Misty Lown | One Small Yes | Self Publishing Alternative Case Study

On this episode of Book Journeys Radio, Vice President for The Author Incubator, Jenn McRobbie, interviews Misty Lown, who owns the distinction of getting 10,000 downloads of her book, One Small Yes, within the first five days of the launch.

At the onset of the interview, Misty expressed her happiness to having the chance to reconnect once again to the author community of The Author Incubator after her post writing “hiding” period. For starters, Misty revealed that her book is for people who feel that they’ve been called to do something great in their life. Misty calls this a God-calling and it’s something that anyone can realize using a basic process of saying yes to things that come your way. Misty revealed how saying yes had led her to establishing dance schools all over the US and the world.

Misty insisted that anyone who feels they are called to do something more than what they are doing right now only needs to make an earnest “yes” effort in the right direction. She admitted, though, that her own story as an author was the opposite in that she had said yes to the wrong direction. In spite of the irony, it was something that ultimately led her on the right path to writing her book. That was when she met Dr. Angela Lauria, founder of Difference Press. It was at a conference and Angela was upset about an author writing the wrong book. This caught Misty’s attention since it was something that she did not think was possible. It was an eye-opener for her and One Small Yes was realized with Angela’s help, published under Difference Press.

In writing her book, Misty tapped into her being a teacher of dance. All the details are worked out in the beginning and that was what she applied to her writing. She also envisioned herself as an published author, because from her point of view, if she didn’t have a book to her name, she was only a writer. “If I trusted the process a little bit more and saw myself as an author while I was writing, I think I would’ve gotten over those initial blocks,” she admitted. She did make it clear that this didn’t mean there’s anything wrong about being a writer.

For Misty, the hardest part about writing One Small Yes was deconstructing her own thoughts and this was something that Angela and her program were able to help out. As a creative person, she said that having a framework helped her put the all the pieces where they should be unlike before when she was essentially “choreographed on the fly” which really didn’t produce the kind of output that’s required or expected.

Near the end of the interview, Misty revealed how she was able to get 10,000 downloads within five days of launching her book. It’s no secret and really more about connecting with the right people and having a loyal community that’s willing to support your efforts as long as you make them say one small yes.