Business Innovators Radio - Dina Marais- Bestselling Author & Spiritual Business Coach on Unleashing the Full Potential of Your Brand by Publishing a Book

Episode Date: September 14, 2023

Dina Marais is the founder of Soul Purpose Publishing and Coaching, a 4-time Amazon International Bestselling Author, Spiritual Business Coach and Artist.She empowers established entrepreneurs to unleash the full potential of their brands, visibility, income, and impact through the power of becoming bestselling published authors.Dina’s expertise lies in helping her clients maximise their books’ potential and harness their stories’ transformative power.As a Spiritual Business Coach, Dina specialises in Soul-Alignment for Business Success. She uses a combination of energetic alignment processes and business strategies to support authors in making the most of their books.Dina’s vision is to impact the world by publishing inspiring books and providing entrepreneurs with a platform to broadcast their powerful messages.She believes that everyone involved in the process, both authors and readers, experiences profound transformation.If she is not writing or coaching, you can find her behind her easel, walking on the beach or socialising with friends.Learn more: Website: https://dinamarais.comFree eBook – Ascend Your Soul Purpose: https://bit.ly/ascendsoulpurposeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/dinamarais1Free Consultation – https://calendly.com/dinamarais/30minEmail: [e-mail]: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/dina-marais-bestselling-author-spiritual-business-coach-on-unleashing-the-full-potential-of-your-brand-by-publishing-a-book

Welcome to Business Innovators Radio, featuring industry influencers and trendsetters, sharing proven strategies to help you build a better life right now. Welcome to Business Innovators Radio. Really excited for my next guest. We have an inspirer. And Dina Murray does this. We're publishing and teaching people to write books. Dina, welcome. Welcome. Oh, thank you, Luana. I'm so happy to be here. And you're a four times best-selling author. That is absolutely incredible. What's your journey been? Oh, it's been a wonderful ride, as they say, moving from my first book that I participated in to become an international best-selling author. There I was just the author. But then I moved into, starting my own publishing company. And through that, the books that I put together, the multi-author books, besides the solo books, is really a co-creation.

And to co-create with other women and create that container that such a multi-author book brings about is just incredible. It's an incredible experience for everyone involved. the authors, the readers, we can just see that on the reviews of the book and the experience of the authors. It's just incredible. It's transformational as well as they're so excited. And it's like a way that they are surfing to really expand their business.

It's beautiful. Nice. That's really nice. So would you recommend taking part in a multi-author book or writing their own book or both? Definitely both. Many authors start out of each one. Okay. So both of them get you to be selling published. Of course, for a multi-author book, you only write a chapter. author start out there to first just tip their toe in the water and see what it's like, go through the whole process of writing and the editing and the cover and the launching

and all of that. And it's like an initiation to write a chapter in a multi-author book. And of course, then write your solo book because you've got so much already. And

in our non-fiction solo book, that we write as experts, we always include our story as well, parts of our journey, how we got there to what we suggest, why are we suggesting that what has been our own experience. So, doesn't matter where you start. You can start with a multi-author. You could start with a solo and then join a multi-author. Many people do that as well because in that way they also promote their solo book. that were really published. And many authors love the whole experience of a multi-author book, so they do one after the other, after the other, after the other, after the other. There's no right or wrong way. The only big difference is both are an investment, of course. And with a multi-author book, nobody gets the royalties.

it goes to charity and for a solo book of course it's your intellectual property it's your book it's under your name and you collect all their wealth oh nice

what would you say to somebody who's thinking about writing a book but maybe they've got some doubts maybe they don't know if they can write well enough or they don't think their story's interesting enough what kind of doubts do you come across and how would you, what would you say to those?

Many times the doubts are exactly what you said, that maybe I know, not a good writer. The thing is that's why we have editors. You know, you write from your heart. You don't have to be perfect, even Wayne Dyer had an editor. Everybody has an editor because we all have blind spots. And there are people who just has a certain command. of the language so they can just put it, you know, one word after another, and then it's just beautiful. So don't do that put you off, really. If you have that expertise in yourself that you

would like to express, there is no, nothing necessary to stop you. The other thing that people think about as well as is their story good enough? Absolutely. Because your human journey here leads to your spiritual journey. It was actually one and the same thing. And you are here perfect. You are here as being perfect. So in all our imperfections, we are perfect. And it's through our imperfections and expressing that that we actually lived other people.

I love you. I'm sure people that we're okay and so you are okay. You know, these people in permission to be themselves. And for others, again, you know, they think, I can't like very well, but I can speak. I say, no problem. Speak your book. Speak it and then we transcribe it and then we edit it. You know, the biggest thing is about the self-doubt as well, the imposter syndrome,

to think, I'm not good enough. blah, blah, blah, blah. Absolutely nonsense. There's nothing further from the truth. You are important. Your story is important. Your message is important. And having a book in whatever format,

whether it's multi-author or your solo book, it is a number one strategy to really get, to unleash the potential of your brand and skyrocket your visibility and your credibility. Will the self few people do that? Yes. So many people talk about writing a book, don't they?

And say they can do it one day, but few people actually make it and see it through. So what kind of people do you work with? You mentioned brands there. So is it business owners that you work with personal brands? Yes, business owners, established business owners. Of course, if you are a beginner in your business, you don't have the expertise yet. You don't have the experience yet to put a book out there.

But if you know what you're doing, doesn't matter if you have one or ten clients or a hundred or a thousand clients. if you know what you're doing and you get the results for others working for your clients working with you, then absolutely. You're ready. Is that how people would say that they're ready? Because I think it's quite easy for us to always think we need to know more. We need to do better. There are always higher levels that we can climb, aren't there? So how does somebody really know?

if they're ready to write that book? I think you know it in your heart. You know that you know what you're doing. And it's not a fake example of you imagining stuff and how you're going to write a book that in authenticity, that energy of that coming through will just shine through the book. But if you in you know what you're doing

and how you are getting your results for your clients and also, of course, your own journey, how you have overcome what you've overcome so that you can help others, you're absolutely perfectly positioned to write your book. Nice. And how can a book help somebody?

Like what are the benefits of sympathy writing a book? Oh, there are so many benefits. First of all, you know, the status of a best-selling published author opens doors, especially also on inly speaking opportunities, higher-level podcasts, because once we have the status of a best-selling published author,

it opens up doors to high-level podcasts, because you have proven that you know what you're talking about. So that podcast summits speaking gigs on stages. It definitely opens those doors. The other thing that it is a huge benefit is that you enhance your visibility. You stand out from the noise by having a book. And, sorry, carry on. You need your legacy.

You know, we have so much digital, so much, even if you're writing, the most beautiful post about something and you're posted, the next second there's something else. But if you have your story, the story of your journey and your expertise and how you help people as a chapter or a book,

that tangible format is priceless because it's forever there. It's forever there. I have found that so many entrepreneurs as family

They don't even know exactly what they do. Or their clients, how they came to be where they are at, getting the full story. And you do that by writing your story. And of course, it's a luxury business card. Any book, it's a luxury business card. It's your sort of introduction to your potential clients, to your audience. Before you've even met them, you know,

And you can do so much with a book. You can leverage it in so many ways. Something I found as well when I wrote my book. And I wasn't expecting this. But I felt I had such a huge personal transformation. Is that something you find in yourself and in your clients? Absolutely. You know, I remember now with the previous book that I launched,

I have a workshop that I take people. through the write-your-story workshop. Oh, nice. And this one client, she was sobbing one night as she was writing because I hold the space for them to write for an hour and then they come back after that and say thank you for the hour. And she was sobbing, having just gone through that, you know, a guy in reliving that experiences that she's had.

And I did some coaching with her just there and then so you can really come back into a center. And we hug, you know, gave itself a big hug of having gone through those experiences. And how that now transforms the lives of others. So there's no other way. Another saying is, do you want some therapy? Write your story. because so many clients have told me just by writing my story, I've released so much. I have gone such a different perspective on my life and what has happened.

I've lost or I've saved like thousands of dollars in therapy just by writing my story. And that is a huge transformation for people. It is for every author that goes through a huge transformation. Absolutely incredible. And you've got an e-book available on your website. Send Your Soul Purpose, a guide to becoming a published best-selling author. Is that right? That is right.

That is absolutely right, yes. Sorry, Luana. Tell us about this book. I explain the whole proverbs of becoming a bestselling published author on the different ways of doing that. The multi-author is we also do partnership books. That is if you have a huge client base, then you sell the chapters to your audience and we partner then with me as the publisher. That's also another way. So I explain the ways, I explain how the process works, I explain what are the prerequisites.

And then we also look at yourself, at how you identify with becoming a best sonning author. Because if we don't do that, then we don't leverage the book as much. We don't actually see ourselves at that higher level and at what, acknowledge what we have. achieved. So that's very important. And also the self-care and the self-love that we need as we move into this new phase, because it is a new phase to your business where you express yourself in a book. So I've taken to the emotional, the process, everything that you need to become a best selling published. Oh, I love that. And how can the listeners grab that?

I think the best way is just go to my website, dinamaray.com, and there you will see. On that page, if you just scroll down, you'll see the ebook that you've been there. A link here as well. So just click on to that, grab that ebook. That sounds absolutely amazing. Dina, what would you say to somebody out there right now who's thinking, should I write a book? What do you want to say to them? Just start.

Just start. And I think what's so important is the habit of writing. You know, just writing for half an hour every day. Get into that, even go and sit and, you know, type thin words. Cultivate the habit. of writing. And because that is something that that you won't believe

the result, the exponential result, the accumulated result of you writing every day. A little bit. New ideas come up and you get hooked into that more and more. And before you know it, you've written a chapter, you've written five chapters, you've written you the whole book. Love that. It can seem like such a daunting thing ahead because, you know, it is a big thing writing a book. But when you do it like that and you just break it down and you keep going day by day and enjoy the process as well, then they're going to have their fault, can't they?

And that's important is enjoying the process because it isn't unfolding. even if you have done an outline, you know, what the chapters are. And just by the way, that's why working with an independent publisher is very valuable because you get support in all of that outlining your book and researching the title of your book. Is it a great title? Can it be better? Can we tweak it? So that it's something that your potential clients will actually search for and find you on Amazon and wherever you publish.

So that is very important. And, yeah, cultivate that habit. What are some mistakes that you see New Orleans make? Calling for the shiny object of chat, GPT. Oh, oh. You know, I really, the other day I received an email from someone saying, congratulations, I'm going to be a bestselling author by this book. I wrote it with Chad GPD.

And I replied back and I said, you didn't write this. It starts from your heart. It's not your own experience. It's not your intellectual property or your authenticity that comes through. You know, there's no shortcut to really connecting with people in a way that it's your voice. I think there's such an important point, isn't it? Especially now with the rise of AI, people are craving that human connection more than ever, wouldn't you say? Absolutely.

You know, you can read a mile away if this is produced by, It's just too perfect kind of thing. It's not written from your heart. So don't fall for that nonsense. It's so important that you write in a way that your voice comes to. Otherwise, there's an incongruency. These are disconnect. You know, writing.

People have to be the world effect. People don't want perfect. They just want to know that person. They want to know you. and by using AI to write for you and also be careful of ghost writers now. If you want to write your book and get a ghostwriter, make sure they don't use JADGPD

because I mean that's the quickest way to get a book out for you, charging you $1,000 to ghostwriting fees and then get Chad GPD to spew out some 100 pages or something. That is really... Have you experienced that happening? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. So you're an independent publisher. Can you talk us through exactly what that means? Like what's the difference between an independent publisher,

traditional publisher and any other kind of publisher? Yes. There's sort of three main ways to get published. The one is self-publishing where you do everything yourself. The other one is an independent publisher like myself. And, of course, the third one is traditional houses, you know, like Hay House, the big names. Now, of course, if you want to go through via the big names, is that you or before they would anyway look at you, you already have to be a bestselling author. So there's no way to be discovered.

they make sure that they can get a return on the book, that you have a really huge audience, and they also take control of your intellectual property. Because it's like you're getting your book to it. Self-publishing is a viable option if you have the time and if you take the trouble to actually learn the industry. because otherwise if you don't know what you're doing, if you just think you're going to throw your book out there onto Amazon,

if it's not in the correct categories, not having the correct keywords, yes, you will sell your book to your friends and your family, and then it will just disappear. Working with an independent publisher, you also have to make sure of a few things. because I've seen now, heard of at least two or three people who has published their books through a independent publisher and then they also lose their property, the intellectual property,

because the publisher published a book under their own name instead of under the author's page. plus the publisher received all the webties. And then it's a battle to get the book out of the publisher. So how do people avoid that happening? By making sure how is the publisher working. Is the intellectual property yours? Are you actually involved every step of the way with choosing your cover?

Because as for myself is, I have a professional graphic designer, that designs give you three options, but you still have the choice to say, okay, I like that cover or that colors, but I like that font. And I like this and I like that. So in the end,

it's your book. You must be happy with it in every aspect. Plus, make sure that the book is going to be uploaded under your own author's page so that you, get the royalties. So what I do is somebody gives me, and all they, if they want to do it themselves,

I can provide them with all the information they need to set up their author page, to upload the book, the Kindle version, the paperback version, all of that. Or they give me access to just go into their author page and

upload it for them. But let's go for a solo book, for a multi-author. That's all solo book. The multi-author book is uploaded under my name. And all the other authors are contributors. But all the royalties that I receive on behalf as being sort of the main author, all those royalties get donated to a charity that we work with.

Absolutely. That's literally. But I'm just a bit blown away. So can you just clarify? So there are book coaches who publish people's solo books under their name and faith royalties. Okay. Yeah, that's not right. Also, once your book is published, I send you the E-Pab because it's your book.

You have a right to have that. I send you the editable cover. You paid for that. I send you the PDF of the paperback that you have your intellectual property. That's good. That's good. So be careful. Do you choose out there?

So valuable what you do, Dina. I'm going to include all of your links on here. So anyone listening to this, go ahead and follow Dina. Thank you so much for the interview. You've been absolutely phenomenal. Thank you so much, Gailana. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for listening to Business Innovators Radio.

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