From Corporate Life to Book Coach: Getting Book Deals + Building Platforms with Allison Lane | Ep. 79

In this episode of Author’s Edge, host Allison Lane swaps seats and becomes the guest. Interviewed by Victoria Meyer, host of The Chemical Show, Allison shares how her 25+ years in global brand marketing with companies like Unilever, Burt’s Bees, and The Body Shop shaped her approach to helping authors land book deals, launch bestsellers, and build platforms that last. She breaks down everything from the role of a book proposal to the reality of author-led marketing.

You’ll discover why writing a full manuscript isn’t the first step to landing a book deal, what agents and publishers really want to see, and the proven steps Allison uses to help women experts publish successfully. She also reveals how authors can build platforms that attract opportunities - from bestseller launches to media features and paid speaking.

In this BONUS episode, Victoria and Allison discuss:

• [00:00–04:00] Early career lessons: How journalism and PR taught Allison the power of saying “yes with enthusiasm.”
• [04:00–07:50] Corporate insights: What working with global brands revealed about the bigger marketing puzzle.
• [10:30–13:00] Breaking free from limits: Why corporate systems often hold women experts back - and how to claim your authority.
• [15:00–16:30] Publishing truths: Why a strong book proposal matters more than a finished manuscript.
• [18:45–21:00] Publishing options: Traditional, self, hybrid, and university presses - and how to choose the right path.
• [21:00–24:00] Marketing reality: Why even big publishers expect authors to drive their own marketing.
• [25:00–26:20] Next steps: Clear guidance if you’ve ever thought about writing a book.

Resources Mentioned:

• Allison Lane’s website: https://www.lanelit.com/
• Book Deal Blueprint: https://www.lanelit.com/proposal
• Connect with Victoria Meyer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-king-meyer/ 
• Victoria’s podcast: https://www.thechemicalshow.com/

If you’ve wondered how to go from expert to published author, this episode gives you the roadmap - straight from someone who’s helped countless women experts secure book deals and amplify their visibility.

Ready to finally finish your book or proposal? The Super Secret Book Writing Club starts soon with book marketing genius Allison Lane and bestselling author + book whisperer Samantha Bennett. In just six months, you’ll get crystal clear on your book idea, create a market-ready manuscript or proposal, and build the audience and marketing plan to sell it. Spots are limited - learn more at LaneLit.com/writingclub

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Transcript

Allison: 1:10

Welcome back to the Author's Edge. This episode is so surprising because my accountability partner, Victoria King Meyer, is interviewing me.

1:20

She is the host of the podcast, the Chemical Show, which is the number one podcast in the chemical industry.

Allison: 1:28

She is here to interview me about the things that she finds fascinating. And hopefully, you will too.

Victoria: 1:35

Yeah. Awesome. Allison, thank you. Thank you. I'm excited to do this. And part of this really came about is obviously as entrepreneurs. And as authorities and leaders, and as podcast hosts. I host my own podcast, the Chemical Show. About leadership I think part of this started Allison,'cause I was like, how the heck did you get here? So, we're going to be talking about the Allison things that I think people should know. And I am running this a little bit like I run my podcast. So happy to have you here today, Allison, on Author's Edge. And I'm delighted that you are the featured guest and I get to be the guest host. Let's start with your origin story. How did you get started on this career path that leads you to where you are coaching authors?

Allison: 2:24

Well, getting started when I graduated from the University of Maryland, go TERPS and journalism school, there were no jobs. So, I got started waiting tables. And this was back before the interwebs. And I got one offer to have an interview. It was only because my pitch letter was entertaining. I added that I have a couple extra skills. Like I can ride a horse bareback and I can make a mean margarita. And they just thought that was clever. They wrote me back in a letter'cause people didn't have voicemail machines then. So, that was at Pepsi. What a good opportunity.

Victoria: 3:12

Amazing.

Allison: 3:13

They said, well, we don't have internships, but we'd like to interview you. I interviewed for a job that they didn't have. And they decided that they were going to have one. So, I worked there and I did whatever they told me to do. At first, I only wanted to do things that were for fancy. A woman was mentoring me and she was like, you know what? You get so much further when you say yes to everything with enthusiasm. Yes is the answer. From then on, yes was the answer. When they needed help with the customer service department, I wrote all of the hard to write letters back to people who would write in and say, I got a Pepsi and it was warm and I didn't like it. I would write a letter back to them and Find a way to disarm people who were so upset. They actually wrote a letter. That is a big deal. Every letter carried the weight of 100 phone calls.

Victoria: 4:09

Yeah. So how long did you stay at Pepsi?

Allison: 4:11

I was there for four months and then I got a job in a PR agency in New York City at the very, lowest level making$21,000 a year. And my job was essentially to man the fax machine all day. From there, I said yes to things when other people didn't want to do them. I did them. I've always been ambitious. Tell me what I need to do to move to the next thing'cause I don't want to be in this fax machine room forever. Oftentimes that was working on the McDonald's account, which was less sexy than working on Italian olive oil. I got to go to the Ronald McDonald Conference.

Victoria: 4:51

I think that would be cool. I didn't know Ronald McDonald had a conference.

Allison: 4:54

It's all the dudes who play Ronald. Get together at a conference. So, it's all these sort of career clowns. they formerly worked for Barnum and Bailey's would want to have a family, which means you can't travel So, the Ronald Gig was considered a choice gig in the clowning community. I can't believe this is my life. I spent almost five years in New York. I working at PR firms. I was doing national media tours at the age of 25 for my clients going on live tv. And being a spokesperson, which is incredible training. My other, my friends were doing the same. So, when we were back in New York City, we never saw each other. Yeah. And it was freaking lonely. I grew up in rural Maryland. So I was like, this isn't even my home. I need to see the sky and grass would be great'cause they don't really have that at Manhattan. Nah. I asked my PR agency for a transfer'cause it was a global agency, Edelman worldwide. And they said obviously, you are a rising star here, and just pick an office and we'll see if they have a need. You know what? I should have picked like Barcelona. But I chose Chicago because I had a friend who worked in the Chicago office. I worked on Kraft and I did media tours again for a year. And then, they said, we think you're getting burnt out. Pepsi, Quaker Oats would like to borrow you for the summer. Because they just need some help in media relations and you're one of our best media relations people. Why don't you go over and see if they like you? At the end of the summer they hired me. And that had been my goal was to spend five years in a PR agency and then go in house. The reason why I really liked going in house is because you got to see the other channels of the marketing matrix'cause PR is one slice of the marketing pizza.

Victoria: 6:58

Pepsi, Quaker Oats. I know you spent time with Sodexo and Unilever.

Allison: 7:03

Well, I went from Pepsi, from Quaker was bought by Pepsi. And so, I was there throughout the whole like financial, the acquisition and managing media relations. And then, I went to Unilever and I managed PR. that's when the Dove campaign for Real Beauty was its inception, axe deodorant body spray. I ran that pr, that national campaign. So, I worked on six or seven brands. It was such an education.

Victoria: 7:32

To move on though, 20 plus years in corporate. And then, you decided to venture into entrepreneurship where you're helping authors.

Allison: 7:44

You make it sound like I had a business plan. Yeah. What I had was impatience and indignation. And I had started helping people hone their pitches because I had created a Facebook community so I could help people do what was so easy for me.

Victoria: 8:03

And this is a lot of what you did. I guess I didn't appreciate that you were helping people with their media tours, whatever that really is. And handholding early in your career and really throughout your career in terms of understanding how to go to market. How to engage with audiences to sell your product, sell yourself, position yourself. And so, that Allison, this makes a lot of sense now.

Allison: 8:31

Listen, when a corporation comes to you and says, we have a new barbecue sauce flavor, and you're like, alright. The answer isn't no. It's Yes. And how many options can we give them? How do we want to position this? Are we going to do a recipe contest? Are we going to do the biggest cookout in America? How are we going to make this interesting and newsworthy to backyard chefs. Yeah.

Victoria: 8:59

So, talk to me about your business today. So, 2020, your business was born out of frustration with the man, if we can say it that way. COVID, which was such a stinking interesting time to do anything. And here we are 2025. Talk to me about Allison Lane Lit. What do you do? What's your business? What do you do? Who do you help?

Allison: 9:24

I help women experts get book deals, launch their books, build their platforms so that they can actually get a book deal and launch their books. And really find the audiences that are already hungry for them. And the biggest challenge that they have is that they're not thinking big enough. Everyone I talk to is such an incredible accomplished person. And they never think that they are because their eyes are on the person that they learned from. But you have to think outside your pond.

Victoria: 10:02

Yeah. Allison, you say that, that whole aspect of, I think there's this. And I don't like to use the word imposter syndrome'cause I think it's just a weird, wonky, overused word. But I think we often are in situations in the workplace. That don't allow us to recognize our uniqueness and our value and how amazing we are. So, I worked for Shell for a big part of my career. And I remember at the time I was leaving, I had a shining star rocket on my back until the day I didn't. And that day when you don't have that shining rocket is a weird one. I remember a boss, Jose Lima. Telling me, you are better than this place will allow you to believe. And I didn't get it at the time. I so appreciated him saying that. Yeah. And I didn't get it at the time. Until I left and took another job. And that was before I started my own business. And then, I started storytelling about the things I did. I'm like, shit, I turned around a$2 billion business. That's badass. But when you're in a big company like a Shell, I just signed a$2 billion deal. That's great. I just did 10 billion. There was always somebody that was doing better than you. And I have actually come to believe that corporate systems are designed to hold you in place.

Allison: 11:28

They're very diminishing.

Victoria: 11:29

Rather than to allow you to like excel and be a shining star. They might hire you as a star, but they're not giving you the momentum to be a star. And so, I think this is the really cool thing of what you do is helping people break free and realize they really are bad asses. And are amazing in what they do know, can tell about et cetera.

Allison: 11:55

I think you're right. Corporations they want to hire a star. But they want to put them in the box. What if they overachieve or they're also speaking at a conference. But because you always report to someone, you have to ask for permission and get permission to go to the conference. Once you ask, someone is always going to say, it'd be better if this person from this corporation. Right. But you know what, no one's managing your career except you. Yes. And if you want to speak at a conference and you don't want to ask your boss for permission, take the effing day off. Just do it.

Victoria: 12:39

Speak at the conference. Make the disclaimer that these are your own points of view and not the corporate point of view.

Allison: 12:44

Right. You can do that.

Victoria: 12:46

It's one of the questions I have is, what's the worst thing that would can happen? I get fired. But last time I checked, nobody ever got fired for writing a blog post or I mean, unless it's totally defamatory against the company.

Allison: 13:00

So, I think that when you're in a role and it has lines around it, it's really easy for your supervisor to feel like they are your approver. In fact, when I was leading employer branding at SAS Analytics, so I got bored with consumer products. So, I was like, maybe I'll give myself a challenge and I'll move to analytics. It might've been seven months, took the company from number 20 on the best place to work list to number one. Simply by changing the story hook. Wow. Nothing else that the company changed. And that's the value of having a different angle, finding a different way to tell a story. That year, I wanted to go to a conference that was in town. And it was about innovation. And my supervisor at the time said, that doesn't really align with your role. And I said, but it's all about innovation and writing. But you're not a writer. Oh, are you serious? Yeah. And I had a similar discussion with a mentor of mine who had been a colleague at Unilever and then CEO at Burts Bees when I was at Burts Bees. And he came to visit and have lunch with me at SAS. And he said, what are you still doing here? And I was like, I don't understand. but he was thinking bigger for me.

Victoria: 14:21

Yeah. That's so interesting. It's excellent to have people in your corner.

Allison: 14:26

Most women who are experts in their field are slaves to the psychology of approval. They think, oh I wouldn't call myself an expert. God, please let's erase that phrase. Because they think of someone else as the expert who they learned from. But there is not one expert, you are an Expert. So, if someone else refers to you as an expert, just say, yes.

Victoria: 14:53

Yes. Yes. Embrace it. Say, yes. Yes, I am. And put it on your LinkedIn profile or whatever. Right. The other piece, and Allison, you and I met through a digital course. But I know in that course it's you know, as long as 10% more than the other people around you, you're the experts. And I sometimes think we have to be able to climb Mount Everest before we're an expert climber. No, you just need to be able to climb better than the person next to you and you're the expert. And we sometimes lose sight of that. So, I think that's really cool. All right. What holds people back from writing their book? Why do people get stuck or where do people get stuck?

Allison: 15:39

People get stuck when they know that they have always wanted to write a book, but they think it's a pipe dream. They think it works like in the movies where you have to know somebody or you have to be discovered. That's not the way publishing works. They also get stuck because they think they need to write their entire book first. Which there's never time for. So, they postpone it to when people don't need them so much, or maybe when they're on sabbatical or when they retire.

Victoria: 16:14

So, if I don't need to write my book first, what do I need to do?

Allison: 16:20

When you are an expert in your field. And you are writing Nonfiction.

Victoria: 16:25

And we've already established, most of us are experts in our field.

Allison: 16:29

You are already doing the thing. Yes. You are a big deal in the field you're in. Yeah. And what you need is a book proposal. Instead of writing the whole book, 300 pages is 40 pages. It is a business plan for your book. It is not your book. I

Victoria: 16:50

like that you called it a business plan for your book. Yeah. But it makes it a little bit more tangible maybe.

Allison: 16:58

I think if you think of it as you have a career, but you also are packaging some of what you know into a different format for the people who don't already know you. Yeah. And that's what we want to share our knowledge, which becomes wisdom. But it's only wisdom when we pass it on. When people start thinking of that, they realize, oh my gosh, now I know who really needs it. So, the book proposal becomes successful when you can point to audiences who are hungry for the answers you have, but are much broader than you've ever thought. The book proposal is key.

Victoria: 17:39

Yeah. And I know you help people figure this out, right?

Allison: 17:43

Yeah. Usually when people find me, they say I have a draft proposal. And it's never a business proposal. They want to sell the book based on their fervent belief in their message. And that is not how to sell anything.

Victoria: 17:59

Awesome. And in fact, you have a program.

Allison: 18:02

I have a deal blueprint

18:05

Yes. In my book Deal Blueprint, I show you how to take your concept and build it into a business plan for your book, step by step. Everything I would do with my one-on-one clients that get them agent and publisher attention and drive their marketing plan and their activities for the next three years. That is what publishers want from you. They want to know that you are in charge.

Allison: 18:41

first, you need to take your big idea. And define the audiences and feature yourself from a marketing lens. Yeah. And so, all the language that you have about your book, we put through this marketing lens so that it becomes pitchable. Then, we find the literary agents and the publishers who are looking for people just like you. So, it doesn't feel like you're knocking on cold doors. Yeah. You are finding them. And you are pitching them in the way that they like to be pitched.

Victoria: 19:19

You don't write your book until you have a publisher.

Allison: 19:22

They don't want it. They won't even accept it.

Victoria: 19:25

So what about editors? This is the storyline that I've heard is oh, you write a book and you have to find an editor. When does the editor show up and who brings the editor to the table?

Allison: 19:36

So, editor is a super broad title. It's like manager. An editor is helpful when you're writing fiction and you're writing a novel and you want to pitch that because when you're writing a novel, you have to write the entire novel in order to pitch it.

Victoria: 19:54

Ah, but that's not true for a non-fiction business book or just a nonfiction book in general. How long does it take Allison to put this proposal together? How long does your guided course take

Allison: 20:05

It's a couple weeks. We all have full-time jobs. And there's a faster way to do everything. We look for the fastest and the most innovative, interesting, unexpected way to position your book. We have to always think bigger than you're thinking.

Victoria: 20:22

That's awesome. I love that. So, in the vein of thinking bigger, what about self-publishing? I see so many people that are self-publishing books. Of course, Amazon, Kindle would love you just to publish on their platform. I've read more than a few self-published books and I've read a lot of professionally published stuff. Think about writing my book when I'm ready for it. Does it matter? Should I be self-publishing this or should I self-publish before I go to a publisher? Do they care? How does this work?

Allison: 20:56

Okay. Timeout on types of publishers? Yes. And types of publishing. Yes. So, everyone knows the Simon and Schuster and the Harper Collins and Hay House. So, they're the big traditional publishers. They require you to have a literary agent. They rely on literary agents as a filter to find the best for them. And that's the way that the industry has grown up. Those publishers, they buy your book not your intellectual property. But they give you an advance,

Victoria: 21:28

right. I hear about these. Yeah. Yeah.

Allison: 21:30

And that advance is paid out to you in three or four increments. over the course of two years. Your book once it's out, you will then get residuals once they've made back their advance. You need to think of that advance as essentially a loan. I always advise people take less because we want you to out earn your advance.

Victoria: 21:55

Oh, interesting. I would not have thought that, but All right. Good to know.

Allison: 21:59

On the other end, there's self-publishing where you do everything. You learn how to put things up on KDP or on Amazon, and you find your cover person. And you might hire an editor to proofread. To help you restructure the book. But you do everything. So, there's big traditional, and there's self-publishing. And Everything in between a university press or a smaller boutique press that doesn't necessarily require an agent. They might pay in advance or they might not. Their business model might be a little different. If they don't pay in advance, chances are that you get more of the profit from the book sale. Then, there are hybrid publishers, which don't require an agent. They don't pay in advance. They might actually require you to put some skin in the game and there's a charge. Which essentially pays for the paper and the ink and their editorial team. And they do the operational side that I don't think anyone should do unless you're an expert.

Victoria: 23:15

Okay. That's how hard.

Allison: 23:17

Here's the key though. None of the publishers actually is your marketing director. They are not your publicist. They are not in charge of your website. They do not book you on podcasts. They are not marketing you.

Victoria: 23:30

Got it. I guess I always assumed that when Simon and Schuster pays me for my book and wants to publish my book that they're doing the work. And I just have to write it and show up and smile and talk about it. You're telling me that's not the case.

Allison: 23:45

No. When they call you for your marketing meeting, they say, what are your plans? We want to be able to support you.

Victoria: 23:56

Okay. So, I have to plan for this as well. I have to plan my marketing.

Allison: 24:00

Right. Because they're not in charge of your marketing. They're looking to you to say, where are the audiences the most eager? And they might say give us which podcast would you love to be on? If we have contacts, we'll make contact. But they might also say to you, we think you should hire a publicist'cause they are not your publicist. Got it. And I often say to my clients, do not hire a publicist until you have your marketing plan, until your website is up to date, until you understand where your audiences are. And then, I'll teach you how to pitch yourself to podcasts. That way you know how to do it'cause you are wasting your money in a publicist's time if you can't answer basic questions. Like which podcasts are a win for you? Where's your media kit?

Victoria: 24:55

Got it. And so, this is something that you also work with clients.

Allison: 24:58

Everything you possibly could need to launch your book, you will find in my Bestseller Launch School. Okay. And I work with multi international global bestsellers as well as debut authors who will probably only ever write this one book. They all start by saying, I don't know how big this is going to be. I do,'cause first of all, you're working with me. But your audience is eager and they're out there and they're looking for you. Yeah. And how dare you stay small?

Victoria: 25:34

I think it's that message of there's somebody that needs to hear you. Yeah. And why hold back. Awesome. Alright, Allison, for the people that are listening to our conversation here and that listen to your podcast. If somebody says, I want to write a book. I've got a book in me. I've been dying to write a book not sure what that book is, or maybe I know what the book is. What's the first thing they can and should be doing? What's one thing that they should be doing today?

Allison: 26:00

Before they start writing their book, they should learn the process of what the path is actually and find relief in that. This is not a difficult process, it's just difficult to learn about because there is no publishing university. But that's why I'm here. Before you put yourself through that. If you've ever thought, I think I might write a book someday. Today's the day. You can start today and you can have your complete concept fleshed out and really sharp and your pitch angles and your titles and your audiences all set up inside of a month. You really, really can. I walk people through that in my book Deal Blueprint because you have to know that it's not as hard as you think. And it can be faster than you can even dream.

Victoria: 27:00

I love that. So, where can people find out information? I'm sure you have some resources for them.

Allison: 27:07

I for sure do. On my website, you can go to lanelit.com. I have a book proposal blueprint, which you can download and you can learn about the sections of a book proposal.

Victoria: 27:20

Love it.

Allison: 27:21

So, everything else in the book proposal is not book. Which is great. You can download that.

Victoria: 27:29

Yes. So, this has been super awesome. Allison. Thank you for letting me take over the Author's Edge podcast. Again, I'm Victoria King Meyer for people that are trying to find me. You can find me on LinkedIn