Advice from New York Times Bestselling Author Guy Kawasaki

I recently had the pleasure of meeting the delightful Guy Kawasaki, a popular speaker and author of 10 books, including Reality Check, The Art of the Start, and Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. I told him about this blog and asked if he had any words of wisdom for my readers. With a sly chuckle, yet also speaking seriously, he said the following:

"Don't be paranoid."

Take a page from Guy Kawasaki's book

I asked what he meant, and he said that authors, both traditionally and self-published, are often afraid to try anything unconventional. They think someone is going to come along, tap them on the shoulder, and say, "Hey now, you shouldn't do that."

His attitude is, "Why shouldn't I?"

An example he gave was one of his recent books, Enchantment. When he finished the first draft, he sent out a Google+ message to his hordes of followers and asked for volunteer beta readers willing to provide feedback. Several hundred people replied, and you know what Guy did? He emailed them the entire manuscript.

Yes, he emailed his entire unpublished manuscript to hundreds of strangers. For "security," all he did was ask them to check a box saying they promised not to forward it to anyone else. A simple promise, nothing more.

What happened? He got a lot of thoughtful feedback that helped him improve his book, and those who provided that feedback became emotionally invested evangelists, eager to see the book succeed. In fact, dozens of them posted positive Amazon.com reviews the very day the book came out.

Guy's idea worked out pretty well, don't you think? I may have to try it myself.

To learn more about Guy Kawasaki and his books, you can visit www.guykawasaki.com.

-Maria

Maria Murnane is the best-selling author of the romantic comedies Perfect on Paper, It's a Waverly Life, and Honey on Your Mind. She also provides consulting services on book publishing and marketing. Learn more at www.mariamurnane.com.

Tags: Guy, Kawasaki

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Comment by T.L. Clarke on February 6, 2013 at 7:03pm: Great post. Thank you for sharing!

Comment by Karyne Corum on February 6, 2013 at 7:07am: I love the idea that he took a risk and felt good about it. Too often we may want to try something different, even radical but our internal editor or scaredy cat convinces us not too.

Comment by Wendi Nitschmann on February 5, 2013 at 6:05pm: Wow, great score Maria! Guy seems to be everywhere right now. I just saw a great piece for indies in which Guy critiques projects: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzFOL_Nc3Ug&feature

Comment by Julie Luek on February 5, 2013 at 4:11pm: Great post and great advice. I think I can tend to border on that paranoid place, afraid to jump out and be different. Of course, I'm also still trying to figure out what that "different" might be. Thanks for sharing your conversation with this man.

Comment by Patricia Robertson on February 5, 2013 at 12:49pm: loved the comment by C.M. Mayo! Can I steal this? :)

Comment by Andrea Johnson Beck on February 5, 2013 at 12:23pm: What a great idea, I may just do that with my second book. Thank you for sharing this!

Comment by C.M. Mayo on February 5, 2013 at 12:18pm: I get asked this question so often in my workshops, I made a little handout.

"What if Somebody Steals My Idea?"　

First, realize, that if you’ve thought of it, probably a bunch of other people have too. Or they will. Or they might. Or what they have in mind is damned similar.

Second, realize that the vast majority of people who get an idea for a book do not act on it at all, ever.

Third, realize that most people who start writing a book never finish.

Fourth, realize that most people who have finished writing a book have finished writing a bad or at best mediocre book.

Fifth, realize that even good books are never published because the writer did not know or care to learn about or have the ambition and guts to stick with it to get it published.

Sixth, realize that even good books that are published are often completely ignored or remain obscure.

Executive summary: Ideas pop into everybody's head. But compared the size of the general population, very few people write books, fewer finish, fewer yet finish good books, even fewer publish and fewer yet find any significant number of readers. So, if you have an idea and you really are going to write that book and you really are going to make every effort to make it good and get it out there, you are about as likely to have a problem from someone stealing your idea as you are to find giraffe in your parking spot. I'm not saying it's never happened. But for heavenssakes, quit worrying about it.