The 99 Authors Project – Season 5 – Episode 13 with Stephanie Francom25 min read

Bryan Hyde
Welcome to the Janine Bolon Show, where we share tips from around the globe. As we guide practical people with their finances using money tips, increase their incomes through side businesses, and maintain their sanity by staying in their creative zone.

Janine Bolon
Hello, this is Janine Bolon and welcome to today’s show where we bring you quality content on saving your time saving your money saving your knowledge while staying sane in this topsy turvy world of ours or is that whole staying sane part already a lost cause.

Janine Bolon
This is the Janine Bolon Show. It’s a syndicated program of four podcast shows that were combined in October of 2021. Three Minute Money Tips, The Thriving Solopreneur, The Writers Hour Creative Conversations and The Practical Mystic Show were programs that we’re running since 2017, we’ve produced over 300 episodes interviewed over 200 guests, and today we will be spotlighting one of our authors that is contributing to our 12th book, The 99 Author Project, Stephanie Francom. She grew up near the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee where she was nurtured and family ideals and the love of green landscapes and lightning bugs. Years later, while raising her own family in the West she experienced the delights of motherhood as well as the painful ups and downs of postpartum depression. Seeking purpose to overcome the depression she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the early morning hours which positioned her to found a nonprofit organization for women to strengthen the family. After stepping down as president of her nonprofit, her family’s mental health concerns began to increase. One day while visiting her chiropractor he mentioned a recurring thought that there was a self-help book she needed to revisit. She did so and she promptly saw the effects of her changed mindset. She went through mindset training, became a mentor and began holding events and found answers to support her family’s health. In five months’ time, she had published her first book, From the Embers: Five Steps to Rise to Your Potential, that shares the tools she adopted in her own story. And she co-authored another book, Collective Brilliance: Spark Ideas, Build Faith and See Your Ministry in a Whole New Light. She and her co-authors worked so well together; they founded an assisted publishing company called Rooftop Publishing to help others leave a legacy that they’ll love.

Janine Bolon
Stephanie has become passionate about inspiring others to live, create and publish their own transformational stories. Through her personal development coaching, writing coaching, and Rooftop Publishing. She loves a gentle hike. a tandem kayak with her sweetheart, games with the family and finds peace to be the most desirable emotion on the planet. Welcome to the show, Stephanie.

Stephanie Francom
Thank you. I’m so excited to be here.

Janine Bolon
Well, I think it’s only fair to say that we have known each other for a few years, you and I were both getting our master’s degree at the same university. George Wythe College and we not only saw each other in classes, we saw each other teaching as we were working on our degrees, so that was back in 2002, 2004. And wow, that’s been that’s been a hot minute, hasn’t it?

Stephanie Francom
It has it has so much since then. Right?

Janine Bolon
Yeah, we you and I have lived multiple lifetimes in between then and now. So. So I feel so out of touch because I knew you’d written one book. But I totally forgot about Rooftop Publishing. There’s so many wonderful things that you’ve been doing. Kind of catch me up and share with me what got you, what’s the story? I mean, you tell us a little bit about the mental health issues of your family. But you know, a lot of people have that. It doesn’t mean they write a book. So what was the trigger? Help me understand what was that trigger that got you into writing your book?

Stephanie Francom
Absolutely. The reason that I wrote From the Embers was because when I started to see where everything seemed like it was falling apart in our home and our family, and I started to see this shift. And I actually was amazed by the shift, I thought how do we not share that with other people. So for instance, I had been about 10 months without a car. And in our whole marriage, I had never been without a car. We have four, my husband would drive to work in one, my son owned his, but we were paying insurance. And my daughter had one that she was living out of town. So car number four was mine and it was broken. And it was 10 months. And I began reading that book and I started thinking, are you kidding me? Did I actually create this because of my bad mindset? Because every time somebody would go into town, and they’d say, hey, you want to meet me for this, that or the other? Then I’d say no, I can’t because my car’s broken, or I can if you come pick me up, but because my car’s broken. So I just continued to affirm that over and over I don’t have a running car. So when I changed that and I thought, oh my gosh, I’m done with that. I choose to have a car and just felt grateful as if I already had it. The very next day, my son’s car broke down. And I thought, okay, I read about this. And it was, okay, I am going to be feel like things are changing so that I can get what I need. Things have to change for that to happen. So I felt grateful. Next day, my daughter’s car got a flat tire, and she said, I don’t even think it’s worth fixing. And again, I’m like, yes, yes. So it was on day five.

Stephanie Francom
My best friend called, and she said, Stephanie, I have got this car that we have been driving back and forth to work. It’s all freeway miles, but it’s getting up there a little bit. Do you guys like it for like $1,000? So within like, maybe 45 minutes, I had a car and I even had $1,000 sitting in my drawer that my son had not used for something he needed the day before.

Janine Bolon
Wow.

Stephanie Francom
So yeah, so how do you not share that?

Janine Bolon
Right? Yeah, it is a transformation. And whether people want to call it law of attraction or, you know, Think and Grow Rich, I mean, there’s a bucket load of books out there that talk about how our mindset will work. And with all the cars becoming of the forefront, like they kept breaking little things breaking on him. That’s just momentum. As a physicist, I can tell you that. That’s momentum of the mindset that still trickling off as you start changing what you want, where you want to go with that. So congratulations on getting your car. So you got a car. So how did that inspire the story, I’m still waiting under shell, what got you to sit your butt down right at the keyboard?

Stephanie Francom
So it’s because I’m a personal coach. And when I started seeing the number of people that needed it, but didn’t always have the time to do personal coaching, I wanted to take all of those tools, and then provide them for more of the masses, you know, but just to be able to say, hey, go pick my book up, go look at that. And that is going to at least get you started.

Janine Bolon
Get you going in the right direction. Right.

Stephanie Francom
Exactly.

Janine Bolon
Wonderful. So did you happen to have a marketing background before you started writing your book?

Stephanie Francom
No, I did not have any background. And I think I have the stars in my eyes and thought, you know what, I have so much to share. But I had very little about the what or the when or the how.

Janine Bolon
Right, well a lot of a start there. So yeah, you’re in good company with that. So what surprised you about the book marketing process and the publishing?

Stephanie Francom
You know, I think it was realizing how little I knew. There’s a lot of it is just really common sense. Because I have a brother-in-law that is a chef and makes the best Greek lemon soup. But outside of our little community, unless it’s by word of mouth, nobody has any idea. Because he doesn’t, he doesn’t put it out there to the world. And so why that would not translate to books. I’m not sure. But it didn’t for me.

Janine Bolon
Interesting. So what would you change if you were going to be marketing your book today? Because now you’ve got two books under your belt, you’ve got a publishing company now. So talk to me a little bit about what would you change in the marketing of your book?

Stephanie Francom
So first of all, I’d have a marketing calendar. One thing that I’ve learned is you need to be started at the very beginning, as you’re writing, to get your name out there to get the momentum and the anticipation and the energy behind that. So that you are gathering that following. I’ve also learned from you that a book tour is a really, really good idea. But if I am completely honest with myself, so our publishing company, is an assistant publishing company, we don’t do marketing. So I would hire somebody who knows what they are doing. And then I can focus on my own genius. And they can focus on theirs. And we would be a tremendous team.

Janine Bolon
And that’s very true. Most publishing companies, they do not do marketing, they publish the book. And I think that a lot of people don’t realize the sea change that happened from 1998 to 2001. There was a huge sea change in that three years where publishing companies stopped doing what Hollywood loves to show, like, you know, you get money ahead of time and you get all these stipends and stuff like that. Now there are still publishing companies that do that. But they don’t walk in our world, they walk in a very different you have to be incredibly famous or be an athlete or something like that to get those kinds of advances that you see in, that you get to see in Hollywood, so. Talk to us a little bit about what worked best for you when it came to selling of your book?

Stephanie Francom
In the beginning, it was word of mouth, and social media. But then you look at it really is your friends and family, right. But since then, I found that the genius, or the best place that my book breeds is in the coaching world. And so it has become the foundation for my six week coaching program, where there were the five steps. So the one thing that I have really learned, with our publishing company, we happened upon this obvious idea that there are two different kinds of books.

Stephanie Francom
Two different kinds of books, and one of them is the book that is going to go out and it is going to change the world, it is for the purpose of going completely to the masses, and to be transformational on a huge broad level. And we call that a world book.

Stephanie Francom
Then we have the other which is your corner of the world book. And that is where you are trying to have an effect on family, friends, your community, maybe specific to your local business, that type of a thing. And I ran onto the understanding that my book has been more of corner of the world book. And I feel good about that. I feel really good about that. It can certainly affect a broader audience. But when I when I came to that understanding, that gave me that, that comfort, and really a better know how of how to market it with what I what its purpose is.

Janine Bolon
It really brings a lot of leverage and I don’t think a lot of authors understand it the way that you are describing it, which is when you know when you really get that laser clarity, that laser focus and you leverage that one thing that you know, that’s when it goes off the charts. It’s when you broaden it out, and you so dilute your message that you have issues. So you were really smart. So here comes my favorite question. This is my favorite question to ask authors. So what process did you try that was an epic failure? Because we want to save those poor authors that are walking in the road behind us.

Janine Bolon
So what advice would you give what was an epic failure for your corner of the world book?

Stephanie Francom
Do not stick it on the shelf of a coffee shop and think that you’re going to get momentum there. Because mine was on the shelf of a coffee shop that actually had a chain. And so it was in all of these different areas. I don’t think I sold one. That way not, not even one.

Stephanie Francom
But who goes to a coffee shop to get a new read, you know what I mean? It’s kind of like sending a child to go shopping at a water heater store. It’s just there’s not a connection there. There’s not there’s not a fit.

Janine Bolon
Right. And that’s the thing, if you’re going to try to leverage your book, you want to make sure it’s in an area. So like, I have heard of people who had home decor books, or how to save money and time, that sort of thing. And they would put their books in like consignment shops and stuff like that. And it did very well, you know, they’d have several copies at a time that would go, but you have to be able to leverage that right? You got to make sure that your shop, whatever the brick and mortar institution is, is in alignment, or is the part of the problem that your book solves. Right. You know, and so you probably would have done better at like a Walgreens or you know, something like that with people that in that arena. But anyway, okay. Well, I hope authors take advice from you on this and make sure that they get it correct, joint partners, when it comes to brick and mortar institutions. So tell us what story do you like to tell about yourself that gets the most laughs from your target audience?

Stephanie Francom
This is a question that really stumps me. Janine, I’m not funny. I’m just not funny. And so I think about this, and this has come up in other interviews. And so I’ve had this conversation with my kids. And like, can you think of something that is just and they’re just like, uh uh. Can’t think of a thing, but I thought you know what, no, wait a minute. We have a lot of fun in our family. And we play you know, Settlers of Catan and Uno Attack and, these fun things. I was a basketball coach of a teenage girls team, and my dad teases, he’s like you don’t even know the difference between a soccer ball and a football, which is not true. He loves to tease me because I’m not athletic. I have these ridiculous things. But this year for Halloween, I’m dressing up as a queen bee because my husband is a as a beekeeper, and all of my grandkids are going to dress up like bees. So I’m like you know what, dang it, I can have fun. And until really stupid jokes that nobody laughs at. So I, I don’t know. I got nothing for you.

Janine Bolon
Yeah, no, no, as as a marketing professional, one of the things that I would immediately say to you is play to your strengths. If you have a lot of fun and you know, you tells jokes that nobody laughs at when you lead with stuff like that it’s hysterical how people will start laughing just because they want to make you feel good.

Janine Bolon
Start laughing and before you know it, you’ll earn a title of being quirky and funny. It’s one of the silliest things that there are three comedians who I won’t name right now. But there are three comedians who when they were on Jerry Seinfeld show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, all three of them, totally admitted to Jerry, they had no idea why they were so funny. They just knew the other people found this funny when I do this. And this is funny when I do that. And so I went, oh my gosh, they’re like Stephanie Francom. You know, you don’t you get people to laugh. But you don’t you don’t know why. And you think you’re not funny. You’re just being you. So all I can say is you just keep being that queen bee for Halloween, and have your little grandbabies. All those your little worker bees, it’ll be a hit. You’ll love it. So thank you. I do. What’s your joke?

Stephanie Francom
It’s so bad. And my kids still don’t think it’s funny. Okay. And you’ve probably heard it. But there’s two muffins in an oven. And one muffin says to the other muffin, dang, it’s hot in here. And the other muffin says, ahh, a talking muffin.

Janine Bolon
I’m sorry. I think that’s great. I think that’s great.

Janine Bolon
When you first read it, you’re laughing and people around you are going you know, that’s really sad. You know, that’s, that’s a really sad thing that you’re doing there. And I think this is the thing. As authors, we have to be quirky. Because who else gets up at 3:30 in the morning and starts writing to themselves about worlds that they’re building in their head? I mean, come on, now, we’re not normal people. So as long as we will accept that about ourselves, we’ll be fine. Okay, well, moving on on marketing here. What is the biggest change that you’ve seen in yourself since you’ve started marketing your book?

Stephanie Francom
So we have to remember that I really didn’t market it. So if I could just tweak the question just a little bit and ask, what’s the biggest change that I see it myself, since I started showing up in the world to share my message, it would probably be twofold. It would be the compassion that I have developed, and the confidence because the more that I have compassion, the more that I share the message, and the more that I see the shift in them, and see their joy, see their happiness, see their progression, that I gain confidence in being able to help them and to just to watch them show up in the world causes so much joy. So I just have confidence that my message matters.

Janine Bolon
That is awesome. And the thing I like to share with people and not just Stephanie, but definitely to you listening. And that is if you were driven to write a book that’s because there were at least five people out there wanting the answers that your book has. And this is something Stephanie and I have talked about when she first started mentioning her Rooftop Publishing. It’s something that she and I deeply believe in that if you actually take the time and you crank out a book, there are people there that have been praying for it to come into existence, because it’s going to solve a situation for them. So thank you, dear author, for not only listening to this podcast, but also for writing your book because it was needed. And with that Stephanie has five tips that she likes to give authors about selling their books.

Stephanie Francom
Okay, tip number one, make sure you know if your book is a world book, or a corner of the world book. And then don’t beat yourself up about the marketing if your book is for your own corner of the world, because leaving a legacy for those in the world, in your world, is invaluable. I wish so much that all of my heroes that have already passed on had left a book behind for me.

Stephanie Francom
Tip number two, share your book writing journey from the beginning. Let others on social media and LinkedIn and so forth, let them be a part of the process. They’ll become invested in your message and your success from the beginning. And then you have increased that anticipation.

Stephanie Francom
Tip number three, get training or hire someone who knows how to help you market your book. Let them do what they do best so you can spend your time with creativity. The process will be more efficient, the results will come more quickly and you can spend your time in your own genius.

Stephanie Francom
Tip number four don’t try to be somebody else. Now what I mean by that is that if you want to stand out, don’t try to be like every other author out there. Yes, you can learn from them, please do. Look, look around, do your research and see what they have done. And then build on that. Let that be a catalyst for you finding what is really you. Authenticity is attractive.

Stephanie Francom
And tip number five, stick to your branding. Now what I mean by that, okay? My personal branding is a blend of professional with a little pop of fun. If I had only one word to describe it, it would be light.

Stephanie Francom
My photographer did a great lifestyle shoot that could capitalize on that and showcase that. But my book is called From the Embers: Five Steps to Rise to Your Potential. And my cover was very, very dark, and think ashes and soot, and you know, this little, tiny green plant coming out of that darkness. And I hated it for four years, I hated it. Because it didn’t represent my message. It didn’t represent me. And it definitely did not represent my branding. So I finally thought, you know what, I am going to change this. And so I had my designer put something completely different together that I am so in love with. I’m right in the middle of the tweaking. I have on I have the new cover on my website, but it’s not even on the book yet. And I so I have both that are out there. But I would just suggest stick with your branding and your marketing, so that you feel you have integrity with yourself and with your message. And those are my thoughts.

Janine Bolon
Thank you so much, because I knew you’d have them ticked off for people, especially since you’ve been working with so many other authors on their books. And you’ve been able to see how people can get encouraged away from their core message just because they are releasing so much control to other people because they think they know better. And the honest answer is, you really do know what you like. So stick with what you like, test it for a couple of years, if you’re not getting the tracks you want, then go to other people’s idea. But start off, right, start off with your own with your own tip on that. So talk to us a little bit about what you most misunderstood about becoming an author.

Stephanie Francom
You’d think from my story, that it was all about the marketing, but I misunderstood even more was the editing process. And I think that I came in there and I thought, okay, the rough draft is done. That means I must be minutes away from having this ready to go. And we can just get it printed next week, kind of a thing. And that was a sad, sad, coming to a realization of no, that you are basically at the beginning of the process. And it’s a good process, it is going to be so much better because of the all the holes that you miss. When you become passionate about something, then you have all of your background years and years and years of understanding and and misunderstanding and interpretation that you just assume that the reader already understands. And then the editor picks it up, and is like, I have no clue what you’re talking about. We’ve got to tie this idea together with this idea together. And that, it takes a huge amount of humility to be able to go in there and it’s okay. But the end product is going to be so much better. So that the audience will understand.

Janine Bolon
And that’s what it is we get so wrapped up in our heads and we’re writing something at 4am or maybe my night owls, you know, you’re the only one up in the house at 1am and you’re still writing. We’re so much in our head, we make connections. The editor looks at that and the cold light of 10am in the morning and is going what were you doing here because I could not follow your quantum leap?

Stephanie Francom
And that some of the comments that you get and it’s like you’re gonna have to tie this one together for me. It worked for me.

Janine Bolon
So fun. Well, tell us what is your biggest reward for you being an author?

Janine Bolon
It doesn’t work. I have no idea where you are or where you’re going with this one. Yeah, I’ve had a few paragraphs, I’ve had whole chapters like that, where we just had to pull the whole chapter because it didn’t fit in the book. Even though in my brain, it totally made sense. But to my beta readers, and to my, to my editors, they were like, ya, no.

Stephanie Francom
You know that one’s easy. My biggest reward by far has been the changes that people have noticed in their lives. When you have somebody come to you and say, oh, my gosh, my daughter, this is actually a true story. My daughter who has been in an abusive relationship, she could not put your book down. And she was taking notes the whole time. And Stephanie, I think she’s going to make a shift. You know, that is the true payday, it’s being able to see those connections happening for other people. Or when people come to you, and you see a change in their light, in their demeanor, and in their forward momentum. I love that.

Janine Bolon
I agree. I call those author pay days, because it’s like, this is why I went through the process was for these people. Yeah, it’s a pay day.

Janine Bolon
So if somebody wants to find out more about you, Stephanie, what’s your website? Where do they go?

Stephanie Francom
It is Stephanie Francom.com. And I do I need to spell it out or are we good?

Janine Bolon
We’re good. I think people are gonna find it for you. And so I just wanted to say thank you so much for being with us today, Stephanie.

Stephanie Francom
Thank you so much. It has been delightful.

And that’s it. Stephanie has answered our questions. And we’ve got more information in store for you. Make sure you visit her website, Stephanie Francom.com. And I want to say thank you again today for being our spotlighted author. Now if you are an author, or you know of an author, we would like you to definitely visit our website, Author Podcasting.com, where you will find the 99 Author Project listed we talk to authors from all walks of life as we build out book number 12, which is Advice From Authors to Authors that is going to be published in 2023. And this is Janine Bolon signing off with you today. And all of us here at the 8 Gates that produces the Janine Bolon Show. We wish you a wonderful week and encourage you to get your message, your story or your knowledge out into the world and make it a better place just like these authors are doing that we’re interviewing this year. We’ll see you again next week. And until then, you just keep sharing what you know with others. You keep shining that light that is you and don’t forget to go out today and just do something for yourself that is just plain fun. We’ll see you next week.
Bryan Hyde
Thank you for listening to the Janine Bolon Show. Be sure to subscribe to our show notes by going to www.theJanineBolonshow.com, where you’ll find additional resources as well as the opportunity to sign up to receive our program in your email each week. Be sure to visit our sponsor at www.the8gates.com.