My
two children allowed me the pleasure of coaching their athletic teams this
spring. My eight-year-old daughter
played softball and my 11 year-old son played baseball. Neither are the stars nor weak-links of their
teams and both most assuredly won’t play sports professionally. But they have fun playing a game, learning
some skills, and competing on a field. But I noticed that so many parents and
coaches say things to the child-players that really don’t help them. They are
too simple, yet quite hard to actually do.
Maybe this holds true for experts who advise authors on getting
published, promoted, and marketed.
For
instance, we tell the kids who are pitching to “just throw strikes” or “it’s
okay to let them hit it ,just get it over the plate.” Obviously if they could, they would, but
kids’ arms don’t always move in the same direction as that of their brains.
“Wait
for your pitch,” we tell the batter. “If it’s good, swing.” These kids are still figuring out what they
can physically hit and then have the added layer of processing a lot of
information quickly. What coaches need
to do is show the hitter how to actually hit, not just encourage them to swing
at pitches they should know are hittable.
I
realize now that the advice I give in this blog and to my paying clients at
work may make perfect sense to me, but perhaps others hear me the way these kids
hear adults telling them what to do on the ball field without really showing
them how to do something.
On
the other hand, some of this advice really does seem to make sense. If only others could fully understand it and
act upon it! But it’s easier said than
done. Still, sometimes we try to
simplify the hardest things in hopes that it will allow others to execute and
not get overwhelmed with overthinking or excessive preparation or strategizing.
The
simple advice to authors is usually this:
·
Authors
must build a platform. Start early and
use social media to launch your brand.
·
Promote
often and keep at it.
·
Examine
the marketplace and fill in the voids.
·
Build
a network and then ask for favors.
·
Give
things away in hopes of earning book sales.
·
Keep
writing and if you’re really good, you’ll get discovered.
All
of these things are potentially true but what makes them so depends in large
part on you and your abilities, connections, luck, and ability to execute upon
these simple mantras.
Coaches
advise the child-ballplayer on how to play the game, knowing that some of
them are just not capable – physically or mentally – to live out the advice
they are receiving. Professional publish
experts – like me – need to realize that some writers just lack the capability
– incentive – mindset to actually carry out the things we tell them to do.
This
may be true of the advice industry.
Self-help books, diet books, addiction recovery books, and all the books
that tell us to fix our money, relationships, or parenting may just not be for
everyone. Either we acknowledge that
some people can’t do what they are coached on or we take a closer look at the
coaches and demand they show us rather than tell us what to do.
Advice
is a tricky thing. The information is
out there – whether it be how to play baseball, market a book, or lose weight –
and yet the majority of people fail at such things. Perhaps it’s not anyone’s fault, but I know
now that to coach others requires more than just encouragement or stating the
obvious. The experts need to get advice
on how to share their expertise in a way that it gets utilized by those seeking
to learn how to be someone they may never fully be.
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