are an adult or a youth, this podcast will help you declutter your life to include healthy self-leadership practices. Uh, the first series that we're kicking off here in 2021 will showcase the journey to becoming a self-published author. Is that you? If that is you, or you know someone who is a self-published author, please connect them with me as I would love to have them featured on this podcast series. In today's episode number 3, we have as our feature author, my friend and sister from a different mister, Robin Underwood. Robin, Robin Underwood is an award-winning international speaker. She has spoken to thousands of people in all 50 US states, 27 countries, and 5 continents. Come on now. She is a 2-time Amazon bestselling author. She has worked with numerous organizations, Fortune 500 companies, universities, healthcare, and military. Inspirational, motivational, educational are just some of the accolades Robin has received from clients. As a speaker, trainer, and life executive coach for more than 18 years, Robin has helped thousands of people in numerous organizations achieve success in every aspect of life. Her unique ability to motivate, educate, and change lives makes her the ideal speaker for your next event. So Robin's book that she authors is called Fat Girls Don't Eat French Fries. I'm gonna say that again: Fat Girls Don't Eat French Fries. Come on, Robin, how you doing?
How are you? Thank you for having me. Well, let me just start with this: us fluffy girls, we do eat French fries, but the concept of this book book is just so deep that that's just kind of the fun tag that gets you in, sucks you in, and helps you to enjoy. So thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
No problem. I'm excited. So tell me about this. Tell me about your book, because that's a catchy title.
Well, it really is, and I— it came from a comment that my mother had made years ago. But let me start with this. I, you know, I traveled, as you Gosh, when I sit and I listen to that bio, I think, man, I've been around. I've been around. I was, you know, in arenas and conferences and seminars and large and small groups. And almost after every single time I spoke, someone would come up and they would hug me and they would say, I love your stories and you need to write a book. And so years had gone by and it was in the back of my head, you know, I kind of need to do that. And in our industry, that's sort of a hook, you know, that's a way to get into events. It's a way for you to just get known, right? Just to network a little bit and kind of be, you know, a little bit more well-rounded, I guess.
Yeah.
And I just thought, you know what, the first thing was I was scared to death because, you know, it's funny how you can have an event and you tell all these stories and you tell, you know, the things that are in the book that resonate with people and make them feel real but I thought if it's in writing, that makes it really real. It was just too— it was gonna be too much. It was going to make me feel too vulnerable. It was gonna be too transparent. I didn't want the world to know my, my story. And I remember sitting with a friend of mine who had been gone, who had been going through just an ugly divorce. And there's a piece of that in this book of just going through trying times And she said, you have such a story. Shame on you for keeping it to yourself. And then I published it. I mean, it was just like right after that I thought, okay, let's do this. It's not going to be pretty. And that's probably one of the best pieces of advice I give to people. I heard it from a friend of mine, Dr. Jonathan Peters, one time. He said, just make it dirty, make it messy, throw it down, get it on paper.
Get it on.
We'll figure it all out later. Right. And that's what I did. And So the, to kind of go back to your original question of like, what's this book really about?
Yeah.
It's, it's kind of how we see ourselves and how others see us and how very different that picture is. And so I do have a copy and I don't know if you can see the picture. Yeah. On the You know, front cover is, you know, how we see ourselves in, in the mirror, but how other people see us is beautiful and just vibrant and all of these things, and we question that. So the book has everything to do with fear, vulnerability, uh, just life, uh, just the knockdown curveballs, just bumps in the road, and how you can literally pick yourself up, brush yourself off, move yourself on, and realize that, you know, we're in this together. We'll get this done. We'll figure it out.
So that's good. That's good. And so, so did you have a particular audience in mind? I think you kind of described a little bit, you know, who, who would read this, but who, who should pick this up?
So it's, it's funny that you asked that because originally it was A lot of my groups were women's conferences, women of faith-based conferences, just different things. And it was always going to be just, I thought women had, you know, confidence issues, self-esteem issues, and things like that. And I had a friend of mine bought it for his daughter, and he said, um, I picked it up one day and I read it, and he said, I gotta be honest with you, men can really relate to this book as well. And so it totally changed a completely different narrative of just, this is people all shapes, all sizes, all races. And so, you know, they've— I learned in a marketing class one time that you just need to have this niche, and, and we think that we have to be a grand big team, and really it was just, you know, I wanted to make sure that I was very laser-like focused in the, you know, in the demographic, and it just grew. I mean, I'm in— I was at a conference in Atlanta full of a bunch of NFL and collegiate crew, and there's these guys going, "This is really funny, and this is really good." So it just took on an entire demographic that I didn't even expect. So, you know, it goes back to childhood issues that everybody has something that they've been challenged with. Yeah, so that's where I think that went.
I don't know, listen, no, no, and that's, and that's the craziness of it all because they do tell us to, you know, narrow it down, have a focused demographics in mind, but in reality this book can impact many people outside of the demographics. So, you know, not necessarily putting yourself in a box Um, but you, you have a group in mind, but be open enough that it's probably gonna touch some other different people as well.
Right, right.
That's cool. That's cool. So tell me, tell me a little bit about your— the, the barriers that you face going through the self-published author piece.
Well, I think one was the fear of getting it done, uh, and I think we continually make excuses that everything else is a priority And, you know, I'll get it done, I'll get it done, I'll get it done. But eventually I really had to just be very, very open and honest with myself and say, you're the one holding yourself back because of this. I want to make everybody happy. I want everybody to like it. I wanted everything to go well. I wanted my book signing. You know, I did a book signing with like, I think it was 30 different cities. Wow. And in, you know, one city there's lots of people, in the other city there was two, and I thought, oh my gosh, this is a disaster. And it was really just all— it was just all really a learning lesson.
Yeah.
Um, but, you know, and I think that if I could give some advice or suggestions to the folks that are watching, if you are wanting to figure out how to get published, reach out to those of us who have done it and don't make the same mistakes because some of these mistakes can be very, very costly and not necessary. And so once I figured it out, that was the easy part, you know, and it was just trial and error. And now it doesn't have to be that because we have such great avenues and things like this, like this, these conversations and dialogue absolutely bring to the forefront, don't do this, don't do that. I think a lot of people want to point, you know, paint this lovely picture that it was, oh, it was so easy and it was great. And I get to autograph and people love me. And that is not the truth. It's not the truth. Yeah.
Yeah. No, that's, I mean, that's, that's definitely all good jewels that I hope people are listening and picking it up on. Because again, like you said something real, real great. And the fact that you don't have to do it alone, uh, you got people like us who's been through the process, who's bumped their head already. Why would you want to bump your head too when you can go straight to getting it done? Right. You know, again, we're trying to release— we want you to release your story into the world because somebody needs to hear it. And, you know, one thing my wife always says is, is like, you know, by you waiting to produce your book, who is waiting for you? You know, who's actually waiting for you to produce what you're supposed to produce? Into the world. And so, you know, I encourage you, those who are, who wanting to be self-published authors, you can do it. Um, and so just, just connect and make it happen. And so I want to, you know, to round this out, uh, Robin, can you tell people where to find your book?
Well, you know, I thought about it earlier and I didn't realize you know, like pre-COVID times, I had an event that I had ordered a bunch of books. They're in boxes, you know, in my closet. And I thought, you know, first I'll just tell everybody to do Amazon. But I had this event that got canceled. And I have these books that are here in my possession. And I would love, love, love, love to give a personal touch and autograph it for folks. So, you know, and I thought, let's cut out the middleman. You know, we could do Cash App or PayPal or whatever. Um, and I'll, I'll give it to you. And I think what, $13 is what it is on Amazon. Let's do $10. I'll ship it to you. That's shipping included. Like, why not? Let's just do this for your fan club and your group and anybody that wants one. We'll just, you know, that'll just, you know, pay for my cost as far as shipping. But like, just get the word out and see what it is and help people. I'm completely cool with that if you're cool with that. Just, you know, my email or inbox me. I'm fine. And I've got some time. I can find some books.
We in COVID still. We got time.
We're at home. We got some time. I can handle that.
So we got some time.
So yeah, this book too that people will find is that there's, there's a reflection after every chapter. There are suggestions after every chapter and there's encouragement after every chapter. So even if you're going, not just if you want to become a published author, but if you're going through something and I can give you a little nugget or two just to kind of make it a terrible day, you know, that's that in and of itself, I think, is good too.
So that's good, that's good. So, you know, my good sister Robin is, is all for impacting lives, as you've heard, as you've seen. Please support her by purchasing her book. Again, purchase everybody's book who's going to be on these episodes because we are self-published authors. Please do not go through Amazon. We love Amazon, it's great. However, as a self-published author, we don't get the proceeds from that. If we do, it's very little, and you know, we got to be somebody great, like a Michelle Obama or, you know, somebody who can get 80 million copies out. So we on our way though, right? And all of our self-published authors are on their way, but we need the local help to continue to spread our word, to spread the messages out like Robin's. And again, you're going to be inspired by her book. So please support her. Later on, I will have her email address, website, anything that you'll need to touch and stay in touch with Robin. Please connect with her, follow her, and let's just continue to support each other in this effort. So This has been today's episode of the Empower You Podcast Authorship Series. Thank you, Robin, for being on this show with us.
