Synopsis

"Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will" helps people identify which personal stories to share, and when to share them. It dives into the sociological and psychological aspects of how the stories we tell actually shape our perceptions of ourselves (our internal messages), and the perceptions others have of us (our personal brand.)

While offering some research to understand the stories we tell and why, the book comes around quickly to application and strategy – guiding readers to create a story portfolio, and reviewing it to better understand their patterns. When we understand our patterns, we see where we are contributing to our own successes and challenges.

The intention of this book is to improve self-reflection, and improve relationships as a result.

We share stories for many reasons, to persuade, to entertain, and to connect. What we sometimes forget is the impact of the stories we tell ourselves. Whether you’re sharing personal stories or business stories, how you share them makes a difference in how you remember them, and in how you’re perceived by the people you’re interacting with.

While reading this book, you’ll start to create your own story portfolio to help you improve relationships through the stories you share. You’ll read stories that will resonate with you, you’ll nod your head in understanding, remembering similar situations from your own life, and then we’ll dig into the lessons from each of those situations.

Sales arguments

• Foreword by Cheryl Snapp Connor, founder and CEO of SnappConnor PR, Forbes and Inc Contributor, Author and Speaker, 14,000 Twitt
• Sarah has an engaged and supportive LinkedIn network, as proven through the success of her conference, No Longer Virtual.
• Search #storytelling on Instagram, see 3.8M posts, but people don't know why their personal stories matter or how to tell them.
• Sarah Elkins has a successful weekly podcast that has reached over 1,000 listeners in a month.
• This book will appeal to those who want to improve their storytelling as a way to improve themselves and their careers.

Similar titles

• "Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling" by Matthew Dicks, New World Library, 2018. Matthew offers great tools for telling a story in any environment; while the book proposed helps guide a reader to creating their story portfolio. A reader will have a solid place to begin to craft those stories after reading the proposed book, and will have opportunities to self-reflect by reviewing the collected personal stories and identifying patterns in their lives.
• "Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence" by Lisa Cron, Ten Speed Press, 2012. This book is geared toward writers; it is a great tool to help writers identify the key points to grab an audience’s attention. It is different from the proposed book in that it doesn’t help a writer identify which stories to share, and isn’t geared toward helping the reader see stories as a relationship building communication tool.
• "Long Story Short, The Only Storytelling Guide You’ll Ever Need" by Margot Leitman, Sasquatch Books, 2015. Margot focuses on the reader’s identity, while the proposed book focuses on the reader’s pivot points in life - those moments that significantly changed the way they view themselves and their place in the world. Margot’s book doesn’t touch on aspects of self-reflection like the proposed book, which helps the reader see patterns in their stories in order to improve communication in all relationships.

Audience

People who want to improve their storytelling techniques, and identify the patterns in their lives that are limiting their success in relationships.

Advance praise

Whitney Johnson, Founder and CEO of WLJ Advisors, Author of Disrupt Yourself.
"Sarah Elkins’ podcast, Your Stories Don’t Define You, dives into the sociological and psychological impact our stories have on our internal messages and our personal brand. Being able to draw those stories out is a huge part of personal development. I can’t wait to get my hands on her book, and I know it will help readers discover their own stories and dive deeply into them to motivate personal growth, proactively disrupt themselves, and improve their relationships and careers."