From Medium Post to Bestselling Book | Interview with Debut Author Michael Thompson

Do you feel like you’re not living up to your full potential because you’re afraid of putting yourself “out there”?

Is being an introvert stopping you from taking action on your dreams?

Do you want to break out of your shell?

I feel you. I've been where you are too.

Although you may not believe me, I’m a massive introvert at heart. People often ask me where I get the energy to connect with others, network and talk to them all the time, both in my job and on the side.

In my time at the agency Edelman, I was even once a Relations Specialist.

But that wasn't something I was born with. I just learned a few secret tricks to navigate this noisy world.

Building relationships as an introvert is your “unfair advantage”

I know relationship building feels awkward at first, but it really is the "unfair advantage" when it comes to building a successful business, especially a writing business.

No one knows this better as

Michael Thompson

.

“In a world that lionizes loudness, it’s actually the quiet and shy among us who are best set up to thrive. Thompson provides an important new way of understanding what it really takes to stand out," says Cal Newport, NY-Times bestselling author of Deep Work and Slow Productivity…

about Michael Thompson’s debut book Shy by Design.

Introvert Michael learned how to quietly stand out in a noisy world

As a shy stuttering kid, Michael Thompson never would have guessed that some of the biggest moments of his life would come from gaining the confidence to talk to strangers, and feeling a little bit uncomfortable.

This helped him discover the love of writing and become a top writer on Medium, meet the love of his live and get two boys, become a career coach plus achieve the visibilty he was seeking for.

In late 2019, Michael Thompson had under 1000 followers on the publishing platform Medium but received a note from a literary agent after she read a few of his articles.

In particular, this one article was to change the course of Michael's life:

Photo credit: Medium article from Michael Thompson

She asked if he’d ever considered writing a book as she said he had “the seed.”

Fast forward to today, it turns out, Michael had “the seed”.

His debut book is called Shy by Design: 12 Timeless Ways to Quietly Stand Out and it shows introverts are pretty excellent just as they are!

Writing became Michael Tompson’s natural place

In our interview Michael shares how it felt growing up as a shy, stuttering kid, that hids kids are shy as well, how he lost $250,000, found his wife, quit Medium to learn how to become a professional writer and how messy and awesome his lifestyle as a writer living at the Spanish coast can be.

“Writing is my natural place. I communicate strongest writing," says Michael.

In our interview he shows that hyping yourself, being seen and showing off for yourself can actually feel fun and easy.

Shyness isn’t a weakness. It’s a superpower.

I bet Albert Einstein, as an introvert and shy genuis himself, would say:

“Amen to this!”

As Cal Newport states:

“In a world that lionizes loudness, it’s actually the quiet and shy among us who are best set up to thrive.

Let’s explore how to quietly stand out in our interview:

Table of Contents

00:00:00 Introduction

00:02:07 Who is Michael Thompson?

00:06:22 Why did Michael Write His Book?

00:10:40 Michael Turning from a Content Creator into an Author

00:12:21 The Importance of Authenticity in Writing

00:16:07 What Michael Did before Writing

00:21:31 How did Michael Approach his Wife with His Stutter?

00:26:18 Why You’ll Never be Ready for your Future

00:28:03 Where did Michael’s Stutter come from?

00:33:07 What it was Like Growing Up with a Stutter

00:39:15 Why Being an Introvert Helps You with Writing 0

0:45:50 Dealing with the Feeling that You’re Never Good Enough

00:52:07 What is Michael’s New Book About?

00:54:22 What Else are Words for Michael?

00:58:00 How is Michael Marketing his Book?

01:03:16 Does Michael have an Agent to Help with the Book?

01:07:45 How Many Subscribers Michael Currently Has

01:08:47 Michael’s Book Writing Process

01:10:10 Personal Questions for Michael

🎙️ Hot & New: My new native Substack Show 🎙️

Michael Thompson as well as my “Medium Kickstarter” bootcampers know, it took me hours to create this week's show.

Thanks for your love and encouragement! 😍

It’s not easy as a part-time creating mom. I’ve been sitting here for almost 5 hours today on a Sunday writing this newsletter and sharing this Substack podcast episode.

Although it took me hours to figure out how to hide my previous videos from my Substack podcast, add the right categories, sync with Spotify (and Apple) and then decided to wait a few weeks, and create the interview plus video, I'm proud to present to you my first Substack podcast episode that you can listen to on the go.

If you want to watch it, you can do so on YouTube.

I know the show isn't perfect yet. It’s a living breathing thing.

The recording was a bit messy, maybe you can hear birds chirping because it was super hot in Germany and I had to open the window. Michael was in Spain and had to switch the air conditioning on and off because it was producing hot air. 🥵

First my interviews were meant for YouTube.

Now they’re home on Substack, as suggested by

Linda @ Substack

in a conversation in Notes (that’s where it all happens😁) a few weeks back.

I'm super proud to share my first Substack show today!

Thanks to my husband for helping me set it up.

As always, I'll be helping YOU set up your Substack podcast for success with a guide when I’m a few weeks in and also am visible on Spotify and Apple.

🥳🎙️Join Kristina’s Exclusive Podcast Launch Club 🎙️🥳

As a marketer, I not only recommend book authors to start a Book Launch Club as

Matt Tomporowski

did, I also recommend future podcast hosts to start a Podcast Launch Club to get reviews and feedback.

Do you want to join my podcast launch club? You’ll get dicsounts on future bootcamps, challenges and exclusive webinars. We’ll meet and discuss the pod together to make it better. You can win prizes!

If you say:

“Kristina, I want to join your Podcast Launch Club!”

Let me know in the comments. I’ll then invite you to join my exclusive group.

I want to make my pod better.

Just let me know in the comments:

How do you like the show?

Any suggestions?

Do you like to listen or to watch it?

Do you plan to start your own pod?

❤️‍🔥Your feedback is just a spark but it’s enough to keep me going.❤️‍🔥

I hope this interview inspired you.

Yours truly,

P.S. Liked it? Please share, like, and let me know what you think about my new show 💗 Your feedback is important and can spark many ideas. Thanks sooooo much!

P.S.S. Make sure to subscribe to Michael’s publication and check out his debut book Shy by Design. Why? Because he’s cool, super dad, an awesome writer and stutterer. Here’s Michael with his two boys Luc and Liam who he never wants to stop using their “brains for thinking” and drawing “giraffes without a neck”.