Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to author and publishing coach, Paulette Stout. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Paulette, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

As authors, we have great latitude about what we choose to write and how we bring our books to market. My author brand is about sparking important social conversations and bringing those to the forefront. While these are themes often confined to literary fiction, my experience has shown that contemporary fiction readers respond to deep themes if presented in entertaining—and delicious–ways. I view my role as setting the story in motion, and letting readers come away with their own conclusions. No preaching. Just gripping reading experiences that just might readers think differently.

My books explore characters taking transformational journeys to learn who they are, what they want in life, and how they can impact change in the world around them. For me, these include relationships and intimacy, because those are core to the human experience.

Whether I’m writing about race and class, women’s intimacy, or presenting unconventional takes on workplace harassment, I never lose sight of the fact that readers seek to be entertained. They want to open a page and be propelled to the next. That’s my author brand. I create fast-paced contemporary fiction that says the quiet things out loud. That’s the “why” behind what I write.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m an award-winning author, with books sold in 38 countries, and have gained so much from my publishing path. My goal as a author coach is to help published or pre-published authors more easily navigate to and through their path to publication.

Writing is a solitary journey, so I serve as a trusted source to turn to for answers about their specific situation and needs. This fills a critical need for working authors who need both personal attention and clarity amid an online landscape of expert blogs offering conflicting information. Each “best practice” might be right for some, but having a conversation about each writer’s specific situation takes the guesswork out of their writing journey.

Beyond publishing tasks, I’ve mentored writers to bring their manuscripts along. This is pre-editor work helps them organize their stories in a ways that make sense and simplifies their ability to write manuscripts.

Most often, when writers think their manuscripts are done, they’re only at the beginning. A frank conversation can help writers know the difference. Once done, I can help them more efficiently walk their path to self-publishing.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

My reputation in my author community was gained by giving. Every time I learned something new, I’ve shared that information freely with others. My clear intention has always been to help others do better for themselves I guess you can say that people taking my good advice makes them come back—and trust—me all the more. But those types of relationships are built over time.

One contributing factor is no doubt my ability to achieve success in my own career. I strongly believe that you should only advise others on that which you have achieved yourself.

Finally, my reputation has certainly benefited from me being transparent about any missteps. These too are learning experiences, so sharing what I’ve done wrong helps others avoid the same mistakes. Together, giving sound advice and being both honest and transparent about my successes and failures have made me a trusted voice in my author communities.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

In business, we always look to experts to learn the “right way” to do things or discover the the path you “should” take. Those habits are difficult, but essential to unlearn as hopeful writers pursue publishing their work.

Instead, I’ve replaced that mantra with “it depends.” Because it does.

No two writers are the same, their writing style, talent, resources, market fitness, genres, goals and definitions of success are all different. That’s why each decision or best practice you hear may or may not work for you. I’ll give you an example. In one of my writing groups, a new Facebook advertising strategy was all the rage. My friends all lined up, followed the same tactics, and had opposite results. Some soared, some tanked. It was a stark reminder that reach of us, as authors, must take an individual learning journey that’s unique unto ourselves.

The trick is gaining the confidence you need to set a path forth for yourself and stick to it, even though you may walk alone. Unless, you have a trusted advisor, of course.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.paulettestout.com/author-coaching
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulettestoutauthor/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/paulettestoutauthor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulette-stout-97902116/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/StoutContent
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@paulettestoutauthor