During a staff meeting, my colleagues discussed several newly signed authors who were hesitant to send in their draft manuscripts because they feared the content wasn’t good enough. They were missing submission deadlines and fretting over the layout and direction of their manuscripts. These authors concerned were perfectly reasonable—and to expected—from new authors.

However, my colleagues told their authors the same thing I tell my own. While we are not psychologists and can’t replace the work they do, we do have a bit of experience coaching insecure authors. That means reminding nervous authors that:

• Authors are content experts whose been working in the field for years. They have a reputation of delivering quality research and work that their followers and industry sources trust, and that’s why the publisher believed in them enough to sign.
• The editorial staff is an author’s safeguard. We employ project managers, developmental editors, copyeditors, peer reviewers, and more to ensure the content and quality of our authors’ work are top-shelf.
• Authors aren’t going it alone, so they should take advantage of their publisher’s resources. Send ideas and sample chapters in for feedback and let the editor be their reality check
• Authors should step away when feeling overwhelmed and reconnect with the “why” of their book. Who is the audience, what does the author want to communicate, what prior knowledge does the reader have, and what is the goal? Asking oneself these questions will help the author from becoming overwhelmed.

I guess my overall message is stop expecting perfection and embrace that you’re dope.

Good luck!