I’m sharing a behind the scenes peek at the writing of A Little bit of Numerology with you today. It’s a look at both the process of the book but also the mindset that I believe helped make it happen.
Do you have a book on your dream board? Maybe you have more than one book idea rummaging around your head and heart? If you have the inkling to write I urge you to do so. Write for yourself, write to share and sort your thoughts. Write for your desk drawer, for a blog or to pitch your ideas. Just write.
I’ve always known that I could write and I never really dwelled on if I was a good or bad writer. I just knew that words were my friends and that if I needed them they would help me put my thoughts, feelings, and ideas into sentences. The judging and editing of writing is a separate field than the writing itself. So to write you need to stay in the mindset of letting the words run through you. Everything else takes second place.
I knew that when I started my business writing would become part of the journey. Newsletters, blog posts, sales pages, unsubscribe boxes, client back-and-forth, opt-in-offers, e-books and so on and so forth. Lots of words. So I put ‘Numerologist and Writer’ in my bios back then because it seemed natural to claim the title. I gave up on making sure that everything I wrote was perfect. English is my second language and the longer I’ve lived in the US, the more I forget the grammar of my high school English class. I can’t serve my clients and spell check simultaneously. Thank you, Grammarly!
After a Well + Good article about Numerology that I had been interviewed for was published in late September 2018, I was contacted by a senior editor at Sterling Publishing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble.
It was a short email and I remember sitting on my bed reading it over and over on my phone and being slowly filled with a bubbly expansive joy. My my-soon-to-be-editor wanted to know if I would be interested in writing a book?
YES, I’d very much like to write a book about numerology! But in my head, that seemed like a long arduous task with very little compensation. I googled what most first time authors make and how much time they spend on writing their first published work. It turned out to be a whole lot of time and then getting minuscule advances on their manuscripts. So I had low expectations before our first call to discuss the details.
But it ended up being so easy and simple. All she needed to pitch me as the author was a table of contents for the book with a few lines on what each chapter would be about. The book would be part of an ongoing series of introductional works on spiritual tools. I knew immediately that there would be nine chapters (hello spiritual-symbolic connection to the nine base numbers!) and that it had to be as practical and condensed as possible. I knew that I could write a short book of 25000 words in a few months and that it would help get my approach to Chaldean numerology and name change out into the world in a whole new way.
I read a few of the books in the ‘A Little Bit of’ series to get a feel for how much ground I could cover. I decided to add to that by giving the readers the chance to dabble in the reading of their own and others’ numeroscopes by using case studies as examples. I polled a range of options for those on my social media pages and Oprah and John Lennon came out as the winners.
The actual writing happened from Monday-Wednesday between January and March, I created days just for writing and moved all my client hours to Thursday-Saturday. I printed out the chapters and took them to a cafe to read through when I got tired of staring at a screen.
I re-wrote the intro, the first, and last chapter more than the rest. Breaking down the base numbers, name vibrations, numeroscope and how it all fits together was a test of how embodied my own knowledge of numerology had become. Setting up the preamble and wrap-up had more to do with how I wanted the reader to interpret and integrate the information and connect their own spiritual dots.
I turned in the first draft of the book in the middle of March and after that, we went through editing, illustrations, first, second, and third passes until the final pass went to print in August.
I learned a lot from having others read through my words and how crucial it is to have especially your copy editor and illustrator understand your subject, tone, and approach. Some things I had a say in, others were out of my hands as the book had a frame to fit into. Many of the edits were helpful and illuminating, a few comments made me want to throw away my laptop. I think it’s part of handing over your creation to have deep emotions surrounding how it’s being handled!
While the book was being printed I created a bonus for my readers so that it would be easier to engage with and keep practicing the calculation and reading of numeroscopes. It helped me keep busy to create the next step, while I waited to see the book in its hardcover format.
Now all writers and aspiring authors should know that the marketing, hype, and promotion surrounding your book is almost entirely up to you.
To begin mapping out this part of A Little bit of Numerology’s journey I made a list of bookstores that would be a fit for book signings and author talks and had my assistant reach out to them. I thought about ways to promote the book beyond social media and my newsletter and created a list of early readers that wanted to read and review the book. I made sure to mention that my book was coming out to everyone I met and the podcasts I was a guest on. I updated my website with a dedicated book page and created an annoying but effective pop up for everyone who visited it. I signed up for Amazon Author Central to be able to add my blog feed to my author page. I did all the things that I thought would help the book reach more people.
I’m not treating the book as a singular event, it’s a solid business card, not just for me but for the kind of numerology that I’d love more people to find, learn and use on their own spiritual journey. I love it when people reach out after reading it to tell me their experience and share their aha-moments of recognizing themselves and their loved ones in the base numbers and through the filters of the name vibrations.
The process has made me more of a professional writer in the sense that I now see the possibilities for the kind of ideas that are useful and would work best in a written format. There are definitely more books coming in the future!
A Little bit of Numerology is available nationwide, online and from your favorite indie bookstore today.
100% Love
Novalee Wilder
Professional Numerologist + Author
PS: Do you want to read and see more behind the scenes stuff from me? Follow me on Instagram @novaleewilder.