SPS 163: The Artist Journey: A Path From Creativity To Bestselling Author & Business Growth with Nancy Hillis

Posted on Jun 29, 2022

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Written by Leo Oliveira

Home > Blog > Podcast > SPS 163: The Artist Journey: A Path From Creativity To Bestselling Author & Business Growth with Nancy Hillis
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Nancy Hillis is the author of The Artist’s Journey: Bold Strokes To Spark Creativity and The Adjacent Possible: Evolve Your Art. from Blank Canvas to Prolific Artist. She also offers online art & creativity courses and is a Stanford-educated existential psychiatrist. Nancy is a Self Publishing School student and a true inspiration. She’s sold 10,000 plus copies of her book while changing the world through art. We discuss having a book and a course and the advantage of doing one before the other. In her case, she already had the course, so her students helped with honing her book’s message and creating a launch team.

She shares her Self Publishing School experience and how it benefited her. She also shares how attending Author Advantage Live created excitement and motivation around writing, publishing, and marketing her books. We also talk about how books drive sales to other programs, so books and courses can be a two-way street regarding marketing efforts. We also learn about the massive success in driving revenue Nancy’s books have had. This very fun and inspirational conversation will get you fired up about writing and publishing your book and all of the benefits and advantages of being an author. 

P.S. Join Nancy & grab your ticket to Author Advantage Live before prices go up! AuthorAdvantageLive.com”

Show Highlights

  • [02:41] Nancy has wanted to write a book for years. After years, she discovered Self Publishing School. Chandler said she could speak her book into existence. She finally believed that she could write it.
  • [04:15] She joined in 2015, and was working on an online course. She started writing in 2017 and kept tweaking the book until she published it in 2019.
  • [05:56] Because of her course, she had an audience ready once she published the book.
  • [06:58] If you have a group, have conversations with them and find out what problems they need solved before you write your book.
  • [07:34] The hardest part of everything was marketing. It’s important to start early and have a launch team.
  • [08:33] She built up interest and excitement before publishing the book and also did a pre-order.
  • [09:12] In her second book she did something very unusual. The first chapter of this book actually has a fiction story, and Nancy gave a book reading of that story in the first chapter. They also had all of the proceeds from the ebook in the first 30 days to support her community fridge for food insecurity.
  • [10:59] The book reading was in Nancy’s studio.
  • [11:46] She invited people from her courses and blog to join the launch team. They got reviews and the word out right off the bat. You can learn about launch teams in Chapter 11 of Published
  • [14:11] She also did the review sweeper method that you can learn about in chapter 20 of Published.
  • [15:22] Her first book sold well because of the excitement and buildup beforehand. She even made a book trailer. 
  • [16:53] The book has been huge in driving artists to her Master Class. The book also drives revenue in the upper 5 figures. 
  • [20:40] Nancy has been in the accelerator program for years. She loves the possibility of going deeper and getting more support. She enjoys the perspective of the different coaches and the additional training.
  • [21:48] The most helpful thing during her first year was getting support from the calls. This helped her to keep going forward with the marketing.
  • [23:30] The most helpful thing has been the support, workshops, and the ability to stay on top of what’s happening in the industry.
  • [24:54] Author Advantage Live is very exciting and inspiring. It’s virtual this year, so you will save on travel and hotel costs.
  • [26:44] Nancy’s parting advice is to listen to your dream. There’s a reason why you have that dream to write your book. It’s a profound experience.

Links and Resources

Disclosure: Some of the links above may contain affiliate partnerships, meaning, at no additional cost to you, Self-Publishing School may earn a commission if you click through to make a purchase.

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Published: The proven path from blank page to 10,000 copies sold 

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