Emily F Peters Of Uncommon Bold On How To Write A Book That Sparks A Movement

An Interview With Jake Frankel

Make the most of the process — From day one, call yourself an author and tell people you’re working on a book. You’ll be amazed at the conversations that emerge from being transparent about that. It’s fun to share the work of writing and publishing. Post the cover reveals, complain about the deadlines, throw the book parties — it’s all part of what makes a book project so fun.

As a part of my series about “How to write a book that sparks a movement” I had the pleasure of interviewing Emily F. Peters.

Emily is the founder and CEO of the healthcare brand strategy studio, Uncommon Bold, and creative director of Procedure Press. In 2016, she survived a near-fatal amniotic fluid embolism in childbirth and became an advocate for blood donation. Emily is the author of Women Remaking Medicine (2019) and her latest book Artists Remaking Medicine (2023). She lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter, and pink poodle, Benny.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you share the “backstory” of how you grew up?

There were so many ties to art and medicine in my family growing up. My father had always wanted to be a doctor and was able to go to medical school when he was 45 years old. His passion for his career as a psychiatrist and for the physiology and pharmacology in that field was contagious. Together with my mother, a psychologist, they ran an educational film company that made curriculum materials training generations of future teachers. My brother always encouraged my writing, as a journalist himself. Grandparents on both sides of my family were artists. I thought I was “breaking away” when I began my career in marketing. However, I was quickly drawn into the healthcare side and found my way back to art as well.

When you were younger, was there a book that you read that inspired you to take action or changed your life? Can you share a story?

I loved those Richard Scarry “Busy World” books when I was a kid. They pictured an adult life that was so vibrant and appealing — you could be a plumber! You could drive a car shaped like a pickle! You could take the bus full of all kinds of people to the hospital! I developed a strong sense of enthusiasm for being a grown-up at an early age and would dream up different businesses that I could start in the future. I was an entrepreneurial kid! I shouldn’t have been surprised when I went to work on founding teams with digital health startups for many years and then launched my own healthcare brand strategy business, Uncommon Bold, 10 years ago. We’ve now led design, branding, communications, and engagement work for dozens of top digital health companies, including Lyra Health, Blue Shield of California, Elation Health, and others.

What was the moment or series of events that made you decide to bring your message to the greater world? Can you share a story about that?

When I woke up in the ICU having received 32 blood transfusions after nearly dying in childbirth, that was a turning point for me. I had been doing good work in the healthcare technology field for many years before that, but it was that experience of being a patient — of almost being a statistic in America’s maternal health crisis — that showed me how important it was to do as much as I possibly could to change our broken medical system. American healthcare today is the most expensive in the world, and we have some of the worst health outcomes. The beautiful, miraculous side of medicine is equally matched by bias and inequities and harm. For me, the best way I could think to use my skills and my story was to write a book.

That first book, Women Remaking Medicine, published just three years after my time in the hospital, brought me to speak at medical schools, including NYU and Cornell, to policy leaders in DC, and to women’s healthcare leadership groups across the country.

I started working on my next book right before the pandemic. That terrible crisis, which pushed our healthcare system to the brink and harmed so many patients and so many clinicians, was a new wake-up call. Like so many people involved in healthcare, I felt powerless. Writing the book was a test of sorts to see if I could find hope for our healthcare future in a dark time. If I could convince myself and maybe others to be optimistic. Artists showed me the way, with their stories of imagining what was possible and of creatively designing lasting change into medical culture. That’s how my new book, Artists Remaking Medicine, came together and was published in 2023.

What impact did you hope to make when you wrote this book?

I want to change the culture of medicine. To show people that it is actually possible to improve our healthcare system. That it will be hard but also fun. So many of us — from prominent physicians, to nurses, to patients, to hospital leaders — feel demoralized today, unable to even imagine a better future. It’s a huge problem if everyone working in healthcare hates healthcare.

Did the actual results align with your expectations? Can you explain?

The book was originally intended to be tactical — ”this is how this artist made a difference, you can do it too” — but it turned into something much broader. I realized through the research and collaborations that art and medicine had a vast history together across humanity and had only fairly recently become “sterilized” in the modern system we have today. When we bring art and medicine back together again, everything changes. There are stories in the book of architects building for dignity, of musicians making the sounds of millions of hospital monitors less harsh, of photography restoring a patient’s power, of designing for improved physician-patient relationships through color, of indigenous futurists, historians, and astronauts. The book taught me how to practice imagination.

What moment let you know that your book had started a movement? Please share a story.

The way the book taps into the zeitgeist is kind of uncanny. I literally watch people’s faces light up as soon as I mention art and medicine. Healthcare is so full of creative people who have detached from their artistic side for one reason or another. When you invite someone to imagine and to bring their arts out into the open as something valuable, not a weakness, it’s transformative. Every time I’m talking about the book, I meet people who are poets, photographers, painters, writers, dancers, musicians. It’s a true groundswell. We all have our own moments of frustration and joy with the healthcare system, just in the same way that we all have our own creativity. When they come together, it’s a movement.

What kinds of things did you hear right away from readers? What are the most frequent things you hear from readers about your book now? Are they the same? Different?

The design of the book is so beautiful, created by Joanne Lam, and people always comment on that first. The balanced fonts of the cover, the white box on it that mirrors a prescription pad, the illustrations of medicinal plants on the end pages — the book is inspiring before you even get to the first paragraph, thanks to her work. After reading it, people frequently talk about the chapter that most resonates with them. For each person it’s very specific. It’s a fascinating clue into their personality to see which story they’ve identified as the “best one.” From almost every reader, I hear that this book is helping them feel inspired and hopeful at a tough moment in healthcare.

What is the most moving or fulfilling experience you’ve had as a result of writing this book? Can you share a story?

There’s been so many wonderful connections with people resulting from the book. Just recently, Dr. Mara Gordon wrote about Artists Remaking Medicine for NPR. It was moving to be interviewed by her because it was clear the book strongly resonated with her own experiences as a family practice physician who is also a writer. She took the time to not only tell my story, but to also share the stories of many of the artists and writers who were my collaborators. That’s what the book is all about for me. If I can make a difference with just one doctor, or one nurse, or one patient — to show her that we understand what she’s going through, and how much we care about her, to help her be more inspired and feel more powerful — that’s how healthcare is going to change.

Have you experienced anything negative? Do you feel there are drawbacks to writing a book that starts such colossal conversation and change?

Occasionally, people who haven’t yet read the book assume that it’s about glossing over the issues in healthcare — about adding artwork or paint to hospitals but not getting into the real issues, like lipstick on a pig. That’s a valid frustration! I was very intentional in writing Artists Remaking Medicine that the book focuses deeply on the most harmful and complex challenges in the field: financial toxicity of rising medical costs, physician burnout and suicide, inequity in patient care, climate change…it’s all in there. To me, that’s the crux of power with art and the way artists practice their work — it helps you build the ability to look at these issues honestly and still work to imagine and create something better.

Can you articulate why you think books in particular have the power to create movements, revolutions, and true change?

Before you write a book, even just saying you’re an author brings you more power. People listen to what you have to say, they perk up, they invite you to speak. It’s the same for calling yourself an artist. By virtue of being bold enough to put your identity as a creative person out into the world, you’ve already become more powerful. It’s one of the simplest, and hardest, things you can do to take on one of those titles. And then to actually be able to finish writing a book (or making the painting…or performing the music…) that is huge. That’s something a lot of people only dream of. I think people give power to artists in part because we recognize how hard it is to do that work and to put it out there for people to judge. Books especially hold power in the way that reading invites new ideas into our heads, our imaginations. I find that books are also particularly good at helping you find like-minded people out in the world — that’s one of the very best parts of being an author.

What is the one habit you believe contributed the most to you becoming a bestselling writer? (i.e. perseverance, discipline, play, craft study) Can you share a story or example?

The habit that contributed most to Artists Remaking Medicine, and one that I’m not naturally good at, was asking for help! This book was made possible entirely thanks to more than 25 artist collaborators and the Procedure Press production team who helped write, design, create, illustrate, and imagine well beyond what I could have possibly ever done on my own. That crew of people kept me going when I felt like quitting. When the book succeeds, I am really glad it brings attention to their work.

What challenge or failure did you learn the most from in your writing career? Can you share the lesson(s) that you learned?

Don’t wait for someone to ask you to write your book. It’s probably not going to happen. If you have an idea, something you want to see out there in the world, it’s up to you to make it.

Many aspiring authors would love to make an impact similar to what you have done. What are the 5 things writers need to know if they want to spark a movement with a book?

Here are five tips I can recommend to aspiring authors:

1. Know your audience, emotionally — It can be very intimidating to write about healthcare. I have spent many years working with physicians, nurses, patients, healthcare leaders, and I still worry about getting it wrong. Healthcare in many ways shields itself from criticism by being so complex that it’s easy to second-guess your own feelings and ideas. At the same time, I knew that I understood these readers emotionally very well. I knew their frustrations and hopes. Centering that emotional truth gave me the confidence to write for them and to know this book would resonate.
2. Collaborate — You don’t have to do it on your own! The greatest joy of this book was teaming up with artists, designers, and writers along the way. People love being invited to be a part of a book project, and it’s a joy to promote a book when it helps bring attention to people you like.
3. Make the most of the process — From day one, call yourself an author and tell people you’re working on a book. You’ll be amazed at the conversations that emerge from being transparent about that. It’s fun to share the work of writing and publishing. Post the cover reveals, complain about the deadlines, throw the book parties — it’s all part of what makes a book project so fun.
4. Take it seriously — Write an airtight book proposal, research the market, and outline a promotional plan before you even start the project. Make sure you have a beautiful cover that you love. That you have an editor who pushes back on you. That you’ve made tough choices along the way. Invest in your book because you’re going to be with it for years to come.
5. Keep telling your stories — Publishing your book is just the start of several years of publicity. Ideally, it’s a marathon of readings, submissions, interviews, campaigns, and events. I’ve learned from artists to think of this as another kind of “practice.” I push myself to find new stories, new collaborators, new people to meet to keep the story going.

The world, of course, needs progress in many areas. What movement do you hope someone (or you!) starts next? Can you explain why that is so important?

This has been a fantastic year for healthcare books — so many incredible new works by physicians, nurses, and advocates. I hope that the pace of that continues for a long time. We have so many complex issues to address in healthcare, it is the work of a lifetime. I hope that by the time I’m old and my daughter is grown up, our healthcare system will be safer, more affordable, more equitable, and kinder.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Yes! At either @procedurepress or @emilyfpeters everywhere. There’s also more about the book at www.artistsremakingmedicine.com.

Thank you so much for these insights. It was a true pleasure to do this with you.