Welcome to Autistic POV. This episode shares what I learned at the Hay House Writers’ Workshop and why the idea of honoring the spirit of my book was my biggest takeaway.
This idea is valuable for anyone but I think it’s especially helpful for neurodivergent writers who struggle to fit their creative work into predefined categories.
In this episode, I share some of the publishing info given in the workshop and my experience with the Connect with the Spirit of Your Book exercise given by Colette Baron Reid.
Also forgot to mention that the book project I’m talking about in this episode is an AuDHD memoir. There is a lot about spirituality and creativity in the book but mostly as means to an end (healing burnout, moving past masking, reclaiming my authentic neurodivergent self, etc.)
Probably should have mentioned this since this is an autism podcast!
UPDATE 6/24/2026
Focusing on the spirit of my book helped me reconnect with the creative source of my project, and I’ve gotten additional insights as time passed. Just this week I realized that the main thing the spirit of my book wants is to be heard. So I decided to publish it here on Substack.
We’ll see how it goes.
The exercise is something anyone can do. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it went for you!
What I learned about publishing
I’ve always liked Hay House publishing. They gave me free stuff back when the Mystic Review was popular and I’ve enjoyed many of their classes, books and decks over the years. And I enjoyed the conference.
While I benefitted most from the Colette Baron Reid exercise, I found the following publishing related info helpful.
Transformational nonfiction is a genre. It includes inspirational memoir, prescriptive nonfiction (self-help, advice, or how-to), and teaching memoir.
When you write teaching memoir you use your own personal experience to illustrate points. Teaching memoir is usually marketed as prescriptive nonfiction instead of memoir.
Niche (a specialized segment of a wider market) is more important for some writers than it is for others. People with a big platform, or publisher, don’t need a niche to sell books. Less well-known authors usually do.
Niche is more than a way of making sure the reader knows what they’re getting. It’s how most self-published books get found. This is because a pre-defined niche doubles as a search term. (Something I should have realized a long time ago but didn’t.)
The term high-concept doesn’t mean a lot of explosions or saving the world. It means people will easily understand what your book is about from its hook.
A hook (or elevator pitch) is a single sentence that describes your book. According to Hay House CEO Reid Tracy a hook should be high-concept and niche—as well as unique, magnetic and salable. (I understand the first three attributes but am still a little unclear on what makes a book magnetic or salable.)
About the Conference
Founded in 1984 by self-published author Louise Hay and acquired by Penguin Random House in 2023, Hay House is a leading publisher in the sprawling spiritual and personal development space.
Hay House offers the online Writers Bootcamp twice a year. The bootcamp is a four day mini-conference. Some parts of the conference were live while others were prerecorded. There was free option and a paid option.
I went for the paid option which was $144. This got me access to a group, the ability to ask questions, 30 days access to replays and the chance to enter the Hay House book proposal contest.
Player Image
Autistic POV theme music by the Caffeine Creek Band
