Ronald J. Frederick, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and life coach, with over 15 years of experience helping people get the life they really want.

A long-time proponent of the transforming power of emotion, he co-founded the Center for Courageous Living, which offers innovative therapy, coaching and consulting. Noted for his warmth, humor, and engaging presentation style, he lectures and facilitates workshops nationally.

Frederick is a senior faculty member of the Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Institute, as well as the Clinical Supervisor of Park House, an outpatient program at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.

Welcome to Beyond the Books, Dr. Ron Frederick!  Can we start out by telling us whether you are published for the first time or are you multi-published?

I had written journal articles and book chapters before, but this is my first time being published in book form.

What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why?

Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want is the title of my first book.

For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it?

A lot!  Over the course of two years, I did about three rounds of submissions to literary agents.  After the first round of rejections, I went back to the drawing board and worked on my proposal (which included the first three chapters of the book) with a writing coach for about a year and then tried again.   After the second round of rejections, I decided to hire both an editorial consultant and a marketing consultant, both of whom were recommended to me by colleagues and turned out to be extremely helpful.  I then did my third round of submissions and, fortunately, two agents responded who wanted to work with me.  Interestingly, both of them remarked that my proposal was far better than most things that come across their desk.  I guess all the work paid off!  Shortly after that, the agent I decided to go with began pitching my book to the different publishing houses and within a few weeks we had offers from two.

How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows?

Oh brother, the rejections were tough to take!  Most of them came in the form of highly impersonal form letters.  I’d get a few in a row and that felt demoralizing.  But, one agent, Betsy Amster, who I am indebted to, was very kind and helpful.  She took the time to give me constructive feedback which helped me see what I needed to do to move forward.  While each round of rejections was a blow, they also motivated me to work harder, to reach out to others for help, and to find a way to crack the code!   I will say that thought that, by the time I got to my last round of submissions, I had doubts about continuing.  I figured that I had given about 2.5 years of my life to this project and, if it didn’t fly this time, maybe the universe was telling me it was time to put my focus somewhere else.  Fortunately, it finally took flight.

Funny story: one of the rejection letters came in the same day I got an offer from a publishing house.  I thought that was perfect timing!

When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them?

I chose to go with Jossey-Bass which is a division of Wiley.  It was an easy choice because they have a great reputation and had made a solid offer.  Also, I was very impressed with the acquisitions editor who ended up also working with me on my book.  She really “got” what I was writing about and approached the whole process, from my first interview with her to the offer letter to working with her, with such integrity.  It just felt right in my gut and it was.  I couldn’t have been more pleased.

How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate?

To tell you the truth, it’s been kind of surreal.  The whole process—from inception, to publication—has taken me about four years so it’s almost a little too big to take in all at once.  Celebrating it in bits and pieces seems more manageable to me.  These days, it’s a little bit of a celebration every time I get positive feedback from a reader and I try to savor it each time.

What was the first thing you did as far as promotion when you were published for the first time?

I started working with a marketing coach a few months before my book came out and organized an internet campaign to coincide with the release of my book.  It was a lot of work but worth it.  It really helped to get the ball rolling.  You can check it out at: http://www.livinglikeyoumeanit.com/interviewseries/index.html.

If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published?

No, as a psychologist, it was very important to me to be published by a respectable publisher.  It’s gone a long way in establishing my credibility as an expert in my field.

Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author?

This is my first book and I can’t even think about another at this point.  There’s just so much to do to promote this one!

Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up?  What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?

I didn’t start working with a writing coach until after my first round of rejections from literary agents.  If I had to do it all over again I would have sought her assistance from the get go.  I’m sure that would have speeded things up.

What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published?

I’d say becoming published is a pretty big accomplishment in and of itself, wouldn’t you?  We’ll see what comes next…

If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be?

I’m not a writer by trade.  I’m a psychologist who’s authored a book.  If I could choose another profession and be successful at it, I’d be a talk show host!

Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds?

I think I have the best of several worlds.  I’m a therapist, author, speaker, and trainer.  I really love getting to do a number of different things.  It helps to more fully satisfy different aspects of myself (my creativity, compassion, need to reach others, and a little bit of the performer, etc.).

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Hard to say.  Ten years ago I don’t think I imagined that I would have written a book.  So, I guess ten years from now I’ll probably be doing some variation on what I’m doing right now but I’m open to being suprirsed.  We’ll see…

Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?

Getting a book published has so much to do with being tenacious.  For me, it was four years from start to finish, with many roadblocks along the way.  I’m so glad that I persevered despite all the rejection, all the hurdles, all the down times, and that I reached out to others for help and that I stuck with it as long as I did.  I can hardly believe it sometimes when I’m holding the book in my hands that it’s actually come to fruition.  It’s been quite a ride.  So, my advice is: hang in there and keep at it!

And, to learn more about me and Living Like You Mean It, please visit:   http://www.livinglikeyoumeanit.com/index.html