GayLynn Grigas has four traditionally published nonfiction books. In a publishing landscape where that sentence alone would make most writers pause, she says it almost matter-of-factly, because for her, writing has always been part of the same work as counseling: a way of reaching people who need what she has learned.
Based in Ocala, Florida, GayLynn is a licensed mental health counselor and credentialed addiction professional with thirty years of practice. She is also an author with a publishing track record that most nonfiction writers study from a distance. Her five books span spiritual empowerment, emotional resilience, personal boundaries, and her most recent and most ambitious title, a practical clinical guidebook that landed a traditional publishing deal after she finished fourth in a national contest.
She joined Jolene MacFadden on Jolene’s Book and Writers Talk this season, and the conversation was refreshingly honest about what a nonfiction writing career actually looks like from the inside.
The Four Books: A Publishing Timeline
Her first book, Transformative Rituals: Celebrations for Personal Growth, came out through Health Communications, the same publisher that launched Chicken Soup for the Soul. That timing gave the book visibility it might not have found otherwise. But GayLynn was clear that timing is only one piece of the equation.
The books that followed built on that foundation:
- Transformative Rituals: Celebrations for Personal Growth (Health Communications)
- Twelve Powers in You (on spiritual empowerment and accessing your own potential)
- Trigger Proof: 12 Tools to Keep Your Cool and Confidence
- Psychedelics, Dreams and Rituals: A Guidebook for Explorers, Therapists, and Facilitators (Lisa Hagen Books)
Each book came from the same source: clinical experience, years of working with clients on the things that most people do not talk about openly, translated into language that readers could use on their own. That is the core skill of nonfiction writing, and GayLynn has refined it across five manuscripts.
“Most books, if they’re lucky, sell 5,000 copies. Don’t write it to be a bestseller. Write it because you feel called.”
How Psychedelics, Dreams and Rituals Got Published
The story of her latest book is worth telling in detail, because it is a practical lesson in how traditional publishing actually works for nonfiction authors who do not have an agent.
GayLynn joined the Hay House Writers Community, a membership program for nonfiction authors that teaches the craft of book proposals and offers direct access to publishing professionals. The community holds monthly online meetings, and members can ask questions directly of the Hay House leadership team, including CEO Reed Tracy. For nonfiction writers targeting the wellness, self-help, or personal development market, this kind of access is genuinely rare.
Hay House runs a periodic contest through the community. Writers submit polished book proposals. The winner receives a publishing contract and a $10,000 advance. GayLynn entered with her Psychedelics, Dreams and Rituals proposal and finished fourth. Not first, not second, not third.
But the quality of her proposal attracted attention outside the contest. Lisa Hagen Books reached out and offered to publish the book. The finished guidebook has since received endorsements from Rick Doblin, founder of MAPS (the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), and other leaders in clinical psychology and psychedelic medicine.
The lesson she drew from that experience was straightforward: the contest itself is worth entering even if you do not win, because the visibility it provides and the quality it forces you to reach can open other doors entirely.
On the Craft of Nonfiction Writing
GayLynn writes from clinical knowledge, but she writes for readers, not colleagues. That distinction shapes everything from her sentence-level choices to her chapter structure.
She described writing as fundamentally about editing. You write a first draft to find what you know. Then you edit until every sentence has what she called a spark or a sparkle. That is not a metaphor about decoration; it is a standard of clarity and earned relevance. If a sentence does not pull its weight, it goes.
She is also an avid journal keeper. She has maintained a daily dream journal for over thirty years, writing every morning before the day begins. For nonfiction writers, she sees journaling as both a craft practice and a pipeline: the ideas that surface in a journal often become the ideas that shape a book.
Marketing Nonfiction: What Authors Actually Have to Do
On the question of marketing, GayLynn was direct: it does not matter whether you are traditionally published or indie, the author carries most of the promotion weight. Traditional publishers provide editorial support, cover design, and distribution. Marketing is largely on you.
She has built her author platform across multiple channels. Her website at gaylynn.net serves as her professional home base. She is active on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and she maintains a Substack for readers who want to go deeper into the ideas behind her books. She also sees podcast appearances as one of the most effective tools available to nonfiction authors, because they allow a full conversation rather than a thirty-second pitch.
Her advice for authors who are resistant to the visibility part of the job: you have to show up. Even a modest online presence, including a free website, signals to readers and publishers alike that you are a working author, not a one-time project.
What Comes Next
GayLynn is working on a sixth book. She shared the title publicly for the first time during this episode: All the Daves of My Life. It is a teaching memoir about love, loss, divorce, and widowhood, told through the lens of three marriages, all to men named Dave.
The project is personal in a way her previous books have not been, and she acknowledged being a little shy about it. But the same instinct that has driven every other book in her backlist is driving this one: the feeling that the story needs to exist, and that she is the one who has to write it.
Connect with GayLynn Grigas
GayLynn Grigas is based in Ocala, Florida, and offers telehealth sessions throughout the state.
Website: https://gaylynn.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gaylynn.grigas/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gay-lynn-grigas-lmhc-cap-51476419/
Substack: https://gaylynngrigaslmhccap.substack.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gaylynngrigaslmhccap/
Books by the Author
Psychedelics Dreams & Rituals: https://amzn.to/4d356Yt
Trigger Proof Your Way To Success – On the Go – One Minute Mini-Tool Book: https://amzn.to/4t0Qc9Z
Listen to the full conversation on Jolene’s Book and Writers Talk, available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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