Introduction

Mindy Gibbins-Klein is a multi-award-winning international speaker, thought leadership strategist, book coach and publisher and has authored and co-authored 10 books.  

She has presented to and coached over 50,000 business executives and entrepreneurs in 18 countries. Her content has been syndicated, licensed, and showcased worldwide, and her TEDx talk has had 800,000 views.

What You’ll Hear

• [1:27] About Mindy and her background
• [3:20] How Mindy found the motivation to keep going
• [4:50] How Mindy overcame confidence issues
• [6:30] Traditional publishing vs self-publishing
• [10:55] What to do if you’re not a strong writer
• [13:00] Should everyone write a book?
• [14:55] The book writing process
• [16:45] The most interesting place Mindy has visited[18:28] 
• Final comments

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About Mindy and Her Background

Mindy’s love of books began when she was three, and she began writing aged six. When she wrote her first book, she came up against all kinds of challenges. She listened to the wrong people, doubted herself, made mistakes and wasted a lot of time. 

It took 10 years for her book to see the light of day, and at this point Mindy decided to move away from her coaching business and focus on writing. “I was only interested in helping people to get their books out, because so many people never do it.” 

A colleague founded a publishing house and invited Mindy to join it. This allowed her to help people from coming up with an idea and writing a book, right up to getting it published and selling globally. 

She’s now niched into thought leading books, working exclusively with thought leaders, influencers and people who aspire to be experts. 

How Mindy Found the Motivation to Keep Going

She says she built her business slowly, because she had two small children and wanted a good work/life balance. She’d taken a redundancy package and had that as a cushion while she worked. It wasn’t too much of a risk or a challenge, she says, but she was happy to have her own business.

After she’d played at it for a few years and the money ran out, she decided she needed to take things seriously and began to crank up her efforts. She joined the E-Cademy, and found herself a lot more motivated. We all have that motivation to draw on, Mindy adds, but when you’re comfortable it’s hard to push yourself. 

How Mindy Overcame Confidence Issues

Mindy says her confidence was knocked hundreds of times by publishing rejections and people ignoring her emails. “When my first book came out 20 years ago, the press weren’t excited about it. And they didn’t get the fact that I coached people to do the same.

“It was tough and I had self-doubts. ‘Maybe this is a bad idea and everyone is right.’ I was at the forefront of a movement, but I knew what I’d struggled with, so I kept going. I did a lot of speaking and that gave me confidence.” 

Traditional Publishing vs Self-Publishing

Mindy explains there is a third way to publish – hybrid or cooperative publishing is also an option. People often think they’ll end up with a big-name publisher who’ll pay for everything and pay them upfront. 

Or, they have to self-publish. People don’t realise that they have to figure everything out themselves and take all the risks too. The smaller, independent publishing house space, which is where Mindy is, has more options. 

They can do everything that the big guys can do, although they can’t afford a lot of advertising. But they can be more creative and flexible. Mindy’s company has evolved to meet the current needs of entrepreneurs, and it’s a lot cheaper and easier to spread the word about a book because of social media. 

If entrepreneurs co-invest in their book publishing, they can expect a better return. It makes sense to be an active partner in the publishing and success of their book. They can be a big fish in a small pond and be involved in the whole process. Mindy’s publisher can promote all authors equally and fully. 

While self-publishing allows you to retain control, the books often look homemade and are not quite right. It’s almost impossible to get your book into a bookstore. Mindy has a sales team who visit the shops, and a marketing team with a budget to promote the writers. 

What to do if You’re not a Strong Writer

Mindy’s sister company, The Book Midwife, helps people to develop their ideas and works with them on tone, content and style. There are so many ways to get writing a book wrong, Mindy says, so they support people from the very beginning. 

That includes developing confidence and getting clarity on what you’re doing. The Book Midwife hold the author’s hand through the whole process to make sure the book is the best it can be. 

Should Everyone Write a Book?

Entrepreneurs want to raise their profiles as much as possible, which is why they want to write a book. Mindy argues that an expert with a book will seem more credible than one without, even if they’re in the same industry and at the same level. 

People know what it takes to write a book and understand that the author has had to dig deep to create it. The book has substance, and there’s credible proof that that person is an expert. The writers make million-dollar deals off the back of their books, so every entrepreneur should have a book. 

The Book-Writing Process

The average time to write a book is 15-18 months, which isn’t bad. At The Book Midwife, they take people from idea to completed manuscript (with three full drafts) in 90 days. 

Those three months are part-time, too. It’s about going about things the right way, Mindy says, and they’ve honed their process over the years. They’ve also done a lot of research into metrics – the hours that it takes. 

Over three months, the writer spends fewer hours than they would if they did it themselves, and on average working with The Book Midwife saves them between 50–100 hours. 

The Most Interesting Place Mindy has Visited

Mindy says the most interesting place she’s been is Japan. She went a long time ago and would love to go back. She says people in Japan, generally, seem very respectful. They respect their environment, themselves and each other and there’s a sense of mutual respect, dignity and kindness.

Final Comments

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