Publishing a Nonfiction Book
Today’s success story comes to us from Ken Guidroz! He worked with Author Accelerator certified book coach Michelle Orwin on his new book!
Which publishing route was taken for this project?
Self-publishing.
What are you most proud of in terms of this book’s journey?
Writing it brought clarity. Talking endlessly to my wife and sons as I wrote this helped me see what happened to our family and where things went wrong and mistakes I had made. I'm glad that now I'm a more aware father and husband.
Was there ever a moment of doubt about the book?
Two or three times I thought of shelving the manuscript. It was just too hard to cobble the right story together, I didn't think anyone would care, and I almost gave up.
What did you do to celebrate this achievement?
A nice Italian dinner with my wife.
What is your favorite passage from the book?
My family is as good now as it was bad back then.
But now that just humbles me. Without my darkness, I would have arrogantly attributed it to “just great parenting.” If I hadn’t struggled, I would have been smug and haughty and looked down my religious nose at those who didn’t discipline their kids or take them to church or go to all their sports games or stimulate them intellectually or love them like I did.
But now I just look up from my Jacuzzi at night and raise my palms to the southern stars, swearing I can feel a cosmic vibration from that vast universe telling me that I am something in this speckled darkness. I often find myself whispering, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Now when I’m high up in the mountains, in the early dawn, hiking westward, and the sun rises behind me, giving me a glimpse of alpenglow, I pause, leaning on my hiking poles, and whisper, thank you, thank you, thank you.
For I have found a place that can’t be described or found on any map. It’s a place that requires a steep price for entry, a price you cannot volunteer to pay, one that money will not buy. Its price is darkness, extended darkness, darkness you thought would never end. Only a family who has seen this darkness, and seen it for years, can know this place. And when you’re there—that place with no name, that place where the boundary lines are good again—you do not speak of it, you do not breathe a word, even to your spouse, even to yourself, lest it vanish, lest it disappear as quietly as it arrived, on cat’s paws, in the still of morning.
You also know, now, in your heart, that life will not always be good. And when it turns, when the goodness is swallowed up by that which is not good, whatever that may be, in whatever form that may take, you recall this verse:
When times are good, be happy. When times are bad, remember that God made one as well as the other.
What’s next for the book?
Tons of podcasts, Zoom book readings, and promotion of all types.
What are the next steps in your career?
I simultaneously started a Newsletter on Substack called "Deeper" with essays like, "3 Ways I'm Trying NOT to be an Asshole in my 60's" and "How NOT to fight with your spouse on vacation."
Why would you recommend coaching to get to this point in the writing journey?
To me, it is a must. In this age, with all these good writers in the world, with their willingness to coach, with the ease of it through technology...why wouldn't you. It's a must. Michelle Orwin was great. She was encouraging, which I needed in that early go, and insightful. She was perfect for me.
Congratulations again, Ken!
Click here to learn more about his book and to purchase. You can also follow his writing adventures on Instagram.
