Hi there!
I’m Elizabeth.
I help growth-minded entrepreneurs, healers, and leaders write and publish a powerful book that positions them as an expert while positively impacting the lives of their readers.
I'm also a mom of 5 who is obsessed with backstories, words, coffee, incessant laughter, home renovation, and generally making the impossible possible.
But it wasn’t
always like this.
As a 6-year-old, I sat at my kitchen table with a pencil and a stack of paper, ready to write my first book. I started at Chapter 6 (because starting at the very beginning seemed an awful lot of work).
From that point on, I had a goal of being a published author, sharing my stories--both real and imagined. However, a topic about which I was passionate enough about to write 60,000+ words continued to elude me.
Until 2001.
As the mom of a strong-willed 1-year-old, I learned that I was expecting twins. I ran straight from the ultrasound appointment to the bookstore, desperate to purchase every single book that contained not only strategies for getting through this delightful blessing but also keeping my sense of humor intact.
The book didn’t exist.
And that was my
"eureka" moment.
Despite my sheer panic, knowing I had to write an entire manuscript starting with a blank page, and amidst constant interruption from three children who didn’t care in the slightest that I was trying to write a book, I got it written--one word, sentence and chapter at a time (sandwiched between fears such as, “Who is going to read this?” “Who am I to write a book?” and “I’ll start again as soon as I figure out the perfect title.”
AND THEN I REALIZED THAT I HAD A REAL PROBLEM:
I had no idea what to do next!
QUERY AGENTS?
CALL PUBLISHING HOUSES?
SCOUR THE INTERNET RESEARCHING THE ENDLESS ALTERNATIVE PUBLISHING OPTIONS?
SELF-PUBLISH?
After a mind-numbing amount of research and hearing “No” way too many times from agents and editors, I did what any sleep-deprived, determined woman with absolutely no free time would do: I committed to figuring out how to publish and launch the book myself through my boutique publishing house, Finn-Phyllis Press.
Ready or Not…Here We Come! The REAL Experts’ Guide to the First Year with Twins (now in its 3rd edition and re-titled Holy Sh*t…I’m Having Twins! The Definitive Guide to Remaining Calm When You’re Twice as Freaked Out) was published in 2003, and quickly became a bestseller in its category (where it stayed for over a decade).
I loved hearing from new moms of twins, grateful that I’d risked publicly stating how I really felt about certain aspects of parenting twins—because they’d been thinking the exact same thing (and feeling more than a bit guilty for it).
Two years later, I published Ready or Not…There We Go! The REAL Experts’ Guide to the Toddler Years with twins. It also did remarkably well—even by traditional publishing standards.
In 2010, in the midst of writing my third book, You Cannot Be Serious: and 32 Other Rules that Sustain a (Mostly) Balanced Mom, something truly unexpected occurred: Literary agents began expressing serious interest.
I had several traditionally published friends, and when they casually mentioned my sales figures to their agents, those agents’ ears perked up. No one was more shocked than I was that my sales had (far) surpassed numbers even traditional publishers hope for.
I had turned what initially seemed impossible into a lucrative part-time gig, and my only intention in the first place was to share my story and provide some light into another mom’s life.
The entrepreneur in me wasn’t about to give any of that up to earn less than $1 per book sold, lose control over edits and cover design, and live with the pressure of making the book a bestseller in three weeks’ time or be deemed a failure.
So an indie author I continued to be.
Having made that choice, I became obsessed with learning everything I could about effectively writing, publishing and launching books.
What approach works?
What approaches don’t work?
What do so many people have a story and not tell it?
What do so many people start but never finish?
Whether you’ve finished writing your manuscript or haven’t yet put a word on the page, I will meet you wherever you are and help you get your story told and your book published, on your terms.
YOU ARE MEANT TO IMPACT PEOPLE ON A LARGE SCALE.
YOU WERE BORN TO TELL YOUR STORY. LITERALLY.
Are you ready?
OF COURSE YOU ARE. THAT’S WHY YOU’RE HERE.
So let’s do this!