How To Find Time To Write Your Book

James Taylor Interviews Lloyd Luna and they talked about How To Find Time To Write Your Book

In this episode, we cover:

• How To Find Time To Write Your Book
• Getting turned down by publishers
• Are you a content provider or a content writer?
• The power of peer pressure

Resources:

• Recommended Tools: Pages, Zoom H1n
• Official Website
• Book Making Workshop

For More of Creative Life Podcast By James Taylor

Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript

Below is a machine-generated transcript and therefore the transcript may contain errors.

James Taylor
Hi, I'm James Taylor business creativity and innovation keynote speaker. And this is the Creative Life, a show dedicated to you the creative. If you're looking for motivation, inspiration and advice, while at home at work or on your daily commute, then this show is for you. Each episode brings you a successful creative, whether that's an author, musician, entrepreneur, perform a designer, or a thought leader. They'll share with you their journey, their successes, their failures, their creative process, and much much more. You'll find Show Notes for this episode as well as free training on creativity over at Jamestaylor.me. Enjoy this episode.

Hi, it's James Taylor here. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Authors Summit. This inspiring virtual summit reveals the secrets of making marketing and monetizing a best selling book. If you would like to access the full video version as well as in depth sessions with over 40 Best Selling authors that I've got a very special offer for you just go to InternationalAuthorsSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yeah, that's right. Over 40 New York Times and Amazon best selling authors, book editors, agents and publishers, sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to write and market your first or next best sellers. So just go to InternationalAuthorsSummit.com, but not before you listen to today's episode.

Hey, there is James Taylor here. And I'm delighted to have with us today Lloyd Luna. Lloyd Luna is a productivity humorist and one of Asia's most popular motivational speakers, as well as being the author of 10 books covering business and personal development. He is also a serial entrepreneur in the Philippines, having started and built businesses, including a speaker Bureau and a book publisher. And it's my great pleasure to have loads with us today. So welcome, Lloyd,

Lloyd Luna
thank you so much the James Taylor

James Taylor
So we've we've hung out before we were in Singapore, and I'm gonna be over with you as soon as the Philippines as well. But for people that don't know a little bit more about you, I would love to in First of all, what are you working on just now what has your focus at the moment? And when it comes to your writing? How did you get to publishing all these books in the first place?

Lloyd Luna
Um, interestingly, I saw I outgrew myself, I am now focusing on a very specific topic I call step up leadership. Since I started 13 years ago, I have been speaking a lot of about motivation and general inspiration. So otherwise, like I was accepting invitations from everywhere, to speaking to to anyone on the topic of career development, being a great student, being a great manager. Being a great entrepreneur is like a book that I have written since 2004 talked about many things about motivation, they are generic, they are nonspecific. But at the moment, I'm focusing solely on doing a leadership expedition to the fogo rice, they're assessing the Philippines, the eighth wonder of the ancient world, based on mainly this book stepback leadership. So

James Taylor
you've got you've gone on this journey from being a kind of general motivational speaker, author to being one who is starting to focus very much on leadership. I think I saw the other day you were I think it was a leaders leader, you know, you've got you, you have a you're really starting to kind of niche down and kind of finding your lane that you want to go with. I'm interested in, you know, in choosing that and trying to focus on that was that because you're looking to move more internationally, in your, in your audiences and your and your speaking was that one of the reasons for doing that or that is that just the topic you find it strongly kind of aligns with you

Lloyd Luna
win them. First and foremost, I think contrary to some popular belief. In the Philippines, we have a unique leadership concept 2000 years ago, and it's about the people being the leader. And it was never documented until I came up to the mountains and interview the tribe who survive in 2000 years. And I thought that for the longest time a lot of leadership concepts from the west, they were tried to transfer to the east and they they made the Philippines starting they started the Spaniards conquered the Philippines 300 years for 300 years, Japanese for a couple of years, Americans for a couple of years. So all of this leadership from the Western and one from from Japan they they took away the sort of the leadership unique the unique leadership style the rigorous Thai original style of Filipino leadership. So I thought when I when I went back to the the mountains, the rice terraces I discovered the the the unique Regional leadership style that we have, that we have been that we must be must be having. So it was sort of a, a junction between realizing that I had to narrow down my my my content, because I don't want to be popular. I want to be known. I want to go out to be the go to guy in terms of a specific topic, whether I'm writing a book or I'm speaking, so that it resonated. Now, it's I'm advocating for the eastern Asian leadership style, which is primarily built on trust, collaboration, humanity. Facebook nowadays has been popping about No, we are a collaborative company, hey, 2000 years ago, we are doing that, we were doing that. So I thought that when when to sing the things that I right now, I am really focusing sharply about step back leadership. So leadership is really generic when you write about leadership. But But I guess one of the things that an aspiring author should consider really, is to make sure that he has a sort of an original content research, whatever that that may be, that he can really or he or she can really call his or her own. It's not a it's not a derivative from from someone else's, it's a very unique to him or her. And then from there, we can expand the business.

James Taylor
And sometimes it is, as you say, I mean, you'll you'll find something very kind of local to you, which you think that the world can can learn from. Funny enough, I was, I was just somewhere a few weeks ago locally to me. And it was something I found like an old historical thing, I thought, actually, I want to be able to use that because it's a really good, it links into my my bigger things I speak on. So you can have use that use those kind of unique stories, which probably only you or a small note people would go go to look for. But it's something the other guests we've had, they've said, some of the guests we've had, they've said I'm a an author who speaks. And other guests, we've had said I'm a speaker, who writes, I'm a writer who speaks on my speaker who writes, do you have a sense of which which one of those you are? Or are you something in between,

Lloyd Luna
I am some something in between. I started as an author, and ended up as a speaker, and the speaker, I am now ending up as an authorof a sherco.Trying to go the cycle. So yeah, I mean, between basically in between

James Taylor
you in that middle part. And when you first started going on your journey to becoming an author, who were those role models for you, whether were the people that you had around you that you could ask advice from in terms of how to write and to publish? Or did you have to kind of look from afar, maybe authors that you admired and kind of learn from them?

Lloyd Luna
Well, the first book, The first book I have ever read, is the alchemist by Paulo Coelho. So Paulo Coelho has been very instrumental in in my journey, I started as a par laquelle guy. And then the second book that I was able to read, minus the politics, if Donald Trump's book how to get rich, with a co author, of course, so those those two personalities really inspired me to, to to write. So at first they were influential in my, my writing journey. So but but yeah, as far as I can remember, after that, I just navigated things on my own right from from writing to publishing, because for those of for, for those audience, who, who don't know, the story, I in 2004, I wrote the manuscript, that all publishing houses in the entire Philippines turned down. So it's very painful, but the really bothered me at all, because I thought one day it will come out. And the only the only way that I could do that is when I put up my own publishing business, which I didn't know, the business, I had just had to register the business. Without the business plan without planning itself. It was me, myself and I. So it was a corporation about about myself, just to make sure that I'm able to publish the book, and from there never do that. So I thought, for those who are aspiring to be to be an author, number one that they need to do is eliminate all the possible excuses that can they can ever think. Because excuses does not make a book.

James Taylor
So when you say that, eliminate the excuses, and we're going to talk about this in May, I know you do workshops in terms of book book writing book making, when those students come to you as people come to you and they, they have no idea maybe I want to write a book or something. Maybe writing is something I want to have in my life. What are the what are the main excuses that they can they'll say to you, they say

Lloyd Luna
that they don't have the time, time who will who else will give you time. Elsewhere, can you buy additional time? The thing is, they don't have time, they don't have the expertise, they are conscious about their grammar, they are afraid of not being accepted, they are afraid of being criticized for your writing, they are afraid of not being able to sell afterwards, they are just, they just afraid they are just afraid of so many things. And these are these are excuses that really keep them from from producing, writing a book. And number two, I guess very important is that they have to identify whether they are the content provider or the writer. Because in this time of history, I thought that you don't have to write to be an author. If you are a content provider, you can easily just get the recorder and record yourself based on the structure of the conference you want to discuss, have somebody transcribe it, have somebody edit it, have somebody design the graphics, and have somebody to print the book, and then publish it. Well done, then of the story. So I thought, you have to decide first, whether you're a content provider, because not all speakers can easily become an author overnight. But one of the things that make it difficult for them to publish a book, or write the book or producible is that they tried to be someone else, if you're not a writer, just get the record, record yourself and then do the process. And that's what we do during the making workshop, really make sure that you identify what you can and what you can do. And make sure that you are able to collaborate with other players because an editor is making a living out of editing job. So let's not kill the editors by giving them the job.

James Taylor
Lesson edit our own, if we cannot net the graphics editor, do the cover, don't don't design, things like this. So you really acting as the intellectual property creating the center, then, and then you're just finding those other roles that's going to support you. I mean, it's funny when we think if we go way, way back, you know, 1500 2000 years, then a lot of these famous books that we think today of whether it's you know, the Bible, or whether it's dhammapada, or whatever the book is, they weren't actually written by those authors, there were scribes there that would write out the book, there was someone there who'd had the the content creators, you say, would be speaking it. And then there would be writers, scribes, that we'd be writing it or memorizing it, and then writing it down at a later date. So we're kind of coming back, we're kind of coming back circle. Again,

Lloyd Luna
it is interesting, because I think Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ was the provider of the content. And the apostles just wrote this book for him. Interesting, the richest author of all probably, right. It's also interesting to note that we have to somehow be able to adjust. By the color of the times, you know, this is the time in history, when we don't have so much luxury of time, that we can sit and concentrate about creating, again, identifying whether you are a content provider, and or a writer is very crucial before producing publishing.

James Taylor
Now in your events, I've checked them that the workshops that you run, they look really fun, because they're, they're quite sure, I think two or three day events, they're in beautiful locations in the Philippines is when you get everyone together. And and the thing that you work with the writers on or the content creators on is how to get what's in their head, potentially in their head and their expertise out onto a page and into into into a book or into a form. So can you talk through just you know, the top the top level, you know that what that process looks like, for someone that hasn't experienced, you know, maybe a dip, maybe they they've traditionally kind of come at it from the specter of just sitting down there and writing every day and doing it that way. But can you talk about the process that you work with writers on?

Lloyd Luna
Well, number 1am I, I thought that my first i thought that my story that the first thing I did was to eliminate all five possible excuses that they had. So I tell them the story how I started. And number two, I realize the power of peer pressure, when you come together as a group, and push yourself to the limits so that two months later, all of you will have to launch a book. So the process starts from me telling the story and assisting them on how they can structure their chapters. And then once they do that, the team will kind of sort of evaluate each one's title and subtitle and possible structure the contents. So it's a it's a It becomes a community, a very small community for a batch of aspiring authors, that they give inputs to each one, and then after that they they come come together, and then make sure that they have the schedule with me to work finally on the content, and this happens, after the bookmaking workshop, I sit with them over coffee, and have a two hour interview about their content based on the structure that we created during the workshop. And then after that transcription, editing, layout, design, publishing, and then printing. So in less than 60 days, the book is out. And they have this group launch this very important, they have a group launch. So it's something that they don't have to

James Taylor
and the benefit of also having working in that group way, first of all, then you've essentially got a small focus group of other people giving you feedback on your ideas as you're creating it. So you're getting almost like you're kind of market testing it, I guess, before the big round is that the manga testing and mastermind, the mastermind, exactly. And then so and then also, when you go and launch, you've got a group of other people, it's not just you, they're trying to promote to your own list or your own audience. But you've got a group of other people maybe connected in the same world, maybe not. But they're all promoting or talking about your book, together.

Lloyd Luna
Yes, perfectly. It's exactly what what the what is happening here in the Philippines. And that's exactly what I intend to do. In the next couple of years, maybe in my lifetime.

James Taylor
That's my thought. So how many people do tend to have on these workshops that you do at the moment,

Lloyd Luna
so it should be from eight to 10 people. More than that, I think it will be really ineffective. I want to focus one on one. Plus, of course, there should be some scheduled problems eventually, when you when you try to launch it in 60 days, and you have more than

James Taylor
10. Now, you mentioned also being that content provider in the middle there and having these other roles. You mentioned the role of the editor. You mentioned the role of the designer, what other roles does someone need to have a random if they're going to use that type of model?

Lloyd Luna
Well, basically, that's about it. I mean, you provide the content, somebody transcribed it verbatim. And then someone edits it goes back to you and say, Oh, I need to add some more idea and then go about the editor. And then final days there will give the copy back to you and say, Okay, let's go and then the publisher will say, Okay, let's go that get the ESPN and then go to the printer, say print the book, 100 copies, one 504,000 copies. And basically that's it. So well in between you're trying to design the the book, cover front back and then the layout of the content. So nothing much. Nothing much to do I always emphasize the it's very important. I always emphasize, to focus on your role in bookmaking, what is your role really, because if you are unable to identify the role, it will get messy along the way, you are not the editor or you are not the graphics designer, you need to leave this thing to them.

James Taylor
And then what but that transcribing role so your imagine you you're speaking out your ideas, you're getting your outline, your chapter headings, and you're kind of talking your ideas, or using something like a rev.com, you know, transcribe transcription service like that, or you just try and find someone who can specialize in transcribing these types of books. They can also do a little bit of finessing when they're transcribing your words.

Lloyd Luna
Yeah, the general idea of transcription is very, very interesting transcription. So that transcriber or transcription is cannot, cannot do something about it, except that to transcribe it, word by word. And secondly, if it is a direct English to ours, and then we send to like, wrap it around. Yeah, software, sort of a sorry, service provider that does that. So yes, basically, by all means, I am not yet using that one. But in the future, it is fully unleash. And then I will go for $1. Was it $1 per word?

James Taylor
Yeah, well, yeah, there's this. There's a couple of other I think it's $1 per minute, but actually, there's there's a, there's a number of other services, I can't recall the names of them now that are even cheaper than that. But you just you have to deal with the fact that some of them the quality, the accuracy is not as high. I've used rev.com. And I like them. And I like the the accuracy, but some of the ones you can, you can do and then maybe 97% accurate instead of 99% accurate. Yeah. So you

Lloyd Luna
decide or maybe it's your fault, but now it's appearing the way James Taylor used the service.

James Taylor
Yeah. So as you've been progressing on this journey as an author, was there any big lightbulb moment or insight the time when you went Ah, okay, this is the direction I want to go with my writing. Oh, this is the this is what I want. This is the kind of audience I want to serve. With my writing

Lloyd Luna
Oh, well, first it was Andrew Bryan from past president of the Asia professional speaker, Singapore that asked me, What is your topic? What is it that you talk about? What is the subject that you speak on? And they said, a lot. And he said, not a good idea. So and I asked him, What are you talking about the said self leadership? And I thought, Wow, how sharp was that? how narrow was that, that the conversation was just contained in the self leadership, it's, it's about directly promoting the, the his topic, original topic, so to speak. So ideas really realize that until I attended the global speaker summit in Auckland, New Zealand in February, and the same thing, the same thing was given to me, like you have to narrow down you have to be an expert in specific field is it should be a two inch, two inch wide and one two miles deep. So if I said probably Yeah, it's very difficult for us to leave our comfort zone. When you're in that level that you have been, I have written 1414 books, and I'm comfortable with my subject is very easy. I did not do a cop a lot of research, writing the 10 1112 books, 13 books. But on my fourth book, I had the travel 357 kilometers from the from Manila, and immerse, immerse myself in the imago culture, local tribe. Just to make sure that I get it right research I, I lived in the mountains for a couple of days. And really asked the tribe leaders and the elders, and the people in the community how they built the the rice terraces in 2000 years ago. And now I became an archeological research. And I didn't even realize that I am now on the geologists, cultural archaeologists. So it's a it's a it's an interesting journey. I it's not, it was not really an intention, though, at that point. But the light bulb again started when that under Brian guy came to the Philippines asked me and then it was really reaffirmed in Auckland, when when the same topic was was presented.

James Taylor
So this book is coming out is going to be coming out all about this, this discovery that you've made there and how it applies how other business leaders and business owners can apply this. And executives can apply this to their own businesses. I you already can going out on the road now with the the keynote to go alongside the book, or that's something that you're working up working up now as well.

Lloyd Luna
Well, basically, I have a couple of, well, I have two, I have three business models that that are derivative from the book. So if you are an author, and I suggest you become an author, if you're if you're watching, or listening, is because writing a book does not only make an authority, it gives you the opportunity to expand your business by using different business models, for example, my Starbuck leadership, the initial idea is to do a keynote speech about the book. And if you aren't able to finish that they buy the books. So you have two income streams, the books and the keynote. But also and more importantly, I now created my own global leadership expedition going to the mountains, bringing at least 10 to 12, cxos CEOs, CIOs, CFOs, whatever See, x O's that they have, bring them to the mountains for exclusive four day expedition and retreat. And then hopefully, once they they enjoyed it, and they learn from it, hopefully, they invite me to their organization and cascade the entire program to the organization. And number three, maybe they like really the the idea, then I can upsell it to being coach, a step back leadership coach that to the organization to the CEO, whoever can can benefit from the from the from the idea so writing a book is something that they don't just see us as some you have a book and they are an authority because you can do a lot. A lot of businesses out of that particular content, especially if it is original and it is well researched. And it is it is interesting, it is unique.

James Taylor
And I think I think it'll be interesting as well to track over time with like a CRM, for example, where you can see someone coming in, they attend that conference. Then you see them buying that book, and then you see them coming on the expedition and you see them going for the coaching and and that book which would maybe cost you know a few dollars to print and Give it is now resulting in thousands of dollars of sales. So you can actually see the return on that as well.

Lloyd Luna
Exactly. I mean, I don't I don't see my biggest I am not commercially published author, I don't have a an international publisher that that carries any of my titles. so easily I have all the control on how how many copies I'm going to print, when I will print out so it's kinda I can easily give away a copy of the book and then it is to see that the, the see that I plant and then reap a lot of rewards from from that simple giving away of a copy,

James Taylor
tell us about some of the tools that you use, what apps and tools you use as a writer that helps you do the work that you do.

Lloyd Luna
Well, basically, I just I just use pages on Mac. And Ops, I also have this is a zoom h1, h1 h1 n recorder, very useful, very handy. USB event record for 40 hours. So zoom h1 n handy recorder. Pretty much about that I mean, a piece of a piece of paper or notebook and a pen?

James Taylor
And what and what about in terms of if you would recommend a book to someone on on the craft of writing on how to write on the business of writing and maybe self publishing? What would that book be?

Lloyd Luna
Um, I don't have the title yet. And writing if

James Taylor
you're writing it

Lloyd Luna
send me an update. Okay, so I don't I, the thing is the things that I know right now I didn't, I didn't even I didn't even get or buy a book. From from bookstores about self publishing or, or writing. It's a, I don't know, it's just natural tendency for me to want to write and then I navigated my own path. So I cannot really recommend which book to get. And that's why neither of us was big. I really thinking seriously considering writing about those two topics, how to write and the business as an author,

James Taylor
they could they could there could be a book and it comes to buy time, watch this check, go and check out Lloyd's website who knows it might be a book in the offing as well. And so a final question for you, Lloyd, I want you to imagine that you woke up tomorrow morning. And you have to start from scratch as a writer. So no one knows you haven't got any books published? You have to start again. What would you do? How would you restart your writing career,

Lloyd Luna
I am going to go back to my roots, I am going to go back and review my story. And I'm going to start with my stories. Because I think nowadays people are really interested about real story inspirational at that. And I cannot I cannot start immediately. If I were to do a research here and there. The closest thing I have in me is my story. And since I have the story to tell, I think it's the it's the first thing that I would want to write if I were to restart my writing journey.

James Taylor
So we mentioned a couple of times here about your bookmaking workshop if you want to learn more about that and also more about you as well, where's the best place for them to go and do that?

Lloyd Luna
Well? Nowhere else but bookmakingworkshop.com.

James Taylor
You got the.com bookmaking, workshop.com. And we'll put a link here below, so people can check that and if you want to just kind of connect with you personally learn about some of your other books and things. Where should they go to learn about that?

Lloyd Luna
Well, all social media networks @Lloyd Luna

James Taylor
at Lloyd learning find it we'll put all those links here as well. Lloyd, thank you so much for coming on today. It's always a pleasure speaking to wishing you all the best with the the bookmaking workshops you're doing, I've been seeing some of them online, they look like they're in beautiful locations. I'm very, I'm very envious. I'll have to come out to one of them at some point soon as well. But thanks so much, and all the best for the next book.

Lloyd Luna
Come on here, James. Big Oliver, thank you so much. I'm honored, really privileged to be to be here and to be able to share just to contribute whatever inspiration and tactics and strategies they can use so that they can finally become a published author. really an honor for me to be here. Thank you so much for your time as well.

James Taylor
If you're interested in living a more creative life, then I'd love to invite you to join me as I share some of the most successful strategies and techniques that high performing creatives use. I put them all together in a free downloadable ebook that you can get by going to jamestaylor.me. That's jamestaylor.me. To get your free downloadable ebook on creativity.

To get your free downloadable ebook on creativity. If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show.