Marie Hasty RN, BSN’s Post

CYA Sounds cynical, but it’s one of the first tenets I learned as a nurse, and covering your ass is essential in medical practice today. How can you CYA as an author writing a medical book for patients? 🧐 Be clear about 5 things: 1. Not a Substitute for Medical Advice:  Your book isn't a replacement for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Remind readers to consult their healthcare provider for personal medical issues. 2. No Doctor-Patient Relationship:  Reading your book doesn't create a doctor-patient relationship. Make this clear to avoid misunderstandings. 3. Individual Variations:  Medical info can vary based on individual circumstances. Highlight that your book provides general guidelines that may not apply to everyone. 4. Accuracy and Updates:  Medical knowledge evolves. While your book is accurate at the time of publication, it may not reflect the most current research or guidelines five years down the road. 5. No Guarantee of Results:  Clearly state that your book doesn't guarantee specific outcomes. Individual results may vary. Disclaimers don't just CYA, they help your audience understand the complexities of modern medicine. Have you included a disclaimer in your book or website? 📚📚📚 Hey there! I’m Marie, a nurse and ghostwriter for clinicians and healthcare leaders. If you’re interested in learning more about book strategy, writing, marketing, and publishing, you can: Follow/Connect Sign up for my newsletter Book a free call at the link in my bio

ICYMI, there’s a hot debate going on right now on Tiktok: A woman got her wedding photos back and says they look too ‘sepia’ Her photographer says they’re edited to be that way on purpose (and isn’t changing them). [Classic case of client taste vs. a hired artist's opinion] These are wedding photos.  They’ll sit on the bride’s mantle. The photographer probably won’t ever look at them again. Reminds me of when I get feedback/change requests from clients: I might have my own opinions about what makes a book ‘good’. But at the end of the day, the books I write represent my clients’ brands.  → The opinions, personality, and expertise reflected in our projects belong to the author. So if a client isn’t 100% happy with how they’re represented in our project, that’s a problem I'll fix. I don’t know sh*t about photography, but I know that in ghostwriting, the author gets their way (even if my opinion is different). Curious about what it’s like to work with a ghostwriter? DM me for my process!

So you’ve been hit over the head with a book idea. You’re passionate about it, You believe in it, And you’re the one who should be authoring it. But how do you know if your book idea is worth reading? Sometimes when authors get excited about a book concept, they jump right in without thinking about the reader first. → You could write the most impactful, insightful book in the marketplace, but if it’s not positioned well with readers, it won’t have the impact it deserves. Great book positioning comes from: Deeply knowing your readers → their problems, pains, and pursuits (Speak to the problems they think they have, solve the problems you know they have) Understanding the context for your book → the books, podcasts, videos, etc. within your niche  (What are their weaknesses? What information holes can you fill?) Book positioning isn’t complicated, but it does mean stepping back from your ideas to gain a larger perspective. Not sure how to position your book idea? Shoot me a DM or book a call so we can chat about it!

Experienced nurses develop an intuition for what patients need. They can often anticipate when a patient is about to go “down the tube” (ICU speak for deteriorating) That instinct protects patients, and it’s the mark of an experienced nurse. Experienced ghostwriters have to develop the same skill. → Clients give me a framework to start from, but the rest comes from intuition. After a few conversations with a client, I can make an educated guess about: · The tone their audience is searching for · The opinion they’d have about a topic · How they’d phrase a viewpoint It takes some course correcting, but this is how we go from a few phone calls and notes to ~50,000 words. → have you developed an intuition in your field? P.S. if you're curious about my process, shoot me a DM or book a call at the link in my bio ✍🏻

Are you a publishing-curious clinician? Thinking about a book in the future but not sure what the process looks like? Don't have enough newsletters in your inbox? (okay probably not the third one) I'm building a newsletter about how clinicians can leverage books for their careers. It'll cover: strategy, writing tips, editing, publishing, marketing, case studies, and any book-related questions you can throw at me. The first edition talks about writer's block: my experience with it, and what I'm doing about it. I'd love it if you'd take a look!

My clients are the busiest people I know. How do I get enough info from them to make a whole book while not taking up too much of their time? The secret is ✨Flexibility✨ I’m no stranger to last-minute call scheduling: → We chat in between patients, into the evening, and while driving (hands-free of course). I work my processes around what works for my clients: → Sometimes interviews are too much to schedule and it makes more sense to swap voice notes, docs comments, and emails. Every project is different, and I’m always up for trying new processes to improve my client’s experiences: → An author I’m working with now prefers to give me detailed notes, which I turn into whole chapters. My flexibility makes it possible for clients to author a book without giving up time in their business, family, or personal life. Are you thinking about writing a book but you’re not sure how it would fit everything else? I help clients become authors by making the most of the cracks in their busy schedules. If you’re curious about this process, shoot me a DM or schedule a call at the link in my bio. 

My cat will never touch a bird but he spends every morning pining for them 🐱 Right now he’s sitting on the window shelf in my office with his paw on the sil.  Birds are flitting by, not even noticing him there.  He can chatter at them all he wants, but they’ll always be behind glass. Do the things you want ever feel unattainable like this?  Whether it’s success in a certain form or an achievement that seems far out of reach, sometimes I imagine glass walls between myself and my audacious goals. Maybe you do this too when you think things like: “I could never speak to a large audience” “I’d like to publish a book but I’ll never have the time” “I could win that award but it would take so much work to get there” The imagined barriers between us and the things we want hold us back. A year from today, my cat will probably still be in the window drooling over those birds.  But you could be one year closer to your dreams. Is there a goal that feels too bold/scary/audacious, but sticks in your mind?  You’re not a cat trapped behind a window — nothing’s stopping you.

Write about what keeps you up at night before you write about what gets you up in the morning ☀️ For me, writing takes mental clarity.  But the first thoughts I have when I wake up are usually a disorganized, echo-chambery spaghetti that no one wants to read (least of all me). In the past I’ve cleared this morning fog with a walk and a shower, but Kasia Kalinowska recently reminded me of the Morning Pages practice. Morning Pages (popularized by Julia Cameron’s ‘The Artist’s Way’) are three pages of hand-written, stream-of-consciousness writing done first thing in the morning. The goal is to clear out the rubbish so you can get to the good stuff. For me, rubbish usually looks like: 🗑️ Weird dreams I had during the night  🗑️ Social interactions where I felt like I came off weird 🗑️ Anxieties about life and the planet 🗑️ Mundane stories from the day before 🗑️ Complaints I don’t want anyone to hear Safe to say, I’ll be burning my Morning Pages journal once I’ve filled it 🔥 I shudder to think about anyone reading this junk 😂 While I wasn’t initially excited about spending the first 30 minutes of my day this way, I can see a difference in my mental clarity once it’s time to write for real. Have you ever tried morning pages? Do you have a different morning routine? 

Question for ya: have you read a business/health book by a nurse? I'm drafting my own manuscript right now, and I'm including a ton of example books that have helped clinicians level up their careers. It's easy to find books by physicians and therapists, but I'm not finding nearly enough books by nurse authors. I'd like to represent a broad range of sample books, so any other clinician-written recommendations would be greatly appreciated!