My ALLi author guest this episode is Karen Williams, a nonfiction author of ten books who now helps entrepreneurs write and publish books that grow their businesses. What began with one book in 2009 turned into a career helping others find clarity and purpose. Along the way, she’s learned what makes a book truly work for both the reader and the writer.
Listen to the Inspirational Indie Author Interview: Karen Williams
Inspirational Indie Author Interview: Karen Williams — About the Author
Karen Williams is The Book Mentor at Librotas, helping business owners and thought leaders write and publish authority-building books that elevate their credibility and grow their business and brand. She guides clients from messy first idea to final manuscript and successful launch, with a focus on strategy, structure, and impact. Karen is the author of ten books, including Your Book is the Hook and Book Marketing Made Simple, a TEDx speaker, and host of the Business Book Bites podcast.
Sponsor
Our Self-Publishing with ALLi podcasts are proudly sponsored by Bookvault. Sell high-quality, print-on-demand books directly to readers worldwide and earn maximum royalties selling directly. Automate fulfillment and create stunning special editions with BookvaultBespoke. Visit Bookvault.app today for an instant quote.
Thoughts or further questions on this post or any self-publishing issue?
If you’re an ALLi member, head over to the SelfPubConnect forum for support from our experienced community of indie authors, advisors, and team. Simply create an account (if you haven’t already) to request to join the forum and get going.
Non-members looking for more information can search our extensive archive of blog posts and podcast episodes packed with tips and advice at ALLi's Self-Publishing Advice Center. And if you haven’t already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.
About the Host
Author Howard Lovy has been a journalist for 40 years, and now amplifies the voices of independent author-publishers and works with authors as a developmental editor. Find Howard at howardlovy.com, LinkedIn and X.
If you’re a published indie author who would like to be interviewed by Howard for the Inspirational Indie Authors podcast, you need to be a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors.
Then contact Howard, including your membership number, explaining why you’re an inspirational indie author and what inspires you.
If you haven’t already, we invite you to join our organization.
Read the Transcripts
Karen Williams: Hi, I am Karen Williams. I'm The Book Mentor. I started writing my first book in 2009. I've written 10 of my own books, and then for the last 11 years I've been supporting business owners to write books that build their business, build their authority, and get them noticed.
I've worked with all sorts of clients over that period, it is just great to see someone have an idea and help them to turn it into a really good book.
Karen's Early Life and Career Beginnings
Howard Lovy: First, before we go into that, let me know where you grew up, and has reading and writing always been a part of your life?
Karen Williams: Yeah, I grew up in Portsmouth in the UK. Most of my time I was living there, very much a shy, introverted child. I spent a lot of time reading, Enid Blyton, all sorts of books.
Although I was growing up in the eighties, so I spent time out on the streets, like many people don't now. We didn't have devices, but I did spend a lot of time reading and in my own little fantasy world.
I never set out to become a writer, but reading is definitely part of my life.
When I got into the business world, into the corporate world, I started doing a lot of writing. Initially, I was working in hospitality and then I went into training. So, I wrote a lot of training courses, HR policies, and management policies. So, that was my life before I got into the coaching side of things.
The Journey to Becoming an Author
Karen Williams: Then I trained to become a coach in 2006 and wrote my first book in 2009. I did say never again after that first book, but as I said, I've written 10 books of my own now and supported many people to do the same.
Howard Lovy: You're rushing on ahead, so let's backtrack a little bit and talk about after your childhood. You went into the corporate world, what attracted you to that line of work?
Karen Williams: When I was 18, I met my now husband, and I really didn't have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. So, I went into hospitality, initially, trained in hospitality, worked in hotels for Marriott Hilton Group for many years, and then I moved into training off the back of that because it just felt like a natural progression for me.
Howard Lovy: So, in the meantime, did you always have a secret manuscript in your desk drawer, or did that come later?
Karen Williams: Actually, I did have a secret manuscript in my desk drawer at one stage. I wrote a book, gosh, it was a long time ago now; it never saw the light of day.
It's something I decided to write, and my dad was quite a prolific writer, so I think maybe I got it from him. He's no longer with us now, but I think he used to write a lot, and I think it just rubbed off on me. So yes, I did have a secret manuscript. I have no idea where it is now, it's in a computer somewhere.
Howard Lovy: But that wasn't something that you ever thought you'd ever do for a living at the time?
Karen Williams: No. Writing a book just felt like a massive project, and I made the decision to write a book really by accident.
The First Book and Hybrid Publishing
Karen Williams: It is one of those things that I made a decision one day, I was doing my NLP Master practitioner qualification at the time as part of my coaching studies, and I had the opportunity to interview some really successful coaches in their field, and I thought, why not turn this into a book?
That was in summer of 2009 where I just made that monumental decision to do it, something I'd never done before. Not really, anyway.
Howard Lovy: Tell me what the germ of the idea was.
Karen Williams: I was modelling the mindset behind a successful coaching business, and I had the opportunity to interview some amazing coaches in the UK and the US.
Ultimately, I was trying to work out what makes a difference between a coach who is successful and a coach who isn't. In terms of their skills, their abilities, their sales skills, their team, what was it that made them successful?
And because I was learning so much from these coaches for the qualification, I decided I wanted to interview more people and it gave me the opportunity to do so, and I also decided to write a book because I wanted it to reach more people. So, this was 2009. It was before social media is like it is today, so not many people were writing books back then.
So, it felt like a really great way of getting the knowledge I was learning into the hands of people who would benefit from reading it.
Howard Lovy: The publishing route you chose was a hybrid model. Can you explain how you got that published?
Karen Williams: Yeah. So, I went with Matador, a hybrid model. I had interest from a traditional publisher, but I wanted to keep control of the book. But the publishing side, it was part of the journey. I think, for me, the most challenging part of the journey was learning how to write a book.
Structure's always been my thing. So, actually the structure wasn't so bad, but I had imposter syndrome, and I had to learn so much on the job as well.
Obviously, the publishing side of things, how do you get a publisher? I did write a proposal. I did approach quite a few publishers and as I said, I had interest, but I went down the hybrid route in the end just to retain control over my book, the content in the book, and also how it was distributed.
So, I worked with Matador for that first book.
Howard Lovy: Were you a prescient a little bit about the rise of indie publishing?
Karen Williams: Absolutely, I am. I think there's so much choice these days in terms of indie publishing. That's why I'm a partner member of ALLi as well, because I think we have so much choice.
But the danger in the fact we've got so much choice how to get published is that it's so easy to not get it as well as writers as we could do. Because it's so easy we could just write a book today and put it on Amazon tomorrow, but would it be successful and would it really help our business, our profession, our creativity?
So, I think there are so many options these days, which is great for indie authors.
Howard Lovy: You mentioned that your first book changed your business and your life. How did it do that?
Karen Williams: For me, my first book changed my business and my life because I got clarity on what I wanted to do with my life, in terms of at the time I was supporting coaches to start their business when many of us, including myself, when you're in that situation, nobody tells you what to do or how to do it.
I did later move into book mentoring, of course. But for me, it got clarity in my message. It got clarity and confidence that I knew what I was saying and knew what I wanted to talk about. It reached around the world, which is something that wasn't so easy to do back then, and it opened the door to many opportunities I don't think I would've had if I hadn't written the book.
Howard Lovy: Now since then, you've authored multiple books, including planners and journals. How's your writing process evolved over time?
Developing a Writing Process
Karen Williams: I didn't have a process. Initially, I didn't have a process. In 2014, I started to develop my process when I moved into the book mentoring arena, because I realized that I needed to know how I did me, in terms of the process, to teach it to other people.
So, the summer of 2014, I ran a six-week online program, and I wrote my book, Your Book is The Hook. That basically enabled me to test my process with people who signed up for the summer program alongside writing the book.
That had multiple benefits. It made me really focus on the process. It made me write the book quite quickly because I had webinars to deliver, and there's nothing more pressurized than to write when you actually have to deliver it live.
So, it did push me through the process, and that was my first iteration. It has developed since then.
Five years ago, I created the smart author system, and that's the process I teach now. So, it's evolved a little bit, but the core principles remain, which is about having a really good plan. First off, having a really good idea and then having a really good plan, and then writing to that plan.
That's a really helicopter overview, but it's 10 steps that I teach people through the process.
Howard Lovy: Did you have to reverse engineer, I did this, now how did I do this?
Karen Williams: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, reverse engineering. I think for any independent author, it's also about reverse engineering the process from the day you want your book published as well, because I think working backwards is always easier than working forwards. If we work forwards, things don't always get done, but when we know that if you want to have a book published by April 2026, it's easier to work backwards than work forwards, in my view.
Howard Lovy: Absolutely, yeah, I could learn something from that.
I think I've been doing it all backwards, and those self-imposed deadlines become more and more fluid. But if you have a, I need to be published by X date, and then you build yourself deadlines earlier than that.
Founding Librotas and Book Mentoring
Howard Lovy: So, eventually in 2015, you founded Librotas. So, tell me about how you launched that and why.
Karen Williams: It's interesting. The word Librotas is a mishmash of Libro for book and Libertas, which is freedom. The whole idea behind that, for me writing gives me freedom and writing gives my clients freedom as well to express themselves, to be more creative. That's how the name came about.
But the book mentoring came about because I was training in London, and I was playing with the idea of helping people with their books. I had done it quite informally with some of my clients the year prior, and I mentioned it to a lady, and she said, I would love to write a book, and I said, I would love to help you. That's really how the book mentoring started.
We sat around her kitchen table with post-it notes, planning it out, and I supported her through the process, and I guess it just gave me more confidence that I knew what I was talking about.
I think the more you do something, the more confident you become with it and the easier it is as well.
I suppose I didn't realize that when I wrote my first book, everything I'd learned was important to other people because they were like I was back then and really didn't have a clue. So, if I could shortcut the process, it makes it so much easier for other people.
Howard Lovy: Now, are you focusing on the writing part or the business part or a little bit of both.
Karen Williams: I tend to focus on both, actually. How the book fits into the business is absolutely integral to how I work with people because my clients are entrepreneurs, they're coaches, they're consultants, they're CEOs. They're writing a book to build their business and their brand. So, it makes perfect sense to actually make sure the book fits into the business.
But I also support people with the writing side of things because it's quite hard when you're very close to your own story or your own process to see the wood for the trees.
I work with people who are dyslexic. Some have English as their second language. Some struggle with the narrative.
So, I don't ghost write, but I do some developmental writing for some of my clients who need it as well. Because again, if you don't know how to do it, if you've never written a book, it can't feel quite daunting.
Howard Lovy: In another life when I'm not podcasting, I'm also a book editor and I've taken on a number of business clients and usually business owners have one of two things they want; they either want to tell their own story or they want a how-to, and sometimes a combination of both.
Are those two separate things or do you often deal with the same kind of theme?
Karen Williams: That's a really interesting question because my clients do tend to either write from the how-to point of view or from the memoir point of view, but most people want to include both of them and it's not easy to do that, is it?
So, you always have to lead from the narrative of the, are you writing from story but maybe including some learnings, or are you writing from the how to and then maybe including part of your story? I have worked with a few clients who have managed to successfully mesh the two together, but it's quite hard to do.
So, working out the type of book that you're writing before you get started is important. Otherwise, you can spend loads of time, as you probably found out, circling and going round around in circles. So, knowing the type of book you're writing first is absolutely essential.
Challenges and Strategies for Aspiring Nonfiction Authors
Howard Lovy: What common challenges do your clients face in terms of getting what they want to say into a book?
Karen Williams: I suppose the challenges that come up quite a lot is not knowing how to get started, and that can cause paralysis. Time, of course, as well, because people think it needs more time than it actually does need.
When my clients follow my process, they can normally write in about four hours a week, which for most people, it's getting up an hour early or maybe not watching TV for a couple of evenings a week.
So, people can fit it in if they want to, but more often or not, those perceived challenges aren't the real problem. What normally happens is, I don't know how to get started, I don't know how to fit it in. But actually, that clarity of the message is something they haven't nailed. When you're clear in the message, everything else can fit into place quite easily.
But you do need to make it a priority, and you do need to make it a commitment as well.
One more thing is I don't think people realize, especially in entrepreneurship, how much they actually know already and how much content they've already created for webinars, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, social media posts, and we can use that to our advantage when we're writing a book.
Howard Lovy: So, we're not talking about just producing a book. It's more like, and I hate to use this catch word, but it's more like building an author brand.
Karen Williams: Yeah, absolutely. I call it the ecosystem around the book. I talk about that a lot in the podcast, The Business Book Bites, because most of the people I've interviewed for that, and I have conversations with a colleague as well, we talk about how the book fits into their brand, how it fits into the business. It's not normally a standalone product. It's normally something that's part of their business vision, their business goals, and what they want to create in the world.
Howard Lovy: Now, you mentioned that some of your clients have a hard time with that initial phase of getting started.
What's the theme of their book? What are they trying to say? Is that something you help them with before they even start writing?
Karen Williams: Yeah, absolutely. Even if people do come to me with words down on paper, we always go back to that starting block.
Starting with the end in mind is the first part of my process. You need to know where you want your book to go, and then you can start developing the idea or concept.
For some clients it's fairly straightforward, they have a step-by-step process, and the book might lead into consulting or an online course, but not everyone comes to me with that. A lot of people have been told they need a book and then they're like a rabbit in the headlights because they don't know where to take it.
So, for me, it's guiding people through the whole process from, I want to write a book, I've got no idea where to start, and some of my clients, as I mentioned, come to me with some words down on paper, but we always go back to that beginning vision goal, what do they want to create with the book? And then everything leads from there.
Howard Lovy: Now, you've created some resources like the Business Book Planner and the Book Writing Journal. Can you tell me about these tools?
Karen Williams: I created them to go alongside my smart author system initially to help my clients who are going through the program, and now I sell them on Amazon as standalone products.
The writing journal is great to have a place where you write things down, because I think a lot of us, including myself, write things down in multiple places and then can't find them. So, it's really about giving people one place to maybe take with them to write notes down whenever they're inspired, and the planner basically takes people through the smart author system in terms of every single step that you need to follow from idea through to publication and launch.
I've also got a marketing planner as well, which focuses more on the marketing side of things from launch and post launch, which links into one of my other books, Book Marketing Made Simple.
When to Start Marketing Your Book
Howard Lovy: Yeah, let's talk a little bit about marketing, because that is the biggest question that I get and the biggest area where a lot of authors get a little confused, because there's no one size fits all. So, what are some of the strategies you recommend?
Karen Williams: So, the biggest thing for any author, I don't think it really matters, whether it's fiction or nonfiction, is to take your reader on the journey with you. Share the journey through your blog, your podcast, through other people's podcasts, through social media, because ultimately, you want to be able to launch your book with a readymade audience of people who are ready to read it and ready to buy it.
For me, that's important. In Book Marketing Made Simple, there are probably 101 different strategies of marketing, but however you choose to market your book {inaudible} things well, but take people on that journey; share it, do some research, find out what people want to read. I think that's most important with nonfiction.
Having a launch, making sure you mark the occasion when you do launch the book. To be successful with the launch, you really need as many people as possible helping you with that launch to share the message far and wide.
Also, post-launch is keeping that momentum going. People often lose steam because they're tired, because they've rushed it. But actually, you can talk about a book for years after it's launched, and it's making the most of that opportunity to share it, to talk about it. I love podcasts. I love social media, and it's finding the thing that works for you marketing wise, in my view. Something that you like doing, but also where readers are going to find you as well.
Howard Lovy: And on social media, it's not just by my book, but talk about what's in your book and tie it into maybe something that's happening in the news or something that's happening currently.
Karen Williams: Yeah, that's a really interesting thing because I run a monthly networking, and the topic coming up for one of our events is 50 ways to say, buy my book, without saying buy my book. So, there's at least 50 ways you can do it.
Howard Lovy: You've also experimented with various formats, digital books, audio-only publications. What's most effective for what kinds of clients?
Karen Williams: That's an interesting question. There's something about a physical book, I think, that is a really good thing to do because it's something that's tangible, something that people can actually see.
So, for a nonfiction author who's writing a book to build their business, when you can actually give people a copy of your book or say, I'm the author of, and hold it, I think there's something about that tangible book.
But I've done digital books and audio books just to experiment and just to see how they work.
When my clients started approaching me saying, I'm thinking about doing an audiobook, how do I do it? For me, as a mentor and a guide, I wanted to experience it for myself. The same with the digital book really.
That one should have become a physical book, but the pandemic kind of took hold of that and turned it into a course instead. So, that's why that one never became a physical book.
But I like to experiment. I like to test things out and see how they work, and then it's easier to share with other people and say, this worked, this didn't work, this could work better.
Personal Adventures and Life Philosophy
Howard Lovy: Speaking of experimenting and trying new things out, that's a good segue to your personal life in terms of activities you've engaged in, like skydiving, does that kind of present a counterbalance to your straightforward business personality?
Karen Williams: Yeah, it was interesting. I did all of that when I did a project called A Year to Live, back in 2012. I learned from a guy called Steven Levine, who's sadly passed now. He wrote a book about living your best year because none of us know how much time we've got left in the world, and I just decided to experiment and do a few things. So, there's a bit of a theme coming on, isn't there, in terms of experimentation. So, I did things that scared me, that really pushed me out of my comfort zone.
So, I tried to live my life like that. I lost my dad when he was 69, and that was about 11 years ago. None of us know how long we've got or what's around the corner. So, I do like to push the boundaries, not do anything stupid, but I do like to travel, and I love the fact that I can run my business anywhere in the world, and I do.
I am running a writing retreat coming up in Spain. I can work when I'm out in Spain as well. So, that's important to me, to be able to travel and push the boundaries of what life can be like.
Howard Lovy: I guess if you can physically step out of an airplane with just a piece of cloth saving you, then you can run a writer's retreat in Spain too.
Karen Williams: Absolutely. I'm never going to do another parachute jump ever again. It was an amazing experience when I did it.
Howard Lovy: What about you as an author? You're mentoring other people, but what are your plans for your own writing?
Karen Williams: That's an interesting question. I did a second edition of Book Marketing Made Simple.
We launched it, oh gosh, 18 months ago now. So, there's a book bubbling in the background. There's always a couple bubbling, but I think I'm getting quite involved with some of my client books, doing a lot of developmental editing at the moment, that my books are going on the back burner.
But there'll be another one in 2026, I'm sure. Not yet.
Howard Lovy: That's great. We've talked about risking your life and we've talked about tools for business, so I think we've done it all. Is there anything else that you want to add about your business or about your writing process that I didn't ask?
Karen Williams: I don't think so. Just a few, I suppose, bits of advice for people. If you're thinking about writing a book, just do it, because what's the worst that can happen? What's the best that can happen? This is your legacy. This is something that lasts beyond you.
So, just do it and find people who can help you with the right knowledge and expertise to guide you on the way, whether it's listening to a podcast, engaging a coach, or being part of ALLi.
Howard Lovy: Wonderful. Thank you, Karen. I appreciate your time very much, and we'll have links to everything in the show notes that'll go along with this.
