We can do better with our connecting
I’m happy to connect with almost anyone and I’m always open to hearing opportunities or to be offered potential services. I'll be the first to admit that in the past I've connected with people across different platforms and have been guilty of doing it very badly. I still don't always get it right. But someone connected with me recently and it just reminded me of really how not to do it. They help authors with writing, editing and publishing books. They saw I’m in the coaching space and politely connected, letting me know what they do and asking if it’s ok if we connect. Cool. Connection made. Given my background they then asked me if I’ve ever written a book. I let them know that I’ve written and published 3. They then replied with the biggest load of copy and paste generic pitch of their service I think I’ve ever seen: “I am glad to hear you have already written three books. Hope you are working on your fourth book. I would be delighted to help, should you need it I specialise in publishing new and established authors by taking the book from the idea to, during and after launch and promotion. It is a full-stack publishing process. Let's do this properly. A book is a product; you design it, package it and send it to the market, your ideal reader. Publishing is seeing its potential to sell and the steps that help increase it. It is about: a) finding your reader's needs, desires or concerns (it gives you a market) b) shaping the book to satisfy or solve those needs, desires or concerns c) a structure, a plan, and a time frame to work with. The rest comes down to execution. It doesn't matter the genre you write in. The real value is added in the writing and editing stage. Write simply, your way, write honestly and editing would do the rest. Writing, editing and getting published are closely related to and affect each other. Please pin down: ➤ The book's main theme; be as specific as you can ➤ Your ideal reader and how the book benefits them