Lessons from Goal Getter School: gretchen cherington
Episode 17
Lessons from Goal Getter School: gretchen cherington
Sue Campbell
transcript
Sue Campbell: Welcome to the Pages & Platforms podcast. I'm Sue Campbell, a book marketing and mindset coach. Lots of writers have goals but many writers don't have the healthiest relationship with their goals. Goal Getter School is a place where I teach writers to meet their goals without being an asshole to themselves and without burning out. Listen as students share their key takeaways from the program and get some gems for yourself. Visit https://www.pagesandplatforms.com/goalgetter to learn more about Goal Getter School and apply.
Today's guest is author Gretchen Cherrington. Her first memoir Poetic License won multiple awards. Her second memoir, The Butcher, the Embezzler and the Fall Guy was published in June. Her essays have appeared in Huffington Post, Culture Club, the Millions, Crack the Spine, Bloodroot Literary Magazine, and more. Her essay “Maine Roustabout” was nominated for a 2012 Pushcart Prize. Now let's hear Gretchen share some of her goal getting advice for writers. Gretchen, welcome to the Pages & Platforms podcast.
Gretchen Cherington: Thank you. I'm delighted to be here.
Sue: It's so good to talk to you and I had such fun having you in Goal Getter School. Why don't you start by telling a little bit about yourself and what you write.
Gretchen: Okay. Yeah, I'm a come to the party of writing late kind of person. So, at least in terms of being published, I was published in 2020 with my first memoir, Poetic License, and then I have my second memoir coming out in one month called The Butcher, the Embezzler and the Fall Guy: A Family Memoir of Scandal and Greed in the Meat Industry.
Sue: I love that title.
Gretchen: I love it too. For 40 years I was a management consultant and worked advising over 300 CEOs and senior executives on how to manage their companies and particularly how to create change within their companies and that did inform my second book. So right now I am focused on my third book and trying not to work full-time at the same time.
Sue: Wonderful. And The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy, by the time this podcast goes out, will probably be out and available cause it comes out June 6, 2023. So tell us a little bit about the goals that you set for the three months that you were in Goal Getter School.
Gretchen: I'd love to do that. And I think I would start, if it's okay with you, by just saying that I was a little ambivalent about joining. So if any others out there are ambivalent maybe it's worth listening to my story. I was a little ambivalent because I felt like I had a really good marketing plan in place for the second book and I thought that had plenty of things for me to do on it. And I also have kind of felt most of my life as if, when I set a goal, I'm able and willing to reach it. So I wasn't quite sure whether I really needed the Goal Getter School, but after talking with you, I could see some real reasons why it might be beneficial for me.
At the beginning, I set three primary goals and one was to pitch 36 influencers. These could be podcasters and content-related influencers. The second was to implement three months of the marketing launch plan that you had helped me develop. Then the third item was to sell out what copies I had left of my first book, Poetic License, which were about 300 at the time, I believe. Those were the three primary goals that I set for Goal Getter School and I think I made very good progress really on all three of them. Fabulous.
Sue: Fabulous. Tell us a little bit about the pitching and tell about the Huffington Post piece in particular. I know that was pitched through somebody else, but it's still a great win that happened within the context of your launch. I think it would be really helpful for people to hear.
Gretchen: Yeah, absolutely. I wrote a content piece, an essay that I knew might have some traction in a more public forum than just on my website or in my newsletter or something like that. And my publicist pitched it to Huffington Post and they took it. That resulted in a huge spike in pre-orders for the new book, orders for the old book. I think I got personally about a hundred emails from people. Most, almost 99% of whom I didn't know. I also got a lot of hits on my website. Something like over 5,000 hits on my website in one week.
Sue: And subscribers as well, right?
Gretchen: Right. I mean, I think if you can get a piece in a big national journal like that, or some kind of national media like that, it really has profound ramifications. I'm not exactly certain, but I believe that I sold about a hundred Poetic Licenses (first book) because of that essay in Huffington Post. I don't really know how many pre-orders exactly, but it brought my Amazon ranking from way up in the sky, meaning low, to I think it was about 10,000 at its top.
Sue: Fantastic.
Gretchen: Which was really good. I think there were probably a couple hundred or maybe more sold because of that as well. But on the other hand pitching is not easy. I find, first of all, you have to really get a good pitch that feels like you, that says what you wanted to say, that you think will attract at least somebody to read it, and then hopefully, perhaps to be in touch with you.
That's the other thing. Huffington Post also got me one new podcast that I'll be on that I didn't pitch, but somebody that got in touch with me because of it. And I have certainly done 36 pitches. I think I met that goal, particularly if I count podcasts; the content that was placed, there are probably 10 pieces that have been placed; and then also, bookstores that I've got events at. I've got nine or 10 events coming. I think I feel very comfortable in saying that I have reached out at least to 36 influencers.
It's actually really fun. I mean, particularly when you get a response, and particularly if it's positive. It's sort of like what I remember when I was consulting when I always got a little bit of a thrill when I sold a project. I think I felt the same way with this, that it was actually really kind of fun to connect with these people. I also, although I haven't done as many actual podcast pitches as I had hoped to do, did do a bunch and I have a strong list of next ones to do. I'm still doing podcasts for Poetic License three years later. I don't feel that it all has to happen in the first couple of months of publication. Yes, certainly, and certainly for myself personally and my own life and everything, I just do not have four a day or something like that. I intend to continue pitching, maybe forever.
Sue: I love that because I think that was one of the big mindset things that we talked about when you joined Goal Getter School that you could use some support with, right? Which is just like getting the ball rolling on pitching because there is a lot of scary stuff involved with pitching.
Gretchen: Then you do it and you realize, first of all, you're scared you're gonna be rejected. You’re scared that somebody's gonna think you're stupid or don't have a book that's worth pitching to them or whatever. We all have different fears about things. But the truth is that each of them has to fill their podcast, every year. That means X number of authors, let's say in my case, as an author that they need to attract and sign on, so to speak for the podcast. They're always looking around and I think if you can create a good pitch, it's not that hard to send them in. You'll definitely get some responses.
I think one thing I really learned from you was the importance of setting sort of A, B, C level podcasts. I'd say C was the easiest I could get. I would start with those. Some of those were podcasts that I did last time with Poetic License, and they all have come in. That was sort of an easy sell. Then B were the ones that maybe had a bigger audience than those but weren't like at the top tier. I've gotten some of those. Then the top tier is obviously harder and there's probably a longer wait time to hear back from them.
So it was definitely a mindset change. With your help, that was one of the big things about Goal Getter School was it just wasn't just about achieving the goals, it was also about getting your mind in the right place. Physically, spiritually, emotionally, whatever in the right place to actually achieve the goals and to go out and get them done.
Sue: Exactly. Well, why don't you share a few of the key takeaways for you? Everybody experiences Goal Getter School differently, and I really customize the way I coach for each specific person. Any tips that you can share, there may be somebody out there who that's the exact tip that they need as well. What were some of your key takeaways that you learned about how you can get goals done?
Gretchen: Yeah. Well, I learned. I think I knew a little bit of this, but I learned much more deeply about how important it is to break down a goal into very achievable tasks. In some ways, your exercise of really encouraging us to say, “I'm gonna do this at this time, on this date in this place.” It seemed kind of hokey to me in the beginning. I didn't know that I needed it. But when I actually started breaking down the tasks, I recognized how much time each of those tasks take, and so it made me need to expand the time that it was gonna take to achieve the actual goal.
I could put down a goal of pitch a podcast today, let's say. But I have to find the podcast. I need to research it. I probably need to listen to a couple of episodes. I have to figure out what the person really wants and shape my template of a pitch into a more customized pitch for them. Each of those things. I might just assign an hour to that goal when in fact it might have taken five or six hours, or two, or whatever it was. So I think it gave me a much more realistic understanding of the time that's required for these things. That enabled me to create a calendar that worked better for me.
I think the other thing, it was like at the end you gave us all these thoughts, and they were sort of positive affirmations I think of, setting yourself up for success around any number of elements of going after goals. That was really, really helpful to me. And I keep referring back to it, including in my writing cuz there were a couple that really sort of fit for just getting writing done too.
Sue: Absolutely. You're talking about, I have a presentation called “Thought Stocking.” Not like S-T-A-L-K. S-T-O-C-K-I-N-G.
Gretchen: Right. Like Christmas.
Sue: Exactly. That's a magical Christmas stocking of thoughts. I love it. I wanted to stock your brains right, with helpful thoughts because by default, we all have those like destructive, self-sabotaging thoughts. So in the home stretch, I'm like, okay, everybody, here's what we need to be thinking for our final stretch. And I put them in categories. I'm glad you like that ‘cause that's a big part of the book I'm writing right now. It’s good that it’s helpful.
Gretchen: I think that was really good. One other thing that I think you really helped me on was that I believe I came into this feeling as if I have high goals for this new book, but — I am 71 years old. I don't wanna work full-time. I have another life. I have a life, I wanna have a life. I had set those two up in sort of diametric opposition which then created tension for me and left me a little bit stuck at times. I would sort of rail against the marketing. Oh my god, more marketing. Oh, I wish I was like my friend who isn't doing anything after retirement. I don't mean that, but you know what I mean? I'm not trying to get a book out.
You really helped me disabuse myself of that complex thinking that I was doing. Once I got it, I realized that, okay, if my goal really is to do as well as I possibly can with this book, then I need to set aside my time to be able to do that. At the same time, you also made it very clear that I needed to plug into my calendar my downtime, my getting together with friends, my exercise, my getting outside time. I found that both could happen together and I wasn't fighting it anymore. That was really good. That created a lot less stress for me going forward.
Sue: Oh, that's wonderful. That's one of my big goals for Goal Getter School. We don't have to white knuckle it and make ourselves miserable in pursuit of our goals, and then somehow we magically get to feel better once we've attained them. Like if you're not making every day as enjoyable as you possibly can, it's not gonna be some magic formula when you get to the finish line that you're suddenly gonna feel happy. It's like we can't suffer our way to happiness sort of thing. The really important part of reaching goals that a lot of people undervalue and ignore, what are the other things that need to happen that refill my cup while I'm working toward this and that take away the stress of working toward the goals when that's what I’m doing.
Gretchen: Exactly. Yeah, that was really, really helpful.
Sue: Good.
Gretchen: So I'm entering my launch phase, which is sort of the next three months, three to six. You know, really six, nine months, whatever, in a really good space, I think. Not only do I have a plan and I'm acting on my goals and tasks, but I also have a good head or a good mind or a good whatever, a good place that I'm in to also enjoy it and get the most out of it that I can. To take advantage of this small opportunity I have in a way to sort of talk about issues that I care about with people who also care about them.
Sue: That is an absolutely beautiful attitude that's gonna carry you through all of your future books. What's the third book gonna be about?
Gretchen: The third book also involves some complicated family legacy as my first two memoirs have. However, it's fiction. I've never really written fiction before, so this will be a bit of an experiment. I started the book a while ago, and so I'm picking it up again. At the moment, the working title is Revolution: A Love Story, and it's about two young people who find themselves in Mexico meeting each other.
One of them, the woman, is the niece of a member of the Weather Underground from the 1970s. The man is the grandson of a revolutionary who fought in the war of Chiapas against Mexico. They have to sort of reconcile their revolutionary legacies. Of course they're very, very different legacies. The Chiapans were dirt-poor farmers, just scraping out as much living as they could without Mexico helping them at all. Obviously the Weather Underground was mostly well-off, privileged, well-educated white kids back in the seventies. I knew one of those Weather Underground people who came under some fire. Her story has always sort of been fascinating to me. I think it will fit into my theme of complicated families, but it's not about mine.
Sue: I love that so much. So just from a marketing angle, let's look at this cause people are always asking, what if I write in completely different genres? How do I do the marketing for that? Right? You found the common thread that pulled it all together. Reckoning with complicated family legacies is your jam. Probably what you're gonna be writing about in some form or fashion for all of your books. There's always gonna be that thread of it, and so that can be the way that you are pulling in readers who are interested in the same kinds of things.
Gretchen: Yeah, I think so too.
Sue: I love that.
Gretchen: I hope you'll help me work on it.
Sue: Yes, absolutely.
Gretchen: When I get there. Wait, I'm not putting any deadline at this point.
Sue: Okay. A hundred percent. I'm here for you. So remind us again of your first two memoirs.
Gretchen: The first one is Poetic License. The second one is The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy. And they're available anywhere books are sold.
Sue: Fantastic. And you can sign up for Gretchen's newsletter at gretchenharrington.com. You'll get — what's your reader magnet now?
Gretchen: The reader magnet is the first chapter of the new book, so you'll get that for free.
Sue: Perfect. Well, Gretchen, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for sharing your takeaways from Goal Getter School. Hopefully they'll help other writers out there and good luck with your books.
Gretchen: Thank you so much, Sue. One thing I just wanna quickly say is one of the goals that I set with Poetic License was to find the right team for me. You are clearly a member of that team. I'm so pleased to have been working with you for this long, and I look forward to doing so in the future as well.
Sue: Thank you so much. I completely feel the same way. I feel like I have the best client list in the whole world. Well, Gretchen thank you so much for joining us and thank you for sharing your takeaways from Goal Getter School. Hopefully they’ll help other writers out there. And good luck with your books. Thank you!
That's our interview for today. I hope you got some gems that will help you reach your goals. If you want to learn more about Goal Getter School and maybe even apply for the Fall 2023 cohort visit https://www.pagesandplatforms.com/goalgetter