Writing Together: Amplifying Female Voices in Book Publishing

Have you ever dreamed of entering the book publishing world to share your wisdom as a best-selling author? If you're ready to turn that dream into reality and amplify your message globally, you're in for a treat. In this enlightening episode, I sit down with Cathy Derksen, an international speaker and 18-time number one best-selling author, to explore the power of collaborative books and how they can elevate your visibility as an entrepreneur. Show Notes | Transcript "We all have a story that could help somebody else getting through similar challenges or overcoming a similar obstacle in their life." - Cathy Derksen Cathy shares her journey from being a first-time author to creating a platform that empowers women to share their inspiring stories. We discuss the surprising benefits of collaborative publishing and how it differs from traditional solo book projects. In this episode, you'll discover how to: The unexpected advantages of collaborative book projects over solo ventures How to leverage your author status to boost your credibility as an entrepreneur The mindset shift that occurs when women transition from aspiring authors to published best-sellers Common pitfalls to avoid when seeking publication and how to navigate them Key insights include: Why your unique story matters and how it can inspire others The importance of vetting collaborative publishers before committing to a project How to assess the value of different publishing opportunities The potential of using your book as a powerful marketing tool for your business Cathy also introduces the concept of author retreats, combining writing workshops with self-care and networking opportunities. She shares her vision for future projects, including exciting international destinations for these transformative experiences. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur looking to expand your influence or a spiritual healer yearning to reach a wider audience, this conversation offers valuable insights on how to share your wisdom through the written word. Tune in to learn how you can become a published author and open doors to new possibilities in your personal and professional life! Resources: Join the Soulful Women's Network here Receive daily inspirational email messages: bit.ly/LoveLightNotes Need support? Go to engagewithgloria.com to schedule a call. Connect with Cathy: website: inspiredtenacity.com LinkedIn: @cathyderkseninspiredtenacity Connect with Live Love Engage: Send Gloria Grace a message ☕ Support the podcast ❤ Love this episode? Leave us a review and rating LinkedIn: Gloria Grace Rand Facebook: Gloria Grace Rand YouTube: Gloria Grace Rand TRANSCRIPT Gloria Grace Rand Namaste. Imagine turning your wisdom into a best selling book that opens doors worldwide. Well, if you'd like to do more than imagine and actually get your message out in the world in a bigger way, you're going to want to stick around to hear my conversation with today's guest who helps women publish their stories. But first, if this is your first time to Live Love Engage, I want to welcome you and introduce myself. I am Gloria Grace, founder of Align to Shine Academy and I work with spiritually minded women entrepreneurs to break free from self doubt and step into their highest potential. And joining us in just a moment is Cathy Derksen and she is an international speaker and an 18 times number one best selling author. That's amazing. Kathy has created a platform for women to share their wisdom and inspiring stories in collaborative books and her programs allow you you to expand your global network, build your business and increase your visibility while becoming an international best selling author. And I am going to bring her on right now so we can get to talking all about the wonderful world of publishing and books and all that good stuff. So welcome to Live Love Engage, Cathy. Cathy Derksen Thank you for having me. Gloria Grace Rand Well, I appreciate, appreciate you. We just met recently and I was just really impressed by all the stuff that you're doing and I love that you're focused on helping women to get their message out. But I was wondering if you could maybe before we dive into really the nuts and bolts why this is important, can you take us back maybe to your first book and what inspired you to take that leap and maybe what surprised you most about the journey? Cathy Derksen Well, as most people that get into these multi author books, the first book that I was in, I was just one of the authors in somebody else's book. And before that one, I had actually never really thought of myself as becoming an author or getting involved in the publishing world at all. And really the main reason I got into that book, it was a local group here and I'd been aware that they had been doing some books, I think that was their fifth book that I jumped into. And it was at that point I had just been through a divorce, a complete career change. I was now a single mom with two teenagers and had I had gotten to the point where I felt like the dust was starting to settle on all of that. And I knew that my story could help other women going through a similar thing to really get through their own challenges and struggles and get through that kind of thing. So that at the time was really my only goal was just that knowing that that my story could help other women. And from there I loved the process of being in these multi author books where you're collaborating with a group of people, you're all putting your story and your wisdom out in the world. And as was mentioned, I am now have just on Friday hit 18 books that I have been part of and now seven of those are my books. So they're books that I have started with the theme and the title that I've created. I brought together the group of authors, I've you know, really coached them around developing their chapters and, and yes, release them out into the world as best selling authors. Gloria Grace Rand Oh, that's amazing. What, what types of categories have your books been in? Is it kind of stayed in one area or do you have a broad range? Cathy Derksen Well, all my books have a different theme. So based on that we do vary a little bit. And I don't know the names of the categories off the top of my head now there are several hundred of them so they've really diversified the categories. But some of the books that I've. And I'll focus mainly on the books that are my projects. So like I said, there's seven of them now. The first one was Embrace Courage, Midlife Awakening, Ripple, Effective Impact. The last three that I just had released actually in the last couple months were all focused on women in leadership in different areas. So one was focused on women in leadership or transforming leadership in business and community. One was on how women are impacting leadership in science and tech. And then the last one that we just released was specific to a community called Lead Hership Global. And, and so that book was Lead Hership Unveiled. So, so those ones being more on the leadership business side, other ones being more on the personal development and getting through challenges. But definitely a lot of focus is on women's biographies, women in business, personal development, but many categories. And that's part of the fun too of going through the Amazon launch and is that you can hit several categories with the same book. So you start with say three and as you hit number one of those ones you move to other categories and hit number one and some more categories and becomes almost part of that game of, of the Amazon system. Gloria Grace Rand Yeah, absolutely. I know having well published my own book and, and with, well, I didn't publish it myself, I did have a publisher but he was, yeah, picking out the, the categories that he thought for sure that I would be able to hit that number one status so I could, I could put that label on my book. In fact, there it is, it says Amazon number one. Bestseller. But actually, and speaking of that, I, I would love to know what you think about the, like, the power of collaborative books and how they differ from like solo books projects, especially maybe in terms of reach and impact. Cathy Derksen Yeah. And I think for a lot of people, they have the idea that they need to just focus on a solo book. But what I've seen is I would say the vast majority of people who start a solo book never finish it. Or they might finish it, but they never publish it. Or if they publish it, they don't do a bestseller campaign. And also, when you are in a solo book, it's just you and your community getting the activity and the visibility out there. Whereas with a collaborative book, you have all of those people's communities working together, building visibility and collaboration and connection. And most of my books, I have 20 women per book and they're, they are literally from all over the world. In the last book that we just released, we had us, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Dubai, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany. So all over the world. So imagine you're in a group of women from all over the world and you're each. If you go back and look at my social media over the last couple weeks, we are all liking sharing, reposting, you know, so everyone's community is just blending together. The last post that I did, I had over 1500 hits on it. And you know, that's because we are all meshing together with all these different ones. So, so I, I won't say that it's an easy thing to do to hit international number one, but when you have 20 people working together, it makes it a lot easier. Gloria Grace Rand Yeah, absolutely. And I do know it is, it is challenging to write your own book. I mean, it took me five years from the time that I first got the idea to when I finally even started to write it, and then, and then get it done....