I’m super excited to announce that my first “real” published book has arrived and is now also up on amazon for purchase. In the past I have created workbooks to go with courses I’ve taught, but this is the first book of mine that you will be able to find on the bookshelves of a bookstore or order online. I’d like to share the story behind this publishing journey because I think it will be an encouragement to any budding authors out there who have faced rejection or discouragement along the way. It's a bit of a cinderella story that I have to tell... Encounter Weight Loss is a unique book that focuses on the parts of weight loss that are usually ignored by the diet industry such as resolving emotional eating and the other triggers behind food addiction, as well as teaching about the latest changes in nutritional science. I started my journey towards this book in 2014 when I decided to launch a weight loss program in my local church after successfully breaking free from emotional eating and resolving my own battle with food addiction. This came after years of trying every kind of diet on the market which only dealt with the physical aspects of weight loss, with no lasting success. Then applying my knowledge of identity issues and counseling to weight loss and seeing that this was the missing key to long term freedom. After two years of development in a classroom environment, I began to write Encounter Weight Loss as a book and later that year had an opportunity to approach a publishing rep through a mutual friend to discuss the idea of publishing my book. Well, that meeting was very discouraging. The rep I spoke to told me that they wouldn’t consider looking at my writing because I didn’t have a public platform, online following, or public speaking schedule. So I went away from that meeting feeling pretty low and decided that I would finish writing the book simply because I believed in the message and the program had already helped a lot of people. I decided I would self-publish and just share the book as much as I could. A year went by as I worked on the book, and at the same time, I transitioned into leading Women on the Frontlines which is a large global women’s organization. So I now had the “public platform” I had been told was the barrier to having the book looked at by the publishing rep. I told myself "this time it will be different" and booked a second meeting with the rep to talk about my book. As we sat together, I excitedly announced “Guess what, I now have the public platform you told me was the barrier to you looking at my writing." I had my manuscript in my bag, my heart was beating with anticipation, and I had a wonderful image in my mind of handing it over to be read, loved and published. I’ll never forget the response I received: “What is your book about again?” “It’s called, Encounter Weight Loss and it’s a book about breaking free from emotional eating.” “Oh, we wouldn’t even consider that, we only publish spiritual books.” I started to argue, “What could be more spiritual than getting set free from a life-destroying addiction?” Then realized I was sounding defensive and clearly this rep was not interested in me or my writing. Rejection number two in case your counting.
I think that that is what rejection is good for. As long as you don’t get bitter, it can cause you to ask hard questions such as -“Do I believe in this enough to do it even if I am the only one who sees the value?" So you can imagine my surprise at what happened next. It was June of 2019, I was attending a conference in the USA and had just been introduced to a person who also worked for the same publishing company I had approached in the past. I teasingly joked as I was introduced to this person… “Oh, you work for the company who won’t even look at my writing." What followed was a conversation about my book, which ended with this person asking me to send him my manuscript to look at. I decided it wouldn’t hurt to send it because he might be able to give me some constructive feedback before I self -published it. Besides, I have become pretty good at handling rejection so what's one more? Three days later I received an email from him saying he had read through the book and felt it was “very good” and would like to set up a meeting to chat. This was not at all what I had expected, because I had already cleared the emotional hurdle of deciding to publish on my own. I also knew that when you work with a publisher it can take a year and a half to release a book and I didn’t think I wanted to hold off releasing Encounter Weight Loss any further. Decisions, decisions… Well here is the fairy tale ending to my book writing Cinderella story. The publisher who I met with that day became my behind the scenes guardian angel helping me bring the book up to a higher standard so that I could self publish it now rather than waiting another year. Over a period of weeks, Micheal and I got to learn a lot about the difference between most self-published books, and those done by major companies. It was humbling, to say the least, but the end result was beautiful and in the words of my behind the scenes friend, "something to be really proud of". And.... at a certain point in this process I was also invited by my behind the scenes friend to submit a proposal for my next as yet unwritten book. It was recently accepted and now will be released in 2021!
So the moral of the story to all budding authors is this. Never give up! Believe in yourself enough to do it on your own, and you never know what God is up to behind the scenes to help you get you where you want to go. I tried to place myself with the wrong person in the wrong moment for me, and then God placed me with the right person, in the right moment! You can find both the book and a ten lesson audio coaching series for Encounter Weight Loss at www.encounterweightloss.com
5 Comments
Kathy Sanderson
2/1/2020 02:23:48 pm
Congratulations Wendy! It looks great, can't wait to get my copy! What a journey you have been on as you started EWL to getting the book published! So faith building to watch the process!
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Pat Mohr
2/1/2020 02:33:20 pm
Wendy!!! So excited and proud of you! Congratulations! I remember Encounter Weight Loss in its infant stages, and am so humbled that you allowed me to read it and share my "stuff." Love & hugs, Pat
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Murray Peter
2/1/2020 08:23:00 pm
Congratulations and so happy and proud of you.
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Bren
2/1/2020 10:11:42 pm
Love it! So proud of you & the journey it took to get here...the best is yet to come!
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Barbara Young
2/2/2020 05:48:44 am
This is so awesome Wendy! You’ve been so patient & exhibited much perseverance. I’m very proud of you.
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Wendy Peter is the North American Director of Events for the Women on the Frontlines Organization.
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