Dianna Booher's Page

Dianna Booher started writing as a way to survive. A school teacher whose then-husband was struggling with mental illness, Dianna feared for her two small children and needed a way to make ends meet.

She went to a friend for advice. He asked, “What do you like to do?”

“Well, I like to write English themes, but that doesn’t help—I need to figure out how to make money!”

He pressed, “I didn’t ask how you can make money; I asked what you like to do.”

“I like to write.”

“Then find out how to make money doing it!”

He had no idea she would take him so seriously—Dianna Booher just launched book 44! In the process of pursuing her passion for writing, Booher spun off a business that, during the past 28 years, has served almost half of the Fortune 500 companies.

Booher started small, writing a few articles. By total fluke, the first article she submitted was accepted. Being new to the business, she thought, “this is how it works—I send something, they publish it.” She soon received her share of rejections, too, but she was hooked.

When Booher got a contract to write curriculum, she quit her teaching position, mid-term, to pursue her new-found passion—she was going to be an author. Soon after, an editor saw an article of hers and asked her to turn it into a book, which Simon & Schuster/Messner later turned into a series of books for young adults.

Eager to learn more, Booher went to The University of Houston to get an M.A. in English Literature with a specialization in writing. She studied under award-winning novelist Beverly Lowry, often referred to as “the southern William Faulkner.” Booher’s thesis was an adult novel. While Ms. Lowry was busy critiquing it, certain it wasn’t yet worth an “A,” Booher received an enthusiastic acceptance letter from one of the first publishers who read it! Lowry’s high standards were hard to reach, but Booher pulled an “A” and sold the novel before graduation.

Eventually, she taught her own novel-writing course at a local community college. In each class, she surveyed students and asked them why they were taking the course. To her surprise many were from companies in the surrounding area and were actually hoping to improve their business writing skills—novel-writing was the closest thing they could find.

Booher jumped at the chance to fill this obvious need and began writing her first business book, Would You Put That in Writing. Meanwhile, Booher solicited additional input from others about how to appeal to business clients. One friend, a vice president at Shell Oil, mentioned that Shell was paying “big bucks” to have a vendor teach writing to their engineers and lawyers. Driven by the opportunity to meet a business need, Booher repackaged her ideas into a one-day course, set an appointment with Shell’s decision maker, and won the contract. This bold move helped launch Dianna Booher’s company, Booher Consultants, Inc (www.booher.com).

Not long after Shell hired her, Booher’s writing book hit the shelves, followed closely thereafter by a grammar book. (The newest version of her writing book is E-Writing: 21st Century Tools for Effective Communication, available at www.booherdirect.com). The Houston Chronicle ran a feature story about it, and on that day she called her answering service at noon to check for messages (yes, this was before voicemail and email). The operator said, “Ms. Booher, I don’t know what you did, but you’ve had 32 calls this morning.” The callers were all interested in her book and what she could teach their employees about business writing. She was soon leading courses and delivering keynotes to companies across the globe.

With the success of Booher’s writing workshops, it wasn’t long before a client, ConocoPhillips, asked her about teaching a presentation skills class. The new curriculum was a natural move for Booher, whose extensive teaching and speaking events offered the perfect means for fine-tuning her presentation techniques. And, not surprisingly, the request paved the way for another book, Speak with Confidence.

IBM needed to improve customer service communication across the organization. So, guess what? Booher’s eService workshop and corresponding book, Communicate with Confidence, were born. Technical writing? Ditto. Email communication? Ditto. Again and again, Booher listened to the needs of her customers and allowed demand to drive her response.

These days, in addition to running her company, Booher typically writes two books a year. Because other authors often ask how she gets it all done, once or twice a year she shares her secrets in a 3-day publishing workshop. No matter what motivates people to write—money, marketing a new service or product, promoting their professional expertise, passion for a topic—there are things they have to learn in order to get their books into print. In her Get Your Book Published Workshop (www.GetYourBookPublished2009.com), new authors learn everything from writing a proposal to marketing their book to creating spin-off products, to using their books to promote their businesses. Booher loves to share her passion with new and experienced authors. “We all start somewhere, and the best never stop learning and growing!”