In this podcast episode, John interviews Dr. Debra Blaine,  a returning guest from 2022, for Part 2 of their discussion on how to publish a book and promote your business. 

Dr. Blaine, a former physician turned full-time author, continues to share her insights on the writing and self-publishing process.

Our Sponsor

We're proud to have the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA Program, offered by the Haslam College of Business, as the sponsor of this podcast.

The UT PEMBA is the longest-running, and most highly respected physician-only MBA in the country. It has over 700 graduates. And, the program only takes one year to complete. 

By joining the UT Physician Executive MBA, you will develop the business and management skills you need to find a career you love. To learn more, contact Dr. Kate Atchley’s office at (865) 974-6526 or go to nonclinicalphysicians.com/physicianmba.

For Podcast Listeners

• John hosts a short Weekly Q&A Session on any topic related to physician careers and leadership. Each discussion is posted for you to review and apply. Sometimes all it takes is one insight to take you to the next level of your career. Check out the Weekly Q&A and join us for only $5.00 a month.
• If you want access to dozens of lessons dedicated to nonclinical and unconventional clinical careers, you should join the Nonclinical Career Academy MemberClub. For a small monthly fee, you can access the Weekly Q&A Sessions AND as many lessons and courses as you wish. Click the link to check it out, and use the Coupon Code “FIRSTMONTHFIVE” to get your first month for only $5.00.
• The 2024 Nonclinical Summit is over. But you can access all the fantastic lectures from our nationally recognized speakers, including Dr. Dike Drummond, Dr. Nneka Unachukwu, Dr. Gretchen Green, and Dr. Mike Woo-Ming. Go to Nonclinical Summit and enter Coupon Code “30-OFF” for a $30 discount.

Overcoming Writer's Block and Setting Realistic Goals

Dr. Blaine emphasizes the importance of manageable writing goals, suggesting that aspiring authors shouldn't feel pressured to write a 300-page book immediately. She recommends breaking the writing process into smaller, less overwhelming pieces.

Dr. Blaine also shares tips on crafting engaging openings and maintaining reader interest throughout a book, including using “hooks” at the beginning of chapters and “cliffhangers” at the end.

Practical Writing Tips from a Seasoned Author

Dr. Blaine offers practical advice for aspiring writers, including keeping detailed notes on characters and plot points. She discusses her current projects, including a guide on the elements of fiction writing and a new trilogy.

Debra emphasizes the value of consistent writing habits, suggesting that authors find a routine that works for them, whether it's writing every morning or setting aside specific times during the week.

Summary

To learn more or connect with Dr. Blaine, you can visit her website, allthingswriting.com, email her at db@allthingswriting.com, or find her on LinkedIn. Debra's books are available on her website and at Amazon, and she offers a free novella titled Deadly Algorithm through her website, providing an excellent introduction to her writing style and themes.

Links for today's episode:

• Dr. Debra Blaine's Website: All Things Writing
• Debra's latest book on self-publishing, The WriteR Stuff: Step-by-Step Guide to Self-Publishing and Worldwide Distribution
• For an example of Debra's writing download a free copy of Deadly Algorithm
• Vellum, the software Debra uses to write her books (this is an affiliate link)
• Debra's LinkedIn Page
• Part 1 on How to Publish a Book and Promote Your Business
• Purchase Your All Action Pass Videos and Bonuses from the 2024 Summit (Use Coupon Code 30-OFF)
• The Nonclinical Career Academy

If you liked today’s episode, please tell your friends about it and SHARE it on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Right click here and “Save As” to download this podcast episode to your computer.

Today's PNC Podcast Transcript

Email Download New Tab

Transcription PNC Podcast Episode 373

Part 2 - More on How to Publish a Book

John: The question is when you're doing the coaching and people need help, you said it was the creative side.

Dr. Debra Blaine: It's the creative side, and feeling overwhelmed. A lot of them thinking I can't write a whole book. And so, the first thing is you don't need to write a whole book. Nobody eats a slice of pizza in one bite. You write a piece of the book and it doesn't have to be a 300 page book. It can be a 100 page book. It could be an 80 page book. You can sort of figure it out so that you don't overwhelm yourself. That and getting organized, helping them to organize.

John: Okay. I'm not going to jump into writing the memoir of my entire family, my nine siblings and all of their families and my parents and aunts and uncles and everything in over a span of 80 years or something. No, I'll remember not to do that for sure.

But I did notice recently, and I don't know if it was, I was reading a book or watching a movie or both was that I need something to get me interested in the first page. Like you said, if there's something happening right now, you just into it, you have no idea who you're reading about, what their motivation is, what's going on, except something is happening. That's a good way to get me at least interested in the book.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yeah, and that's called the hook. And not only do you want your title to represent the book and be a little bit of a hook, your metadata, the book description, that first line that says what the book is about, that's got to be a hook. But then when you start your first paragraph should be a hook. One of the things that a lot of new authors do, in particular, is they start off the book with it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, which is great, because they had a longer attention span back then. But when I write a book, a lot of times when I consult with my author clients, I have them jump into a scene, it's already happening around you. It doesn't have to be the main character. But what is the emotional stress on this character? And why? And so, immediately, who is the person? What is the conflict? Why do we care?

And so, not everybody's going to love every book, right? But for those who are going to be your readers, they're going to eat that up. And then they're going to keep going. And at the end of every chapter, you don't want to leave the end of the chapter, "Okay, and she went to bed feeling much better." Chapter three. I can put that down and I forgot to pick that up. Oh, three months later. She went to bed, but the question was still in her mind of what happened to whatever, fill in the blank. You always want to end the chapter with a little bit of a hook that makes the reader want, I don't want to see what's happening and turn that page.

John: Isn't that how soap operas do it? There's a cliffhanger at the end of each episode. And so you'll come back next week.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yeah, exactly. Right.

John: Something like that. Yeah. I don't know, when you get older, it seems like time is going faster. This is totally off the wall, but I just mentioned when I'm reading a book, each chapter towards the end seems to go faster than the ones that were the first half of the book. Is that just my imagination?

Dr. Debra Blaine: Well, it could be. In my books I tend to write short chapters, although this trilogy that I'm writing, I've noticed that the chapters are longer, but it depends. Some authors write shorter chapters. Take a look, look at the old books, the days of your, and if the chapter was 25 pages, and then this one is only five pages, well, then it's not you.

John: I see, they're manipulating me. Okay. I was going to ask you about some lessons you've learned that want to make sure prospective writers or current writers might learn from to make things a little easier for them if they decide to do this kind of thing.

Dr. Debra Blaine: I didn't know anything about really book writing when I started. I had this story to tell and I mixed it in. I had the story to tell about what's happening in healthcare, but I mixed it in with this medical thriller about people hacking into our EMRs and extorting money and killing the patients. I didn't have a sense of... I read a lot when I was a kid. I kind of understood instinctively the arc of a story and that I wanted my characters to be really interesting people and what makes somebody interesting. They learn things about themselves, but there were so many things I didn't understand. And even though I worked with a mentor for a year and he helped me tremendously. I used to say that I got my master's from Rich Cravolin because he used to be a professor at the University of Southern California, but he didn't send me a certificate. But there's so much more, I guess the PhD version. There's so much more.

I love that you're familiar with my books. I wrote Undo Influences and then I wrote Beyond The Pillars of Salt. And then I wrote the Meraki Effect and that was followed by the Meraki Nexus. In trying to put those together, what I didn't know then is that a series sells faster. Now, when I was writing my first book, don't talk to me about series. I got this one book and that's all I can handle, but series sell faster. And since in those three books or four books, I kind of used the same characters. I liked the characters. I had developed the characters. I liked what they stood for. There was one that I didn't like too much. So I knocked them off, which is something you can do when you're an author.

But the difference was, is that the first one, Undo Influences is a conspiracy thriller, a government conspiracy political thriller, takes place in 2020. Beyond the Pillars of Salt is sort of a natural progression of what happens to those people and to the world with climate change and dictatorship like government that we seem to be headed for, at least at the time. And so, then that became more of a dystopian. And then like a dystopian is almost by definition, science fiction. And then what did they do? They had to leave planet earth and figured out how to do that, try to make it as realistic as possible. And then they got to planet Meraki. And so, that was a pure science fiction colonization, space opera, whatever.

I tried to put them together. I completely confused the Amazon algorithm. Seriously, it's an algorithm. It learns some things, but it's also kind of stupid. But it's a political, contemporary political thriller, dystopian science fiction, and then pure science fiction. Dystopian fiction, mostly on earth and then science fiction on another planet. And my sales went like through the floor. The things that I didn't realize is, this time I'm writing this trilogy and I'm going to keep it all in one genre and I'm going to write it to market.

The interesting thing is, I know self-published authors. I personally know self-published authors who are five, six, and seven digit authors. And I know of traditionally published authors who are probably five, six, and seven digits or more like James Patterson or somebody who has other people write most of his books now, by the way. But I know these people, I've spoken to these people. They're my coaches. They've told me how to work things. I didn't know this stuff before. And so, it's really helpful.

I've also heard and seen that most writers don't make it big until they've published a number of books. One of our colleagues, Freda McFadden, I'll throw in a plug for her though, not that she needs it. She is a neurologist. She has written, she has completely dominated the top 20 Amazon thrillers for the last six, eight months. She earned so much money from that. I don't know how much exactly, but I can promise you, she's probably in seven digits at this point. But she told me it took her nine years to become an overnight sensation.

John: Right.

Dr. Debra Blaine: She's got like 20 books out. My friend Christina's got 20 books out. A lot of hers are novellas. People do it with novellas too. But the magic number they said is about five or six where you start to see that you really can, because there's so many books out there. And when people buy a book, they want to know if they like it, that the author's written other things because they want to stick with that author.

John: Let me ask you a quick question. In the online world, there's this thing, you've probably heard of it, a thousand true fans. If you have a thousand true fans, whether you're selling photos or you're selling books or whatever, or a podcast or whatever, if you have a thousand true fans, which means they'll buy anything you produce. Have you ever calculated whether that would be sufficient to meet a certain level of success?

Dr. Debra Blaine: Well, you need to sell more than a thousand books.

John: But if you have 10 books out.

Dr. Debra Blaine: If you have 10 books, now you've got 10,000. And if they're true fans and they tell other people. So if you figure the average royalty, if you do it yourself is between... Well, the little guy, it's less because it's a small book. I can charge less because the printing cost, the paper costs and the paper costs has gone up. With an eBook, most of the places, if you self-publish will give you 70% of the profits as opposed to Ingram says they give you 70%, but I never got more than a buck and a half. And whatever their processing fees are.

But let's say you're getting $4 a book and you sell a thousand in a month, then you got $4,000. Once you start selling, that's how my little guy got to be number one and stay there for so long. Because I sold 52 copies in the first week. And when that happens, once it starts selling, then Amazon, the algorithm again, starts saying, "Okay, this book, people like this book", and it starts showing it to random people. Even if they're not the people that heard about it from me from somewhere.

And so, the more popular your book is, this is the way all social media works. When you post something on Instagram, if somebody likes it, that's great. But if they comment on it, then the algorithm thinks, "Oh, people like this", the more people that have commented on it, the more people Instagram will show you or not hate Instagram, I can't really figure it out. But the algorithm part I understand. And it's the same for Facebook, for LinkedIn, for Amazon, for any of these places. The more people are interested, it thinks more people will be interested. And because Amazon wants to sell books, it wants to present the one that seems to be selling so we can make even more money.

John: Right. It behooves us to maybe if we're doing something like that, to get a big bump at the beginning somehow.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Well, that's what I did. Actually when I published this little puppy, I put it up for the first week for 99 cents. And a bunch of people bought it. Now, I don't think 52 people that I presented to bought it. But a lot of other people bought it when it was on sale for 99. So now it's $3.99. But other people bought it. And then it stayed up there for two weeks. It was in the top five.

John: When I want to learn something, it's been a while, but I would just go on to Amazon and look, they have free books and then they have 99 cent books. And so, if I say, well, I want to learn about this, I'm just going to buy the first five of those books for five bucks. And so, there is some motivation there. People are looking for that because they know there's a good chance it's going to have good information. It's not going to usually be garbage or the person wouldn't have taken the time to produce it and get it out.

Dr. Debra Blaine: You'd be surprised. Some things are.

John: But some things are.

Dr. Debra Blaine: The thing with that is Amazon doesn't really want you to put your book up for 99 cents because they don't make any money. What they do is if your eBook is between $2.99 and $9.99, they give you 70% in royalties. There's no printing costs or anything. If it's below $2.99 or if it's above $9.99, they give you 35%. 52 people bought this, but I didn't make any money on it. It was more to get it up there and get it to where it was going to be seen. They each have their and the printing price when you go to put something up when you self-publish it, it's going to tell you as you're in the different stages that you enter it, it's going to tell you, okay, this is your book. This is how many pages it is because it's going to have looked at it before you get to that stage and it'll say the print cost will be, and it can be $2 if it's a tiny book, or it could be $5 or $6, or if it's a hardcover, it's going to be maybe $12 or $14, which is why hardcover books cost more. When you calculate your royalties for a print book, you're going to take the cost of the book. Amazon gets 40% of anything in print. Take the 40% off, then take the cost of printing and subtract that from what's left from your 60% and the rest is yours.

And when you punch it in, you say, okay, I want to charge $8.99 for this book and it'll calculate and say, this is going to be your royalty. I want to charge $12.99. Okay, this is going to be your royalty. I want to charge $4.99 and say, nope, can't do that, it's costing us more to print that. Really, you're not blind to it. You know exactly what you're going to get.

John: All right. Well, I think we're about out of time here. We've covered a lot of things, answered a lot of my questions. All right. Did you already mention what you're working on now?

Dr. Debra Blaine: I'm working on the sister to this guy, which is going to be about how to organize your book. What is a story arc? What is a character arc? How do you develop characters? How do you write convincing dialogue? The basic elements of fiction and applying it. And then I even have one example of taking a story, "Sue found a cat under a bush and took it in." Well, that's a plot, but the whole story arc, I go into this whole thing and what she was feeling when she found it and what happened when she picked it up because it's a scared cat and the vet bill. I created a story arc, but I also use examples from real time, like movies that we know and books that we know. That's that book.

John: I have a question about that.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yeah.

John: That comes in my head also while you're talking. Do you have to keep a bio on your characters handy, or do you remember everything about how your characters think, what they would do in this situation, that situation, or you just wing it? How do you figure that out?

Dr. Debra Blaine: Great question. No, I can't keep all that on hand. Sometimes I can't even remember the name of what was her husband's name. But what I do is when I write, I have two documents going. I have the book and then I have the notes for the book, kind of like your show notes, maybe. And I list things. First of all, I'll write out the general arc of the story. I'll write out who are the characters and I'll put something about each character. And then when something significant happens, I'll add it. Okay, this woman was actually married to that guy and he did this. And I'll add those things and I save that.

And I do a lot of research when I write my books. Some of it's scientific, some of it medical, some of it physics, whatever. And I'll copy that and put it in too. I have it all so I can go back to it, not just in writing this book, but for the next book. Yeah, I can't remember all that.

John: I would think you'd need some kind of cheat sheet.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yeah, how do you do that? I don't know anybody who can just sit down and... Maybe Frida can, I don't know.

John: I like to read series. As you mentioned, those are very popular. So I have this Michael Connolly has a series, he's like up to 30 books now. There's no way you could remember the characters, especially when he skips a book or two and then goes back to these old characters.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Right, right. Instead of reading the book again. But the other book I'm working on, which I'm really excited about, because this one it's more of a term paper kind of thing. I just started a trilogy. And did you read? Now I'm not intimidated by the idea of I'm going to write a trilogy because, well, yeah, I've written I've written seven books. Why can't I have a trilogy? So I can write three more. I don't know if you read. I put out a little freebie reader magnet Deadly Algorithm.

John: No, I have not read that. I saw it on your website.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yeah, I can send you if you're interested. We can put the link in there because it's free if anybody wants it. It does put you on my newsletter, which is something I learned that authors need to have. But in that book, it's a medical thriller and it's got some EMR things and quirks. But what happens in the book is the mother. There's a child, a four year old child that has to be left behind with the dad.

And so, what I'm doing now is it's 12 years later and that child is looking for her mother. And so, this is going to be the quest and the bad guy, the antagonist in in the novella in Deadly Algorithm is basically corporate greed insurance companies, big pharma, they don't want to pay for health care anymore. So there they want people to die. And this particular character, who's the main character of that story, doesn't have any medical problems, but they give her one, a medical problem for which the cure will kill her. And so, why is that happening? And she has to run. Anyway, you can get that in just the blurb about it. So this is not 12 years later.

And now it's going to be where the real bad guy is way bigger than big pharma. And in the first part, the first book is going to be about Jenna searching for her family and what leads her to have to do that. And then ultimately, the population of the earth has been thinning due to climate change and people and too many resources depleted. And where is that going? I don't want to say the end of the book, but it's going to be that she said that that's a cat. She said, No, don't do it. But the bigger antagonist, the bigger evil is going to be way, way bigger. And it's going to have something to do with artificial intelligence. That's all I'm going to say, because that's the big thing these days.

And this time, I've got a lot of detail on that first book. I've got the second book, sort of roughly outlined, but I know where I'm going with it. And the same with the third. And I'm really excited about it, because this time, I'm writing it to market. I'm putting in the things that I didn't know to do before. So, how do you write to market? You find books that are like the book you want to write. And you look at them and compare them. How old is the protagonist? What's the setting? What's the year? Where are they? What are the common? What are the tropes that you find in there? What are the flaws of the characters? Now, that doesn't mean my book is going to be anything like them. But to just make sure that readers who expect those kinds of emotional bounces, we'll get them.

John: Nice, nice.

Dr. Debra Blaine: I'm excited about it.

John: Okay, that's going to be good. That'll be good for another podcast episode then. Okay, where should we find you? allthingswriting.com? Is that the best place to start?

Dr. Debra Blaine: That's my website, allthingswriting.com. And you can also find me on LinkedIn. And you can email me at db@allthingswriting.com. I don't know if you want to put in, there's a Calendly link, which you can find on my website. It's hard to know if I was able to get it into LinkedIn, I don't think I was. I was trying to figure that out.

John: But I always ask authors this, writers this. Probably you've already answered it. But should they go to your website to buy the books? If you go to your website anyway, to check them out, but I do end up just pushing them off to some other site or do you sell from the website?

Dr. Debra Blaine: I haven't started selling from the website because it's complicated. But Amazon is a great place to go. You can just do just do a Google search Debra Blaine books. And you'll come up with my books. And the nice thing is that the more even though I would get more money if I sold them myself, the more people buy it from Amazon, that algorithm kicks up. So it helps.

John: Right, right. Okay, well, I'm going to let you go now here in a second. You have a minute or two, if you have any bit of last minute advice for the listeners, maybe try to convince them to become a writer or not become a writer or a novelist.

Dr. Debra Blaine: I had a note about that, but I can't find it. My advice is write. If you have a story in your head, we call it a word dump. Just start writing it. Don't edit it while you're writing it. It's a first draft. It's a rough draft. It's not even your first draft. Because you can get so bogged down. And you don't have to figure "I'm going to write 80,000 words." You don't even think in terms of words. Put the word ticker on later but if you don't start writing, nothing will get down there. I used to have a mantra when I was writing Code Blue. And it was, "It's not going to write itself." Because I was one of those people who wanted to have written as opposed to wanting to write. But it doesn't happen like that.

John: Are you disciplined now? Can you black out so many so much time where you're going to write? Or do you kind of wing it now when you feel real productive to do more and then other days...?

Dr. Debra Blaine: I try to write every morning. My brain is crisper in the morning. And that's still that whole COVID thing. And I schedule clients usually in the afternoons and evenings. And even if I feel like I'm waning, I don't want to say sundowning. But if I'm waning, once I'm talking to someone, that energy that we bounce off each other, that ignites me and that's really helpful. It's a different part of my brain, but to sit and to write and to do the research and go back and forth. I try to do that in the mornings. And I try to write every morning.

John: Nice. That's good. That's good. Sounds like something that we should emulate if we're going to try and do that.

Dr. Debra Blaine: You don't have to do it every morning. As long as you put aside whatever time it is for you. And let's say it's only three times a week. Three evenings a week I'm going to tell my family, please just give me an hour. And it's the inertia I think of, you need to get started. Sometimes I'll say I can only write for 20 minutes and it'll end up being an hour and a half because it's getting started.

John: Once you get going, it's like a lot of things. I might have to split this into two episodes, Debra, but it's okay. Because then I don't have to do another episode. I'll just spread this out. Nobody wants to listen for an hour and they can break it up themselves, but I tend to go. I'll think about that after we hang up here.

All right. But with that, I'm going to say goodbye officially from the podcast and thank you for spending all this time with us today.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Thank you. Thank you so much. I always love talking to you.

John: You should read the books guys, because they're entertaining. It's an escape. Reading, relaxing, walking.

Dr. Debra Blaine: And you write the best reviews for me too. Well, that's the other thing. Please write review. The reviews are the hardest thing to get. It's really hard.

John: I'm going to put that in the show notes too. I'm going to say, here's the link. If you want to look for the books or you can go to Amazon here and always write a review if you do that, because the author definitely needs that. All right, then, you take care.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Okay. Thank you so much, John.

Scroll back to top

Sign up to receive email reminders, news, and free stuff every week!

Enter your name and email address below and I'll send you reminders each podcast episode, notices about nonclinical jobs, information about free and paid courses, and other curated information just for you.

powered by

Disclaimers:

Many of the links that I refer you to, and that you’ll find in the show notes, are affiliate links. That means that I receive a payment from the seller if you purchase the affiliate item using my link. Doing so has no effect on the price you are charged. And I only promote products and services that I believe are of high quality and will be useful to you, that I have personally used or am very familiar with.

The opinions expressed here are mine and my guest’s. While the information provided on the podcast is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge, there is no express or implied guarantee that using the methods discussed here will lead to success in your career, life, or business.

The information presented on this blog and related podcast is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only. I do not provide medical, legal, tax, or emotional advice. If you take action on the information provided on the blog or podcast, it is at your own risk. Always consult an attorney, accountant, career counselor, or other professional before making any major decisions about your career. 

[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

The post More on How to Publish a Book appeared first on NonClinical Physicians.

In this podcast episode, John interviews Dr. Debra Blaine, a returning guest from 2022, for Part 1 of a discussion on how to publish a book and promote your business.

Dr. Blaine, a family physician turned full-time author, shares her experiences transitioning from medical practice to writing and self-publishing seven books since 2017.

Our Sponsor

We're proud to have the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA Program, offered by the Haslam College of Business, as the sponsor of this podcast.

The UT PEMBA is the longest-running, and most highly respected physician-only MBA in the country. It has over 700 graduates. And, the program only takes one year to complete. 

By joining the UT Physician Executive MBA, you will develop the business and management skills you need to find a career you love. To learn more, contact Dr. Kate Atchley’s office at (865) 974-6526 or go to nonclinicalphysicians.com/physicianmba.

For Podcast Listeners

• John hosts a short Weekly Q&A Session on any topic related to physician careers and leadership. Each discussion is posted for you to review and apply. Sometimes all it takes is one insight to take you to the next level of your career. Check out the Weekly Q&A and join us for only $5.00 a month.
• If you want access to dozens of lessons dedicated to nonclinical and unconventional clinical careers, you should join the Nonclinical Career Academy MemberClub. For a small monthly fee, you can access the Weekly Q&A Sessions AND as many lessons and courses as you wish. Click the link to check it out, and use the Coupon Code “FIRSTMONTHFIVE” to get your first month for only $5.00.
• The 2024 Nonclinical Summit is over. But you can access all the fantastic lectures from our nationally recognized speakers, including Dr. Dike Drummond, Dr. Nneka Unachukwu, Dr. Gretchen Green, and Dr. Mike Woo-Ming. Go to Nonclinical Summit and enter Coupon Code “30-OFF” for a $30 discount.

The Power of Self-Publishing

Dr. Debra Blaine shares her journey from medical practice to full-time author, having published seven books since 2017. She discusses the advantages of self-publishing, including greater control over the publishing process, faster turnaround times, and significantly higher royalties.

Self-publishing allows authors to maintain ownership of their work and make decisions about cover design, titles, and content without interference from traditional publishers.

Crafting Compelling Fiction

Drawing from her experience as an author and coach, Dr. Blaine offers insights into creating engaging fiction. She stresses the importance of a strong story arc, believable characters, and natural dialogue. The post discusses techniques for hooking readers from the first pages and creating emotional connections with characters.

Summary

In Part 1 of this 2-part episode, returning guest Deborah Blaine discusses her transition from physician to full-time author. She explains the benefits of self-publishing. She also shares insights on self-publishing, including tools, techniques, and the importance of effective book design and metadata. Finally, she offers her advice on crafting compelling fiction, focusing on the creative aspects of writing.

Links for today's episode:

• Dr. Debra Blaine's Website: All Things Writing
• Debra's latest book on self-publishing, The WriteR Stuff: Step-by-Step Guide to Self-Publishing and Worldwide Distribution
• For an example of Debra's writing download a free copy of Deadly Algorithm
• Vellum, the software Debra uses to write her books (this is an affiliate link)
• Debra's LinkedIn Page
• Purchase Your All Action Pass Videos and Bonuses from the 2024 Summit (Use Coupon Code 30-OFF)
• The Nonclinical Career Academy

If you liked today’s episode, please tell your friends about it and SHARE it on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Right click here and “Save As” to download this podcast episode to your computer.

Today's PNC Podcast Transcript

Email Download New Tab

Transcription PNC Podcast Episode 372

How to Publish a Book and Promote Your Business - Part 1

John: I really enjoy reading novels. I've slowed down recently, but I probably read 10 or 15 novels when I was really in the mood to read some years. But that's in addition to all the business and self-help books, things like that over the years. And I've always been impressed by the combination of creativity and discipline that successful novelists have. So, I think of people that are creative as being creative. But to be creative and disciplined, that's something a little bit different.

Anyway, I invited Dr. Debra Blaine back to the podcast now because she's a novelist. She's been writing for years. She's been on the podcast two or three times before. And she just recently self-published a book on self-publishing. That was very Meta. So welcome back, Debra, to the podcast.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Thank you so much, John. Thanks for having me.

John: It's always fun when we get together. We have a lot to talk about, but you've been very busy. I don't talk to too many writers that can say that you've written how many books in how many years now?

Dr. Debra Blaine: Well, I started just writing a first draft in 2017, but I have now published seven books.

John: Okay.

Dr. Debra Blaine: And I'm working on some more.

John: That's quite a lot of productivity there from the writing standpoint. So if you can keep that up, then you'll have a lot of books out there over the years. And the other thing, of course, the listeners should remember that one of the things that makes you unique, I've had other writers on, but they're mostly medical writers, but you made a commitment. You decided, "You know what? I'm going to stop practicing and I am going to try to grow this writing thing to be sort of my new vocation." Is that what I recall correctly?

Dr. Debra Blaine: Correctly.

John: Okay. And you're actually the only one I've ever interviewed that has written a novel or six. And I had one poet once that wrote a book of poetry. I don't know if that that doesn't quite count. I don't think so. Anyway, let's get into what's new with you. Fill us in since you know what's been going on since we talked. Oh, it's been about almost two years ago.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Great. It's interesting. You said I decided. I was writing as kind of a side gig. Sometimes life comes along and kicks you in the butt and says, okay, you're really miserable practicing medicine and you're not going to do this anymore, even though you think that maybe you should or whatever reason. I got Covid about 18 months ago and it completely changed my life. I'm a very special person. I'm one of the seven percent who got long Covid. And I still even now, I cannot focus for 12 hours straight. I don't have the stamina to go from room to room, to room, to room and spend every moment of those 12 hours concentrating or treating patients thinking I need to take breaks. And what they told me was when I asked them and I said, "Listen, I'll come back to work, but I'm going to need to take a 10 minute break every three or four hours." And they actually wrote it in a text. "Unfortunately, there are no breaks in urgent care."

And so that being said, I resigned. I was on disability for six months and then that ran out. And then life kicked in and kicked me in the butt and said, okay, you have the side gig. And I think that even if that hadn't happened, I feel like a lot of my life and a lot of perhaps other people's lives is constantly redefining where we're going. It's like if we're headed in one direction, sometimes it's not quite due north. Maybe it's northeast a little bit. Or maybe I need to take a detour over here. It's kind of a zigzag finding my way. It has been for me to find my way into what I really enjoy doing and to be able to throw myself into it.

I started writing in 2017, a few words scribbled on a couple of pages. I published that book in 2019. And since then, I've put out six more books. And this summer I put out two books. One of them is really short. The self-publishing book is pretty short. And I'm working on I'm working on two books now. And one of them is also a nonfiction, it's going to be a guide. And I'm going to come up with a better name for it, but a guide to fiction writers, the elements of fiction. What do you need to put in? How do you how do you determine a story arc? How do you develop characters so that it's more of a how to without having to get a master's degree in writing. Just in a short little book bum, bum, bum. These are the things to put in. This is why. And these are tips. I'm going to hopefully have that out in a couple of weeks.

John: But I have a question since you mentioned writing two books. The most writers, this is how I would think of it, would I would keep I would try and work on one till it was pretty much done and then go to the next as opposed to going to write two or three or four all simultaneously. I assume different authors, writers just do it differently.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yeah. I thought I was absolutely out of my mind. But to me, they're different sides of the brain. Writing a guide about how to write fiction is kind of like writing a term paper, but making it interesting and fun. Whereas the trilogy I just started is a complete my right side of the brain. And it's a whole different kind of thinking. So they don't really clash. But the one of our colleagues who said she kindly said she would take a look at it when it's finished to tell me if I forgot anything. She said she's working on two books right now. And so she would get to a couple of weeks. I said, oh, I'm not the only one.

John: Yeah.

Dr. Debra Blaine: So I guess not. But yes, I think common sense. And certainly if you're a beginning writer, I would focus on one.

John: Yeah, that makes sense. I can imagine, though, the great writers that we all have our favorites. I could imagine if that was their full time occupation and they were really putting 40, 50 hours a week in it, that they might have three or four things going on at once, because I know there's certain times of the day, certain days of the week. And just the way your mind works, sometimes it's more focused on certain things than other things.

Dr. Debra Blaine: And some of them have ghostwriters for them, too.

John: Well, I got some questions for you today. We'll just kind of go wherever you want to go, but tell us about the self-publishing book. Why did you write it? And then you can tell us, some of the advantages to self-publishing while you're talking about that.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Okay. Just as a caveat to that, I'm going to say or a segue into that is that I think I've spent as much time studying, learning, going to webinars, reading about the authorship process, including publishing, as I did in basic sciences. And so, I learned to self-publish. And when I did that, everything changed for me. I could put books out so much faster. I could do it on my timeline. And I wanted to share that. I wanted other people to know that there's other options. If you want to go the traditional publishing road, you have to query an agent and the agent has to find a publisher. And the process can take forever and literally because you may not ever find someone. Agents, I think they get like 200 queries a week and they have to go through. And most of the time, traditional publishers will not entertain your submission without it coming through an agent. And then there's hybrid publishers, but I wanted to be able to offer people how do you do it yourself because you can use a hybrid, which is a whole other thing.

Hybrids are pretty pricey. They go anywhere from like $5,000 to $7,000 to $15,000 to $17,000. I know one of our colleagues spent $17,000 on a done for you that was not really done for you. And I was like, wow, I did all that for a client and I didn't charge nearly that much. And I couldn't. I wouldn't ever do that like in in good conscience. I couldn't do that. But just to be able to show people that it's not hard.

I'm a technology challenged individual. If it's a software, I'm leaving. Until a couple of years ago, I didn't think I could handle anything like that. But when I spoke to, actually, it's the same person who's going to look at my book coming up and tell me if I'm missing anything. And she's published like twenty five books now. She's a successful author. I only knew her from the women physician writers group and Facebook group. But I remember I messaged her that I was thinking about using this self-publishing company and she messaged me back immediately "Stay away from this company." I was like, whoa. And then we got on the phone a few days later and she spent 45 minutes with me just telling me, "Okay, this is what you do. You do this, this, this and this. You know all the parts that go in the book because you already published two books with the hybrid. And I recommend that you set up accounts with each distributor."

It's a pain in the butt, but for her it was worth it because of the control she had and the visibility that she had and the ability to get paid quickly with royalties. I ended up doing that. That first book that I self-published was Beyond the Pillars of Salt. And from the time that I finished my final draft, which is when I would have sent it back to the hybrid because they were willing to publish another one for some another exorbitant fee. I think it would have been $9,000. From that day to the starting from there. I sent it to an editor. I got a cover designer. I got my ISBNs. I filled in everything I needed to do. I set up the accounts to the time that it was released and available everywhere around the world was 67 days.

The first two books, first they said six months and it came out in eight months. The second one, they told me six months. It came out in 11 months. And then for this third book, I was like, "Well, how much can you promise me? Because I want to wait a year with this." And they said, "Well, we can promise to a year", which could be 18 months. And so, that's when I said, okay, I'm going to try this. And I kind of very gingerly stepped into it.

And you can't tell that it's self-published. It's printed. The people who print it are the same people who print the traditionally published books. And as long as you have the software that I use, I use Vellum software, and it gives you all this. It creates the beginning of your copyright page. It creates your table of contents. It offers you a dedication page and an acknowledgement page and all the things that you want to put in. And now it's come up with things where if you add back matter, we can talk about back matter in a bit. It'll save that and add it to all your other books. If you want to say here's how to get in touch with me, you don't have to put it in every single time.

And the price, you can't beat the price because you pay once. First of all, you don't even pay right away. This was what helped me because they said I can download the software. I can play with it. I can put my stuff in. If it looks like I like it and I want to generate a book, then I pay them. I can hold on to it for six months and never use it. Whereas there's another one called Vellum is only good for a MacBook, Apple. But there's another one, Atticus, which is very popular, which is you can use on either PC or a Mac. They make you pay up front, but you have a 30 day where you can return it. I would guess, and I don't know this for sure, but I would guess that if you use it to generate books, you can no longer return it. But with either of these, you get unlimited books, eBooks or print books. When I generate files, I have separate files for Kindle, Nook, a generic EPUB, Apple Books, and a print. And it breaks it down for me. So when I go to upload those books, I just choose the correct file and there it goes.

John: All right. So let me ask a question here because I'm thinking some of our listeners are like me, like total novices. And what I know a little bit about is, there's a lot put out there about how to make money on the internet, writing books and that. But the whole gist I got from that was that if you put something together and it's done well, and it's helpful to people and you put it out there, someone's going to buy it. And if you can cut out the middleman, you can make more money selling it. But it never occurred to me, if you have this software, whatever it might be, Vellum, you mentioned, once you're using the software, you can write the book in Vellum, right? Isn't that how that works?

Dr. Debra Blaine: You can.

John: Do you do it like in Word or something else?

Dr. Debra Blaine: I do it in Word and then I upload the file. You can do it in Vellum. It's a different screen and I like the features that I have in Word better.

John: Okay. But it converts that easily, right?

Dr. Debra Blaine: Oh, yeah. It's got to be a DocX file.

John: Yeah.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Or a Word file or a Scrivener file.

John: But I'd never thought about that. Well, once you've done that, as you said, I never thought that, "Wow, if I write another book and then load that, everything else is already in there from the first book."

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yeah. You have to set it up for that.

John: Yeah. Awesome. Well, that's cool. Anyway, go on. Let's see, where were we? We're talking about, you learned all this and you've been using it. What are the other advantages besides the time component and the fact that it's really not that costly, but the other advantages to self-publishing?

Dr. Debra Blaine: Okay. I want to just add on, did you ask me why I started doing it? One of the things that I do for clients, for authors, is I help them self-publish their own book, which is often about their side gig. Because when you have a side gig, if you have either an eBook up on your website or a book on Amazon, and by the way, it can be available anywhere. You can have it go through IngramSpark and be distributed wherever you want. It's an unconscious assumption. If they have a book, they must know what they're talking about.

John: Right. That's right.

Dr. Debra Blaine: I had encouraged a lot of people and worked with people to write a book about their side gig and I hadn't done one myself and I thought, "Well, that's really stupid." That's why I started that. But the advantages are, there's two major advantages. One is the control that you have in terms of your timeline and the fact that you own your book. And the other big one is the money, the royalties.

When I took my books back from the hybrid and put them up myself, my royalties increased four times. And not only that, but when someone else is publishing your book it takes six months for them to tell you, "Okay, this is what you earned." Your earnings are a pittance and you don't see what's happening in between unless you bug them and ask them. And if they're in a good mood, they might tell you.

But when you self-publish, with Ingram, it's still the same. You can see what's happening, but you don't get paid for six months. But for example, on Amazon or Kobo or Apple or Barnes & Noble, you see day by day, how many people are buying your book and you get paid every 30 days. I think Barnes & Noble won't pay you unless you've got at least $10 in royalties, but hopefully you will. And they'll pay you direct deposit to your account. You set up your own accounts. Nobody else is putting their fingers in the middle. And it takes that whole part of when you're wanting to write a book and then you finish the book and you think, oh, great. And it's like, oh, I got to publish it now. That means you got to write a query letter and you got to find an agent and every agent wants a different kind of query letter.

So you can't just make one letter and send it to a bunch of people. You have to tailor it to each person. It just takes so much of that stress out of it. And then you have the control. If a traditional publisher picks up your book, they'll pay for everything, but they'll also tell you you're using this cover. We don't like your title. We're using this title. And you know what? This chapter doesn't fit. We want to get rid of it. We want you to write a chapter like that.

One of our colleagues has done well in terms of getting her books published.    I think on the third book, she's with a traditional publisher. She wanted to write about a male main character, a male hero, instead of a female. And they said, no, we won't publish that because we have you in the female lead and we don't need you as a male lead. So you lose a lot and you don't own your book. And this way I own my books.

John: Okay. Now I was going to ask you to go over at the high level, the process of writing a book, but we might as well stop right here and just tell us about your book about self-publishing because bottom line is they're not going to remember everything that we talk about today, unless you're really taking great notes. And what they need to do is just get your book on self-publishing. So why don't you give us that information right now?

Dr. Debra Blaine: Okay. What I have in the book, actually I didn't want to miss anything. I wrote it somewhere so that I could take a look. I talk about the different kinds of publishing. I talk about how to get an editor. I'm an editor too, by the way. I learned to do that. How to get a cover design, what you want from your cover design. People do judge a book by their covers and how to figure out what's going to be effective because there are strategies to this.

See, I didn't know any of this before. The hybrid completely got the cover wrong for one of my books, Undo Influences. And I was told by someone that it looked like a psychology self-help book and it's a political thriller.

John: Yeah. I think the original has a picture of a brain on the front.

Dr. Debra Blaine: It does. You changed it.

John: You changed that. You got rid of that.

Dr. Debra Blaine: I got rid of that. I got rid of it. And now it looks like a thriller. And the sales went up and my royalties went up because for every sale, my royalties went up. I talk about how to format, setting up accounts, metadata and back matter. Once you have a couple of books, you may want to put in the back of the book, "Hey, see my other book? If you liked this book, go to this book, join my newsletter." I talk about how to do that and where to do that, because there are certain places where it's like the classic book, you think of once upon a time and then the end. The moment you write the end, Amazon, for example, if you're on a Kindle, we'll stop showing you the rest. You can go to it, but it'll immediately flip you to something else to buy because the book is over. So how do you get your messages, your links in before the end? Well, for one thing, you need to write the end and you don't end the chapter. When you finish the story, you put an ornamental break in there. And then if you like this, Amazon thinks it's still part of the algorithm, thinks it's still part of the meat of the book. Your reader will know that it's not part of the reader. If you wrote a good ending.

So, there's so many things that I've learned about, and I try to put a little bit of everything into that book I just published. I didn't want to put everything in, all the detail. Because it is overwhelming and I don't want to overwhelm anyone. That book is really for people who have written what they want to write and they're ready to publish and they know a little bit about it. They know my book needs, I want to put a dedication in it. I want to put an acknowledgement in it. I want the different things that they want to add about the author. They want to know where can I put a link to something else? Where do I put my other books? And that's what the purpose of that book and how to format and how to use software.

I also talk a little bit about how to write metadata. Metadata is your book description. I think it's official that human beings have the attention span of a goldfish. Have more attention than we do. We're just bombarded with so much information and people scan, but to get them to stop and read, you have about three seconds or less. You got to hit them with a hook, something that immediately makes them say, "Oh, I want to read about that." And so, you want to target that hook to the people who would be interested in your book. You don't want to hook someone who wants a great cooking recipe and then talk about a cozy mystery. You want to be appropriate.

I talk a little bit about writing metadata, the keywords, where you find your keywords. I didn't know anything about keywords and categories. And when I was getting it published by the hybrid, and certainly if a trad publisher, did they choose all that for you? Sometimes they're not working so well.

When you do it yourself, you can go right back in and change your keywords. You can change your categories and you can test it and say, "Okay, let's see if that works better." And I talk about how to calculate royalties. Just down to the nitty gritty, down to the penny. How do you calculate the royalties? What happens when you have so many fingers in the pie and where the money goes? Or in the case of Ingram, sometimes we don't really know where the money goes. It just disappears. And some of the common mistakes that authors make.

And then I have a checklist at the end for do it yourself. Bum, bum, bum, you're going to do this, this, this. While your book's being edited, you're going to get your cover designer. You're going to set up your account. I try to put it in a really simple format.

John: Nice. It sounds pretty comprehensive, but not overwhelming. Now you mentioned that you help others do this personally. And I think you have training as a coach.

Dr. Debra Blaine: I'm certified as a coach and a master trainer coach as well.

John: Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot about that. You have all the skills already to facilitate people on whatever it is they're doing whether it's life skills or writing a book. So what is the typical person come to you for now in terms of helping them? Is it the software? Is it more of the creative process, all the above?

Dr. Debra Blaine: I have more clients for the creative process, which is why I'm going to release another self-help book. My books are called the "Writer Stuff. And this is going to be the second one. And it's going to be just outlining what is the story arc and why is it important? How do you create dialogue that doesn't sound like he said, she said? How do you develop your characters so that they're believable and they're deep in there and people can get emotionally connected with them?

Characters drive your story always, and you have to care about your character. There's a book that was written called Save The Cat. I'm just going to work from the title because I'm not working from the whole book, but the idea that if you have a villain who you start the book, because you always want to start your book with something that draws the reader in. If the reader is not interested in the first two pages goldfish mentality, they're going to look inside, they're going to be like, "Yeah, I'll look for another book."

So you had to draw the reader in. So you got this guy, he's running because he just killed three people and he's slashed another one and he's running away. And then the police are after him. And as he goes into an alley, he hears a cat stuck on a fire escape and he stops and he brings the cat and he gets the cat to the ground and then runs off. Now, the police are even closer to him. So now it's like, okay, this is some evil dude. He's a murderer, but wait, he saved that little cat. So that idea, to make people care about this guy who's not just a murderer. We don't know why he murdered them yet, but we do know that there's something in him that's a good person.

That kind of stuff that gets a reader just interested enough to keep reading and want to keep reading. People when they read novels, they want to feel emotions. If they're reading a textbook, they want information. If they're reading a novel, they want to feel things. And especially in our day and age when there's not a lot of time spent on our feelings. I think when people read, they get into that. There's been studies shown that people who read fiction have a much reduced incidence of dementia later on.

John: Oh, really?

Dr. Debra Blaine: Not nonfiction, fiction. And I'm thinking it's because there's so many subplots that they're following along and it's a different part of the brain.

Scroll back to top

Sign up to receive email reminders, news, and free stuff every week!

Enter your name and email address below and I'll send you reminders each podcast episode, notices about nonclinical jobs, information about free and paid courses, and other curated information just for you.

powered by

Disclaimers:

Many of the links that I refer you to, and that you’ll find in the show notes, are affiliate links. That means that I receive a payment from the seller if you purchase the affiliate item using my link. Doing so has no effect on the price you are charged. And I only promote products and services that I believe are of high quality and will be useful to you, that I have personally used or am very familiar with.

The opinions expressed here are mine and my guest’s. While the information provided on the podcast is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge, there is no express or implied guarantee that using the methods discussed here will lead to success in your career, life, or business.

The information presented on this blog and related podcast is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only. I do not provide medical, legal, tax, or emotional advice. If you take action on the information provided on the blog or podcast, it is at your own risk. Always consult an attorney, accountant, career counselor, or other professional before making any major decisions about your career. 

[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

The post How to Publish a Book and Promote Your Business appeared first on NonClinical Physicians.

In today's podcast, our guest describes her personal success in writing and self-publishing a novel.

Our Sponsor

We're proud to have the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA Program, offered by the Haslam College of Business, as the sponsor of this podcast.

The UT PEMBA is the longest-running, and most highly respected physician-only MBA in the country. It has over 700 graduates. And, the program only takes one year to complete. 

By joining the UT Physician Executive MBA, you will develop the business and management skills you need to find a career that you love. To find out more, contact Dr. Kate Atchley’s office at (865) 974-6526 or go to nonclinicalphysicians.com/physicianmba.

The latest book is the sequel to “Undue Influences.” The story takes place about 10 years in the future.  And it's remarkable that Debra was able to write and self-publish the book in only 9 months.

Self-publishing Journey

Traditional publishing, hybrid publishing, and self-publishing are the three ways to publish a book. In Episode 231, she spoke with us about these possibilities.

Dr. Blaine employed hybrid publishing for her first two novels. She wanted more control of the process and to publish it more quickly, so she chose to self-publish her most recent book. And, she describes how she did that during our interview.

Debra used an Apple Mac-compatible book authoring application called Vellum. And she set up accounts with Apple Publishing, Ingram, Amazon Publishing, and Kobo to distribute the book.

Achieving Personal Success by Writing

To Dr. Blaine it's not just about writing… it is also about making a difference. She hopes that when readers interact with the book's characters, it will have a more profound, emotional impact. She refers to it as “truth in fiction.”

The truth hurts, but fiction guides gently. – Debra Blaine, MD

With the release of each new book, Debra feels a sense of accomplishment and success by writing and self-publishing, especially.

Advice from Dr. Debra Blaine

I think reframing the meaning of our lives changes the experience of our lives… not defining ourselves strictly as clinicians… defining ourselves as more of a whole person…

Explore who you are. A lot of times when you find something you're interested in… if you're passionate about something and you start following it to its logical conclusions… your life will just be better.

Summary

Debra can be reached at debrablaine.com where you can also find her books and information about her coaching business. You can also find her novels at veryindiepress.com. If you are interested in authoring a novel, follow Debra's lead and hire her as a coach to achieve success in writing and self-publishing your book.

NOTE: Look below for a transcript of today's episode. [Also: the book links above are Amazon Affiliate links, so we receive a small commission when you buy using these links.]

EXCLUSIVE: Get a daily dose of inspiration, information, news, training opportunities, and amusing stories by CLICKING HERE.

Links for Today's Episode:

• Dr. Debra Blaine's Website
• Beyond the Pillars of Salt
• Episode 116: How to Influence the World by Writing a Medical Thriller
• Episode 231: How to Become a Marvelous Medical Mystery Author
• Code Blue: The Other End of the Stethoscope
• Undue Influences
• Vellum
• Apple Publishing
• Ingram
• Amazon Publishing
• Kobo
• NewScr!pt

Download This Episode:

Right Click Here and “Save As” to download this podcast episode to your computer.

Podcast Editing & Production Services are provided by Oscar Hamilton

Today's PNC Podcast Transcript

Email Download New Tab

Transcription PNC Podcast Episode 268

Achieving Personal Success by Writing and Self-Publishing a Novel

- Interview with Dr. Debra Blaine

John: Well, as you all know out there, I like to talk to physicians that are doing new things. And I don't know, for some reason I'm really into medical writing and writing that isn't medical. Today's guest has been on the show twice before, and she's released a new book called "Beyond the Pillars of Salt." I got to get that in right at the beginning so I don't forget. And so, with that, I want to welcome Dr. Debra Blaine. Hello.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Hi, John. Thanks for having me.

John: It's always fun. I don't know what it is. I think people that actually take writing beyond just a hobby or something and actually write something that gets published are awesome. That includes people that publish, I guess, scientific articles, but I like to read novels. I like mystery, thrillers, things like that. What you've been writing has been right at my alley. So, it's going to be fun to talk about your new book today.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Thank you.

John: Here we go. I'm going to really dig into that. We're going to learn as much as we can, not just about you, but because this third book has been published differently. That's one of the reasons I wanted to get you on today. But let me just say that I'm halfway through the book and I don't know if we're going to be using video, but if we are, there's the cover of it and I really am enjoying it. It does keep me moving forward. It's interesting. I've noticed when I read mystery or a thriller or even a cop type of book that the further I get in the book, the faster it goes. It's weird. It's kind of like as you get older you move faster through time and that means it's keeping my interest. Explain where this book came from after you tell us a little bit about yourself and your history being a writer and a physician.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Okay. I've been practicing medicine for 33 years. I am looking for a permanent exit. Right now, I'm only working part-time. I published my first book in 2019, which was a medical thriller. And my second book actually came out less than a year ago and it was a political thriller. And that one was called "Undue Influences." And so, this is the sequel to "Undue Influences." And this one took me nine months about to write, edit and publish and release. So, I'm really excited about that and that process going forward.

But the political thriller kind of focuses on what's happening to our society and how our minds are being manipulated in so many different ways and how that's leading us towards extremism and towards not being able to really get along with each other, but perhaps it's serving some other interests, the political powers that be.

What "Beyond the Pillars of Salt" does is it takes that scenario to one of the possible frightening conclusions. And so, in "Beyond the Pillars of Salt", we now have a society in the United States, which is where I live, where the government is not elected anymore because no one believes the elections. So, it's become despots who are ruling our country and it's autocratic and cruelty is sort of the norm which I think we've seen some of that. It's just a lot of violence.

And on the other hand, there's also the planet, which has been neglected. The needs of Earth have been so neglected that between the storms and the shifting tectonic plates and the flooding in coastal areas, the Earth is kind of redefining itself, reclaiming itself. And it's not going to be so habitable for human life in the very near future.

Now, all this takes place in the year 2032, not so distant future. I really hope I'm totally wrong about all of us, but the group of people, the group of humans that we get to know fairly intimately in "Undue Influences" make their way to the mountains and they find this little hiding place where they grow into a whole compound of people.

And the story is about how they manage to survive. And if you haven't read it yet, I'll say if they manage to survive. But what they do and how, not just how they manage to survive physically, but how they manage to survive as human beings. So, how to not repeat the mistakes of the past and where to go to find a place to thrive. So, I don't know how far you are in the book. I don't want to completely give away the book, but this becomes this search for we cannot sustain ourselves, the planet Earth will not sustain us anymore so we need to find another way to go.

And so, all of my books, I try to make them plausible. No matter how outrageous it is, I try to make it something that you could actually go step by step and see how you could get there, given what we know today. So, I did a lot of research. I don't know if you're up to all that part yet, but I did a lot of research about what's out there in space and what we could possibly aim for, and how we could propose to get there without some magical, "Oh yeah. It's Star Trek. We just push the button and we're in warp speed."

John: Yeah, exactly.

Dr. Debra Blaine: But there is definitely woven through that, a sense of a person who is reminding us that this is the last chance. We have to get it right this time. And so, the whole question for me became not only what does it mean to be better, more worthy, more noble human beings, but how do we get there? How do we find that? And these are really major questions that I'm trying to just explore in a science fiction, dystopian fiction kind of world, and hope that my readers will play along with that idea too and think about it.

John: A couple of things I have to comment on there. First going back to the start of what you were saying. Nine months is unreal, particularly when you consider that you were publishing in a completely different way, which we're going to talk about. Because you had published the others in a different way that we've actually talked about before in the podcast and I'll put links to our previous episodes. The self-publishing, which you took this time, that's a whole learning curve and you're going to tell us about that. So that's one thing.

Yes, I could tell in the reading of the book and I do like this, there are thing's my wife and I talk about movies and so forth, and the things I like are science fiction. I like sometimes if they're using time travel, which I don't think is in this book at all. But the scientific background I'm like, you must have done research. You have a scientific background, of course, as a physician, which I think helps and I like that because it's hard to fool another physician when you're talking in scientific terms because the lay public might not notice something. But I got to give you kudos for that. And so, why don't you just tell us before we go too much further where your website is because I know that's one place they can get the book. So, in case they don't listen to the end.

Dr. Debra Blaine: My website is debrablaine.com and you can also get there if you put in veryindiepress.com because that's part of my new avenue for publishing. But debrablaine.com will get you to my books on the first page, my coaching practice which is primarily for physicians, but for anyone that has a coaching practice for writers, which is very exciting. And I have a blog, my bio, a mission statement, stuff like that.

John: Yes. It's laid out really well and it's easy to get everything right there. All right, you've told us about the book. You didn't want to tell us too much. Like I said, I've gone about halfway through it and yeah, you didn't spill any of the beans that I haven't read through yet. So that's good to know. But I have really enjoyed it to this point and it will be done very quickly. We did schedule this interview rather suddenly so that's my excuse for not being the really good host that has finished the book. But tell us about why and how you decided to publish the book the way you did.

Dr. Debra Blaine: In the past, as I mentioned before just really briefly, there are three common ways to publish a book. You can go the traditional route but you have to first get an agent because unless you have an agent you can't even approach a traditional publisher that can take you anywhere from one to two years unless you already have an agent. Then the agent has to find a publisher who's willing to publish your book. And then the publisher takes however long they want to take. It can be a year, can be two years. They can release it when they want to release it and they can tell you what to do with the book, which chapters they don't like or what new chapters to write in. It doesn't cost you anything. And they do usually give you an advanced fairly small if you're not a well-known writer like Dan Brown or something. That's number one.

Number two is the hybrid. I kind of fell into the hybrid. I didn't even have a chance to think about whether I was going to start doing query letters. I was working full time at the time and the hybrids, they charge you to do all the developmental editing, the copy editing, the proofreading. They do a cover design. They do everything you need to do get your ISBN numbers. They do everything that needs to be done plus they format and they platform the book.

They tend to platform the book through IngramSpark which is the main company in this country that does that and prints. And then IngramSpark farms it out to everywhere else, Amazon, apple, Barnes & Noble, whatever. So, your books can be available anywhere. I didn't want to wait that long because my first book "Code Blue", it took eight months to get it out when they promised it to me in six. My second book "Undue Influences", they promised in six, it took 11 months. And I just wasn't willing to do that because I want to turn out the books faster. And because I try to make my books timely for what's going on in today, this year.

So, I decided to self-publish it. That meant I hired a couple of editors, two different ones. I went to Kirkus first, which is really known for their reviews. It's a very high-quality organization but they also have a separate arm that just does editing, cover designs, formatting, things like that. So, you can go to Kirkus and say, "Hey, I want to self-publish my book" and they'll do everything for you that I actually ended up doing myself. So, I got one editor from there, loved her, absolutely loved her. They promised me it would be finished within 15 business days. It was done in two weeks, including the weekends.

And then I went to Fiverr, which is an online platform where you can get people who are interested in offering all kinds of different services. And I got another company that did a second edit because I wanted to kind of double check it and they did a proofread. And so now I had my edited manuscript. I think he's an amazing cover designer, Joe Montgomery, I got to plug him. He just worked with me. He earned every penny. And at one point, I sent him an email and I said, "I know I'm probably your biggest PIA client, but I've really enjoyed working with you. And he wrote back to me and he said, "Oh no, this project's been a blast." And so, I'm going to use him in the future.

I had a cover designer, but then there are all these other things. You need to get the little identifier numbers that are on your books ISBN. So, it's really not that hard. You look everything up online. Bowker does it. They're very friendly. You can get a human on the phone very easily. I bought ISBNs. I bought a barcode. A friend of mine recommended this program called Vellum. And it's software. It only works with Mac but there's a closed Facebook group for doctors, for women physician writers. It's a great group. I put up a thing because I said "Has anybody had experience with Vellum versus Atticus?" Which is another one, Atticus, you don't have to have a Mac. I do have a Mac. And everybody chimed in "Vellum, Vellum, Vellum." Vellum is a little bit more expensive, but for $249. And plus, Vellum gives you the software. Play around with it. If you like it and you want to use it, pay us.

John: Nice.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yeah. It's not until you generate a file that you have to pay them. So, once you pay them the $249, you now have a license to format unlimited paper and eBooks forever.

John: Wow.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yeah. I think it was money very well spent. I took my manuscript and I'm like, I'm not a very tech savvy person. I'm working on changing that. So, I'm looking at it, it says upload file. I'm like, okay, I clicked it and it was amazing. In about 20 seconds, my manuscript appeared in book form. And it labeled each chapter, it gives you a table of contents if you have one. And it gives you just numbers, just for the eBook, but not necessarily for the hard cover or the paperback, which you can do either one.

It separated my copyright page. It separated my epilogue. It separated my title page. It knew all these things. And then you could add elements. So, I could add my acknowledgment page, my dedication page, about the author page. It even asks if there's other books by this author. It really lays everything out for you so nicely. I did that and then I've learned a lot of things along the way, when I decided to upload.

A friend of mine who recommended Vellum said, you can just send it to Ingram or you can just send it to Amazon. If you send it there, they have the exclusive rights for distribution. So, you can't necessarily send it to both if you just do one. But she said it's a pain in the butt, but she does it separately on every platform. And so, I did. I opened accounts with Apple, with Ingram, with Amazon, with Kobo. And so, all sales get deposited, the royalties get deposited directly into my account. It doesn't go through another publisher. And so, then I just uploaded, I discovered something really interesting. When you upload to Amazon, the Kindle version, you don't have to publish yet, you can preview, and it will go through and do another proofread for you.

John: Wow.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yeah, it's so cool. And it came up with, and it said five potential errors and four of those was a word that I made up. So, obviously, yeah, it's going to say that. And so, I just ignored those. And then there was one, I knew that it was the word "trivial" and the second I was missing and I remember fixing that, but somehow, I guess I didn't save it after. Anyway, I went back and I fixed it. You can preview it on Amazon for your paper back as well. I think you can preview on Ingram as well. And then you fill in your metadata and your price. It really was so much easier. Calling Apple, iTunes Connect. I had some issues, they didn't like my tax ID number or something. They get on the phone with you. In two or three rings, you've got a human being. Even the US copyright office, I had to call them. This was the day after Labor Day. And I think he partied too much on Labor Day. He was a little bit cranky, but he helped me in within five minutes of my picking up the phone to call the problem was solved and he was off the phone.

I've just found the people in the publishing world are so friendly. They're just really easy to work with and that's why I could do it so fast. Because I had my own cover going and I got it edited and I had the software. And so, this is something that I'm offering now as a coach. If you have a book, I'm not an editor, I'm not going to edit your manuscript. I'm not a cover designer. I can't do your cover design. But I can sort of help guide you to where you can get that done. And then we can talk about that and then we can get on a Zoom meeting again, and I can upload your manuscript in front of you, share screen. You can choose your font. You can choose your spacing. You can choose the size of your letters, the size of your book. Once you do that, it will tell you how many pages it is. And then you can have your cover designer create, it's called a mechanical that has the back and the spine and all that because that has to be a perfect fit.

So, all these things that you don't really think about, but if you have a good coverage designer, an experienced cover designer, they will know what you need and you'll be able to work with them. You don't want somebody to just make a picture unless you're only interested in eBook distribution. eBook distribution, all you need is a picture.

John: Got it. So now when you're in Vellum and you're converting everything, do you add that cover, back and front cover at that point, or does that come later in that whole publishing process?

Dr. Debra Blaine: Vellum asks you for the cover but they're only looking for the front cover, because it's for eBooks. Now for a print book, there are only certain places that are going to do a print book. Apple only does eBooks. Amazon does both. When you go to Amazon and you want to upload your book for print, it will ask for your manuscript and then it will ask for your mechanical for the cover. So, you have to upload that. There'll be a separate file that your cover designer will give you. The same thing with Ingram. It's the manuscript and the mechanical. They're just separate files, but when Vellum produces files, it labels them. This is for this company, this company, this company.

John: Oh, nice. So, it has been broken down by company. Nice. I happen to have a Mac, so I'm kind of in both worlds, PC and Mac, but I would definitely keep that in mind if I ever decide to write a book, particularly this type. But boy, you've got this down to a science. This is very interesting. If this last one was nine months, you're going to crank out one a year minimum, I think.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Well, we have a colleague who's been putting out two books a year now for a while. Actually, she did four books last year, but she's so far ahead of me. She's a little bit like a guru.

John: Yeah. Well, we have a couple of minutes here. I want to ask you, in your coaching, what if somebody said, "Yeah, I want to self-publish my book, but I also need a little bit of help and figure it out what's the most efficient way for me to write my book? I just sit down and sometimes I get a few pages done and then I get distracted or I try to squeeze it in between different parts of the day." What is sort of the short version of your advice if I were to ask you as my coach?

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yeah. I've picked up a couple of clients who want to write and so we meet and I give them a package if they don't want to pay by the session. And the package because it's writing, it's not like regular coaching. I mean, it is coaching, but I give them like 10 weeks or eight weeks to use the package, even though they're paying for four sessions. So, if you want to take them some extra time because you're on a roll writing and you don't want to get back to me yet. But we talk about structure of books, methods to keep people interested, how to keep the reader hanging on what you should start with.

One of my clients had this great, great idea. She said, this is how I want to start the book. And I said, that is an awesome, amazing chapter, but make it a chapter two because that's not going to pull the reader in. And we talk about structure and the things that are necessary and some of the elements of dialogue. And my job is to keep them accountable. And when people pay for coaching, when they're paying for something, they tend to be more accountable. And then at the end, I tell people, I can't promise you that your manuscript will be accepted by a traditional agent or a traditional publisher or a hybrid, but I can promise you that when you're done, if you choose to do self-publishing, I will do it with you. And then again, all I charge is for my time. And then they get the files and they set up their own accounts. I don't have anything to do with their earnings.

And the other thing. Going through my former publisher, they only go through Ingram. So, let's say a book is being sold by Amazon. Ingram takes their cut first. Amazon takes 40%. Then you have to subtract the cost of printing, which by the way, Amazon charges a full dollar less for the same book than Ingram does to print. And then my publisher gets a fee, I'm sure. And then whatever is left over is called the royalties. And we split that 50/50. I think I get about 75 cents to $1.25 a book. But when I self-publish it, if it sells on Amazon, I get $5.86 a book.

John: Oh, five times the amount more or less. Four or five times the amount. That's much more efficient in terms of generating some income, which I'm assuming you would love to do over time, generate more income with writing and less income from medical, which I can relate to that quite a bit as many of our listeners can. Probably not the quickest way to becoming a millionaire is to start writing. But if it's something you love and you're good at it, then why not pursue that and get paid for it? Just like everything else we talk about here. It's something you love, you're passionate about. You'd know how to do well and you get paid for.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yeah. And you know me, John. For me, it's not even just about the writing. I want to say something and I feel like when people read an article or they hear the news or somebody gives them a self-help book or something, it goes in, it stays with them for a day, a week, a month maybe, and it's gone. But when you think about your favorite books, you remember them from time to time. And my hope is that people will, when they engage with a character, that it will affect them in a deeper, more emotional way that will leave an over lasting impression because our planet is in trouble. The people on our planet are in trouble. And this is kind of my way of doing medicine for the spirit. I call it truth in fiction. That's my new thing. The truth hurts, but fiction guides gently.

John: Yeah. And in fact, most physicians that find something to do outside of seeing patients one on one end up helping patients indirectly or directly anyway, whatever they're doing. And this is another good example. I have one more question for you before I let you go. But before I do that question, I'm going to remind everybody the first place to stop is debrablaine.com.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yes.

John: And they can find everything there. If they want to go to Amazon directly, so be it, look for your name there and they'll find the books. And really if you're a writer or a fledgling writer or want to learn how to publish, self-publish and seek you out for coaching for that. Okay. Here's my last question. Do you have any advice for clinicians who are basically stressed out and unhappy? Just general advice, because you're a coach, you're a trained coach. So, what do you tell people when they reach out to you and say, "Man, I'm ready to kill myself with this medical thing?"

Dr. Debra Blaine: Really good question. I think reframing the meaning of our lives changes the experience of our lives. So I think not defining ourselves strictly as clinicians, defining ourselves as more of a whole person, the things that we're doing in life, the goals that we have for ourselves, for our families, for people around us, for our patients. But thinking about what legacy we want to leave, I think is really important. And when we explore ourselves outside of medicine, we become more satisfied. And I find that when I started to look at myself differently, when I started my self-image changed, the world around me reacted to me differently. All of a sudden, they're not treating me like some cog in a machine. Like, oh yeah, she's not going to listen to us. Instead of trying to push me into that round hole, when I'm a square peg, they are just like, "Okay, whatever."

It's just living life on my own terms a little more and not listening to the message that "This is the only thing you can do with your life. And this is who you are and you have to stay here and just run around the hamster ring. That's what you're good for." So don't listen to that. Explore who you are. A lot of times when you find something you're interested in, it becomes a money maker. If you're passionate about something and you start following it to its logical conclusions, you will make money at it and your life will just be better.

John: I appreciate that a lot. And while you were talking about that, you had mentioned earlier about how the people you're working with are so nice, the editors and the different people. It's because they understand and they appreciate the fact that there are people like you out there that are actually trying to write and it's not easy and it takes time and it takes a lot of effort. And so, they don't take you for granted unlike some industries I guess is what I bring up into. Okay. I want to remind people too, by the way, from what I heard, one of the best things will help you out long term with something like this is after they read the book, you're all going to pick up the book, of course, every listener that's listening today. And they should leave a review after they finish reading it.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Yes, please, please. Because there's a couple things that work really well on Amazon. The more reviews you have, the more when people click on the book, "Beyond the Pillars of Salt" is just out. So, there's not very many reviews. Sometimes people will click on it and say, "Oh, not that many people have looked at it." So, they look away. The reviews are really important for that. But also, the more reviews you have and the more sales you have, when you get to a certain point, Amazon starts to promote the book itself and you don't have to worry so much.

John: It's a giant search engine after all.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Right, right. When it says, "Oh, these people are liking this book or all these people are buying this book, maybe more people will like it." Because Amazon wants to make money and it's doing well. They want it to do better because that's better for Amazon.

John: Excellent. We'll keep that in mind. And I guess I want to just thank you for coming on and telling all of this. It was like a whirlwind, a lot of information, but that's why we're here. We're here to support people and teach them. And they can learn more by contacting you, of course. So, thanks for coming on the show today, Debra. I really appreciate it.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Thank you so much, John. I always love talking to you.

John: We'll get you back on for your next book.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Okay. It's coming soon.

John: Okay. Bye-bye.

Dr. Debra Blaine: Bye.

Scroll back to top

Sign up to receive email reminders, news, and free stuff every week!

Enter your name and email address below and I'll send you reminders each podcast episode, notices about nonclinical jobs, information about free and paid courses, and other curated information just for you.

powered by

Disclaimers:

Many of the links that I refer you to are affiliate links. That means that I receive a payment from the seller if you purchase the affiliate item using my link. Doing so has no effect on the price you are charged. And I only promote products and services that I believe are of high quality and will be useful to you.

The opinions expressed here are mine and my guest’s. While the information provided on the podcast is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge, there is no express or implied guarantee that using the methods discussed here will lead to success in your career, life, or business.

The information presented on this blog and related podcast is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only. I do not provide medical, legal, tax, or emotional advice. If you take action on the information provided on the blog or podcast, it is at your own risk. Always consult an attorney, accountant, career counselor, or other professional before making any major decisions about your career. 

The post Achieving Personal Success by Writing and Self-Publishing a Novel – 268 appeared first on NonClinical Physicians.

Dr. Debra Blain is a marvelous medical mystery author. She was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island, New York. 

Our Sponsor

We're proud to have the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA Program, offered by the Haslam College of Business, as the sponsor of this podcast.

The UT PEMBA is the longest-running, and most highly respected physician-only MBA in the country. It has over 700 graduates. And, the program only takes one year to complete. 

By joining the UT Physician Executive MBA, you will develop the business and management skills you need to find a career that you love. To find out more, contact Dr. Kate Atchley’s office at (865) 974-6526 or go to nonclinicalphysicians.com/physicianmba.

Novel Writing

Her newest book, Undue Influences, was released in October 2021. It continues her campaign against greed and argues for the practice of integrity.

But don't be misled. It is as suspenseful and engaging as any thriller. During the interview, Debra explains why she enjoys writing, and the approach she followed to complete two books in a relatively short period of time. 

Coaching

Debra is also a Certified Professional Coach, Master Trainer, and Certified Group Leader. She works with clients who are struggling to navigate the corporate world. She also coaches clients who wish to write and publish. And she continues to write herself.

Publishing for the Medical Mystery Author 

Dr. Blaine described in detail the options for publishing a book. She explained that the three major approaches are self-publishing, traditional publishing, and hybrid publishing.

With self-publishing, the author maintains complete control over the process. She also receives essentially 100% of the royalties. However, it is more work and can be costly to hire editors and pay for marketing and printing.  

Using a traditional publisher takes longer. It requires that an agent be hired, and produces a much lower royalty payment. Furthermore, the traditional publisher makes all final decisions. It owns the rights to your book and pays for all of the expenses of getting the book published.

Finally, the hybrid publisher provides some of the support of the traditional publisher. But more control and a higher royalty percentage remain with the author. This publisher may provide its own editors and will help get your book into major bookstores.

Summary

Debra is an awesome writer. In today's interview, she describes her writing journey. She explains the inspiration for her two books. And presents how to go about publishing a novel as a medical mystery author.

NOTE: Look below for a transcript of today's episode.

Links for Today's Episode:

• Dr. Debra Blaine's Website
• Buy Code Blue and Undue Influences
• Debra's LinkedIn Profile Page
• How to Influence the World by Writing a Medical Thriller – 116
• How to Be an Author and Nonclinical Career Expert with Dr. Heidi Moawad – 063
• How to Become an Author, Consultant and Online Authority with Dr. Tom Davis – 047
• NewScr!pt the BEST place to find career mentors and experts at your fingertips

Download This Episode:

Right Click Here and “Save As” to download this podcast episode to your computer.

Podcast Editing & Production Services are provided by Oscar Hamilton

Today's PNC Podcast Transcript

Email Download New Tab

Coming soon

Scroll back to top

Sign up to receive email reminders, news, and free stuff every week!

Enter your name and email address below and I'll send you reminders each podcast episode, notices about nonclinical jobs, information about free and paid courses, and other curated information just for you.

powered by

Disclaimers:

Many of the links that I refer you to are affiliate links. That means that I receive a payment from the seller if you purchase the affiliate item using my link. Doing so has no effect on the price you are charged. And I only promote products and services that I believe are of high quality and will be useful to you.

The opinions expressed here are mine and my guest’s. While the information provided on the podcast is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge, there is no express or implied guarantee that using the methods discussed here will lead to success in your career, life, or business.

The information presented on this blog and related podcast is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only. I do not provide medical, legal, tax, or emotional advice. If you take action on the information provided on the blog or podcast, it is at your own risk. Always consult an attorney, accountant, career counselor, or other professional before making any major decisions about your career. 

The post How to Become a Marvelous Medical Mystery Author – 231 appeared first on NonClinical Physicians.

Dr. Barbara Loeb shares the healing power of poetry in this interview. She is an author, speaker, mentor, facilitator, and physician leader. And she is committed to promoting well-being, especially for people working within healthcare. 

Our Sponsor

We're proud to have the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA Program, offered by the Haslam College of Business, as the sponsor of this podcast.

The UT PEMBA is the longest-running, and most highly respected physician-only MBA in the country. It has over 700 graduates. And, the program only takes one year to complete. 

By joining the UT Physician Executive MBA, you will develop the business and management skills you need to find a career that you love. To find out more, contact Dr. Kate Atchley’s office at (865) 974-6526 or go to nonclinicalphysicians.com/physicianmba.

Consultant and Chief Medical Officer

After transitioning her practice to become part of Advocate Aurora Health, she moved into a number of chief medical officer roles for other health systems, hospitals, physician networks, and health plans. She also served as an independent consultant for the Studer Group, improving physician communication and leadership skills.

During her career, she became highly aware of the balance she had to maintain between her work and her personal life. From all these vantage points, she observed the fatigue, lack of self-care, and burnout that many peers experienced.

The Healing Power of Poetry

In her first book “How to Save a Life: Healing Power of Poetry,” Dr. Loeb utilizes the principles of presence, reflection, self-awareness, and self-compassion to create poetry that displays the personal healer’s journey. She inspires the reader to reflect on their own individual path to well-being. By sharing her poems and introspective travels, she reveals the great strength one can build by engaging in this process.

To cultivate her own well-being, she developed her own restorative ritual. It combines mindfulness, writing, and building deeper connections with patients and colleagues. She intensified this practice during the challenges of the pandemic.

Today, Dr. Loeb shares this knowledge with colleagues through speaking, writing, mentoring, and facilitating groups. Her focus is on building mindfulness and promoting narrative medicine and related initiatives. She notes that the healing power of poetry is a metaphor for it's effect on her professional and personal journeys.

Summary

Dr. Barbara Loeb describes her transition to the most recent chapter in her life. Some might call it retirement. However, Barb feels as productive as ever. And she is having a positive impact on those around her while doing what she finds meaningful. 

NOTE: Look below for a transcript of today's episode.

Links for Today's Episode:

• Dr. Barbara Loeb's Website
• How to Save a Life: Healing Power of Poetry on Amazon [this is an affiliate link]
• Mindful Practice in Medicine at the University of Rochester
• Narrative Medicine: An Opportunity for Empathy, Reflection, Profession, and Trust. Rita Charon, MD, PhD
• Maven Project
• NewScr!pt

Download This Episode:

Right Click Here and “Save As” to download this podcast episode to your computer.

Podcast Editing & Production Services are provided by Oscar Hamilton

Today's PNC Podcast Transcript

Email Download New Tab

Transcription PNC Podcast Episode 228

How the Healing Power of Poetry Saved My Life

John: Dr. Barbara Loeb.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Hi, John. I'm glad to be here today.

John: It's good to see you again. We're doing a video just so we can do the interview. I remember talking to Barb very clearly because she was doing something at the time that was near and dear to my heart because I had been in hospital administration for a while. But today's interview can go in a little different direction. I think you'll all enjoy this.

With that though, tell us a little bit about yourself, the thumbnail version, and your background. What's been going on since we talked to you over two years ago?

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Well, John, two years ago when we talked, we talked a lot about how I prepared myself to take the plunge into executive physician leadership and gave some advice, but I didn't really realize at that time that I was beginning to go in another direction. There was an undercurrent there even long before the world changed for all of us, that something was sort of peaking. And I wasn't really aware until a few months later, things sort of started to happen.

John: Yeah, looking back there was nothing. I think there had been a little bit of a transition, there was a gap there, but I hadn't really heard that you said anything related to what we are talking about today based on what I know. I really want to see what's changed and learn more about what you've been up to. So, tell me more about that.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Well, first of all, I had a change in my career path, which was the first thing that happened, but simultaneously I actually had a little bit of change in my physical health. I had a back problem. I've had spinal stenosis surgery several years back. Actually, it's been almost eight, nine years now. But I started to have some relapse. And I realized at that time that I had spent my life really in a cycle of constant doing. First, as a young doctor, running with my kids to daycare, then to the office and writing prescriptions, seeing patients, and making a lot of critical decisions that were life and death and had to be done right now. And when I transitioned into a physician leader, I did the same thing just with a different focus. And at this time, right after we talked, I realized that it was time to take a pause. That I had spent my life focused on others and I needed to turn a little bit more towards what I needed to have my own well-being improved.

John: Okay. It seems like it's a common thing that comes up for physicians, obviously because we have this kind of shared pathway we go through during our careers and our lives. And for some of us, it comes earlier than others, but it sounds like a common thing. It'll be interesting to see what you've learned and share with others that are listening today. So, when you notice that, what kind of steps did you take to change or to do something different?

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Well, the first thing I decided to do was to move away from my administrative role and I decided to focus more on promoting wellbeing for myself and wellbeing for others in healthcare who were like me, who had not really attended to their own needs. I wanted to find a way to become more grounded and present and connected with myself. I turned back to the practice of mindfulness.

John: Okay. Now back to the practice, was that something you had done before or was this a new thing?

Dr. Barbara Loeb: When I was young, I had done a lot of mindfulness and my mother actually was a Buddhist. And I used to meditate and I used to do a lot of very creative things as well. They had all fallen by the wayside with this career of producing and the pressures and stress of the healthcare profession. And so, I thought, well, maybe one way would be to go to a retreat. And I signed up for a Zen retreat in California, a place called Deer Park Monastery that was founded by a very famous monastic Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh which many of you may have heard of.

And I also simultaneously started looking at ways that people were using mindfulness for healthcare people. There's a program out of the University of Rochester school of medicine, where they use mindfulness techniques in training to help physicians and connect with their patients and their colleagues and prove their resilience as well as their care. Those were two paths I started on simultaneously.

John: Okay. So that reminds me, I've had other guests that have been involved heavily with meditation. Some of them teach meditation. These are physicians. There's something about, I don't know, being so focused on intellectuality or concrete things and science and that some of us abandon the softer parts of our learning. And boy, that's pretty interesting though, that your mother was a Buddhist because there's a lot of knowledge there about how to approach this.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Yeah, she was. And my husband said that my mother's name was Judy, and he said, "Well, the Judy in you is coming out now, you're interested in art and poetry and meditation". I guess the Judy was coming out of me. I know it was the genetics or the background, but one of the things that I'd like to turn back to for a moment, as you mentioned about science, and this is a softer side. Yes and no, because there's a lot of science now about mindfulness. And if you study the works of Daniel Goldman or Richie Davidson, the neuroscience shows that cultivating mindfulness actually has a physiologic neurologic effect on your brain. And that our brain has neuroplasticity, the ability to grow and change.

We used to think the brain was like a fixed organ and that nothing would change, but there's been a lot of scientific evidence that the brain does change. And that long time meditators have thickening of their neocortex frontal lobe, which is our center of executive function. There's a lot of science now that shows that this can help us and also suppress some of our lower brain functions, a fight-flight-freeze, and the emotional overload that we have in these terribly difficult times and difficult challenging careers that we have in medicine.

John: Okay. I'm going to ask a little more about this because I want to get your perspective on it. Of course, meditation and mindfulness are not exactly the same thing. Is it? Maybe mindfulness is a form of meditation. What is your take on that? Explain that to some of us who are novices.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: I think meditation is a form of mindfulness. I think mindfulness is sort of an act of paying attention on purpose, being aware, being present, and allowing yourself to connect to what is actually here in the present moment, sensations, even thoughts. It's not eliminating any of those things, and it's not going up to the Himalayas and saying, "Oh, it's actually just focusing your mind and attention back onto the present moment, the things around you".

John: I know little about it, but I did read about it for a while. I've read several books about Buddhism and so forth. And the one time I decided to use it, I'm just giving my own example, this was 20 years ago, but I was very depressed, I was burnt out. I was going through a divorce. It was a lot of anxiety, a lot of thoughts that were out of my control seemingly. My approach to mindfulness was simply, if I was driving, I would focus on the license plate in front of me, focus my hands on the wheel. I'd go home and I earned a shirt and I would focus on that or I would chew a French fry and I would do it very slowly and I'd feel the crunch and the oil come out. Everything was focused on exactly what's happening right now. That's my take on my own personal use of mindfulness.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Well, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it while you're driving, maybe at a stoplight when you're waiting for it to turn green. There's a common exercise about noticing when you're at a stoplight or waiting in a line, but I was wondering, well, how was that for you?

John: Definitely, it would just push all the other thoughts out of my mind. And then I would relieve a lot of those physiologic responses. And I've thought about in the past trying to meditate or to take a course or something, and I haven't, but that's the closest I've come to it. I know a lot of people though, that have used it extensively and have been very pleased and have physically and emotionally, and mentally felt better.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Well, yeah, one of the things that you can do, or that is part of mindfulness is within your daily activities, as you mentioned. But sometimes as for instance, if you're a nurse and you're working in a COVID unit and you're very overwhelmed and you're just continuously doing things, taking care of patients. If in a moment, as you're walking from room to room, you begin to notice the sensation of your feet on the ground, or when you wash your hands, you feel the sensation of the water and the soap.

That gives a moment of you becoming back present in your own body, and also gives you a chance to decompress from this constant, "What do I have to do next?" And there's a lot of stress. Bringing yourself back into your body with sensations has a very calming effect and helps you build your resilience to face difficult times. So you can do things in your daily activities, such as some of the ones you did, some of the ones nurses and doctors and others caretakers can do. People find a very positive effect of doing that.

And then also when you're in a situation, you are able to notice what the sensations are of your body. Like, for instance, if you're in a conflict or you're in a situation where someone has died, your grief of loss, when you notice what's coming up in your body, you can actually sort of lean into it and ease some of that and give yourself a moment. You don't just have automatic tightening and clenching and different things that don't help your wellbeing. There's a lot of benefits to it in just daily life.

John: All right. I want to pause for a minute now, only because I know that you have a website. Do you address some of this on the website? Do you have some of the articles you've written?

Dr. Barbara Loeb: My website right now is more focused on my poetry. But I would like to expand into some of these other areas, neuroscience, et cetera. I would recommend if someone's interested in neuroscience to look into the Healthy Minds program from the University of Wisconsin in medicine because Dr. Richie Davidson is in charge of that. And then there's also for caregivers and doctors, and the healthcare people, there's the mindful practice program in the University of Rochester that talks about healthcare. There are a lot of things out there and you can certainly contact me if you want to hear more information about what programs are out there.

John: Excellent. Well, you did just mention the poetry. So let me just give the website, first of all, mind2heal.com. We'll do it again at the end. Somewhere in this process that you've described now, you did get into writing specifically writing poetry, which will be described on that site. Tell us how that happened and what was that process like?

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Well, it was interesting. There actually were three phases and I've turned it into what the three intentions for my book are because in mindfulness, we talk about beginning with what your intention is. Really the first writing came about at that retreat I mentioned. And the monastic was talking about in a hundred years from now, your name, your face, your voice, no one will know your identity that we all think is so important. Our name up in lights, it's so critical. No one will know who Barbara Loeb is, or John Jurica is. No one will know us.

So that actually freaked me out a little bit. And I thought, well, my great-great-grandchildren will be asking their parents who this Barbara person is. And I decided I needed to send them a message. I wrote my first poem, which was called "To All Generations with Love". And it was basically sending a message into the future that I'm with them, even if they can no longer know who I am. So that was the beginning of writing poetry. But I didn't know at that time that it was going to be a book.

John: Ah, so then you kept writing, right? Apparently.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Well, what happened then was the pandemic hit. Not a good time. Like many of you, I was already trying to figure out what my next life was. They always say in your previous life you figure out your next life. And I already told you about the first two lives and I was in my third life. And then the pandemic hit and all the plans I had, like everyone else, were destroyed. And in addition, unfortunately, I had some really significant losses. My father passed away of COVID in the first month of COVID on his 90th birthday in isolation. I couldn't be with him. He was in the hospital. They didn't have anything to treat him at that time. And then my mother-in-law, my husband's mom got COVID and she survived the COVID, but then it was downhill and she passed.

And in the middle of all that, my two-year-old grandson got hit by a car. And my husband and I had to rush to Colorado before vaccines were available and take care of the other four kids. They are five siblings. He luckily survived, but it was pretty stressful. It was a spinal cord injury. I realized I really needed to look at how to heal myself. And poetry, mindfully sitting, reflecting, and writing was very healing for me. And it opened the time that I hadn't spent in all those 40 years in healthcare to actually attend to my own self-care.

John: Okay. That kind of tells me that the title is very similar to what you just said. The healing that occurred because the title is "How to Save a Life: Healing Power of Poetry", right?

Dr. Barbara Loeb: That's right. And I always thought that I would write something or do something that would help healthcare people and their healing process was always healing others. And I realized that this poetry writing in a sense saved my life from going into a downward spiral in these really difficult times because it energized me and gave me a feeling of uplifting and hope. That was actually the second intention of the book. It was saving my own life with the healing power of poetry.

And also, it sorts of brought me to what I call the third phase or third intention when I realized that there were other people will like me, many, many, many thousands and thousands of doctors, nurses, and others that had spent so much time caring about other people, caring for other people that they had left themselves not attendant. And I thought, well maybe if they see my journey, this can help save their life metaphorically speaking, by connecting them with their inner wisdom and inspiring them to write or paint or do whatever it is, or even just sit and reflect and release their own ability for creativity and healing. The third intention was to share the methodology with others, for promoting their self-healing.

John: I don't want to get into too much detail, but how was that? What was it like? Was it difficult to turn those that you had written into a book to get the book published or self-published? Just a couple of sentences on that.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: It was a journey and I'm glad to connect with anyone who needs advice on that. I first published it through Amazon Self-Publishing. By the time I decided to make the book in my phase three, the third intention, I had a lot of poems already that I had written. In part, I had the material, but I had to do the editing and I used an independent vendor called Fiverr to edit and to format, which was very helpful. And I used my mother's artwork as an illustration. So that was really fun because it was a journey into the legacy of my family and I put it all together. It took a little bit, but there were a lot of good YouTube videos out there and webcasts that helped me and gave me advice on how to do it. I was able to accomplish it. I actually put the whole book together in less than six months.

John: Nice, nice. But you had already written a lot of it before that, right?

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Yeah. I had written the poems. I had to do the prolog and the introduction. And then at the end of the book, I actually have an appendix that explains

every poem, just a few sentences saying where I was when I wrote it, what I was thinking, what my intention for that particular poem was. And a lot of people have found that very helpful. Although the poems are not abstract, they're pretty clear. A lot of people like that little extra background.

John: Nice. Okay. So, I've interviewed many people that have written books, some self-published, some published by national companies, and things in between, but I don't usually have people read from their books. But I thought, wait a second, if you've got a book of poems, we should be able to have you read one of them for us and really give us an example of your poetry.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: I would love to.

John: All right, let's do it.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Yeah. I picked out one that is relatively short and it's about how we're driven from one thing to another. And I realize that the ability to change anything or do anything is to first become aware of the cycle of doing that I was in and that I'm in. So, it's called "Shiny objects".

"I'm floating in a sea of uncertainty, beneath the surface among shiny objects. Reaching for one I'm distracted by another. Turning back the first one disappears. Dazzled by yet another and another. I try to scoop them up, they slipped through my looped arms, gracefully dancing in slow motion just out of reach. I turn and search. My goggles are clouded. I swim to the surface gasping for air with one deep breath and one deep pause. I dive down again and again."

John: Thank you for doing that. I don't read a lot of poetry, but I always imagine that I'm not reading it necessarily the way the poet wrote it and with the inflection and the timing. And it's nice to hear someone actually read their own poetry and get the feeling and how it was. Because poetry has a certain rhythm to it.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Yeah. Well, I like reading it to myself because it reminds me of what I was thinking and what my intention was. And I hope that it inspires that in someone else to think, "Gee, I've been there".

John: Right. Now did you write poetry when you were younger? Was that part of growing up? Because it's sort of like, well, someone just starts writing poetry? Tell me about that just as an aside.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: When I was a teenager, I wrote a number of poems, including one that was like your epitaph. My teacher said, write your epitaph. But in the front of the book, I actually have a poem that I wrote when I was like 14 or 15 years old. I did write poetry then, but then there was a big gap. I journal from time to time over the years, but then life got in the way of anything creative and all I did was work, work, work, and raise my children and take care of my patients and become the executive and all those things. And there was no space.

John: Right. This has been quite a journey so far that you've described, but I know from briefly talking to you before we actually set up the interview today that it's kind of led into some other things. And we do have time here, so maybe you can tell us some of the other things that you're involved with that my listeners might find interesting.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: I definitely would love to. The first thing that came about was when I was talking about mindful practice. I originally was looking into how we can help other healthcare folks through mindfulness. I got involved with a program called Mindful Practice out of the University of Rochester school of medicine and dentistry. It's started by two physicians that are general physicians, Dr. Ron Epstein and Dr. Michael Krasner.

And basically, it talks about bringing mindfulness narrative, like the stories and dialogue into healthcare so you can connect better with yourself, your patients, and your colleagues. And I trained as a facilitator of this program. I would recommend it as something to check out. There are retreats and remote programs that people can attend. So that's the first thing I've been involved in. And also at the same time, I got involved with a narrative medicine program. I'm sure you're going to ask me what narrative medicine is.

John: Yeah, exactly.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Narrative medicine focuses on bringing what is called narrative competence into healthcare. Narrative competence means the ability for a person to acknowledge, absorb and interpret the accent stories and the plight of others around them, whether it be themselves, their patients, or their colleagues. That philosophy, that discipline was started at Columbia University with Rita Sharon. And she's really sort of the person who coined narrative medicine, but now it's quite spread throughout the country. And a lot of medical students and medical centers have courses in narrative medicine, which focus on close reading and reflective writing.

The program I've been involved with is through Advocate Aurora Health. We have a narrative medicine group that meets twice a month. And what we do in that group is we start with a meditation, a mindfulness reflection of some sort, and then we have a writing prompt. It's something that inspires us to write. And then we share in breakout rooms and then we have a closing reflection or meditation. And that has been very helpful in sort of stimulating me to write and bonding with a community of people. Just like the mindful practice, also a community of people that have like minds, that want to cultivate mindfulness. And this group created creativity and writing and humanities in healthcare.

John: Okay. Now you said two phrases that I'm not sure I know what they mean. Closed reading and reflexive writing. What was that?

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Okay. Close reading means when you read something more in a mindful fashion. In the very classic narrative medicine groups, they actually do a little more disciplined work around reading pieces whereas in an advocate auroras group we're a little bit more informal. But in classic narrative medicine, they have a particular way they read from the literature and then they write reflectively, meaning what comes up after the reading is a reflection in a way. And they do that in a more disciplined way. In our group, it's a little bit more open.

And we actually also have people in our group that are not directly healthcare workers, because everyone is part of the healthcare system on one side of the stethoscope or the other. It really helps by actually duplicating the relationship that you would have with the patients. We have to be able to relate to people regardless of what our role is and diminish that hierarchy of doctor-patient because that actually sometimes gets in the way of good communication and understanding of each other's stories.

John: That makes sense. If you're doing narrative medicine and are following the principles and you're not including the patient, it makes sense to be involved with people. Of course, we could all be patients too, but we have a different jargon than the average patient. It would be nice to do that together.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Yeah. I don't know if you have time to share this, but there are two things clinically that have been done that have been very helpful related to this type of discipline. Our narrative medicine group's founders, his name is Dr. David Thoele, and also Marjorie Getz. They're the two founders of that group. Dr. Foley is a pediatric cardiologist and he's created a three-minute mental makeover where what he does is he works with the patient and the patient's family and they write three things they're grateful for, summarize our life in six words and three wishes if they had Aladdin's lamp. And that process of writing and reflecting with patients changes the dynamics between the caregiver and the patient and creates a synergy, a relationship, a communication that really helps care.

And then the other one I wanted to mention is Dr. Joshua Houser, who is out of the Jesse Brown VA and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He has a program called Poetry for Veterans. And what they do there is they read poetry with veterans. Particularly, he's in palliative care, so some of them have very severe diseases. And they've witnessed a change in the patient's perspective about their own life story and how they relate to their caregiver, how they relate to each other, not just as in a medical way, but as humans. And they also do that kind of thing with their staff. Those are two examples of reading and writing together that have introduced a different level of human connection into healthcare.

John: All right. Well, that's a lot to get my brain around, but it's very helpful. Thanks. Because I can look those things up and I will actually include some links to those as well for listeners that are interested.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: There was one more thing that I'm doing if you have time.

John: Sure.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: It's called the Maven project and it's a non-for-profit telehealth organization that supports free and charitable clinics and federally funded clinics. And we have peer consults, specialists can give peer-to-peer consults on difficult cases for these providers in these clinics of need. We do mentoring for healthcare folks, doctors, nurses, others, and we do medical education including a weekly or biweekly COVID education. So that's a group of seasoned physicians. And actually, we've engaged them now in our writing narrative medicine program as well. But their main program has focused on helping these free and charitable clinics by supporting their providers, their clinicians working there.

John: What would the mentoring most commonly be related to if somebody needed some help with something?

Dr. Barbara Loeb: There are two types of mentoring that I do. The first one is leadership mentoring. I use my background as a CMO and medical director for other physicians that are in these clinics that don't have the funds for professional mentors. They can't hire an agency or firm to do that. I use my professional background and I've mentored for my professional organization and others organizations. I use that background to mentor them, to help them reveal for themselves what their leadership path might be. And like in episode 93, if they're trying to make transitions, how they might do it.

And then we also do clinical mentoring. I mentor nurse practitioners that are in areas where they may have simpler clinical questions, but they don't have access to a clinical mentor right there. So, they'll present me with cases. I'm an internist for those who might not know. So, they present me with basic internal medicine cases and we just talk about what they might do. And if they need a specialty referral, I can refer them to one of our Maven project specialists, and then they can have a more in-depth conversation about the patient's issues.

John: Awesome. I will definitely put a link to the Maven project in the show notes as well. It's a lot to be doing, a lot on your plate, but it sounds like it's not stressing you out. You're feeling pretty good about

it all.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: I feel good. I think one of the things we all have in common, whether we're still pursuing a clinical career, a leadership career or other careers, because I know that's been the topic of conversation for you and other podcasts, we all have this deep desire to help other people and to share what we've learned. And these are just other pathways that I've used that I'm using to continue to do that because that also energizes me, not just the self-reflection, but what I could inspire someone else to feel or do or heal. It's very uplifting for me. Although sometimes it seems like a lot to me too, it's still very helpful in my own personal journey.

John: Very nice. I guess I wouldn't say that you're retired because you're doing so many different things. I'm supposedly retired now. I did my last clinical shift a month ago. But everyone that I've ever talked to, particularly physicians that are so-called "retired", they're as busy as they ever were. It's just how it goes.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Yeah. I always wonder what the word "retired" means. Does that mean we all went to sleep suddenly?

John: Hopefully not. Well, it might be a good sleep.

Dr. Barbara Loeb: We need the fairy dust for the prince charming to come and kiss me and wake me up.

John: Yeah. Well, before I let you go, though, we are getting to the end. I just want you to maybe think about my listeners. They're basically physicians for the most part who sometimes are frustrated, they're burnt out, they're looking for other options. Not that I really want every physician to not take care of patients because we all need physicians. But anyway, if you have any advice and basically what you've learned over the years, including the last four or five years, what advice would you have for them if they're feeling kind of frustrated and not really good?

Dr. Barbara Loeb: Well, my advice is sort of simple. I think the first step is to just take one breath and because we've been holding our breath for at least 20 months. And I also like to share this quote that sometimes is attributed to Victor Frankel. Although I hear that his family says he didn't say it, I still love the quote. "Between stimulus and response, there is a space. And in that space, we have the power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

What I would suggest to people is to find a moment to pause, notice, and reflect and go into that space so you can uncover really the wisdom that you most likely already have, but just haven't had the time to connect with it. And whatever it is, whether it's creativity or other things, you will be energized and move forward by that. Maybe doctors like to have a 1, 2, 3 plan of what to do, but I think we just have to stop first and allow ourselves to find what we already know. So, one breath.

John: All right, good advice. Slow down, take a breath and pay attention. Excellent. Well, Barb, I think I've taken up enough of your day so far, but we've learned a lot. I'm going to put links to everything. I would definitely say that listeners, you should visit the website. www.mind2heal.com and go to Amazon and look for the book. Again, there'll be a link to that. At mind2heal.com there are several different things that people can learn and see about the book. I think you've got some video deals where you're talking about different things related to what we've discussed today. Does that sound good? Did I miss anything?

Dr. Barbara Loeb: No, that's perfect. I really appreciate the opportunity. And it's been a lot of fun being with you again. I haven't seen you in so long. I haven't talked to you in so long. Thank you so much for allowing me to share this with the listeners. Thank you.

John: It's been my pleasure.

Scroll back to top

Sign up to receive email reminders, news, and free stuff every week!

Enter your name and email address below and I'll send you reminders each podcast episode, notices about nonclinical jobs, information about free and paid courses, and other curated information just for you.

powered by

Disclaimers:

Many of the links that I refer you to are affiliate links. That means that I receive a payment from the seller if you purchase the affiliate item using my link. Doing so has no effect on the price you are charged. And I only promote products and services that I believe are of high quality and will be useful to you.

The opinions expressed here are mine and my guest’s. While the information provided on the podcast is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge, there is no express or implied guarantee that using the methods discussed here will lead to success in your career, life, or business.

The information presented on this blog and related podcast is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only. I do not provide medical, legal, tax, or emotional advice. If you take action on the information provided on the blog or podcast, it is at your own risk. Always consult an attorney, accountant, career counselor, or other professional before making any major decisions about your career. 

The post How the Healing Power of Poetry Saved My Life – 228 appeared first on NonClinical Physicians.

This week Dr. Mandy Armitage explains how to publish your first book. You might recall that she was interviewed in Episode #22 about medical writing.

She returns now to promote her new book and teach you how to self-publish your first book.

Mandy is a board-certified physiatrist, freelance medical writer, and consultant. Prior to transitioning to nonclinical work, she practiced musculoskeletal medicine.

Our Sponsor

We're proud to have the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA Program, offered by the Haslam College of Business, as the sponsor of this podcast.

The UT PEMBA is the longest-running, and most highly respected physician-only MBA in the country. It has over 700 graduates. And, the program only takes one year to complete. 

By joining the UT Physician Executive MBA, you will develop the business and management skills you need to find a career that you really love. To find out more, contact Dr. Kate Atchley’s office at (865) 974-6526 or go to nonclinicalphysicians.com/physicianmba.

Mandy earned her MD from Indiana University School of Medicine. She then completed her PM&R Residency at Carolinas Healthcare System. Then she followed that with a Sports Medicine Fellowship at Emory University.

She was a guest on the podcast almost three years ago to talk about medical writing. In addition to writing, she has worked as Medical Director for several health technology start-ups.

Publishing Her Book

Now she is back doing freelance medical writing and coaching other clinicians.  And she just released a new book called From Clinical Practice to Medical Writing: A Career Transition Guide.

I enjoyed hearing about Dr. Armitage’s decision to write a book. During our interview, she walks us through the major steps she took to publish it:

1. Deciding on the goal of the book and creating an outline.
2. Writing the major content over a period of several months.
3. Engaging a series of editors to review the manuscript.
4. Hiring help with the internal design and structure of the content (including chapters, headings, subheadings, etc.).
5. Putting the files together and in the proper format (pdf, ePub, etc.).
6. Hiring someone to help with the cover design and text.
7. Putting it all together to create the final document in hard copy and electronic format.
8. Promoting the book.

Publish Your First Book

Mandy described the three ways an author can choose to go:

• Traditional publishing
• Hybrid publishing
• Self-publishing

Traditional publishing is a difficult route for a first book. It generally involves hiring an agent and submitting manuscripts to multiple publishers. The publisher then owns the rights to the book and may edit it in any way it wishes.

Hybrid publishing involves engaging a firm that will help with editing and designing your book. The author will continue to control the manuscript. But the publisher will not provide an advance and will limit its marketing efforts.

With self-publishing, the author maintains complete control and will earn more on each book sold. However, the author will pay all expenses, including editing, marketing, and printing. 

If you're driven and you want to make it happen, you can absolutely do it. – Dr. Mandy Armitage

Like many authors publishing a book to a niche audience, Mandy considered hybrid and self-published approaches. She chose the latter and maintains complete control.

Summary

The book is an excellent overview of the material Mandy has been teaching for years. It walks the clinician through these topics:

• The types of medical writing.
• How to prepare to become a writer.
• How to build a freelance writing business.
• The expected income a writer can achieve.
• Answers to frequently asked questions about medical writing.

I encourage you to visit armitagemedicalwriting.com and purchase the book.

If you’d like to learn more about medical writing, check out my introductory course at nonclinicalphysicians.com/writingcourse.

Links for Today's Episode:

• Dr. Mandy Armitage's Website
• Mandy's Previous Interview (Episode #22)
• Draft 2 Digital

Download This Episode:

Right Click Here and “Save As” to download this podcast episode to your computer.

Podcast Editing & Production Services are provided by Oscar Hamilton

Disclaimers:

Many of the links that I refer you to are affiliate links. That means that I receive a payment from the seller if you purchase the affiliate item using my link. Doing so has no effect on the price you are charged. And I only promote products and services that I believe are of high quality and will be useful to you.

The opinions expressed here are mine and my guest’s. While the information provided on the podcast is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge, there is no express or implied guarantee that using the methods discussed here will lead to success in your career, life, or business.

The information presented on this blog and related podcast is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only. I do not provide medical, legal, tax, or emotional advice. If you take action on the information provided on the blog or podcast, it is at your own risk. Always consult an attorney, accountant, career counselor, or other professional before making any major decisions about your career. 

The post This Is How to Publish Your First Book – 182 appeared first on NonClinical Physicians.

Dr. Debra Blaine, an urgent care physician, recently released a medical thriller called Code Blue – The Other End of the Stethoscope. And I was very pleased to welcome her to the podcast to discuss it.

Although she is not a full time author, I thought it would be instructive and fun to hear how her writing journey began, culminating in the publication of her novel.

I was also interested in supporting the release of the book after reading it, for three reasons:

• First, it’s a genre that I like and enjoyed reading.
• Second, because the book’s heroine is a physician facing a worldwide medical conspiracy that results in her brother’s murder.
• And finally, because Debra peppers the story with examples of the frustrations of medical practice experienced by us physicians in our increasingly dysfunctional health system.

Our Sponsor

We're proud to have the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA Program, offered by the Haslam College of Business, as the sponsor of this podcast.

The UT PEMBA is the longest-running, and most highly respected physician-only MBA in the country, with over 650 graduates. Unlike other programs, which typically run 1 – 1/2 to 2 years, this program only takes a year to complete. And Economist Magazine recently ranked Haslam #1 in the world for the Most Relevant Executive MBA.

University of Tennessee PEMBA students bring exceptional value to their organizations. While in the program, you'll participate in a company project, thereby contributing to your organization.

Graduates have taken leadership positions at major healthcare organizations. And they've become entrepreneurs and business owners.

By joining the University of Tennessee physician executive MBA, you will develop the business and management skills you need to advance your career. To find out more, contact Dr. Kate Atchley’s office by calling (865) 974-6526 or go to vitalpe.net/physicianmba.

Background

Dr. Blaine was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island, NY. She received her BA in Philosophy and Hebrew at the University of Texas at Austin, before going on for graduate studies in Comparative Religion at Temple University. She attended Baylor College of Medicine to earn her MD in 1987, and has practiced medicine on Long Island for thirty years.

The changing face of medicine compelled her to return to her earliest dreams: to engage with and attempt to influence our world through writing and the exchange of ideas.

Writing a Medical Thriller

Debra wanted to get back to her creative roots. But she also wanted to use her writing to share the story of the frustrations of practicing medicine in a corporate environment. She decided that a novel would be an effective way to accomplish that.

However, it would recquire telling a compelling story that would attract readers at the same time. Debra recounts how she essentially had to learn a whole new discipline, that of book author, during the process of writing and editing her medical thriller.

The post How to Influence the World by Writing a Medical Thriller – 116 appeared first on NonClinical Physicians.