03/27/2024
WRITING AND PUBLISHING INSPIRATION. I’d like to share an inspiring story that touches my heart. Louise L. Hay, the author of You Can Heal Your Life, was rejected by nearly every major publishing house. She went on to self publish and landed on the New York Times bestseller‘s list for 13 weeks. She then founded Hay House to publish others who became powerhouses in their own right: Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Suz Orman, and many others.
I had the pleasure of meeting Louise at one of her conferences and was floored that when I shared the title of my book during the conversation, (Every Woman Needs a Wife), she looked up at me and said, “I read that book! What an awesome concept.” (I was floored, but it was possible since I reached out to her legal team to use her words in one of my books).
Her journey is one that should inspire any author. You don’t always have to wait for your story to make its way via traditional channels. MAKE YOUR OWN PATH!!! Don’t get me wrong, traditional is amazing, but I also have posted here before that if it’s the book of your heart, self-publish because it can take 12-18 months AFTER acquisition for the book to hit the market.
During a Writing Your Way to Healing Seminar with international motivational speakers and ambassadors for change, Masood Ali Khan and Sianna Sherman, I said, “My purpose is bigger than my pain”. Mostly because I, like so many others, have had to “be present” and “show up” for others when I was hurting the most—either emotionally, physically, or spiritually. This is why I write. If it was solely about the money, I would have been out of this industry years ago.
Writing has given me the greatest gift—healing from emotional, physical, and s*xual abuse that started between the walls of a place where I was supposed to be safe. This is something we all can learn from. “Your purpose is bigger than your pain.” Writing for purpose. Writing as a business. They are both wonderful goals and they peacefully can coexist!!!
To date, I have 29 books published (Every Woman Needs a Wife is through Simon & Schuster) and my own company Macro Publishing Group (where I only publish my work, my family, series and anthologies by my Tribe). I’m glad I self-published first because I learned what I was gaining and what I was giving up when that major house came calling with a contract for me and another contract for my son who was a teenager at the time. And, I was fully prepared when I ventured back into self-publishing again. A lot of NYT authors also self publish some of their work because they have full autonomy and it’s work that doesn’t fit the formula of the house they are with.
I’m sharing my journey: self-published, traditionally published, publishing consultant, Tribe Called Success, and literary agent, all to say: there is no right or wrong way to follow your literary path. It is YOUR journey. If you stay focused on WHY you wanted your story out there in the first place, then you’ll keep the faith even when book sales aren’t great.
Lissa Woodson
Writing as Naleighna Kai
Literary Agent
Development Editor
(Author Resources are on my Naleighna Kai website, along with two free cookbooks: Fit for a King and Love at First Bite, a highly successful marketing idea that promotes both NYT and debut authors alike)
