A practical guide for authors at every stage — from the blank page to the publish button to telling the world your book exists
Writing a book is one of the boldest things a business professional can do. So it makes complete sense that fear shows up — loudly — at almost every step of the process.
In this episode of Easy Peasy Books, Gillian Whitney — business book coach and host — gets refreshingly honest about the fear she has personally experienced as an author: the fear of the blank page, the fear of hitting publish, and the fear of telling people the book even exists. More importantly, she offers a framework for keeping fear in its place so it never gets to drive.
If you have ever talked yourself out of writing, stalled on publishing, or gone quiet when you should have been shouting about your book from the rooftops, this one is for you.
Fear Doesn't Discriminate — It Visits Every Author
One of the most reassuring things Gillian shares in this episode is that fear doesn't only visit beginner authors. It visits experienced ones too. It visits coaches who help other people write books. It visits the people who, from the outside, seem to have it all together.
The fear tends to cluster around three distinct stages of the author journey:
- Writing the book
- Publishing the book
- Marketing the book
Each stage comes with its own brand of fear, and each one requires a slightly different response.
Stage 1: Fear of Writing
The inner critic is loudest at the beginning. Gillian describes the experience of hearing a voice — often the ghost of a long-ago English teacher — asking: "Who are you to write this book?"
That question can feel paralyzing. But Gillian offers a simple litmus test to counter it:
"If my book can help just one person, am I okay with that? Because then you answer: I'm a person who wants to make the world a better place by sharing my life lessons."
The fear of the blank page is a separate but related challenge. Gillian's advice here is practical: get away from the screen. Pick up your phone, go for a walk, and just start talking. The blank page has enormous power at a desk; it has almost none when you're mid-stride in a park talking into a voice memo.
Gillian also points out that she rarely starts from scratch. She uses podcasts, LinkedIn Lives, and blog articles as the raw material for her books — taking content she has already created and shaping it into chapters. This approach sidesteps the blank page problem entirely.
Stage 2: Fear of Publishing
Gillian describes the moment of publishing her very first book on Amazon KDP with startling clarity. Everything was ready. The proof copies had been reviewed. The manuscript was uploaded. All she had to do was click the button.
She felt sick.
"I was going to do a live in the moment publish," she recalls. "And I'm telling you, I felt sick to my stomach. It's like I should have been happy and excited."
She had spent 21 years working up to that first book. It was a small one — intentionally so, because she had set herself a low bar just to get something finished and into the world. And still, when the moment came, fear grabbed hold.
She hit the button anyway. And then she went to bed.
Stage 3: Fear of Marketing
Here is where a lot of authors quietly disappear. The book is out. It exists. And they tell... almost no one.
Gillian did the same thing. After publishing, she went silent. She didn't tell her friends. She didn't post about it. She just lived with the quiet knowledge that the book was out there, and waited.
What followed was unexpected. Several people in her life were not just surprised — they were hurt. They felt that her secrecy meant she didn't trust them, didn't value their support, didn't see them as real friends. She had to explain that it wasn't about them at all. It was the fear monster, doing what it does best.
The reframe that helped her: marketing a book is not the same as begging people to buy something. It is simply making your book visible to the people who need it.
"It's not about buy my book, buy my book. It's just about making your book visible to the people who might need your book. That's all you're doing.
One tactical suggestion for authors in the fear club: consider pricing the Kindle version at 99 cents on launch day. Gillian points out that this reframes the ask entirely. At 99 cents, you're not selling — you're doing people a favor by pointing them toward something useful at almost no cost.
Gillian's Framework: Keep Fear in the Back Seat
Drawing on Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic, Gillian offers a memorable mental model for managing fear throughout the author journey. Gilbert writes a letter to fear — acknowledging it, even respecting it, while making clear it will never be in charge.
The image Gillian returns to again and again is a road trip. You are behind the wheel. Creativity is in the passenger seat. And fear? Fear is in the back seat. It can come along for the ride. It just cannot drive.
"Creativity is in the passenger seat. I'm driving the car and fear's in the back seat. And anytime fear starts putting its hand trying to come up to the front of the car, I slap it away."
Here is how that framework maps onto the author journey:
Step 1: Name the fear
Identify exactly which stage is triggering it — writing, publishing, or marketing. Each one requires a different response.
Step 2: Answer the inner critic
Use the litmus test: "If this book helps just one person, is it worth putting out?" Almost always, the answer is yes.
Step 3: Get out of your head
For writing blocks, move away from the screen. Walk, talk, use your phone. Ideas flow when you stop staring at a cursor.
Step 4: Do your best work — then release
Fear at the publishing stage is a signal to do a final quality check, not a reason to stop. Once you know the book is ready, click the button.
Step 5: Reframe marketing as service
You are not interrupting people. You are helping the right readers find something that might genuinely help them.
Step 6: Find your cheerleaders
Choose carefully who you share your journey with. Not everyone in your inner circle will celebrate your boldness — and that is more about them than about you.
Real Moments from Gillian's Journey
Twenty-One Years to the First Book
Gillian's first book — about getting comfortable on camera — took 21 years to write. She is an introvert who resisted video for a long time, even though she knew it mattered for her business. When she finally wrote it, she wrote it for her past self: the person who needed exactly that encouragement. Knowing she was writing for a real audience — even an audience of one — made finishing it possible.
The Sick-to-the-Stomach Publishing Moment
When the time came to publish that first book on Amazon, Gillian hovered over the publish button in KDP feeling genuinely unwell. She had done everything right. The proofs were approved. The formatting was finished. There was nothing left to do but click. The fear was irrational, and she knew it — but it was also completely real. She hit publish. She went to bed. The next morning the book was in the world.
The Friends Who Felt Left Out
After publishing, Gillian stayed quiet about her book for a while. When she finally shared it, several friends expressed genuine hurt — not because they disliked the book, but because they hadn't known she was writing it. They interpreted her silence as a lack of trust or closeness. Gillian had to explain that her silence was entirely about fear, not about them. The experience taught her that keeping quiet about a book doesn't just hurt the author — it can unintentionally hurt the people who would have cheered the loudest.
The Parents She Wished Could Have Seen It
In a quietly moving moment in the episode, Gillian shares that her biggest regret about waiting so long to publish is that her parents passed away before she did. They would have been proud. That loss — of not being able to share the milestone with them — is something she carries with her. It's a reminder that waiting for fear to go away before acting has real costs, and not just professional ones.
"Fear is false evidence appearing real. And it always belongs in the back seat. Never in the front. And never driving the car."
Listen to the Full Episode
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About Gillian Whitney
Gillian Whitney is a business book coach and the host of Easy Peasy Books: From Author to Authority. She helps professionals write and publish books that build credibility, attract the right clients, and establish lasting expertise. Learn more at easypeasybooks.com