Everyone has an Area of Expertise that’s their Authority Play. What’s Yours?
I wouldn’t suggest I have expertise in much — it’s a hefty claim to make!
But I’ve spent a lifetime generally, and almost fifteen years professionally, reading and learning about book design and production. What’s more, I’ve probably spent twenty thousand hours — a conservative estimate — putting it all into practice in my own career.
If there’s anything I can claim expertise on, then the business of making books is my Authority Play!
Here’s my little backstory, but I’d encourage you to think of your own and start leaning into it.
My First “Office”: The Cupboard Under the Stairs
From being a child I was obsessed with the idea of running my own design business.
True story: I’d sit in the cupboard under the stairs — in this way at least I was Harry Potter before Harry Potter — which I’d turned into my “office” fully decked out with tiny desk and lamp. There I’d make copies by hand of whatever leaflets, flyers, and magazines I’d been able to pick up that week. I’d obsess over the layout, the writing, the styling…how I could copy and improve on each of the elements.
I soon progressed to books and the finer points of their layout, production, writing, and design. It immersed me!
Still doing what I love
So when the time finally arrived to leap into the unknown with my own business, there was only ever one niche for me: books.
I built out from my first love: design. I sold my first cover for a mere €81 — including image licensing! — and I felt like a millionaire. Gradually I added book layout and marketing into the mix, before I became we as my wife joined the team and we added editing services, then writing, and finally publishing around five years ago.
Now here I am, happily running the kind of business I dreamed of under the stairs all those years ago.
An accidental expert? Perhaps. But I think there’s magic in that.
Love what you do…
…and you’ll very likely end up becoming an expert in your field purely because your enthusiasm will carry you through the tricky times.
So what’s your Authority Play?
And how can you make it your business?
It’d be great to chat that over with you.
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