#664 From Author to Authority: How to Turn Your Book Into a Business Tool

What if your book could keep selling your services—long after it’s published?

In this episode of Talking with the Experts, award-winning author and publisher Shauna VanderHoek reveals how to turn your book into a business-growth blueprint. She shares how entrepreneurs can transform a simple idea into a powerful visibility tool that attracts clients, builds authority, and drives consistent revenue.

Shauna breaks down her Write-A-Book FastStart Method, explaining how to structure a book as a client journey—a “silent salesperson” that nurtures relationships and converts readers into loyal customers. You’ll also hear how she helps authors overcome the self-doubt that often whispers, “Who am I to write this?”

If you’ve ever dreamed of writing a book that positions you as a thought leader and opens doors to speaking, coaching, or consulting opportunities, this episode will show you how to start with confidence and strategy.

🔗 CONNECT WITH SHAUNA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaunavanderhoek/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/askShauna

Website: https://www.askshauna.com/

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Transcript

Intro | 00:00
Business insights on talking with the experts. Hosted by Rose Davidson. 

 Rose | 00:10
Would you like to go from author to authority and turn your book into a business growth blueprint while overcoming your own self-doubt? My guest today is Shauna VanderHoek, and she's going to share with us how we can do just that. Shauna, is an award-winning author. She's a publisher and creator of the writer book, Start Fast Method. She helps entrepreneurs and business owners turn their expertise into non-fiction books that build authority, attract clients and open doors to new opportunities. With a mix of strategy and insight, Shauna guides authors from idea to published book, transforming their knowledge into a powerful tool for visibility, growth and lasting impact. Shauna, it is a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for joining me here on Talking with the Experts. 

 Shauna | 01:01
Yes, thank you. Thank you for having me on your podcast. 

 Rose | 01:04
Anyway. We all know that writing a book about your business is, expertise is going to help with business growth. How is your method different from everyone else's? 

 Shauna | 01:21
Well, to me, the important thing is getting started, which is where most people they don't even know how to start so that's why i came up with the fast start method to make it really easy i start with a strategy call and the interesting thing is most people are kind of caught off guard with my first question about their goals because well i want to write a best-selling book or i want to you get clients and you know all the standard answers of course you want to do that. But like, I always want to go deeper into like, what's in your heart? What is it you really want out of this? Once they get down into kind of the soul level of it, it's like sometimes what they want is They're trying to make a go of their business because they're trying to get rid of the day job for some people that are just starting a business. For others, it's, You know, I want... 
 Some acknowledgement because I know all this stuff and nobody knows I know all this stuff. And so there's different reasons for different people. And once they tap into that, there's more of a reason to write the book. It's more heart based. And I find people follow through a lot better if they know that underlying reason. At their heart call. 

 Rose | 02:43
- You too. 

 Shauna | 02:44
I see. Yes. 
 So the next step is the client research report and this is something that I use some proprietary software that's not available on the open market where I can actually if you decide you want to write a book on a certain topic for your business We take and we find, you know, six to 12 books that are on that topic And basically the software will go through on Amazon reviews and say, People like this about these books and they hated these about this book and this is what they wanted and this is questions they still have that didn't get answered. If you know all those things, you can incorporate them into your book. 
 And then the next step is to actually Create the book blueprint. And it relies on that client research software to start with, but it takes your vision for your book. What is it you want to do? And there's so many ways to do a business book. 
 I mean, I have one person that she wants to just Basically, she wants an encyclopedia. She wants to share everything she knows, which might not be the best strategy. 
 So we're still talking about that. Because it's like, if you share everything you know, then who needs your services? Another person is using it more to just highlight what she can do so she draws in more people for her services. But they each have specific areas The one client is very heart-based and so she wants to make sure that stands out in her book. Another person is very pragmatic and they just kind of want just facts, ma'am. And so they have a different vision for their book. 
 So once you get that vision articulated, you have the client research, you have the topic. And we come up with a title because, you know, the title can make or break a book. We come up with a really good title. 
 And then we put it back in the software and it comes up with like a, 15, 20 page blueprint, chapter by chapter, broken down into, you know, like three segments, depends on what you're talking about, but a few segments for each chapter, what needs to go in each of those segments. And it's, it just, it's like painting by numbers after that. 
 So it's a good place to start. Some people at that point want to step back and go, Okay, let me try writing this. 
 You know, I've got the blueprint. I can start filling in the blanks. Other people might want to take it to a ghostwriter. Other people There's ways to work with AI and one of the things I'm, just an aside, I'm doing a Your Book, Your Message, Your Edge summit coming up soon. And on that summit, I'm trying to get a speaker right now that can speak to AI and copyright law because there's certain factors around that people need to be aware of. 
 You know, we all know how much of a support AI can be in generating material. So there's a number of ways to do the writing process. But one of the other things during that writing process is your marketing starts as soon as you've got a title. 
 Yeah. The first thing after you get a title is you get a cover. And the nice thing about getting a cover is you can kind of post a picture of your cover up there and say, this is my book and it helps inspire your writing. 
 So there's quite a process to go through and then the edits and a number of things. I've kidded with friends. I say some, one of these days, I think I might write a book that's just the 490 steps to getting published because I'm a detail nerd. And it's like, I My background is project management, and so I can get down to the little nitty gritty. 
 So there probably are at least that many steps when you get down to that detail. But it's something I just, I have a passion for books. I have a passion for small business owners. And just to bring all that together in one place, it makes stepping away from corporate a really Nice step that I took.

 Rose | 07:20
Yeah. And, you know, I've got about three books in the process at the moment. 
 You know, I've got keep writing chapters after chapters and then adding to them and haven't taken anything out yet. But, you know, a couple of business books and a personal memoir that I want to put out into the marketplace. 
 You know, it... It takes time. 
 I mean, you know, when you go to a book coach, they give you sometimes like three months from start to finish. And sometimes, you know, you need a bit longer than that because your ideas either aren't flowing or... 
 You know, life just happens and you can't just dedicate yourself to sitting down in your book if you've got a business to write. Right. A business to run, sorry. 

 Shauna | 08:07
Yeah, no, that's absolutely true. And so that's one of the things that I do with my fast start clients is we stop and we map out we go, okay, if there's this many chapters, and you're going to write them. What's your life look like and what's realistic? Because there are some people that get really ambitious and serious and they'll knock it out in three months and other people might need a year. And so we map it out accordingly. And right now I'm developing a tracker so they can keep track of where they're at. And I always suggest Get your first ugly draft done before you even start with the edit process because One book I had, it's like I got, I was writing in pieces, you know, this piece would inspire me and then I would write this other piece, a nice started cobbling them together to where I couldn't see it anymore. And being able to just Turn that ugly first draft over to a developmental editor. It's like they're stepping back and they're getting the big picture. They're not all enmeshed in it. And they can... I got some great feedback from my developmental editor who just helped, well this piece will work better down here and you need to add this kind of information here and so. Finding the right editors for you is critical to coming up with a really good result. 

 Rose | 09:39
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Editing is really paramount to the whole process. However. I have been told and how I have read several instances where they tell you just to write from your heart. Don't worry about editing as you're going, you know, whether you've got spelling errors or whatever, just write and just the stuff on paper. 

 Shauna | 09:59
Put Yes. 

 Rose | 10:02
And get it out there and worry about all the editing stuff later. 

 Shauna | 10:07
Yeah. And sometimes that's hard for me to do. It's like I want to correct as I go and I have to keep that in mind. 

 Rose | 10:14
Yeah. So how can we turn a into a business growth tool that, you know, will get us those speaking gigs and create that long-term visibility. 

 Shauna | 10:25
Well, one thing is to make sure your book has a call to action. And That, you know, most people, I'm sure you understand call to action, but a lot of the everyday business owners, they don't really know what that means. And so it's different. I primarily work with heart-based businesses. Entrepreneurs, the small health-based or the practitioners. And so with them, you know, it's a whole learning curve. It's a whole new language and help them understand that. 
 So we go through the process of, you know, If they're going to reach out to you, they're not going to just all of a sudden walk into your office. You've got to start to get to know them. 
 So part of the marketing process that we go through and discuss, I'm not a marketing expert, but I definitely give them the foundation. One of the reasons for the summit I'm doing is to bring these different experts together, to bring together book marketers and book coaches and editors of the various sorts, because there's so many different types and ghostwriters and everyone to just Let people know what kind of support they can get. To so much support in the book writing world. 

 Rose | 11:47
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, If you write a good solid book and the information that's contained within it can only help with your business. And if you have that call to action, even... Out throughout the book, you know, It doesn't have to be salesy. It can just be, you know, if you want more information, download this PDF or, you know, have QR codes and things in them. 
 So, you know, and if your book's really good. People will ask you to get up on stage and they will ask you to, you know, explain your book and all the bits and pieces in it. 
 So, you know, your book can only be helpful in that way. 

 Shauna | 12:29
Right. And probably, you know, just being an author inspires people to ask you to speak, which gives you more visibility. 
 So that's one of the key things that it will do for you. 

 Rose | 12:41
And we talked about the blueprint for writing the book that, you know, that's going to go on to the market. But how do we structure a book specifically? 
 You know, do we start from the beginning or do we start in the middle? You know, some people like right in the middle first and then, you know, go to the beginning and then go to the end and they, you know, swap bits around and do stuff. 
 So what's the best strategy? 

 Shauna | 13:06
You know, it's really mindset. To me, it's like what you feel inspired to write. 
 Like, take a look at your blueprint. And just listen to your heart. You're going to feel called to write the right section And that's the thing about having the blueprint is you know, you're going to put it in the right place. It's just these chapters haven't been written yet. 
 So it makes it really easy having a blueprint because you're not stuck. Well, I have to do this first. Because I know when I've written my books, it's like it never works out that I start from front to back. I get scattered. It's like I'll wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep and I'll go, "I need to talk about this thing and I'll write that chapter.". 

 Rose | 13:55
Yeah, I think you've got to start your book with the end in mind. I think that to me that makes a lot of sense. 

 Shauna | 14:02
Right. Yeah, so that's what the Blueprint helps you with, is you don't have to worry about what comes first. It's you know... Once you put the pieces together, it's like, but start writing where your heart calls the loudest. 

 Rose | 14:17
Now, we all not all, but most of us have self-doubt about writing a book and putting ourselves out there for first time authors how did we shift from you know who am I to write this book to yes I'm going to write this because I have something to share. 

 Shauna | 14:33
Well, I think book writing is actually that's one of the things that I recommend just doing the fast start, even if you don't take it further is, It will start to show you where you have different blocks. I had a huge visibility block until recently and I didn't even realize what I had done. It's like I've written a few books, but I would like get deathly ill when it was time to come to publish. And at that point in my career, you know, I was still working corporate and these were more books of the heart. And I didn't even realize, you know, the marketing that needed to come ahead of it. But I just had a big "Aha!" recently that's like I was afraid to be seen, so I just kind of got so sick I couldn't even market my book. I was hiding, even though I wrote a book, I was hiding. 
 So it's a way to just, you know, if you feel like you can't do something, that's where it's nice having a writing coach or a personal growth coach, any kind of business coach, someone who can help you work through that block. Because if that block is holding you back just in writing your book, it's good. Holding you back somewhere else as well. And so it's an opportunity, you know, writing a book is an opportunity to grow. 

 Rose | 16:01
S. Authors have grown through writing a book. 
 You know, they've You're right, they find out the mental blocks that are holding them back in writing the book and in life and in their businesses. And so writing this book can most times help them through those blocks. What are some strategies to overcome some of those blocks other than having a coach? 

Shauna | 16:29
I've been in personal growth for over 30 years, and I've learned so many processes and new ones are coming out all the time. That's one reason I love working with my clients is because I can take it on one and one for what's theirs, you know, their particular situation. And I'm just trying to think of a process off the top of my head that It's like generally consumable and understandable because some of it's pretty deep. But I think one of the best things to do is one of my coaches, has a five, what she calls the five yeses. It's like, okay, so if you feel stopped, it's well, do I feel worthy of that? "I'm not having this or doing this. I deserve it. Am I willing to have it? And at any point, if you get a no, you need to stop and look. And often when you get that no, it's like, okay, well, where did that come from? And it's usually not where so much as when. And I actually, I was doing a process today on something that I was blocked on. And my seven-year-old totally misinterpreted something my dad said. And by going back and looking at that and bringing in my adult self, and bringing in dad, you know, that is the, you know, he's passed on, but from that place, he could be more clear. 

 Rose | 18:08
- Yeah. 

 Shauna | 18:10
And we talked to the little seven-year-old and She got it. It's like she's not worthless. Perfectly fine and that's not what dad meant at all and it was just, it was like just a weight lifted off. And sometimes it's as easy as that. 

 Rose | 18:29
Yeah, words can be very harmful. It's unfortunate. We often say things, especially to children. In an adult way that they interpret in the called way. As something that's bad when it really isn't. And we forget to temper that with a bit of empathy and a bit of hard like mannerisms and words, you know, we use, sometimes we use too many adult words and not enough children words. 

 Shauna | 19:05
Right. Yeah. And it's like when you're little, it's like, you know, a three-foot wave at the ocean, you know, is going to drown them. But for an adult, a three-foot wave is like, that's no big deal. 

 Rose | 19:20
Yeah, absolutely. If you want to reach out to Shauna, you can find her on LinkedIn, on Facebook at AskShauna and on her website at AskShauna.com and she's Shauna, how can you help other people? What can they find on your website? 

 Shauna | 19:40
Well, I'm just putting up actually a new PDF for people to understand the whole journey from start to finish. That should be up there probably by the time you post this. Podcast and they can look at your book your message for the upcoming summit I'm doing one this year and a couple more next year. 

 Rose | 20:05
Wonderful. 

 Shauna | 20:06
So they can see what all the support is out there. 

 Rose | 20:09
Lovely. Any last words of wisdom? 

 Shauna | 20:14
Just. Do it. Just jump in and do it. It doesn't mean you are you know, committed forever. It's like the fast start program is a nice little chunk, just getting started. And then there's programs that, you know, I know people that, Charged quite a bit and we'll take care of everything, the ghostwriting, the editing, the marketing. 
 So there's all kinds of levels of support out there. 

 Rose | 20:42
Wonderful. Shauna, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for joining me today. And yeah, I look forward to catching up with you soon. 

 Shauna | 20:50
Thank you. Thank you. Bye. 

 Outro | 20:55
You've been listening to Talking with the Experts with Rose Davidson. The podcast that brings you real stories, bold insights, and strategies that work. Be sure to subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast channel so you never miss an episode and dive into our full library anytime at talkingwiththeexperts.com. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing and keep talking with the experts.