The Simon Cowell of book publishing Michael D Butler reveals how authors can write a book in one hour, get published, get on stages, and gain celebrity status globally. He is also passionate about ending human trafficking.
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Writing Your Book In One Hour With Michael D Butler
Good beautiful day, you beautiful souls. This is Charla Anderson, the host of The Charla Anderson Show, Collector & Connector of Fascinating People (and EVERYONE is Fascinating, especially YOU!) We’re on Win Win Women, Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, and Podetize. I’m so grateful to have you here and that you would take some time and read this show. I didn’t know I was going to be doing this and here we are. I’m doing my 36th episode. I can’t even believe it.
It’s so exciting to have my publisher and friend Michael D. Butler here with me. As you know, I always take a moment and get us grounded and centered, and take a little deep breath of a mini vacation. We’re going to take 22 seconds for a little breath of breathing in. We’re going to breathe in calm. We’re going to hold for four seconds and breathe out gratitude. Here we go. Join me and let’s have a little settling down here.
Breathing in calm, hold, and release. Breathe out gratitude. Thank you. I love having that. It helps me and I hope it helps you. It’s a little exercise. We’re so busy all the time that a 22-second mini vacation is not a bad idea every once in a while. I want you to meet my book publisher and friend Michael D. Butler from Beyond Publishing. We are going to discuss all kinds of things about how to write your book in one hour.
It’s great to be with you on the show, Charla. Congratulations on all of these episodes. You’re going into 2024 strong. I’m proud of you and everything you’ve been able to accomplish. It’s great to be here. Writing your book in 1 hour could be in some cases writing your book in 16 years. It’s making a decision to do something, be it running a marathon, losing weight, reconnecting with your kids, grandkids, or whatever the goal might be, or building a house, retiring early, or writing a book. Those are all goals.
When it comes to achieving goals, you’ve got to decide you want to do it but also why you want to do it. If your why is strong enough, then it will happen but it’s also very important to go public with your decision. I was speaking to Toastmasters International in California via Zoom. Probably half of the people in Zoom raise their hands to announce on social media, “I will write my book this month.” They’re going to write a book in 30 days.
We’ve had authors write the book in two days. Don’t ask me how you do that. I guess you don’t sleep but it can be done if you decide to do it. It doesn’t mean it’s a final polished edit. It might be a rough vomit draft but decide you’re going to do it and attach your why to it. Why are you going to do it? If you want to lose weight, you say, “I want to lose weight because I want to be around for my grandkids and great-grandkids. I want to be healthy.” You set those goals and your intention. You attach a strong why.
“I want to write this book because I am a credible source in my industry. I want to attract leads and referrals. I want to get all more stages and media interviews.” Whatever your why is and you haven’t done it yet, you’re probably already a master subject expert in your industry. I’ve been in business for years and before that, in the church world of nonprofits. I say to people, “If we get the same question three times from a customer, let’s print a brochure.”
This was pre-internet. I said, “There are other people asking questions.” Every time somebody calls their Congress person, they represent thousands of other people who have the same feeling but never made the phone call or sent the letter. When you make the decision to do it and set the intention, you go make it happen. It’s great to be here with you.
I’m always amazed by your energy, first of all. Also, your wisdom and all the encouragement that you have to get people out here to write their book. I’m telling you it doesn’t have to be a big ordeal or your life story all at one time. It could be a chapter of your life or a tiny little book with your message like Candy Bar Hugs.
It was just a candy bar and then you’re taking it out of the frame. You’re like, “What was that?”
We took Candy Bar Hugs to bestseller. We are relaunching it with Beyond Publishing. I had self-published it a few years ago. As long as it’s your message, it comes from your heart, and it’s what you want it to be, it doesn’t have to be prolific necessarily. It just needs to be your word. What are you not putting in a book? If I’m going to sit down and write a book, where do I start? What do I not put in it?
85% of Americans want to write a book and only 15% ever do. In 2022, there were four million new books published with ISBNs and that doesn’t count the millions published outside the US without ISBNs. Most people who write a book that is surveyed want to make an impact with their message. They want to write a credibility book. Most of them say, “I’m writing this book for credibility or to attract new customers.”
Seventy percent of books consumed globally are fiction books. If you’re writing that 30% or 40% that are nonfiction how-to books, then that’s a different market and thing. Here’s what I’ve observed in my years as a publisher but also being an avid reader, knowing the industry, and studying the industry for years. We had our first author in 2010. I’d been at this before we started the publishing company.
We had a PR firm that marketed authors and got authors in the news, social media, and things like that. We were marketing authors on Myspace before anybody but Harvard students were on Facebook. That gives you an idea of how far back we went. It was the first person who tweeted an entire book on Twitter back when they had a different owner. Title Card Pictures out of Vancouver picked it up as a book on human trafficking by a former Mrs. California. I said, “This is a good book.”
She had written it in fourteen days using the principles that I teach in my course which is Write Your Book in One Hour. I then put it into my book, Book Idea to Bestseller in 30 Days. This is one of these products. You’re talking about writing a book, publishing it, and not being done. I wrote this for the media because I had several media outlets in Las Vegas, Detroit, Colorado, and Texas that wanted to interview me about this book. They said, “November is a novel-writing month.” They wanted to get some interviews by publishers in the queue.
I did a series of videos called 52 Author Secrets. I’m going to turn that into a book called Book Idea to Bestseller in 30 Days. As a bonus, I’ve included transcriptions of those 52 sixty-second videos that were based on the 52 frequently asked questions we get from new authors. “How do I get global distribution for my book? What do I put on the back cover of the book? How do I go bestseller on Amazon before my book even launches? How do I get media interviews?” All of that we cover in Book Idea to Bestseller.
I got to think about it, Charla. I grew up on a farm in Oklahoma. We’d go to farmers markets and all this kind of stuff. We lived on organic fruits and vegetables. I realized that writing a book is like shoveling horse manure. What do I mean by that? I remember when I was seven years old, we had a 1-acre farm. We bought a farm in the country.
My mom and dad had a rule in the summertime that my brother and I couldn’t play with our friends, go swimming, or play baseball until we worked in the garden from the time we woke up until noon. Come noon, it was lunchtime. The rest of the day, we could play but for the first 6 to 7 hours a day, we had to work. I didn’t enjoy it.
The first thing we had to do was shovel truckloads of horse manure because horse manure is almost as good as chicken manure to grow your farm. There never has been a farm planted there. This was just beef cattle. My dad bought a tiller. He’d be out there tilling the land. It was fun to watch him do this. He’d let us try a couple of times and I’m seven. This thing is getting away from me. I was about to run over my dog and bad things were going to happen.
The point I’m trying to make is everybody wants and loves fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden. We love the watermelon, strawberries, delicious pumpkin pies, and things like that but nobody’s willing to show the manure. When you start writing your book, it’s a lot like that because you go through a lot of minutia and manure of the things you’ve been through in your life up to that point. It’s not to say that’s what you should put in the book but here’s what happens.
I’ve got a house in South Texas. In the backyard one summer, I said, “I’m going to plant a garden.” I go out and buy one of those tillers like my dad had. I tilled up the ground. I realized it’s pretty tough because there are sods. I got to pull up the sod. I thought I could shovel it up but I’m on my hands and knees ripping the side up. My fingernails were bleeding but I had delicious vegetables. I had beets, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, and basil because I planted a little 12×15 plot but I hauled in manure, fertilizer, good soil, and all those things.
When you’re writing a book, you might be writing about trauma, tragedy, and all those things but if you’re writing a memoir, that’s the slowest-moving category of a book. Charla, if your goal is to sell books, most people don’t read memoirs. That’s the slowest-moving category next to poetry. You can turn your tragedy into the three steps to try if you learn during your tragedy and make it a how-to book.
Memoirs are the slowest-moving book category next to poetry. You can turn your tragedy into three steps that people can try and make it a how-to book. Click To Tweet“How to recover from a broken relationship? How to recover from a business failure? Five steps to recover from bankruptcy. Seven steps to reconnect with your kids after divorce.” That’s what people are googling and searching for. In nonfiction, how-to books are the number one category. While you’re shoveling the manure, I’ve had so many authors tell me, “Writing this book was better and cheaper than therapy.”
That’s true but I say write the book. Maybe we don’t publish 100% of that. Maybe we only published 5% of that. The rest of it is focused on where you’re at now. You’re looking back and saying, “This is how I got there.” When you’re on a show like this, you’re not keeping it stuck in the minutia with you but you’re letting people enjoy the fruit of your labor because you decided to finally write the book, help people, and show people what was possible if they would get started.
Everyone has stories. There’s nobody on the face of the Earth that doesn’t have something that has happened in their life. Often, it’s like, “It’s just what happened to me.” However, when you start finessing it into a believable story with some humor, the overcoming, and all of those things, that’s where the rubber meets the road.
You can get some traction and find some readers. People want to know. People are so interested. You also talked about a statistic that there are more readers now. We think that people are always online but they’re not necessarily always online. More readers are outside of the US. Do you have a couple of big points there?
We thought the internet killed publishing but readership is up globally. It’s not necessarily Americans who are reading. Eighty-five percent of Americans never buy or read another book after college graduation, which is super sad. If you’re writing a book, you realize that 90% of global book readers are women. No matter what your topic is, you’ve got to realize, “If I’m writing a book, it’s probably going to be more women than men reading this book.”
90% of global book readers are women. Click To TweetMy first book was The Single Dad’s Survival Guide. I knew that men don’t read books. The way I packaged that book and presented it was as a gift package for the single man in your life going through a divorce. We market it to women. It does well around Father’s Day all the time. I still get asked to be on podcasts every Father’s Day. The point is you’ve got to know who your reader is and know that 76% of book buyers who read books in English are buying your book outside of the US. Think about that.
As you’re writing your book, if it’s date-specific and you’re talking about things that are culturally relevant only to the US, it might not pack a punch in other countries so be aware. You want to create an evergreen product and make your book about principles and not so much about pop culture unless your topic is pop culture. You can get involved. Make the decision, “I’m going to write every day.” You put it on social media saying, “30 days from now, I’m launching a book.”
You sit down at the computer at the same time and write at the same location every day. Just like going to the gym, what happens is you start to get excited. You begin to train yourself. The hardest part about working out is going to the gym. Sit down in front of your computer at the same time every day. My writing time is 5:00 AM every morning. I write every morning at that time. Sometimes I write for 5 minutes or 5 hours. It depends on what I have going on.
I write until the inspiration leaves. Sometimes it’s two pages or a paragraph. Sometimes it’s only 1 sentence or 1 word but I captured it strong, left it, and got up. It’s so much better to do that. Some people never get started because they have what I call the Ernest Hemingway Syndrome. Ernest Hemingway is one of the greatest writers that ever lived and an old man to the sea. I’ve been by his house in the Florida Keys. He is amazing.
They say, “I’m not Ernest Hemingway so I’m not going to write and publish my book.” You’re never going to be Ernest Hemingway. I’m never going to be Ernest Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway was never Ernest Hemingway until he wrote and published his first book. Just get started and the magic begins to happen. You’re not going to produce a perfect draft. It’s going to be what I call a vomit draft and that’s okay. Most people are stuck in their heads of perfection. On one side of their brain, they are trying to be creative and on the other side of their brain, they’re trying to edit at the same time. You have to turn off the editing side of your brain. Stay in creative mode and start writing.
I was in a group many years ago and they said PPP, Pen to Paper and Push. That translates a little differently now. Fingers on keys and type but it was in that instance, “What am I going to write?” You start doodling or something. Get the motion of your pen writing and the next thing you know, something comes out.
I love that because the question is, “Who am I writing the book for? What do I want them to do? What action do I want them to take? Maybe I want them to improve their credit score by 30 points in 90 days since the pandemic.” You’re an expert maybe or a mortgage lender and you’re writing a book on that because that’s going to help generate leads and clients for your business.
People want to do business with you. They want to buy a house but maybe they just got out of college. They have some debt or got hit by the pandemic or something. They don’t know how to get their score up. You write a book that attracts that. I did exactly that. We published 791 titles and 300 are authors or speakers like yourself. I decided, “I’ve been trained in speakers for years. I’ve been speaking to myself for years in multiple industries. Why don’t I write a book about it?”
Finding the Speaker’s Edge is turning your part-time passion into a full-time speaking career speaking from stage and online. I’ve been teaching this in masterminds, workshops, webinars, and on stage. I put it into a book. This was not transcribed from videos but this was actual case studies from amazing speakers like the greatest woman orator of all time, Aimee Semple McPherson. She is the lady who started the first FM radio station that had 20,000 people coming to her church in Los Angeles in the ‘20s as a single mom.
She had people like JFK, Marilyn Monroe, and Ronald Reagan all visit her church and people from Hollywood. I talk about people like that in here. I talk about Joel Osteen and people who run great non-profits who are doing amazing things. Check it out. That book became a lead magnet for me because I’m a member of the National Speakers Association. I speak a lot to Toastmasters and NSA members but this book has opened so many doors for me and for people who since the pandemic are saying, “I didn’t know I could make so much money speaking online.”
One thing I realized during the pandemic is we had this course called Write Your Book in 60 Days. I realized it was going to be a lot of fun to take the concept of Write Your Book in 60 Days and put it into Write Your Book in One Hour because people are busy. Once you make the decision to write it, PPP or whatever you need like hang things on the refrigerator. I find that a way I write when I’m not at the computer because I spend a lot of time in the car is recording audio.
I hit that button even when I’m driving. I recorded the audio with my outline. I plug it into my transcriber and then go to work. I’ve organized my thoughts. I figured out what my next book is and what my table of contents is. I’m writing two books before Christmas. I’m writing My Mom Made Me Millions and I talked about the twelve attributes that I learned from my mother like memorization, honesty, integrity, business success, follow-up, prospecting, and customer service. I learned all these things from my mom. She only had a high school education. She never went to college. I learned them all from her.
The other book I’m writing is called Billionaire Influence. I profiled twelve different billionaires who are doing good in the world and how to think like a billionaire. I’m going to launch My Mom Made Me Millions first because it’s a little off-putting if I come out with a billionaire book before I tell people why they want to get wealthy. You want to get wealthy so you can help more people. Look at what you’ve got, what you’re speaking about, and what you’re coaching on or doing a workshop on. Are you doing one-on-one with client education and are you benefiting them in your office?
Maybe it’s an old-school brochure that you’re educating clients with. That can go into a book. I’m not saying you should take all of your blog posts and recycle them. Those could be stale and boring but if you have evergreen content that’s powerful, based on frequently asked questions, and targeted to your target customer with the action you want them to take, you may have the makings of a book right there.
If you have powerful evergreen content intended for your target customer with the action you want them to take, you may have the makings of a book right there. Click To TweetThere are a couple of different ways of doing it. One is if you’re writing something for a niche market, it’s different than writing. You’re talking about the United States and overseas. If you’re going to write something about getting mortgages and your credit score, that’s a niche market in our country. There are different levels of that kind of direction. I wouldn’t think that other countries would be that interested in that but what I do know is if for instance a dentist. You write a book not about cleaning your teeth but about their story. It can be presented in a way that is extremely powerful.
It depends on what the topic is and how much of an application is globally. You do a disclaimer at the front, either in an editor’s note or the introduction. You realized, “Since the world is flat because of the internet, I realized people are going to read this all over the world.” Particularly, if it’s a book on finance, insurance, or a heavily regulated area, you make the application and say, “This may or may not work for your country. Check it out.” There are some broad general ideas here and principles that are going to work and you make them fit for your country.
There’s no idea that’s original. Some people don’t start writing because they’re like, “I don’t have any original ideas.” They want to reinvent the wheel. It’s what I call the Kim Kardashian effect. The Kim Kardashian effect is Kim Kardashian is the most recognized billion-dollar brand in the world. She’s very strategic about what she posts on social media and the call to action she wants her followers to take.
As you decide who you’re writing the book for, what action you want them to take, and then you outline the table of contents, you want to be very clear on what action you want the reader to take. You also want to test it and push it out because you want to get feedback from your tribe and they can help you tweak your content.
It’s a great thing to let your tribe know that you’ve got content coming. Don’t worry if it sounds like somebody else’s content because there’s nothing new under the sun. It might be new and original to you. I’m not saying you should plagiarize anybody’s content but what I am saying is we have 1 Think and Grow Rich and 1 Bible. You can’t go out and plagiarize that content but we were all inspired by a lot of the same sources.
You’re going to cite your source and quote it if it’s nine words or more. You’re not going to hold off on writing your book just because it’s not original content. Somebody needs to hear it specifically from you and it’s all about the way you apply it. What I’m going to teach you how to do on our next webinar is how to write a chapter in twenty minutes. If you’ve been stuck and you haven’t been able to write your book in sixteen years, I say, “Let’s break it down.”
I have two sons who are chefs and they’re like, “Dad, there’s only four food groups. It’s all about the preparation and presentation.” We’re going to help you write a chapter in twenty minutes. It’s going to come together quickly because you’re going to figure out who your reader is, what action you want them to take, and what you want your book to do for you.
I have a quote that I carry around in my little Day-Timer thing. It’s on a sticky note. It says, “There are some people who will only hear the truth the way you tell it.” That’s by Linda Pesavento. I randomly found that quote but I love it. Many people think, “Who Am I? What do I have to say? Who cares?” There are people who can only hear the way you tell a message. That has been a very big inspiration for me. “Let’s do it and get it out there.” With eight billion people in the world, there’s somebody who will relate to your story more than they will to others.
Who I choose to be and my vision, mission, and purpose is to let my light shine when I leave out. I want to let people feel good even if they don’t talk or anything. It happens a whole lot if I go to Aldi’s. I meet people there. I used to shop at Aldi’s in Germany, which was amazing. I loved it. I met Molly one time at Aldi’s. We had a good conversation and a big hug. She got my Candy Bar Hugs book. It’s fun to recognize that you can be the best you and people are attracted to that. We get to make new friends and build community that way. I’m grateful.
It brings it back to this point that you were saying. Some people aren’t going to receive it. I think of teenagers. I raised four boys and they’re all grown. I have two grandsons. Sometimes when teenagers are going through those “rebellious years,” they’re not going to listen to mom and dad but they will listen to somebody else. You can be that somebody else for somebody else’s kids.
I grew up on the farm in Oklahoma and we were allowed to beat each other’s kids. I say that tongue and cheek but the point is not to beat them but hold them accountable to standards of right and wrong in the community. That’s exactly right. Lift and share your voice. Somebody did that for me when I was eleven. I didn’t realize until I went to public school that I was a stutter. There were only 4 kids in our 4 square acre mile square block.
In our square mile, which is 4 miles square, there was David, Tony, and then my brother Kenny and I. The four of us played on the same baseball team. We went to church together. We were always together but when I started kindergarten and first grade, and I met new kids, I stuttered. It was so frustrating because I knew what it was like to have a message on the inside but not be able to get it out.
At some point during the year, there was this librarian. Bless her heart. Thank God for her. I don’t remember her name. I would love to look her up on social media and thank her. She found a book written by an eleven-year-old kid and she gave me this book. This book as an eleven-year-old changed my life. I don’t remember the name of the book or the author who wrote it. Someday in heaven, I can thank him.
I was so impressed and amazed that this kid wrote this book about believing in all that’s possible and stepping into your greatest life and imagination. There was a sailboat on the cover of this book. I can remember reading this book on my family farm of 30 acres in Oklahoma surrounded by my cows and my dog, Joe. I would start to dream about what my life could be like. I did receive it from this kid.
The planes would fly over. I would look at those planes and tell my parents, my brother, and everybody who would listen, “One day, I’m going to fly in those planes all over the world.” I’ve flown to 30 nations and spoken to tens of thousands of people. We’re just getting started. I wonder if my life would be different had this eleven-year-old kid not written a book and had this librarian not been the person to give it to me.
Sometimes, it’s writing your book to change the world. Sometimes, it’s sharing somebody else’s content. I love sharing good content. You’re coming out with a split-second transformation on your birthday, which is epic and great. That’s the best time to do it. I always ask people when they’re launching their book, “When’s your birthday? When is a special day? Let’s launch it on your birthday, Charla.” What is this book?
It’s Change Your Words, Change Your Life: 31 Daily Practices. We will be launching it on my birthday. We’re going to have a big party in downtown Fort Worth. I’m looking forward to all of that. I’m grateful for some friends who are helping out with that a little bit. I wrote 16 of the 31 chapters in January of 2019. I didn’t finish it until 2023. I guess it was for such a time it didn’t come out but here we are. We’re cleaning and wrapping it up. 2023 has been a big year for me.
Michael, you have a heart for a lot of things. You travel, speak, and uplift. You’ve got four books for Powerful Female Immigrants. There are a lot of things that your fingers are in. I’d like to know the backstory. You are very inspired to help with human trafficking. There’s so much going on that has been going on for years, decades, or centuries maybe but it’s coming to the forefront. 1040 Impact is your nonprofit. Tell us a little bit about how that came about. In our normal everyday lives, we don’t necessarily see it although I’m much more aware of it now than I was.
I want to start this answer with a story. The first chapter I ever wrote, I wrote from jail. Paul the Apostle wrote some of the best words from jail. I wasn’t in jail for the same reason as Paul the Apostle. He was there to preach the gospel. I was in jail for barroom fighting on my 39th birthday. My dad calls me up. He’s like, “It’s your birthday tomorrow. I’m going to be in town. Let me take you to lunch for your birthday.” I’m like, “That’d be great, Dad. Let’s go to my favorite restaurant. See you at noon.”
Dad is never late. He’s always early. Dad grew up on a dairy farm in Oklahoma. I’m always on time. The night before my dad’s coming to town, I go to a bar to have a drink. I’m drinking alone. I’m 38 and a half. I’m reflective, sad, and depressed. I ended up getting in a bar fight. I spent the night in jail. I bailed myself out at about 3:00 PM. I know dad’s worried about me. I call him and I’m like, “Dad, I’m fine. Everything’s fine. I’m sorry you were worried about me.” I told him where I was.
Since I had that night to sober up and think about my life, I realized that one of the things on my bucket list was to run a marathon by the age of 40. I decided to run my marathon at 40. 6 months later when I was 39.5, I remember what I decided that night when I was in in jail. One of them was to run a marathon by the time I’m 40.
Tell me, you were in jail the night before your birthday?
I was in jail when I was 38th going into my 39th year. I made goals for myself. I didn’t have anything to write it down with. One of the things was to run a marathon and the next thing was to write my first book. However, I got the content for the first book sitting in jail because I learned so much about myself running my first marathon. When you run a marathon, you need a year to train. 6 months before my 40th birthday, that night in jail, I decided that I was going to run my marathon before I turned 40.
I’m a couch potato. I went out that day thinking I could run a few miles. I ran a block and I’m out gasping for air. Next, I’m like, “It’s a bad day. I’ll try it tomorrow.” The next day, I go out and run a block and two mailboxes. I’m like, “I need help.” I went to Google and ordered new running shoes. I’m like, “This is not enough. I need more.” I joined a local running group called Fleet Feet, which is a national chain. I made some great friends and those friends were my 5:00 AM friends on Saturday mornings when we were doing the long 18 and 20-mile runs in the 20-degree weather.
I’m like, “If it wasn’t for me putting this on social media saying, ‘I’m going to run my marathon,’ and if it wasn’t knowing I’m going to let down my eighteen friends and my running group, I don’t show up and they were there. Before my 40th birthday, I ran the Route 66 Marathon and all four of my sons stepped out from the viewing area and ran the last 3 miles with me. It was the greatest day of my life. All great things you do start with a decision. Most people never start. I love this Zig Ziglar quote, “You don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great.” Just get started.
Zig Ziglar is a huge piece of my life. Every Monday morning for decades, they’ve had what they called Monday morning devotional. His 97th birthday celebration on Monday morning is on Zoom. I used to get out there and go to Plano when they were up there. It’s open to anybody. People can go and enjoy that.
A quick plug here because we’re launching a book. I’ll get to the non-profit. Thanks for asking me about that. We’re launching a book called The Book of Mentors. Erik Swanson and Jon Kovach are putting this out. It features the life of Zig Ziglar. That’s a lot of fun. It’s Key to Success Honoring the Legacy of Zig Ziglar. I invited them on and they couldn’t make it. I remember when Zig passed, the internet blew up. It was like when Jim Rohn passed. The internet blew up with so much love and appreciation. Many people helped.
Back to the non-profit that you asked me about, I’ve been in the non-profit space for a long time. I was a pastor for fourteen years. I’ve always had a heart for missions particularly the 1040 Window, which is the greatest area of the unreached people group from North Africa to Egypt to China and North Korea. That area represents the greatest poverty and lack of gospel witness, hearing the name of Jesus, and having the bible translated.
It’s primarily Muslim nations that are the most closed and hostile to the gospel. It represents the areas where the most persecuted Christians are located. That’s an area we pray for every day. Our staff and team do. We have a full-time staff of 25 and 4 safe houses in Pakistan. What started with 55 children that had been orphaned by a fire years ago, I received the call on this. I wanted to check it out for myself so I flew to Pakistan.
You can google Joseph Colony Fire Pakistan and see the news about it. It was an arson. It was religious persecution that the radical Muslims set a Christian colony on fire. It created 55 orphans. Two hundred people were killed in that fire. All of the children we took in were orphans. We took a gutted building that had been destroyed by fire. We cleaned it up and painted it. The government let us occupy it. We pay the utilities on that building. It’s a three-story safe house.
We have a total of 394 children, counting the original 50 that were orphaned by that fire. Every month or so, we get a call that says, “There are four girls that have been trafficked. There’s a mother and her three daughters that have been trafficked. They’re made to work in the brothel every night.” We did a rescue and it was a woman whose husband was dealing drugs and a gambler. He was shot and killed. It left her a widow.
The girls were being trafficked with their mom. The boy was traumatized. He’s seeing all this and he can’t defend his sisters and his mother. We were able to rescue them. We get them the medical care and the help that they need. They’re in one of our four safe houses in Lahore, Pakistan. This is a great area where they’re getting medical care, education, and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They’re also being prepared for life with occupational skills like sewing, coding, and cosmetology so they don’t have to go back into human trafficking.
The situation is so desperate in some countries like it is there that parents will sell their kids. We saw this when the US pulled out of Afghanistan. Parents were so desperate that they were selling their daughters because they didn’t want them being raped daily by the Taliban. They sold them to who they knew were human traffickers who were going to take them to Pakistan. We were able to intercept, purchase 54 girls, and get them the care they needed.
Every month almost, our numbers go up. We’re feeding 40,000-plus meals per month to our 394 kids and 25 staff. It’s a total of 415. If you do the math, that’s 3 meals a day, 30 days out of the month, and 40,000 meals. We’re taking care of them. We’re purchasing our main property and we will have it paid off. We did a fifteen-month note on that. We’ll no longer have a rent payment.
One big thing that we’re asking for help with in Christmas 2023 is we did a campaign called Christmas in July. We raised about $7,000 because we want to have a nice Christian Christmas for everybody. We’re going to buy them clothes and books. We’ll have some Bibles for each safe house and also for the staff. Of our full-time staff, more than half of them get paid and some of them are volunteers. We need to raise $10,000. We’re about $2,500 short. By December 1st, 2023, we need to be able to forward that money to them so they can purchase a nice little Christmas package.
Other than a few parents who are with some of the kids that have been rescued, these are orphans who become a part of the family and are growing up in a safe environment where it’s a loving Christian environment of nurture with our vetted staff. It’s an amazing work. I’ve taken my board members over there three times and we’re going to go back soon. It’s a high-risk area but they are very safe.
The one thing we did was put new security lights and monitors in all four of our locations. There was a massive persecution uprising against Christians in Pakistan. 25 churches and 400 Christian homes were burned to the ground. Fortunately, none of our kids and staff were hurt. We donated 100 care packages to families in churches that needed them.
It’s an ongoing work. We appreciate everybody’s love and support. We’ve got people who donate $10 a month and $500 a month. It’s corporate donors and individual grassroots grandmas who are praying for us and giving us $10 a month. Every bit makes a difference. Beyond Publishing triples all the donations. When $10 comes in, that turns into $40. When $40 comes in, that turns into $160. It’s making a huge difference. Thanks for asking about our nonprofit.
Michael, thank you so much for sharing all that. That’s amazing. How do people find you? What are we looking for? How do they first of all get involved with the 1040? How do they find Beyond Publishing? Where do you want people to go? The time is ticking.
They can go to my website and find everything. If you’re an author and you want to write a book and get feedback on your book, I will give you a free book consult value of $500. If you’ve got a question about your book, say, “I want to know about my book cover or book title. Who I should market my book to? Should I include this in my book or not include that in my book?” Jump on my calendar. I’ll give you a free book consult.
You can link directly to the nonprofit or go directly to its website. Every month, we do a great webinar for new writers or writers who are stuck and want to get their books out. They’re called to write a book but have been trying to write it for months or years. Go to Beyond Publishing’s website. You can RSVP for the next one. These fill up quickly every month so be sure to register quickly and you’ll get a a Google invite to your calendar so you can write your book.
I teach you for a solid hour on how to write your book in one hour and we go through how to structure the table of contents and do everything. The other thing we’re doing that’s exciting is we’ve got two gentlemen from Hollywood that have option books for movies and adaptation from books to film. If you’ve got a fiction or nonfiction book and you’re like, “I’ve written a book,” no matter what the topic is like Split Second Transformation or Candy Bar Hugs, you’re going to want to be on this webinar.
You’re going to get free information for 60 to 90 minutes from people who helped make Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr, and these amazing actors and actresses. Also, get these book options for the movies. Risky Business got Tom Cruise’s career started. Go to our nonprofit organization’s website to make an impact and a Christmas donation. It would help us this time of year and also help our kids feel so much love from you. Thank you very much. Charla, it’s great being with you on your show. I believe that you’re making a difference with 36 episodes.
It will be the one-year anniversary of my very first show with Win Win Women. It will also be an event. We’re doing International Women’s Day events around the globe and I’m going to have one here in North Richland Hills or the Fort Worth area as a celebration. I’m going to launch Outrageously Courageous – BOLD FAITH, NO fear: Step Towards the Gun! We’re getting them out. Most people don’t do it this way. I’ve made the book covers long before I wrote the books. I had that part but it’s fun because I can then market a little bit around that.
We had an author on TV in North Carolina in Charlotte. His book wasn’t out yet, Dave Ferguson. It’s Boss or Leader. He was stressed out. I said, “Why are you stressed?” He says, “I’m on the news tomorrow and my books aren’t here yet.” I say, “Go to Kinko’s and print out your book cover.” He printed it out. I said, “Scotch tape it to a cover.” He held it up. He sold nine copies of the book sending people to his website and he got two consulting clients out of that.
All day long, every day, show up with a book cover. You’re still writing the content. That’s fine. I was in Beverly Hills, California. I was sharing Uber with another co-writer. He jumps in Beverly Hills and is smiling from ear to ear. I said, “You got a big smile on your face. What are you so happy about?” It was Cedars-Sinai Hospital, the premier hospital in Beverly Hills and probably the world. He shows me a $1.2 million check.
I’m like, “That’s one of the biggest checks I’ve seen in a long time. What’s this for?” He said, “They bought my patient management software.” I said, “What does it do?” He said, “I don’t know. We haven’t created it yet.” He said, “This was a down payment. Next week, they’re going to tell my 300 engineers from India what they want the software to do.” I’m like, “That’s a great idea because you’ve given me ideas to write books.”
Our mutual friend Sharon Lechter is a New York Times bestselling author. She and I shared a lot of stages pre-pandemic. I remember the last five times I’d heard her speak. I’ve been on stage with her. When she gets on stage, she tells you about her next five books. She says, “This book is coming out next month. In the summer, this book is coming out.” She’s doing exactly what you’re doing with Split-Second Transformation: Change Your Words, Change Your Life, and Outrageously Courageous. These all fit into your brand story.
You want to get these words out. The biggest thing that a book does for you is open doors and credibility, and charge more for coaching and speaking. It’s getting you on more stages as a speaker and also more media interviews. You’re 38% more likely to get the media interview or the stage opportunity according to speakers’ bureaus. If you have a book over the guest that doesn’t have a book, you create a course out of it on the backend. You start a mastermind, a coaching program, or all these things that you can monetize.
When people read your book, they don’t know who you are. They spend $20 or $25 for a book from somebody because there’s one chapter in that book that speaks to them. They’re like, “I’m going to buy Split-Second Transformation because this chapter speaks to me. It’s going to change my life or my cousin’s life.” They buy the book and it changes their life but they’re like, “Now that I know you, I want to engage with you more, buy everything you got, and sign up for your coaching program. I heard you on a podcast. I want to sign up for your retreat.”
They want to do more with you and a deep dive. You want to give people the opportunity to engage more fully with you. That’s what a book does but the greatest thing is that I hear from all of our 791 books we’ve published and authors in 64 countries. The best feedback I get from authors is the personal growth in their book is for them. It’s better than therapy. In real estate, your book becomes the anchor tenant. It raises the value of your entire life because you wrote the book. It’s the manure that you had to shovel and dig through to produce what people see on the outside.
You’re not faking it anymore. Maybe you used to fake it until you made it but you get the book out and you can articulate the joy that you can bring to the world because you’ve been through The Single Dad’s Survival Guide, Book Idea to Bestseller in 30 Days, Candy Bar Hugs, and all the learning that came with that. You’re ready to bring that organic delicious garden to the world. What are you waiting for? Jump on my calendar and I’ll give you a free consultation. I’m not afraid to tell you that if your baby looks ugly, we’ll figure it out together.
I’m incredibly grateful that you would step in because I had a last-minute cancellation. I was sad about that and glad that you were able to take this moment because it’s a good moment. With my book launch coming up, it’s a good time for us to have this conversation and get this speaking out there. Thank you so much for being my guest. Maybe we’ll do it again.
I would love it. I would want to come back. I would want to have you on the Michael D. Show where we interview amazing guests from around the world.
You’re everywhere and you have a lot of wonderful support people who love you. We do meet some incredible people when we come together at your events. Thank you. I appreciate it so much. As we close here, and I do this often, who you are reading this, you are perfect exactly who and where you are. You cannot be loved more or less by God or me. You are perfect exactly who and where you are right this minute.
Received that and claim that you are perfect. There’s no reason for you to defeat yourself. Michael and I are here to talk. Let’s talk if you have any concerns about that and you don’t feel worthy because you are. I always end up saying, I want you to be blessed. I ask that you choose joy.
Important Links
- Michael@BeyondPublishing.net
- www.MichaelDButler.com
- Instagram.com/MichaelDButlerSr
- https://BeyondPublishing.net/
- https://1040Impact.org/
- http://Book2Movie.org/
- https://www.Facebook.com/BookLaunchExperts/
- https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/MichaelDButlerSr/
About Michael D Butler
Pastor turned Celebrity King Maker, called the Simon Cowell of Book Publishing. Founder 1040Impact.org to End Human Trafficking he’s most proud of his 4 sons and 2 grandsons
@BeyondBookPub authors spoken on 6 continents🎤📚optioned for 🎬‘s
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I’m Charla Anderson, host of The Charla Anderson Show, Collector & Connector of Fascinating People (and EVERYONE is Fascinating!) on live TV, streaming and podcasts. As a Ziglar Legacy Certified Trainer, a retired award-winning flight attendant, Olympic Torch bearer, personal development junkie, Inspired Speaker, Published Author and Your Courageous Coach, I want to share my passion of living life full-out, saying YES to intriguing opportunities, and encouraging YOU to do the same. Let’s jump on a discovery call and get to know each other. Find all things Charla at CharlaAnderson.com/links.
On The Charla Anderson Show, We discuss Mindset, How much Your WORDS matter, Princess to Queen energy, mantras, HOPE, Faith, Miracles, Overcoming, and much, much more, including learning from amazing guests.
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