Funny How Changing One Word Can Change a Whole Book.
It has taken me an unusually long time to finish the first draft of my second book in the Start Your Own Business series, Startup Over Lunch.
The title I selected over a year ago was Startup Over Lunch: Sales Strategy in 60 Minutes to Fire Up Your Business.
I'm the kind of author who meticulously plots and plans both my nonfiction and fiction books. I create detailed outlines and know exactly the direction of content in each chapter before I write a word. Rarely do I take a writing detour halfway through the book, let alone 80 percent of the way through. But that's what I've done.
I started writing the book before my Mom's health challenge took over our lives. I put the manuscript on hold and promised myself that I would complete it quickly when the situation resolved. Unfortunately, Mom passed away.
About two months ago, I read what I had written so far to remind myself where I left off and where I would begin again the next day. The next day came and went with no writing. A week passed. A month passed. No writing.
I was frustrated with what was going on. I didn't have writer's block. I know what that feels like and how to get beyond it. This was different. I had an unease with the content, like something was wrong. But how could it be? I spent significant time getting the outline right so the manuscript includes the topics that will help aspiring business owners sell.
That's it! It hit me like a brick hitting the side of my head.
It's about selling! Not sales.
My readers need to be comfortable with the idea of selling themselves as a new business owner and their offering before they can tackle sales.
It's that idea that was rattling around in my subconscious and preventing me from writing the rest of the book.
The word sales conjures up an image of a whole corporate department with fluorescent lights, long contracts, and a prize for the salesperson of the month. Most of my readers have never lived in that world. Their first goal is to figure out how to talk about what they do and convince themselves they have something people will want.
But selling? Selling is sharing and connecting. It's about being comfortable with yourself and with the process in a natural, human way. It's not being pushy or sounding like a used car salesman (with no offense intended toward used car salesmen and women).
And that's where beginning business owners are. They're not ready for a sales strategy. They want to feel comfortable selling. They're ready to learn how to talk about their work in a way that doesn't make them want to hide behind a potted plant.
As soon as this difference in meaning between two simple words occurred to me, everything fell into place. The direction makes perfect sense now, and I completed the last 20 percent of the manuscript in one week.
Now comes the hard work. Editing this first draft.
So what's the final title? As you can guess:
Startup Over Lunch: Selling Strategy in 60 Minutes to Fire Up Your Business.
And here's the revised cover.
This has never happened to me before. And the transformation was so interesting to me that I thought you would be interested too.
With love and gratitude.
