Speaker Services E-Zine, February 2012

http://www.speakerservices.com

Serving the community since 1992

Full-Service Coaching, Marketing & Training for Speakers, Authors, Experts, Entrepreneurs & Business Professionals

Content:

- Note from Susan Levin

- Tips and Advice

- Tweets & Blog Posts of Interest

Greetings,

We have been enjoying beautiful warm weather in Los Angeles and I have been out walking in the hood. This photo was taken as I walked along the canals in Marina del Rey.  I love the reflection in the water.

I hear this comment often from potential clients,  I can’t do this or that until every thing in perfect.  I say start with one step at a time and just do it!  My colleague Mark Victor Hansen said,  Do not  wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions.  So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.  So what are you waiting for?

We have a busy weekend coming up. On Saturday I will be teaching Market Yourself as a Speaker Workshop at the Speaker Services studio in Marina del Rey.  This workshop is  rich source of practical hands-on information for speakers, authors, entrepreneurs and coaches. Here are some of the items I will be sharing with the group:  Position, Present and Package your Message, Prospect, Market and Land Speaking Gigs, Profit from your Expertise – Create Multiple Streams of income, Craft a Presentation Package that Attracts Meeting Planners and how to Gain New Clients with the Power of  Social Media.  I have three slots open for February 4  Check it out http://t.co/vG1xhVJk 

Not in Los Angeles?  I work one on one with folks to build a customized package based on their needs. See http://www.speakerservices.com/marketing.html or  another small step would be to  purchase the workbook Market Yourself as a Speaker at the following link http://www.speakerservices.com/products/detail/94

Here’s another suggestion for folks who are on a limited budget and are taking baby steps.  Join our membership club the Speakers Community. You get 6o days for free to check out the value and benefits.  We interview two experts each month and have archived over 100 mp3′s in the library.  After 60 days it is a mere $19.95 a month.  I always say where can you get training for $10 an hour? Below you can see who the experts are that I am interviewing in February  Join now

Sunday we will be offering Video Works workshop preparing folks to create their message and feel comfortable in front of the audience plus marketing ideas.  Jack Barnard is the facilitator and he tells me he can take one more person. Sign up now

Here’s some exciting news. We have collaborated with Cindy Greenway of Hot Skills Training to offer a teleclass training for Virtual Assistants and Speakers to  learn how to find and land speaking opportunities. There is a preview call on Monday, February 6 and to our delight over 200 people have register for this call.  We think we hit a nerve! Learn more and Register here

There is a five part hands on training following the preview call in mid February and you can check it out and sign up now if you choose too.  It is very reasonable and a worthwhile investment.

Ursula Mentjes Speaker and Author of Sales Coach Now shared the following with me, Wow, everyone is so nice at the Starbucks in Culver City this morning (someone held the door open, someone else told me my hair looked nice! LOL-WOW)! Grabbing a cup of coffee before I share Selling with Intention with a new sales team. Thank you, Susan Levin, for this connection.

This could happen for you too if you are listed in Speaker Services Directory.  Ask me how.

In this e-zine Vickie Sullivan shares  the buzzword you will  hear more of:  meeting architecture. Dan Poynter talks about Apple Unveils iBooks Author and Kindle Publisher Tools and  an interesting post from Forbes Magazine about Three trends that change business: Mobile, Social and Cloud by Maribel Lopez.

Let me know how I can help you Speak Your Way to More Business.

Susan Levin, Speaker Services, susan@speakerservices.com

310-822-4922 PT

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Introducing  Speaker & Author

Julie Orlov

Psychotherapist and author of The Pathway to Love shows how to navigate relationships to true intimacy and power, and how they can reveal the perfect conditions you need to heal, grow and transform your life.

Communication, Empowerment, Personal Development, Relationships, Womens Issues  See speaker listing 

See all of our Speakers and Authors

________

In the Speakers Community for February

Join us for 60 days for free.  We interview two experts each month in a teleclass format and have archived over 100 mp3′s in the library.  After 60 days it is $19.95 a month.  I always say where can you get training for $10 an hour?  Join now

February 15, Get Paid for Every Speaking Event You Do, Shannon Cherry

Whether you get paid to speak or not, you could make more money for every presentation – and not with back of room sales but with sponsorships.


Corporate sponsors are looking for speakers to connect with audience and help promote their brands. As a matter of fact, sponsorship is a $17 Billion per year business, even though sponsorship marketing is in its infancy. Learn more/register

Feb 29, Making Mobile Marketing Work: Best Practices, Mary Barnett 

Are you ready for Mobile Marketing?


Mary Barnett will share key strategies and the information you need for get started with mobile marketing.

Designing a mobile marketing strategy is not simply a collection of isolated mobile campaigns. It involves the integration of mobile into all your digital and traditional marketing channels.  Learn more/register

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TIPS/ADVICE/RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATION:

Clifton Andersons book:  A Year Wiser: 365 days of inspiration to Create a Phenomenal Year 

Excerpt: Inspiration 91

Laughter is power.  When you laugh, you show that you are above your circumstances.  When you laugh, you disarm tension and sneer at stress.  When you laugh, you nourish your soul with natural medicine.  When you laugh, you are choosing to be happy.  When you laugh, you are saying that you know you will look back on this one day and laugh, so why wait?  The book can be purchased at http://clifton-anderson.com/products/

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Check out Mark Mikelats, Speakers’ Lounge, mark@buildingaspirations.com 

Get his free newsletter weekly with leads. Recent leads.

Canada. The Professional Development Summit needs speakers for their event in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on April 18, 2012.  For more information see: http://www.pdsummit.ca/

and

The Special Libraries Association needs expert speakers in the area of Mobile Apps for government.  This event is in Chicago, IL July 18, 2012.  Your proposal is due by February 20, 2012.  For more information see: http://tinyurl.com/7afqsbb

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Ideas for building a platform — Alyson Stanfield

Chris Brogans recent article, 97 Ideas for Building a Valuable Platform should be consumed and dissected by anyone trying to find an audience these days.

Among my favorites of the 97 ideas:

9. It is hard to create consistently without inspiration.

26. AUDIO is the secret to better video.

31. If you are the same as everyone else, how will we notice you?

56. The more you care about the success of others, the more you will be successful.

76. There are very few successes in the world that happened as solo acts.

These, and the other 92 ideas, are expanded upon in this post: chrisbrogan.com/97

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Three trends that change business: Mobile, Social and Cloud

Post in Forbes by Maribel Lopez

Businesses faces a dynamic landscape where both customer and employee demands are changing.  The world is changing, and there are three market shifts that are driving this change  mobile social and cloud. These trends change what we connect, how we connect and how we transact.

Obviously mobile is changing what is connected. We are moving beyond laptops and smartphones. It is moving to billions of connected devices as we connect tablets, cars, machinery and medical equipment. Ericcson and Cisco estimates there will be 50 billion connected devices by 2020 as we look to add sensors in just about everything. These devices can be as sophisticated as a tablet or as simple as a sensor that monitors humidity. Read on http://onforb.es/yfoxdn

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APPLE UNVEILS iBOOKS AUTHOR, Dan Poynter

TO RECEIVE THIS NEWSLETTER F-R-E-E, sign up at

http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/newsletter.cfm

iBooks Author is a tool for building interactive textbooks, although it can be used to create other ebooks as well. Download free at http://bit.ly/AcvI9G

iBooks Author includes templates for ebook layout, offers a WYSIWYG-style editor, supports adding multimedia content and interactive features, and Imports from Word and Pages.

Books can be previewed in iBooks on the iPad, exported directly to Apples iBookstore, saved in iBooks format for sharing, or exported to PDF. Apple is restricting sales of books created with its app to the iBookstore.

iBook Author is available as a free download at Apples Mac App Store.

http://bit.ly/xZiqco

http://bit.ly/wESv9M

http://bit.ly/wnIGm2

http://bit.ly/AjN0r3

One more tip from Dan Poynter

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KINDLE PUBLISHER TOOLS WITH KF8 AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD NOW

Kindle Publisher Tools – KindleGen and Kindle Previewer with Kindle Format 8 (KF8) support are now available for download. Kindle Format 8 is Amazons next generation file format offering a wide range of new features and enhancements  including HTML5 and CSS3 support that publishers can use to create all types of books. KF8 adds over 150 new formatting capabilities, including drop caps, numbered lists, fixed layouts, nested tables, call outs, sidebars and Scalable Vector Graphics – opening up more opportunities to create Kindle books that readers will love. Kindle Fire is the first Kindle device to support KF8 – in the coming months KF8 will be rolled out to the latest generation Kindle e-ink devices as well as the free Kindle reading apps. http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000729511

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MEETING OVERALLS ARE COMING,  Vickie Sullivan www.sullivanspeaker.com

Source: http://www.meetings-conventions.com/career-development/articles/reinventing-meetings/a44670.aspx

Like everything else, the structure of meetings and conferences are being overhauled.  And that is  a good thing.  In the good old days, structure stayed the same, then content was plugged in.  What is happening now and in the future: the structure will be designed around learning and experience.  The buzzword you will  hear more of:  meeting architecture.

Yes, the economy is driving these shifts.  But so is a belief we all need to be aware of:  buyers believe that everything they need to know is online.  Yep, our content is not ours anymore.  It is out there and anyone can take it.  So the emphasis now is on interaction and learning.  And we are not talking about using Twitter and text to ask questions.  Think: 30-minute presentations followed by 30-minute breaks.

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TWEETS OF INTEREST

- indle ebooks, copyrights, and your rights as an author when someone steals your work – http://t.co/PSphlHwn

- 2 Critical Elements Every Homepage Must Have [Infographic] http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31097/12-Critical-Elements-Every-Homepage-Must-Have-Infographic.aspx via @HubSpot

- Are you passionate about what you speak about? Short video http://bit.ly/zQG1Wf Customized marketing packets & 1 hour strategy sessions too.

- New Apps to Manage Your Social Networks | Social Media Examiner http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/3-new-apps-to-manage-your-social-networks/ via @smexaminer

- Are you a storyteller? Good stories allow audiences 2 add visual & emotional components 2 their assimilation http://bit.ly/wgJj9U #speaking

- The 50 Best Bookstores in the United Kingdom  really neat list http://askthebooksellers.com/united-kingdom-independent-booksellers Collaboration & will let our peeps know abt it soon.

- 3 Ways to Promote a Spiritual Book – good stuff here http://askthepublicist.com/3-ways-to-promote-a-spiritual-book

Do You Have Professional Marketing Materials?

Not getting the media attention you deserve?

Not attracting new clients?

Not getting speaking gigs?

Speaker Services Team Can help

Services Include:

√  Speaker Listing for the web, social media, calls for proposals and in Speaker Services Online Directory. http://www.speakerservices.com/adv_pkt.html

√  One-sheets Made Easy
A one-sheet combines text with colorful photos and graphics to spotlight who you are and what you do. It can be one- or two-sided. Many speakers use one side to promote their speaking and the other to feature a book or product. Great for event planners and talk-show producers because they can quickly “get” what you’ll offer their audiences.

√ Bios and profiles: short, medium, long
Bios in three formats: short, medium and long, so you’ll always have what the media outlet needs.  Also write-ups and listings for corporate publications and professional directories.

√ Interview questions
Talk show hosts and producers love guests who send questions in advance ─ it cuts down their prep time and results in a better interview. We know how to create interview questions that allow you to hit the high points and tell the story you want to tell.

√ Introductions
Show up at your next speaking engagement armed with an intro you actually like!  We can provide short intros for TV, radio, and teleclass appearances; medium-length for speaking engagements.

√  Testimonials
We  can edit testimonials for maximum impact.

√  Pitch letters to editors, reporters, producers
You don’t have to wait for your next event to attract media interest. A strong pitch letter sent to reporters, editors and talk show producers can suggest story angles that generate interest in you, your work, or your product.

√ Press releases
Professionally done to announce an event or the release of a book, film or product; can also be used to link what you do to a local or national news story so the media will call on you as an expert.

√ Videos and Media Coaching
We can provide short, affordable video clips of clients talking about what they do. Great for  websites, blogs and YouTube, and better quality than most Web cams.

√ Website review + write, edit, or rewrite
Make your website copy short, compelling and user-friendly.  We’ll review your site, suggest ways to make it better, and write, re-write or edit the copy.

√ Book Mentor coaching to complete and publish your book
Need help writing or publishing your book? Should you query a literary agent and go mainstream, or is self-publishing best for you? If you opt for mainstream, we can show you how to write a powerful query letter and book proposal and how to play the publishing game like a pro. If you decide to self-publish, we can guide you through the process so you’ll get a great-looking book for the best possible price per copy.

√ Copy for book cover, front and back
Book covers sell books. We can write or re-write your front and back cover copy to make it irresistible.

√  POSITION, PROSPECT AND LAND GIGS NOW taught by Susan Levin & Jean-Noel Bassior (one-on-one or group sessions)

Success strategies for you and your staff. Identify target markets and decision makers. Learn how to leave voice messages that get call-backs.

Session 1
We coach the VA so she/he can market your client as a speaker in a more effective way. We’ll do four sessions. In the first, we’ll show how to make cold calls and get to the right person. We’ll also show how to follow up the first call with a proposal for meeting planners that clearly shows why they should book your client. We’ll coach the VA on how to write the proposal in a way that tailors it to each group’s needs. The VA will send us a draft of the proposal so we can make sure she’s on the right track.

Session 2
We go over the draft of the follow-up proposal with the VA and offer editing suggestions to make it as strong as possible. We make sure she understands how to write a powerful proposal that shows why the group or organization should book your client as a speaker.

Session 3
We show the VA how to prospect for gigs and research target audiences for both speaking and PR. A special report with the information covered will be provided at the end of the call. We will give a homework assignment to choose two or three organizations or companies to call. The VA will make the calls and report back to us in the next session.

Session 4
In the fourth session, we listen to the VA’s experience in contacting meeting planners and sending out proposals. We answer her questions and offer feedback to make sure she understands everything we have covered as she moves forward.

Call for a complimentary session today!

Speaker Services, Susan Levin: 310-822-4922 PT

Post by Larry Brooks

First, let’s get one thing out of the way. A blog alone, no matter how popular, isn’t enough to score you a book contract. It’s not quite that simple.

In other words, it doesn’t quite work the way it does on television.

“Did you hear that Random House gave me a million dollars for a book based on my blog?” chirps the hipster starlet as she emerges from a crowded Starbucks, caramel macchiato in hand. “And we’re working on the movie rights. Hey, let’s go for a ride in my Jag.”

But you already knew that real life is more complicated than a sit-com. So let’s talk about the critical role a blog does play in securing a book deal.

Here’s how it went down for me.

A book deal is made up of several moving parts

First, any successful book proposal needs a credible, straight-line, value-promising connection to a hungry target audience.

In other words, exactly the same kind of well-defined niche expertise that makes most blogs work.

Remember our sit-com blogger with the book deal? She got there because she’s oh-so-witty and wise. Think Carrie Bradshaw.

That’s not the real world. Unless your book is about collecting Manolo Blahniks, real-life book deals are about having something valuable to offer a reader, not how fabulous you are.

And because of that, you don’t need huge numbers to make it happen. What you do need is cachet within the niche you’ve defined.

Before my own deal, I’d assumed I would need a subscriber base big enough to fill the Rose Bowl. Why else would a publisher be interested?

And sure, a massive Feedburner number helps.

But in my case, my subscriber base today would fill the conference room at your average Marriott. Not that I’m complaining — after only six months it’s growing just fine, thanks.

But it does illuminate the point: Raw numbers aren’t as important as making a solid connection with a well-defined audience around a valuable niche topic.

My own blog-to-book deal

Before my site launched I was just a crusty old copywriter and a mid-list novelist who had almost, but not quite, hit it big. Not John Grisham big, more like Kyle Mills or Lisa Jackson kind of big.

There are lots of us in that category. Fiction has more near-misses than an American Idol audition.

Lucky for me, though, hardly any of those writers are blogging about it.

While teaching writing on the workshop circuit, I developed a proprietary story development model called The Six Core Competencies of Successful Storytelling.

My blog is about that well-defined niche, within the larger topic of writing. And without that angle, no matter how popular a blog I might build, there would be no book deal.

One quickly notices that my book deal isn’t about my brand as a fiction writer, which frankly has seen better days. It’s not even about my journey as a writing instructor.

It’s about my story development model. My niche expertise.

Neither my blog nor my forthcoming book are about me. Never have been. They’re about you, the writer with a dream.

In other words, people don’t come to my site (and they won’t read my book) because of my novels. They come because of their novels.

A platform is essential

Today, you need an “author platform” to successfully pitch a book to a publisher.

What’s an author platform? It’s how you’ll be doing the promotion for your book. Nine times out of ten, it means your blog.

No blog, no deal, unless you’ve got another great way to get the word out about your book. (For example, you’re a celebrity or a popular speaker.)

That wasn’t the case as little as two or three years ago.

These days, you don’t just pitch a detailed idea for a book. You also pitch the audience that’s going to buy that book. Not only does your platform provide a built-in group of buyers, it also shows the publisher that your ideas resonate with the audience you’ve defined.

The formula for a successful blog-to-book deal

Solid author platform plus unique value proposition equals marketable book. The formula is really that simple.

If both are in place, you don’t need to be a famous blogger with big numbers to score a book contract.

You just need to write a killer proposal, with a well-defined niche topic focusing on your audience, fortified by a successful author platform in the form of a growing blog.

This formula might not get a book publisher to throw sit-com dollars at you. But it gives you a much better chance than even the most fabulous designer wardrobe.

About the Author: Larry Brooks is the creator of Storyfix.com, an instructional resource for novelists and screenwriters. His book, The Six Core Competencies of Successful Storytelling, will be published by Writers Digest Books in early 2011.

The Directory of Book Trade People on Twitter

Book Authors on Twitter: http://www.highspotinc.com/blog/2009/02/a-directory-of-authors-on-twitter — A list maintained by Jennifer Tribe

The following post is from Penny C. Sansevieri, Ceo of Author Marketing Experts, Inc, Training Authors into Success Stories http://www.amarketingexpert.com

As we roll into 2009, I thought it might be a good idea to take a look at some trends for the New Year and ways you can turn these trends into profits for you. Increasingly, we find that with attention spans shrinking, trends seem to come and go a lot quicker. That’s why it’s imperative to know your market and know what the trends are that will have a long-term affect on your sales as opposed to those that are fairly short-lived. Some will be expected trends but I think you’ll find a few surprises in here as well.

1) Green: anything and everything or related to conservation. The same is true for organics and organic products and books related to these topics. Also, keep in mind that it’s not cheap to be green so the more you can teach people how to be green and save money, the more popular your book or product will be.

2) Entrepreneurs: more and more people are leaving their corporate jobs (whether willingly or through a layoff) and finding a safe haven in the entrepreneurial market. Anything related to office, home office, start-ups, inspiration for business owners, whatever it is, it’ll be in high demand. We’re seeing a huge uptick of folks starting businesses and in fact, it’s predicted to be a very fast growing market in 2009.

3) Social networking and anything related to Web 2.0: whatever you’re doing, make sure you’re doing it online. There’s a huge surge in this market and we predict an even bigger one to come. If you’re not online in a way that supports your book and gets to your consumer then you should make that your #1 priority for the New Year.

4) Outsourcing: this is a big one. As more companies lay off, outsourcing options will expand. I’ve read reports saying that companies will start outsourcing everything from HR to accounting. This is great news if you offer a service, if you do and your book ties into this position use your book as your business card. Now is the time to expand on the benefits and cost savings of going the outsourcing route.

5) Business coaching: could it be that the explosion of entrepreneurs will require more business coaches? Possibly. But trends suggest that any business related coaches will be in high demand. Coaching, while having become a bit of a cliché term, is still a popular field, no matter how you define it.

6) DIY: the do it yourself culture will be out in full force in the New Year. If your book or product dials into that in any way, make sure to maximize this benefit in your marketing materials. (see #8 too)

7) Pets and anything related to pet ownership: it’s been a trend for years and it only keeps getting bigger. Anything pet-related and any other sort of tie in will be huge and only grow even more as the year wears on. Four out of ten US households have a pet (most of them a dog), so offering up products and services to that market is a sure win. Also, there are particular markets that tend to be recession proof. Pet services is one of them.

Home: consumers are staying home more than they ever were. If your book is on decorating, home-care, DIY renovation, real estate, and anything in between. Get out there and market it aggressively to decorating sites, home owner-related sites, the DIY market (you’ll find a lot of these folks on Facebook) and real estate sites that are directed at consumers.

9) As time wears on the idea of browsing online is going to shift and consumers will want to get to their data, product, or service fast. What does this mean for you? Well for one thing it will force those of us who are marketing online to be pinpoint accurate in our messaging. There’s little or no time for fluff and, as I mentioned earlier, surfing for the sake of surfing is no longer part of the consumer mind-set.

10) If ads are your thing, then consider this, Advertisements are going to become so desperate that you’ll start hearing a term called Shockvertising, this form of advertisement using shocking words or images to get the viewers attention. We saw this in the UK with the ad for Dexter. I’ll save you the description, it wasn’t pleasant but certainly shocking. You can only imagine I’m sure.

If all of this has left you wondering how you can be a trendspotter in your market here are a few ways you might be able to capture early trends within your marketspace:

1) Listen: listen to what your readers/consumers are asking for. If you start seeing the same request over and over again this might indicate an emerging trend.

2) Read: read publications in your market, go to conferences (these don’t always have to be in-person events, they can also be online) and get to know who your competition is in this space. Read publications, other books. The best sales person is one who is constantly learning.

3) Go online: find out what people are buzzing about on blogs, web sites, even Twitter. You’ll get a lot of real-time data to work with when you know where your audience resides and where they’re talking about what you’re selling!

As we all try to make our marketing dollars count for even more, trends and marketing to these groups is becoming even more important. Taking risks often means wasted marketing dollars. The more certain you can approach marketing, the better served your campaign will be and the quicker it will get off the ground.

Email: Penny@amarketingexpert.com

 Penny C. Sansevieri

We talk a lot about speaking and not to plan a book signing, but rather a book event. However, many of you have been emailing to say “Speaker tips, please!” Here they are, just a few tips to turn any presentation from so-so to sensational!

1. Don’t overwhelm your audience with too much stuff. When I first started speaking over five years ago, I would show up with sixty pages of notes. One of the people in the audience said to me “You’re not planning on covering all of that, are you?” Indeed. As time progressed I realized that my audience would get more with less. While I encourage you to fill your presentation with great information, save the over stuffing for your Thanksgiving turkey and keep your presentation flowing with enough information to sustain, but not so much as to overwhelm. How much is too much? Well, you might have to experiment with this a bit before you get it just right. Try practicing your presentation at home in front of some people who can give you objective feedback, this will really help you polish your program before you go out to the “real” audience. Keep in mind that when you rehearse, your presentation is bound to be shorter; things like questions and audience interaction will also lengthen your speaking time.

2. Look ‘em in the eye: you should always try to make eye contact with your audience; in fact, I recommend that you make and keep eye contact for at least five seconds with select individuals. This will help to engage the listener. Don’t look over their heads at the back wall or your product table, keep your eyes focused on the people who came to hear you speak.

3. Move around, don’t hide behind the podium: it’s easy to seek shelter behind a speaker podium, especially when you’re nervous, but the podium is a subconscious “block” between you and your audience. Try to move as far away from it as you can.

4. Gestures and facial expressions are good: vary your gestures and facial expressions. An animated speaker is far more engaging than one who has perfected the Poker-face look. This is especially true if you want to keep your presentation light or if you’re presenting humorous material. Also, *smile* – it’s amazing how a warm and welcoming smile can really engage your audience.

5. Attire: when in doubt, get dressed up. If you’re not sure of the attire I always recommend dressing up. If need be you can always remove your jacket and/or tie, but it’s hard to recover when you show up in your casual clothes and find everyone else is in a suit.

6. Leave the monotone voice at home: vary your voice, don’t keep to one speed. Vary the speed and rhythm, it’s almost like riding a roller coaster. One minute you’re fast, then slow, then climbing. Keep it varied and you’ll keep your audience’s attention. As for using “um” and “eh” well, you know that’s a no-no, no sense in taking up space here to remind you that you should avoid those place fillers at all costs. If you need some practice getting those out of your vernacular, try attending a Toastmasters group in your local area.

7. Using PowerPoint? Go easy on the text: if you use too much text on your PowerPoint you’ll find that people are reading the text on the slides instead of listening to you. A good balance is a few words to highlight your key points, just enough to get their attention – but not so much that they’re forced to read what’s on the screen. Figure about 10 slides for every 20 minutes of presentation time. Your font size should be 30 point or larger.

8. Handouts are a must: make sure you give them something to take home with them. What I also do is create a handout and then offer to send my audience the PowerPoint presentation they just viewed. I get them to sign up for it, which gives me their email addresses to not only send them the presentation, but a thank-you note along with an invitation to join our newsletter!

9. Record yourself: as scary as this sounds this is one of the best ways to better yourself as a speaker. Record your presentation and wait a day to listen to it, this will give you enough “space” from the program to clear your mind and listen to the audio objectively. Note what you liked and didn’t like and don’t worry if you feel like you flubbed the whole thing. Remember that your audience isn’t grading you, they are there for information, and as long as you lived up to your promise you can keep correcting and enhancing your speaking talent with each program.

10. Now let’s talk about BOR (back of the room product). Your BOR can make a huge difference in the money you make on your speaking. Most new speakers don’t make money on speaking, or very little, but the BOR is where you can strike gold. Here are some tips to maximize it. First off, your flexibility for BOR will depend on whether you’re presenting in a speaker-type setup or at a bookstore, but either way, have product to sell regardless of who supplies it. If you can be flexible with what you offer, try packaging several items together, offer a one-time discount for the packaged product and this is a little trick I borrowed from a friend of mine: put together several packages, high end, low end and something in the middle. Attendees of your event will generally pick the middle of the road pricing, which is probably more than you’d sell a single book for. Also, get folks to sign up for your mailing list. Regardless of what you can and can’t sell, make sure you can add people to your list so you can market to them again, and again, and again!

Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a book marketing and media relations expert whose company has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

post by Judy Cullins  www.bookcoaching.com

The myth continues-that a real book must be in print and it must be over 160 pages.  Speaker need to rethink the premier approach: Write a short book  and self-publish it, to get more bookings, get your word out to thousands, gain credibility, as well as vast virtual promotion and an ongoing increased stream of income.

1.  You can write your short (50 pages to 100 pages) print and eBook at the same time using  Microsoft Word..

Speakers need to know that business people’s reading hours are down from 123 hours per year in 1999, to 109 hours in 2001, and in 2005–the figure is even lower. They want short how-to books.

Speakers have the edge over other businesses because you already have past talks, cassettes, or articles you’ve already written. Just dust them off with a new angle for each audience. This approach creates even more information products that fill that wealth stream.

2. If you don’t get a book out, you don’t get the bookings, your word out, or ongoing lifelong income.

3. To get started:

-Write about what you know–you are the expert
-Solve your audience’s problem or challenge
-List 5-10 benefits and features of your book
-Know your thesis before you write a word
-List 3-5 major topics to later become your chapter titles
-List 3-5 sub points for one chapter title

Take just five – ten hours a week to get your book written in less than a month. Watch your speaking business thrive!

The following post is from Joan Stewart the Publicity Hound. Internet marketers are hawking thousands of products that promise to help you promote yourself and get rich quick—AFTER you pay, in some cases, several thousand dollars for the how-to information.

I just discovered one of those how-to products that’s perfect for Publicity Hounds, but at a paltry $10.  It just might be the best money you’ve ever spent.

It’s a 13-page report called “Easy 7-Step Fash Cash Strategy, written by Lynn Terry, who I met at a members-only convention hosted by Stompernet, the Internet marketing membership site, earlier this year. (Sorry, but membership in Stompernet is currently closed.)

Lynn’s report teaches you how to market a special report that you’ve written for a niche audience, even if you don’t have a website, shopping cart, or email addresses of people who have given you permission to market to them.  Most Publicity Hounds I know would love to create info-products for their niche, but they abhor the thought of creating a website, processing the payments or delivering the product.

Lynn suggests that you write a content-rich report that walks people through the steps of how to solve a problem, similar to the 52 special reports I sell on publicity-related topics.

You can give away the report as background information for journalists, or for your favorite clients and customers.  But Lynn suggests you sell it to the public like she’s doing so you have an additional revenue stream.

The only 2 things you need

You only need two things: a PayPal account and an email address. I recommend the report for:

—Anyone who has written a book and is looking for a fast, inexpensive product to create so they can upsell their readers to something else.

—Anyone who has written a book and wants a low-price product that catches the attention of people in a particular target audience who also might be interested in the book.

—Publicity Hounds who want to promote their expertise and demonstrate their ability to solve problems.  If people love the report, they might be inclined to hire you at your hourly consulting rate.

—Speakers who are trying to get paid gigs in a particular industry.  Rather than cold-calling meeting planners, you can market the report to a niche, and then include in the report information about topics on which you speak. I’d even go so far as to suggest that within the report, you mention that readers who would like to hear you speak at a live event should contact meeting planners at their trade associations and hire you for their next event, assuming you’re a good fit.

—Anyone in PR who wants more clients. That includes book publicists, PR agency people and sole-proprietor publicists. Write a report on how to a solve a particular publicity problem. Many people don’t want to do their own publicity. They’d rather hire someone like you.

—Small-business owners who can explain within the report a problem and solution that relates to a product or service they sell.  The report can generate leads that turn into paying customers.

In some cases, you can create the report and start selling it in well under a week.  And if you have questions, go over to Lynne’s discussion forum where she’ll be happy to help you.

From drug store manager to Internet marketer

Michael Brown of Howard, Ohio, one of Lynn’s customers, quit his day job managing drug stores earlier this year and started his own Internet marketing business selling information products after he read Lynn’s Fast Cash Strategy report.  He followed her step-by-step instructions, created a special report, and marketed it exactly as she explained.

Initially, he sold 300 copies of the $10 report. He then expanded the report into a $47 ebook and sold 1,200 copies. Total income from both products: $59,400. Since then, he has created dozens more reports and other information products and sells them from his website, TheProfitHQ.com.

While reading the report, my “ah-ha” moment came when Lynn explained how to quietly sell your report at a few specific websites, and then generate feedback and testimonials which you can then use during the product launch.

Michael says his “ah-ha” moment came when he read on Page 13 the exact wording you should use, including the subject line, when you’re emailing someone to introduce yourself and suggest they join you in a joint venture to market the report.

“That was a good starting point for me,” Michael said.  “It’s one thing to create a product but something altogether to try to round up people to help you promote it.”

Today, his business has grown to include managing two membership sites.

Get Lynn’s report.  Read it, choose a topic, write your own report, and then get started marketing it to people who are searching right now for helpful solutions to aggravating problems. Who knows? You just might be able to quit your day job.

Reprinted from “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week,” an ezine featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.publicityhound.com/ and receive by email the handy cheat sheet “89 Reasons to Send a News Release.”

Are you a conference professional speaker? Is your present marketing working? Working well enough you have enough profits to vacation each year, buy a nice car, or pay your child’s tuition?  Now you can replace low results marketing with these five solutions. It will change the way you do business if you are willing.

Perhaps you’ve tried high-cost, but low results marketing already. In person networking groups can steal your time and not yield big results. Free talks and book signings are fun for the extrovert, but don’t yield alot unless you give at least six talks a month.

Replace low results marketing with these five solutions. It will change the way you do business!

Top Five Questions Answered So you can Update Your Authentic Marketing Messages  

 1. How can I update my email signature file to attract more clients?

Remember, to engage your audience and get action you need to include a signature file at the bottom of every email. Without it, you miss possible sales and clients. Don’t just taut yourself or your book; show some benefits of your service with a written concept statement such as “I help business people manifest their book dream.”  Offer a free report or white paper through a link either to a squeeze page or to your free ezine. Your purpose is to capture your visitor’s email and add it to your growing data base. From the report they will see you as the trusted expert in your field.

2. Should I brand my speaking business with a short book?

Yes! Either an electronic book or print book, or both. Test your ideas with an eBook; then write your print book for in person programs. Many authors waste a lot of money printing too many copies and don’t realize even the printer makes mistakes. Know your book is your best business card and you can even write a short version to give away or sell for under $10.00. Many speakers I know  practice this. Your target audience is hungry for your information  and they will buy your books. Books are the  #1 product bought online. Your audience is out these awaiting your wisdom. And your book will bring you higher paid speaking jobs.

3. Why is knowing my preferred audience so important to know before I start a book or web marketing project?

The biggest mistake speaking professionals make is to not to be clear on who their audience is. This is the kiss of death. Aim each print marketing message to a particular audience. That includes short sales messages for each book, seminar, teleseminar, web site product sales and your soft sales letter on your website for your service.

Your headlines and titles matter. Make sure they include hot key word phrases that are low competition only and benefits to your audience. You’ll write much better copy when you slant your materials toward just one audience. If more, your copy withers away, and no one is satisfied.

4. Why should I write short articles to submit to the top high-traffic article directories or blogs?

Your targeted audience visits these websites and blogs because it wants free information in your field of expertise. When they like your article, and if you have a powerful original resource box, you will attract droves of unique visitors to your Web site.

The most popular length article is from 250 (blog entry) to 800 words.  Before you post these articles on your own site, make sure that Ezinearticles gets the first version. Google knows who the biggest sites are, and will get your article page up from this source.  Isn’t it better to do just a little work in the right place than to shotgun your marketing and spread yourself thin with far less customer following?

Know that the top sites offer multiple categories that are sure to fit your niche.  You give the article; the resource box brings your target audience to you.

Article marketing is faster and easier, because you already have content from your talks, books or programs to put into your articles. And, with the new rules today, you only have to submit to a few high-traffic sites–much less time with a lot more credibility and unique web visitors.

It’s great that article marketing is free except for your time. I recommend that you start key word research before you submit because the game has changed. You must only use 3 keyword phrases that are in the low competition scale. I recommend you delegate submissions to a VA or webmaster when you can. I credit my Google rating as still #1 with the keyword “bookcoaching” from the 290+ article submissions we sent out over the past eight years.

5.  Why should I write a benefit driven sales letter for each product and service?

You have the marketing down with articles. But, when your unique visitor comes to your site, do you get low sales conversions? Maybe it’s because you haven’t let your visitor know the benefits of your products or service.

A list of talks doesn’t motivate sales.  You won’t get many telecoaching attendees if you don’t share how you’ll solve your audience’s problems.  The same thing goes for your service. Although it’s a bit softer, you still need a unique marketing message for it. How will your customers choose you if you don’t show your values and solutions to their needs?

Book and Internet Marketing Coach Judy Cullins helps  businesses get all the clients and sell all the books they want.  Author of 11 business books including How to Write your  Book Fast and Advanced Article Marketing 3-Book Special. Judy offers free articles and eBook “Book Writing and Marketing Tips” with monthly ezine subscription at http://www.bookcoaching.com and http://www.advancedarticlemarketing.com

post from Denise Wakeman, The Blog Squad

Seth Godin does it again. Here’s a brilliant lesson from the master of permission marketing and author of Purple Cow.

A couple of months ago I received an email inviting me to apply to be a member of Seth Godin’s new social networking site, Triiibes – For people who want to lead a tribe and make something happen. 

Of course I responded, got accepted and set up my minimal profile (really need to get that done).

All this is in anticipation of Seth Godin’s new book, Tribes, being released later this month. I preordered the book too.

Here’s where Godin’s marketing lesson comes in, beyond what he’s doing with Triiibes. Yesterday, I received a copy of the new book in the mail. It’s not the copy I ordered. That’s hasn’t been shipped yet. It was an advance copy of Tribes with a letter from Seth Godin, thanking me for taking a chance on signing up for Triiibes.com and for preordering the book.

His request…to give the book I ordered away to someone else. He gave me (and probably thousands of others) a free copy so we will give away the copy we paid for, so his ideas spread to even more people.

Here is what’s going to happen…

All the early Triiibes adopters buy a book and get a free book.

We give a book away to a friend, colleague or client.

More people join Triiibes.

People begin talking about the book, Triiibes and Seth Godin.

Readers start writing reviews on Amazon.com, on blogs, in ezines.

Readers starting posting quotes on Twitter (already started).

More people buy the book.

More people join Triiibes.

More people talk about Triiibes.

How can you implement this strategy for your own products and services?

It’s not really that difficult. You don’t have to start your own social networking site, but you could. You can also have a Facebook group for your book or product or service.

You can do a buy one, get one free to spread the buzz. Why not?

The following post is by Judy Cullins

You already know article marketing brings you high visibility, optimizes your website in Google page ranking, and builds your data base and ezine subscriber numbers. When you post a well thought out article on http://www.ezinearticles.com your readers will visit your web site and first sign up for your free ezine.

That’s how I built my list from hundreds to over 10,000 in just a few years. And, that’s just for starters.

Your articles bring your target market to your web site to see what you have to offer. Don’t disappoint them. When you keep adding new content to your site and submit articles to blogs and article directories, new subscribers and visitors will keep showing up. These become loyal customers.Knowing these benefits, you want to create and submit as many excellent articles as you can. At times, you have the articles complete, but don’t have anyone handy to edit them. Edit them yourself–with a little help from your book coach.

Use this Checklist to Edit your Articles Before you Submit

1. Start your introduction with a hook: ask a question, show a benefit, or give a startling fact.You must hook your readers with something that reaches their emotions. Show them you care. Include questions about where they are now that your article will answer.

2. Make your hook only a few sentences.Make it rich with key words and phrases.Your readers want to get to the heart of your article fast. They want readable, quick tips. Long stories can bring a yawn to your reader. Save them for print publications.

3. Place the article thesis at the end of your introduction.Your whole article must link to the thesis to keep you on track and focus for a more clear and compelling article. For instance, “Use this checklist to edit your articles.”

4. Make all of your sentences short. Since standard sentence length is 15-17 words, make most of your sentences under that number. Complex sentences and multiple phrases make the reading slower and tougher. Make it easy for your readers to find the subject and verb of each sentence, so they get the point fast. Online article readers want easy to read and short articles.

5. Avoid dull, slow sentences.To avoid passive sentence construction, start them with a subject, and then follow with a action verb. For instance, “The coach marketed her business and books through submitting articles online” is an active sentence. “The coach’s books were marketed online through submitting articles.” is passive. Drop linking verbs such as “is,” “was,” “seemed,” or “had.” Keep the total number from 2-4% to create active sentences. Replace them with power, active verbs. Instead of “She is beautiful,” you could say, “Her beauty compels you to stare at her.”

6. Aim for compelling, clear copy.Write for the10th grade reader. Don’t try to impress with pompous words such as “utilize.” The shorter word is always better than the longer one. Always think “What’s in it for them?”

7. Use concrete, specific nouns and names.General references don’t engage your readers’ emotions. Let them see the size, color, and shape. Rather than say, “Write your book fast to make lifelong income,” say “Write and finish your book fast so you can take that well-deserved vacation to the Virgin Islands. Give your reader their ideal picture, let them feel their emotions. Money alone doesn’t motivate, but what we can do with it does.

8. Let go of certain adverbs.Words like very, suddenly, and sparingly, tell instead of show. Use adverbs as often as you celebrate your birthday. Did this past sentence show, rather than tell? Your readers are hungry to experience feelings as well as picture themselves in your examples. Adverbs tell, don’t show.

9. Let go of adjectives. Let the noun make the statement. Instead of saying, She is a super-intelligent person,” you could say, “She’s a genius.”

10. Use the present or past tense of the verb rather than the “-ing” form of the verb.Instead of “she is singing,” say, “she sings or she sang.” Instead of “She had known her article was weak.” Say, “She knew her article was weak.”Make your article noticed by thousands of readers. Remember, your word choice does make a difference–both in commercial acceptance as well as audience understanding. Self editing will help. Get professional feedback on the final version of your article.

www.bookcoaching.com

Why write an eBook?

By Judy Cullins

 You want ongoing, lifelong multiple streams of income. You want to raise your credibility and trust ratings with clients or customers. You want to get your message out so the world can be a better place and you are seen as the savvy expert through your book. You can repurpose your book’s content for big sales and profits through your other offerings.

Yet, You want to spend only a little time on it. (Would you be willing to spend 4 hours a week?) You want to get it out fast (Would 4-8 weeks be OK?) You want to market online at a low-cost investment. And, for some of you, you are ready to be innovative and even take a small risk to get your eBook read by millions, rather than hundreds!

Remember your book’s virtual benefits. No travel, no print book fufillment and distribution, no techie knowledge, no agent, no publisher to slow you down, no big staff and you do it in the comfort of your home office in your best time. And, you can delegate the administrative work to an assistant.

Where are you now?

You have the idea for your eBook; you have a lot of ideas! Take a moment and decide which one you are most passionate about now and will be for the next year. Focus on one great idea, then add others after you finish and market the first book you know will attract your target audience.

Maybe you have your eBook well on its way, but aren’t finished. You need advice on the next step–how to get it done, what’s needed to publish (not much!), and how to distribute it.

Every part of your book can be a sales tool. When you know and apply the essential “Hot-Selling Points” before you write chapter one, you’ll sell more books than you ever dreamed of! Because, when you know your preferred audience, your book’s benefits, its thesis and more, you write a focused, compelling, easy to read book that your readers will love.

Seven Ways to Write Your eBook that Sells Well

1. Write for your niche audience.

You may think everyone will want to read your book, but this assumption will lead you to the general content book graveyard. Specific topics sell better than general and general topic books have a lot more big name competition. When you know your specific audience and write for them you’ll be able to write fast and give your audience solutions they need. What problems does your book solve for them? Where can your find your book buying audience? Hint: your best audience is probably someone like you.

Create an audience buyer profile and keep your audience’s picture in front of you as you write. Ask yourself, is my topic narrow enough? Give your book an angle and include the audience and benefit in the title and sub title if possible

2. Write a book title derived from your target audience.

Survey your audience and ask them what’s the most important challenge they want answers to. You have eight seconds in your title to hook your potential buyer. Check out best sellers at http://www.amazon.com. Notice their subtitles that put forward the book’s promise. You spend less effort and improve on what’s already out there when you creatively imitate the top selling books.Your book title and cover should compel your audience to buy.

3. Write a thirty-second “tell and sell.”

When you answer the question “What’s your book about?” don’t go on and on; use sound bites to grab your reader’s attention such as, “This book’s skills will do more for you than instant cappuccino.” Or, “This book on passion is the senior’s Artist’s Way.

You only have a few seconds to impress your potential buyer. Include your title, a few benefits, and the audience. For example, “Write, Publish and Market your eBook Fast to Pull Online Sales- shows professionals how to shortcut each step of writing, publishing, and promoting a book your audience wants.

Compare your book to a successful one such as “How to Write an eBook Fast!” is the Chapter Blueprint companion to Dan Poynter’s “Self-Publishing Manual.”

4. Write your sales letter before you write your book.

Your book’s sales information can go on the back cover and also on your web site. This important sales tool gives the benefits your potential buyers want. Include compelling ad copy, benefits, testimonials, and a small blurb about you, the author. If your potential buyer likes it, they will buy on the spot.

5. Write your eBook’s introduction.

Hook your readers with a background story of where they are with their particular challenge, your books solutions an benefits why you wrote the book, and its purpose. In a few paragraphs include more specific benefits, and how you will present it (format). Keep it under a page. Your introduction will help you write your sales letter.

6. Create a table of contents for your book.

Each chapter should have a title, preferably a catchy one. If your reader can’t understand the chapter title, then annotate it. Add some benefits or a sub title (chapter’s promise).. Added to the first chapter called “Why Write an eBook! was this partial list of benefits: Create ongoing lifelong multiple streams of income, credibility as the expert, products that sell easily online.

More profits comes your way when you give your readers what they want emotionally and need.

7. Reach out to opinion molders.

After an initial contact of asking for feedback, resend them the same chapter and the table of contents of your book. Ask for a testimonial then. These influential contacts’ testimonials will help promote your eBook online and offline, and bring that audience back to where you offer your services, teleseminars and other repurposed content.

Design every part of your eBook to be a sales tool and a beacon that brings out your best: writing–compelling, understandable, organized, and enjoyable. Knowing the “Essential Hot Selling Points before you write your book will bring you thousands, even hundreds of thousands of customer contacts.

Book and Internet Marketing Coach Judy Cullins helps  businesses get all the clients and sell all the books they want.  Author of 11 business books including How to Write your  Book Fast and Advanced Article Marketing 3-Book Special. Judy offers free articles and eBook “Book Writing and Marketing Tips” with monthly ezine subscription at  http://www.bookcoaching.com

This is truly a wonderful publishing guide that explains and shows you the ins and outs of the publishing industry.  I found it at http://promoteyourproduct.wordpress.com

Most writers claim that ‘writing’ is the painless part of being a writer– the real challenge begins when you attempt to publish your masterpiece. The book industry can be a really hard one to crack, especially if you’re a newbie. No need to panic though – if you’re reading this, all your publishing problems are nearly over!

This article has been designed as a one-stop publishing guide for all types of writers. It is crammed full of useful and current information, which taps into the world of literature by exploring a variety of different channels of publication. This guide explores; Publishing thorough an Agency, Mainstream Publication, Self Publishing, Local Publishing Companies and eBook Publication. It furthers to explore life after your book has been published.

So whether your interests lie in large international exposure for you book, or self publishing, simply read on for a detailed tour of the publishing industry.

Option 1) Publishing through an Agency

The Process

The first step to saving time whilst publishing is making sure that you avoid writing something that will never be read! My advice to anyone who aspires to publish something is to find a literary agent . This is a great time saver as, when you have an agent, you will never again waste time writing something that may be defined as ‘unmarketable’. To further explain – the literary network is very closely knit i.e. in order to have your book published; you would need to go through specific channels. A strict system has been designed to maintain a sense of order in the realm of literature. Now, an agent can help you weave your way through the system – especially if you are a first timer.

An agent is an individual who is able to help you through much of the information filtering process. A recommendation from an agent almost guarantees that your manuscript will be read by a publishing house.

Essentially, the role of an agent is to read and approve your manuscript or any ideas that you may have i.e. queries and proposals. The agent will then decide whether your venture could be successful. If so, the agent will further to draw up a contract with you. Contracts of this nature usually express the agent’s promise to use his/her best efforts to get your manuscript into a publishing house – the exchange is usually about 15% of the entire deal. Your new agent will then work extremely hard to sell your idea.

Agent Hunting

There are usually 2 types of agents – those who work with fiction and those who work with non-fiction. The easiest way to find your match is by paging through a publishing guide/directory, which lists the functions of a variety of agents in great detail i.e. ‘Guide to Literary Agents’ or Agent Query. It is important to take note of any previous books that have been published by the agent/s that you are interested in – usually an agent will take interest in a particular theme, and stick to working with ideas along its lines.

Contacting an Agent

Once you have compiled a list of potential agents, feel free to start contacting them. The best way to do this is via a query letter. In essence, a query letter a short introduction of yourself and your idea – it should feed the agent enough information to arouse interest, but not too much to bore him/her. This is a suggested letter structure:

• The Teaser

Your introduction is usually the aspect of the letter sells you – so make it an attention grabber. Ideally, you would want to describe the compelling fit between the person that you are and your idea for a book.

• Develop Your Idea

Use your next few sentences to explore your idea, explaining what it is that you want to write about. Feel free to add in a snip-bit of your writing that best exemplifies your idea.

• Self Description

Your third paragraph should be based on you. Try to reiterate the connection between you as a person and your idea. You should also feel free to show-off your academic or intellectual achievements.

• Wrapping Up

Be sure to personalize your concluding sentence- making the agent feel unique and valuable to you in your selection process. Conclude by sharing your contact details and preferred method of communication.

Remember, this letter is merely an ‘appetizer’ so keep it short and simple.

Proposal Preparation

After sending your initial query letter to an agent, he/she would normally follow up by requesting a proposal. Essentially, your proposal is a document that accurately outlines an idea for a book. Here’s idea of what your proposal should contain:

• The Overview

The first 2 pages of your proposal should contain a broad summary of the book.
Non-fiction: Explain your intentions in terms of contents and topics. Fiction: Provide a general outline of your plot.

• Target Market

Your next 3 pages should contain a description of your prospective target market. You should define this in terms of; age, socio-economic, and educational characteristics of you potential audience.

• Market Threat and Competition

This section allows you to define what type of threats your book may face in terms of competitors and other books that cover a similar topic. Be careful to do all your homework here, because this section is really important to an agent as it dictates your books marketability.

• Authorship

Use this section to write up a brief description about yourself and your co-authors, if any. Take this opportunity to brag as much as possible, as this section will help your agent convince a publishing house to pay you for your idea.

• Summary of Chapters

This should be the largest part of your proposal – it contains an outline of what you intend to cover in each chapter of your book.
Non-fiction: Provide a minimum amount of information i.e. outlines. Fiction: Provide definite samples of your writing.

• Delivery

This section is relatively small – it simply contains the number of words you think your finished book will contain and the approximate time you will take to write it.

Contracts

Happy Day! So your proposal finally earns you a thumbs up…now what? It’s time to get into some paper work. The best part about this section is that you are not bearing the work load anymore. Your new agent will now send you a contract.

These contracts are usually short documents that you can probably work though on your own, so no need for an attorney. You just need be careful about two things – firstly, that your agent is not looking to exclusively represent you for over 12 months, and secondly that you are not going to billed for the cost of office overhead if your book does not do well on the market.

Click here to have a look at a sample contract.

Once the contract has been signed, your agent will send you a copy of your original proposal with a few editorial suggestions. As soon as you finalize your proposal’s contents, your agent will start pitching your idea to the ‘big boys’ i.e. publishing companies. Once you get the go-ahead as well as the funding, feel free to start writing…Microsoft Word will be your new home!

Option 2) Mainstream Publication

The Process

This option is slightly similar to the first; however the two do have a few minor differences. The primary difference is that the ‘middle man’ or agent is no longer involved i.e. the first step that you need to take in the field of mainstream publication, is directly locating a publisher. Once again, you can feel free to look through a publishing directory or make use of a search engine. This way, you can choose a publisher, that best suits you i.e try Mainstream Publishing if your interest lies in non-fiction.

As soon as you have made contact with a publishing house and managed to spark a bit of interest, you might be requested to ‘pitch’ your book to the company in person.

The Pitch & Self Marketing

Now if consider yourself to be a great public speaker, this could be your moment to shine – if not, just remember that you will only be speaking to a few suits!

The pitch is almost a verbal explanation of everything you would express in a proposal – if you happen to be unfamiliar with the guidelines for a proposal, simply follow the outline mentioned in option 1.

If you choose to publish via mainstream publication, it is important to note that you must be able to market yourself. Even if you do get lucky and a publishing house chooses to publish your book, you will still have to do a major part of the marketing – keep that in mind when it comes to your budget as it will help to have some additional money to use for publicity.

Risks/Benefits

The obvious benefit of publishing via a mainstream company is the possible exposure that you and your book could attain. On a large scale, the scope of various mainstream publication houses extends from local to international.

The greatest risk involved in using this method of publication, is the risk of rejection. You may even be rejected before publication as well as after. It is not often that a well-known publishing company would risk a dollar on an unknown author – so prepare yourself for possible rejection after your pitch. Even if your book does get accepted for publication, rejection is still a factor in terms of your book’s marketability and it is highly unlikely that your publisher will pick up the bill should your book not be successful.

Option 3) Self Publishing – (POD) Print/Publish on Demand

The Process

This option refers to printing a book at the time of purchase. It is an innovative method of publishing books that saves money, time and supplies. The printing industry is ecstatic about this method of publication as it means that books no longer need to be warehoused until purchased.

This method of publication allows you to handle the design work of your book or opt for a service/package that offers cover design, formatting and editing. Various companies offer these services, i.e. iuniverse, intoprint, booksurge and trafford. These companies will assist you in the areas that you may need help – from the time that your book has been ordered to the delivery. The POD will actually help you list your book on Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and other major bookstores by hooking you up with an ISBN.

Here’s how the process works:

• Submit the final draft of your book to a company that offers POD. Make sure your draft is formatted in the way that you want it to look in its final publication.
• You will be requested to wait until your file has been added to the data system of that company.
• The printing company receives an order for your book according to its ISBN.
• An operator at the printing company accesses your file in their system. Ensuring all editing and formatting is correct; the book is released to the printer and binder system. Your book is printed in less than 5 minutes.
• Your book is then packaged and addressed to the customer. It is then sent directly to the customer.
  This entire process takes approximately 10 working days – thus your book can hit the market as soon as possible.

Budget

While this type of publishing has become increasingly popular in the industry, it is important to note that it requires you fork out a bit of your own money – each book will cost you approximately $5.

Risks/Benefits

This option has various benefits. Firstly, most of the companies involved will accept any type of work, no matter who you are – so rejection is not something that you will have to worry about. Secondly, if you are involved with the design and formatting personally, your book automatically will gain a unique edge. Finally, the POD handles distribution and order fulfilment. This means that when you book has been ordered; the POD will print a copy of your book, ship it and pay you a royalty of approximately 30% of the purchase price – leaving you with less grey hair!

With regards to the risks involved, it is important to note that the owner of the ISBN also owns the book’s copyright, so be careful with that and make sure that you purchase your book’s ISBN under your name, not the vanity publisher. You can also click here for a few warnings about POD contracts.

Option 4) Local Publishing Companies

The Process

Local commercial printing companies use the same technology as PODs. Feel free to browse through a publishing directory or just your local directory for a list of companies that offer publishing services. Your next step is to contact the publishing house that you have chosen.

Budget

While prices may vary, expect to pay 3 cents per black and white page i.e. a 200-page book could cost you approximately $6.50.

Print Style Options

Your first choice in terms of printing style is between color printing and black & white printing. This will dictate the cost that you will need to budget for. Most companies offer digital printing, so you can choose the amount of copies that you want printed at the time of publication. In terms of cover design, you are only limited by your own creativity – once again you are free to take charge of your own design. Binding on the other hand, will be handled by the company and is included in the original price per page.

Risks/Benefits

When you publish through a local company, you must take note that the printer will print precisely what you send – this is without any revision or editing. It is crucial that your book is proofread before submission. Also with this option, you will still have to promote your book, fill and ship all orders.

Option 5) eBook Publication

What is an eBook?

An eBook is an electronic copy of your book that may be purchased, downloaded and read immediately online. It can serve a variety of purposes i.e. advertising, the gathering of potential customer’s information and the generation of interest. Not only does this option provide the media for a sample publication of you incomplete book, but it also allows for full publication of your book once it is complete – thus you can sell the electronic version of your book, as if it were a hard copy.

The Process

This option may be deemed the most convenient and economical way to publish a book. Here is a basic outline of the process:

• The Final Draft

To prepare you book for eBook publication, you have to format it exactly the way that you want your readers to see it. This will be easy if you are using a word processor such as Microsoft Word.

• The Format

Unless you know exactly what you want in terms of formatting, I suggest that you stick to a standardised type of book formatting – the outline of a manuscript format is included later on in this article.

• Proofreading

Sorry to say, editing will be your worst nightmare – just when you think that it’s over, go back and proofread again and again. Also try and get others to read your final draft too. Don’t skimp on the quality of your writing simply because you are publishing electronically.



• Copyrighting

Copyrighting your book is your next move. Don’t stress out too much about the ISBN, as you are actually the publisher now, so you will be in charge of the distribution and price setting.

• Designing the Cover

If you happen to have an arty side, this is your chance to bring it out! Feel free to extend your creativity but remember to keep your design, appropriate with regards to your book’s contents. You can also make use of external services should you need help i.e. graphic designers do freelance their services for this type of thing.

• Publication

Now it really gets interesting…There are various programs available that generate self-executable eBooks. It is however important to note that most people are cautious when it comes to downloading new programs. I therefore recommend that you publish your eBook in plain old .pdf format. Adobe Acrobat Reader is a well established brand which is both safe and also free for anyone to download. Visit Adobe Online and register for their online PDF Creator to publish an ebook or feel free to do a Google search for a few more eBook publishing programs.

• Your Account

Set up a business account with an ecommerce site like PayPal. You will then have to add your book’s ISBN to your ‘product list’. PayPal will then generate an html code that you can copy and paste where ever you would like to promote your eBook. You will in turn be notified via email, when someone purchases your book. Your last move is to reply to that email by attaching the .pdf of your book and sending the mail directly to your customer…and voila! Your first eBook is sold.

Risks/Benefits

There are various benefits related to this new wave of publication. Firstly, it requires you to spend little to no money out of your own pocket. Thus, there is very little financial risk involved. Secondly, your book can be published from the comfort of your own home…a few clicks here and there is all that it takes. Finally, from a marketing perspective, an eBook opens up various avenues for advertising – it allows you to add links within your book, directing the reader anywhere that you would like i.e. this gives you a chance to expand your business network. Once again, you must remember that you are in charge of your book’s marketing.

Irrespective of the method of publication that you choose, you will need to master manuscript writing…Here’s a handy guide on how to correctly format your manuscript.
Try to make use of this type of formatting prior to submitting it to an agent or publisher. At first glance you may think that these standards may not be aesthetically pleasing, but don’t stress, your publisher should send your original manuscript to a ‘formatter’ that standardizes the format during publication.
Basic Formatting Rules
•Use 1 inch margins around all your text – repeat this on each page.
•Double spacing should be used throughout your manuscript. This type of spacing enhances your manuscripts readability and makes it easier to edit.
•If you want to italicize something, don’t do it now. Only highlight this before the final version is published – anything that you want in italics should be underlined in your manuscript.
•All numbers should be spelt out i.e. type out four instead of 4.
•Most symbols should also be spelt out i.e. don’t use the ‘%’ sign, instead type out ‘percent’.

Life After Publication

So now you are well on your way to publishing success you may wonder what life is like after you publish a book?
Well whether you’ve completed your first or your twentieth title– the mental stamina required to squeeze out the finishing touches of your book as well as the proofreading and designing of your cover, should have earned you a well deserved break…I suggest that you now time to enjoy a little back patting and focus on YOU for a while – take a well deserved break and simply RELAX!

Most hard-workers actually find the state of relaxation rather difficult to achieve after writing a book. The buzz of the outside world is always a contributing factor to the build up of anxiety, even when one is not stressed out about anything at all. If you’re having trouble relaxing after your creative outpouring, here are a few quick tips that may help you out…

• BREATHING

This is a 2-Step method of breathing – Start by filling the bottom of your lungs first and then adding air to the top as you breathe only through your nose. Exhale gradually and feel the tension flowing out.

• TENSE-RELAX MUSCLES

Decide which muscle you want to relax and then tighten that muscle. Feel the tension on the tightened muscle. Now let the muscle become loose and limp. Feel the relaxation flow into the muscle. You can do a series of these, on different muscles.



• LIMP RAG DOLL

Do the 2-Step method of breathing two times. With your mind imagine that all the bones in your body have melted. Feel your mind and body become limp and relaxed.

• MIND QUIETING

To begin you need to focus on your breathing. When you inhale, slowly say ‘I am’ and when you exhale say, ‘calm’. When your mind feels calm you may focus only on your breathing, with no thoughts at all.

So now that you have learnt a few relaxation exercises you should be well on your way to a few days of mental and physical bliss…Even though your book is now on its way to mass production, you need not let your relaxation period be short lived – don’t become overridden with anxiety about publicity, marketing and even worse, sales!

For a stress free way to boost sales and keep abreast of your new book’s performance you should consider subscribing to a promotions and sales tracking company.
With modern publishing methods, like self-publishing and eBook publication in mind, it is easy to understand why sales tracking has become a common pastime for most writers. Because most publishing options force you to take charge of your book’s marketing, it may be a good idea for you to make use of an online service to help you track the sales of your book and handle do a bit of book promotion on your behalf.

Taking this into consideration, let’s take look at the sales ranking and promotions company, RankTracer. This company will do some online promotion and track your book at the same time – giving you on-the-hour sales rank information, graphs, reports and actual sales estimates.

If you are not quiet ’sold’ on the importance of tracking sales, let’s take a look at what its benefits are with regards to your books marketing. You may want to pay careful attention here…

If used correctly, the sales rank information received from RankTracer may benefit you book in many ways. The following information is specifically related to tracking the sales of books sold on Amazon:

• Competitive Analysis

The Sales Rank is released for every product on Amazon, which means you aren’t limited to tracking your own book. Track the sales of a variety of products within a niche to compare and contrast their performance.

• Review/Press Impact Indicator

The Amazon Sales Rank is updated hourly, so the effects of any new reviews or publicity can be tracked pretty much in real time. Consider the following quotes that were taken out of a review on Slashdot.org for a recently released computer title:

“It [the book] provides a generous amount of information about Drupal, and discusses the material at an even pace that should not overwhelm even the most inexperienced programmer.”

“The book does an excellent job of covering all the important topics that would be of interest to beginning and intermediate Drupal programmers.”

“The author clearly has a genuine passion for Drupal, and frequently encourages readers to contribute to the Drupal community and its growing body of knowledge. ‘Building Powerful and Robust Websites with Drupal 6′ is a comprehensive, approachable, and valuable guide to making the most of Drupal – easily recommendable.”

Now have a look at the following sales rank graph that depicts the titles’ sales for the period of the review’s release (can you spot exactly when the review was posted?):



In this case, the sales rank graph is a great indicator that something has happened and can alert you to good (or bad) press almost immediately. Having an email alert service for precisely this reason is also a good idea.

• Advertising feedback & research

What happens if you want to work out how best to spend your advertising dollars? Again, use the Amazon Sales Rank as an indicator. For example, if you take out a newspaper ad and your sales rank hasn’t changed, you know that particular channel is not effective. Alternatively, you might spend money on online advertising on one site with yet again no effect, but from another your sales go haywire. Within the hour you know which option is better and which you should use in future.

With an external company tracking your sales and offering you a bit of extra help with book promotion, you are left with more time on your hands to use as you please – feel free to explore book-signings, tours, public talks and even blog about your new book!

So now you know! I trust that you found my walk through the publishing industry informative. Hopefully it has answered a few of your publishing queries and has helped you find the perfect publishing fit for you. Good luck and happy publishing!

August 27, 2008
Categories: How-to & Education . Tags: writer, books, publishing, publish, how-to, eBook, self publishing, guide . Author: elodie7 . Comments: No Comments

Handy Relaxation Tips For Writers or Anyone who Needs to Relax

Whether you’ve completed your first or your twentieth title- the mental stamina required to squeeze out the finishing touches of your book, has earned you a well deserved break.

It’s now time to enjoy a little back patting and focus on YOU for a while – take a well deserved break and simply RELAX!

Most hard-workers actually find the state of relaxation rather difficult to achieve. The buzz of the outside world is always a contributing factor to the build up of anxiety, even when one is not stressed out about anything at all. If you’re having trouble relaxing after your creative outpouring, here are a few quick tips that may help you out…

• BREATHING

This is a 2-Step method of breathing – Start by filling the bottom of your lungs first and then adding air to the top as you breathe only through your nose. Exhale gradually and feel the tension flowing out.

• TENSE-RELAX MUSCLES

Decide which muscle you want to relax and then tighten that muscle. Feel the tension on the tightened muscle. Now let the muscle become loose and limp. Feel the relaxation flow into the muscle. You can do a series of these, on different muscles.



• LIMP RAG DOLL

Do the 2-Step method of breathing two times. With your mind imagine that all the bones in your body have melted. Feel your mind and body become limp and relaxed.

• MIND QUIETING

To begin you need to focus on your breathing. When you inhale, slowly say ‘I am’ and when you exhale say, ‘calm’. When your mind feels calm you may focus only on your breathing, with no thoughts at all.

So now that you have learnt a few relaxation exercises you should be well on your way to a few days of mental and physical bliss.

Even though your book is now on its way to mass production, you need not let your relaxation period be short lived – don’t become overridden with anxiety about publicity, social acceptance and even worse, sales!

Check out RankTracer, www.ranktracer.com, for a stress free way to keep abreast of your new book’s performance.

Four Tips on Tip Sheets
by Fern Reiss, CEO, PublishingGame.com

Getting newspaper and magazine coverage for your book can be challenging. The book review section has disappeared from many publications; the lifestyle section is very competitive. But a simple tip sheet from your book can get you into almost any publication in America. Here are four tips on writing tip sheets:

Find the most interesting tidbits from the book. For non-fiction books, a tip sheet is really a no-brainer. Just compile a list of the most interesting tidbits from your book. Add a catchy lead at the top and an ‘About the Book’ section at the bottom, and send it to the publications of your choice. Non-fiction books lend themselves to multiple tip sheets, and since tip sheets are the bread and butter of both newspapers and magazines, your tip sheet, if well-written and interesting, is guaranteed to be picked up by a variety of publications.

For my book, The Infertility Diet: Get Pregnant and Prevent Miscarriage, for example, my tip sheets include “Top Ten Tips to Fertility,” “Combating Male Infertility,” “Six Foods to Get You Pregnant,” and “Five Dietary Ways to Prevent Miscarriage.”

For my Publishing Game books, the tips sheets include “Eight Steps to a Bestseller,” “Five Ways to Catapult Your Book into Magazines,” and “Six Paths to a Literary Agent.” If your book is on buying a condo, try “Five Ways to Get That First Mortgage;” if it’s on getting into top college, go with “Six Routes to the Ivies.” With a non-fiction book, you should be able to craft at least a dozen tip sheets without thinking twice.

Craft the tip sheet around the niche items. Crafting tip sheets for a novel can be more challenging, but is still well worth doing. Just as with any marketing for a novel, look for the niche items. For example, if your novel prominently features a golden retriever, do your tip sheet on golden retrievers; if your novel is set in a coffeeshop, try a humorous tip sheet advising on different coffee for different situations. (Novelists might want to try this technique as a way of getting their novel discussed on radio and television shows, by the way; niche items can be a powerful propeller for novels.)

For poetry books, try a meta tip sheet. Poetry is the hardest sell, but even with poetry you can come up with a tip sheet if you’re creative. If you’ve written a poetry book for toddlers, why not do a tip sheet suggesting ways parents can introduce young children to poetry? Or why not do a tip sheet describing how people can use poetry in party games, or as an icebreaker at meetings? It can be difficult to envision a newspaper or magazine piece on the poetry itself, so think meta-poetry.

Keep your tone consistent. Remember to use the same tone in the tip sheet as the book itself. If your book is humorous, for example, be sure the tip sheets have a humorous cast; if your book is flowery, be sure the same is true of the tip sheet. In general, the more interesting and creative a tip sheet you do, the more publications you can count on picking up the tip sheet.

So get busy and start writing. And if you’re still not sure how a tip sheet should look, take another look at this article. It’s a classic tip sheet—and will soon be in publications across America.

Fern Reiss is the author of The Publishing Game: Bestseller in 30 Days (book marketing), The Publishing Game: Find an Agent in 30 Days (finding a literary agent), The Publishing Game: Publish a Book in 30 Days (self-publishing). For more information on Publishing Game books, workshops, and consulting, and on getting your book and business featured in the national media, sign up for the complimentary PublishingGame/Expertizing email newsletter at http://www.PublishingGame.com/signup.htm.

On September 25, I will be interviewing Fern on Expertizing: Get More Media Attention for your Business in a Teleclass. Check the teleclass page for more information and the mp3 will be available following the teleclass. Click here for products page.

Promoting Your Books:
The Top 10 Things You Can Do to Promote Your Books

post from John Kremer www.bookmarket.com

1. 90% of marketing efforts are wasted. This is not a bad thing. Learn how to use this insight to set better priorities.

2. Book marketing is all about creating relationships. The only reason to hire a publicist is to hire them for their relationships. Ask, “Who do you know?” It’s all about creating friends.

3. You can’t do everything. Prioritize what you do best.

4. Packaging is important. As an author, this offends me, but the reality is that if a book isn’t packaged well, it won’t sell. An instant judgment on your book is based on the packaging. Packaging not only includes the cover, but also the title, the contents, and the interior design.

5. Build a brand with your books. For example, consider the Dummies brand or Chicken Soup of the Soul.

6. We are in the business of creating and selling rights. Licensing rights can make the difference between a profitable publishing operation and a losing operation.

7. Remember that small presses can create bestsellers. In fact, they’ve created more than 400 bestsellers in the past 20 years.

8. New standards are coming for submitting info to booksellers. You need ONYX compliant data. Get familiar with it. This information allows retailers to pull up information immediately about your book.

9. What was your strength can become your weakness. For example, New York publishers depend on chains and have almost lost touch with the independents.

10. Make no little plans, because they have no power to move the hearts of men and women. So many books are published that don’t come to their potential because the publisher didn’t have the confidence. Let your vision shine through. Don’t let the media sell you short.

Here’s some more ways to use video clips for authors.

1) Have you been You Tube’d? If you haven’t this is the #1 place to load your book video.

2) Put your video on your own website, don’t let a single visitor land on your site without getting the touch and feel of your book.

3) Send a sample of your book video to every media contact you pitch. Never let a press kit leave your office without a disc.

4) Got a social networking page? If you do (and you should) add the clip or a link to it on the page.

5) When you pitch the media, don’t forget to insert a link to the trailer in your email. Don’t send it as an attachment; chances are an over aggressive spam filter will have it for lunch.

6) Blog about it every chance you get. No, I’m not talking about repeating a blog over and over but blog on what success you’ve had thanks to your video. And oh, yes, add a link to the book video too.

7) Trying to get a signing but have been unsuccessful? Let your book speak for itself, literally. Drop off a copy of your book trailer to an as-yet-unconvinced bookstore person and I can almost bet you’ll get asigning in the store.

Ready for your close-up? There’s no quicker way to a potential producer’s heart than through his eyes and ears. Seeing a book come to life can sometimes be a great way to sell someone on the conceptof turning your book into a movie.

9) If you’re doing a signing bring the book video to show while you’re signing books. I’ve known authors who’ve done this and they sold almost twice as many books. The video really pulls in readers!

10) Just like you can tell a book by its cover, you can often tell a bookvideo by its packaging. Get your CD cover professionally printed. Don’t skim on the first impression! In fact, why not have your video burned to a business card size CD that you can pop into the card slot of a presentation folder?

Reprinted from The Book Marketing Expert newsletter, a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. For more info see: http://www.amarketingexpert.com.

Linda Hollander was a speaker and author and this clip was of her speaking at the Speakers’ Summit08.

Here’s some more ways to use video clips for authors.

1) Have you been You Tube’d? If you haven’t this is the #1 place to load your book video.

2) Put your video on your own website, don’t let a single visitor land on your site without getting the touch and feel of your book.

3) Send a sample of your book video to every media contact you pitch. Never let a press kit leave your office without a disc.

4) Got a social networking page? If you do (and you should) add the clip or a link to it on the page.

5) When you pitch the media, don’t forget to insert a link to the trailer in your email. Don’t send it as an attachment; chances are an over aggressive spam filter will have it for lunch.

6) Blog about it every chance you get. No, I’m not talking about repeating a blog over and over but blog on what success you’ve had thanks to your video. And oh, yes, add a link to the book video too.

7) Trying to get a signing but have been unsuccessful? Let your book speak for itself, literally. Drop off a copy of your book trailer to an as-yet-unconvinced bookstore person and I can almost bet you’ll get asigning in the store.

Ready for your close-up? There’s no quicker way to a potential producer’s heart than through his eyes and ears. Seeing a book come to life can sometimes be a great way to sell someone on the conceptof turning your book into a movie.

9) If you’re doing a signing bring the book video to show while you’re signing books. I’ve known authors who’ve done this and they sold almost twice as many books. The video really pulls in readers!

10) Just like you can tell a book by its cover, you can often tell a bookvideo by its packaging. Get your CD cover professionally printed. Don’t skim on the first impression! In fact, why not have your video burned to a business card size CD that you can pop into the card slot of a presentation folder?

Reprinted from The Book Marketing Expert newsletter, a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. For more info see: http://www.amarketingexpert.com.

View a video clip of Linda Hollander speaker and author at the SpeakersSummit08. She was talking about Corporate Sponsorship.

This post about LinkedIn comes from Mahesh Grossman, President
The Authors Team, and Author of Write a Book Without Lifting a Finger.

He writes:

LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, just changed my life.

To be honest, until a few weeks ago, I never took it seriously. From time to time a friend or an acquaintance would ask me to “link” with them, and I would, but I didn’t understand what to do with my network. In fact, I’m not sure I ever invited anyone to link with me.

Now I understand some of the power of this tool–and it’s especially useful for authors.

So here are five ways you can use LinkedIn to help you write, publish, and promote your book:

1) Ask for help with your content, including Web sites and people to interview.

LinkedIn has a feature where you get to ask questions, either of your network or of people in a particular industry. I am working on an e-book that will be a list of a particular group of sites. I asked the network where to find more of these sites and I got an amazing response that made this e-book my top priority. But you could also ask a question like “Do you know how I could find people to interview for my book who have a successful arranged marriage?”. Not only would you get suggestions on where to find people to interview, anyone with a successful arranged marriage would be likely to offer to be interviewed.

It’s also possible that people have already asked questions on your topic, so if you search the Answers section using appropriate keywords, you are likely to find some usable information as well.

2) Get introduced to famous authors and ask for testimonials

I am shocked at how many famous authors are on LinkedIn. I have a few bestelling authors as direct links myself–and I am only one introduction away, meaning someone in my network can introduce me–from several authors who have sold more than ten million books–and there aren’t that many authors who have done that. So if you were to join LinkedIn and link to me, you would be one level away from the bestselling authors I know, and two people away from these authors who have sold massive quantities of books. That’s pretty amazing. So if you have high quality work that has been vetted by a professional coach (one that has been published by traditional publishers!), you could approach a very big name author through LinkedIn.

3) Have a particular agent you want to be introduced to? There are 326 agents on LinkedIn.

I did a search on the term “literary agent” and found 326. I wouldn’t try to get introduced to all of them, but you do your homework and find a particular agent that is the most likely to be interested in your work, it could be a good way to make a connection. Once again, you have to really have studied the publishing business and know what you are doing to make this work. But it is an interesting strategy. (And I know of a number of editors from major publishing houses who are also on LinkedIn.)

4) Want publicity? There are lots of periodical editors and TV producers you can network with.

I know several publicists on LinkedIn, and some are connected to top editors and producers. Want to get in Time magazine or Sports Illustrated? There are writers and editors from those publications. Want to get on national television? Once again, you can reach out and try to connect with these folks, who are also on LinkedIn.

5) Want to connect to people who might help market your book? Ask the right question.

Once again, LinkedIn Answers gives you the opportunity to ask how to do something, and let people volunteer to help you. Ask a question like “I’m the author of a book about living a balanced life. I would like to be interviewed on 50 teleseminars this year. How do I find people who might want to host me on a teleseminar?” Whatever your goal is, ask how you can do it, or find people to help you. Some good Samaritans will come forward and say, “I’d be happy to have you on a teleseminar.”

So those are five ways to work with LinkedIn.com. The bigger your network, easier it is to get help.

Mahesh Grossman is the author of Write a Book Without Lifting a Finger (www.writeabooktoday.com) and President of The Authors Team (www.AuthorsTeam.com), a company that helps credible business experts become Incredible Business Authors, through ghostwriting, editing, coaching, publishing, publicity and marketing. For a fr/ee list of more than 400 agents as well as a newsletter with tips on planning, writing, publishing and marketing your book, go to www.getanagentnow.com.

Here’s to your bestseller.

On October 7, ’07 I posted an article on how to plan a book blog tour and then again on February 2, ’08 I posted another one about virtual book tours. I have been fascinated with the concept and thought it was a brilliant way to take advantage of the technology that is out there.

Book signings are passe and authors need to look elsewhere to get the word out about their books. A virtual blog book tour costs very little and you don’t have to travel and you can reach thousands of people in a short time. You can organize it yourself or you can hire book blog specialist to do it for you.

I received an e mail request last week from Nikki Leigh with an invitation to participate in a 3 day book blog tour for Dr. Joe Capista. I agreed and was very impressed with the information that was provided for me to post the information.

Enjoy the interview with Dr Joe Capista. Take notice of his video book trailer, photo and book cover all necessary elements for a successul book blog tour.

If you are an author who would like to connect with Nikki Leigh to inquire about a blog book tour her e-address is nikki_leigh22939@yahoo.com and her website is www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm

Interview with speaker Dr. Joe Capista and Author of What Can a Dentist Teach you about Business, Life and Success?

Where you are from and where are you now?
I reside in Media, Pennsylvania with my wife of 34 years. I have a dental practice in Broomall. I have lived in this area all my life. My roots are here, my family is here, and my community is here. I’m a Pennsylvanian through and through.

How did you get started writing?
Not counting all the goals I have written over the years and the business plans, I officially began writing with my newly released book called What Can a Dentist Teach You about Business, Life and Success? Discover Secrets to Achieving Total Success!

I have owned and operated my dental practice for over 30 years. I grew my practice from a 1-chair struggling practice to a multi-million dollar business with nearly 50 team members.

For years I have mentored business professionals and done training courses on how to build a business. I found I had a knack and passion for sharing my information. Initially, my work was with other dentists, but it grew into working with a variety of business types.

Over the last few years I have also done presentations to business groups. My writing was a natural evolution from my business success and working with others. The more I worked with others and did presentations the question came up frequently as to when I was going to write a book.

I had entertained the thought for some time, but about a year ago I decided that I would write a book. The book is a culmination of my business philosophy as well as overall success in all areas of one’s life.

What people will read in the book is not your typical business book. I combine a very pragmatic and spiritual approach to what I call Total Success.

What do you do when you are not writing?
When not writing I can be found doing a number of different things. One being, I still practice dentistry. I love dentistry. Always have and probably always will. I can also be found giving speeches, running, spending time with my family, traveling and overall, enjoying life.

What would readers like to know about you?
I think readers would like to know that I am very passionate about what I do in all areas of my life. I believe we create our own happiness by our thoughts, beliefs and actions.

Although I am blessed with an extremely successful life, it wasn’t always like that. I grew up in an average blue-collar neighborhood and struggled in school as a kid. And yet, from as far back as I can remember I wanted to be a dentist. I can remember digging in the dirt and filling up the holes pretending I was filling a cavity. That was at the age of 10.

Early on I didn’t get a lot of support for my dream. My high school guidance counselor, Father Melton told me I should pick a different goal rather than trying to become a dentist.

It was at that point I formed the belief that we can either believe what another person thinks is best for our life or follow our own dream. I will forever be grateful I followed my dream. Because of it I have had an incredible life.

I think what your readers would also be interested in know is that along with my dream came a lot of hard work. It didn’t just happen. I had to work for what I wanted.

What inspired your first book?
The desire to document the very systems that have allowed me to create the life I have. These systems don’t just apply to building a successful dental practice. They can apply to virtually any type of business.

How do you manage to keep yourself focused and on track?
Actually, there is a whole chapter in my book about how to stay focused and on track. I am very clear on the fact that having a laser beam approach to what I want to accomplish makes all the difference as to whether I achieve something or not.

Do you write to make money or for the love of writing?
For the love of writing and yet, because I do know how to make money from various ventures I have been involved in, it is very likely I will make great money from my writing. I think an advantage I have in writing about business is the opportunities that have opened up with my speaking and mentoring. The book was released in late December and already I have had some incredible things happen as a result. One is, with one speaking engagement I did, a gentleman who heard me nominated me for the Small Business Owner of the Year Award for a very large Chamber of Commerce in my area.

The recognition this will give me, my book and my business may not be able to be measure in exact return and yet I do know it will open up other opportunities.

Something I believe in is that nothing is an end in and of itself. Everything we do either moves us closer to our goals or further away. When I wrote the book I didn’t write it to make money. And yet, because of the marketing we are doing with the book, money will be a natural outcome of my writing.

What are some traditional methods of marketing you have used?
I have a marketing firm on the West Coast who is handling a lot of my marketing. I know that we have had a lot of media releases sent to the press that have given the book visibility. I have done dozens of presentations to local associations that has also gained some nice visibility. I have a very nice media kit with a beautiful sell sheet. One thing we have made sure of is to create an identity for the book.

What are some unique methods of marketing you have used?
We have been using the Internet a great deal. Lots of blogging about the book as well as an Amazon.com campaign where dozens of Joint Venture Partners are helping to get the word out about my book. I have done lots of web radio interviews as well as article writing and distribution online. I am launching a series of teleseminars that will all be in some way connected to an aspect of the book.

Do you sell through a website? If so, what’s the address? If not, why not?
Most definitely. http://www.joecapista.com/amazon.htm

Where can people order your books?
They can order it directly from my site and they can order from http://www.joecapista.com/amazon.htm

What format are your books – e-book, print, audio etc?
At this point the book is only available as hardcopy. I do have an eBook available on my site on how to build a multi-million dollar business.

What do you have in the works now?
Right now I am continuing to build my speaking business. I am in conversations with some business associates about starting a full-fledged training company. That is another area I will be putting some time and energy into.
What does the future hold for you and your books?
Lots of fun. I just love what writing a book has done for me. It’s incredible. Although I would like to think I could have done this sooner, I think the timing in my life has been perfect.

What was the most successful thing you did to promote your books?
We are doing it right now. An Amazon.com campaign along with a blog tour. The visibility is incredible.

Have you done a book trailer?
Yes see YouTube Book Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvqiYWp4CFY

What do you speak about?

You, Your Business and Success
An inspirational keynote presentation that explores your thoughts, actions and outcomes in creating the life you want.

The Million Dollar Letter
In this incredibly moving keynote presentation, Joe shares his most popular signature story about how contribution to others is at the core of our joy, happiness and well-being. Join Dr. Capista as he shares the journey he and his team took with Jackie, his most memorable patient. Learn what happened that took Jackie from a place of being a timid, fearful and shy to a woman who now shares her courage and joy with others.

The Success Triangle
A highly requested presentation that helps participants explore aspects of success that often go unchecked. Understand the correlation between an excellent product, your marketing and how you sell. One missed element can determine the difference between a mediocre business or a wildly successful enterprise.

Success and Spirituality
What Spiritually is and is not, and how it fits into having a successful life.

This book is a great resource for anyone looking for both a pragmatic and spiritual approach to building a life of Total Success.To order: What Can a Dentist Teach You about Business, Life and Success? If you order in the next 24 hours you will receive over $2,551 in bonus gifts from experts around the globe. Go to http://www.joecapista.com/amazon.htm

If you are an author and want to know how to market your book I encourage you to subscribe to John Kremer’s Book Marketing Tip of the Week and visit his website it is a rich source of information.

John is offering a once a month complimentary Q & A Teleseminar.He wrote in his e-zine.. I am no longer answering individual book marketing questions via the phone or email, but I have committed to doing two free Q&A teleseminars every month for anyone who wants to ask me questions they need to have answers for (on book publishing, publicity, and marketing).

The first free John Kremer Q&A Teleseminars will be held twice on Tuesday, March 4th, once at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, Noon Pacific time, and a second call at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Pacific time. I will answer anyone’s questions during those two times (obviously different questions each call). You are welcome to attend both sessions or to listen to the calls later.

Phone-Number to Dial for both calls:

218-486-3696

Use Conference ID for both calls:

2092800#

New pages just added to the Book Market Website:

Selling Books in Bookstores and Working with Distributors: Q&A http://www.bookmarket.com/qbookstores.htm

Designing and Pricing Your Books: Q&A http://www.bookmarket.com/qdesigns.htm

Getting Publicity for Your Books: Q&A http://www.bookmarket.com/qpublicity.htm

Selling Your Books Outside of Bookstores: Q&A http://www.bookmarket.com/qspecialsales.htm

Selling Your Company and Other Rights: Q&A -http://www.bookmarket.com/qrights.htm

Success Stories: Novels
http://www.bookmarket.com/tipnovels.htm

Success Stories: Poetry
http://www.bookmarket.com/tippoetry.htm

Success Stories: Selling Direct to Consumers Face to Face http://www.bookmarket.com/tipdirect.htm

Success Stories: Selling Books Online
http://www.bookmarket.com/tiponline.htm

Success Stories: Promoting Books via Contests http://www.bookmarket.com/tipcontests.htm

Success Stories: Buying and Selling Rights http://www.bookmarket.com/tiprights.htm

Success Stories: Selling Books via Bookstores http://www.bookmarket.com/tipbookstores.htm

Success Stories: Promoting Books via Publicity http://www.bookmarket.com/tippublicity.htm

My next post on Monday 3/3 will be an interview with an author and speaker Dr. Joe Capista about his new book What Can a Dentist Teach You About Busines, Life and Success. I am participating in his book blog tour in conjunction with the release of his new book.

This is a question I get asked all the time. Let’s see what Scott Jeffrey, www.BestSellingAuthor.com has to say.

The decision to self-publish versus publishing with a major publisher is sometimes irrelevant. Can you get a publishing contract from a major publisher? Naturally, this isn’t such a straightforward question since you really don’t know until you try, but here are some questions to ponder:

Can you get a book proposal in the hands of someone who will read it without going straight to the slush pile? Do you have any contacts in the publishing field? (Contacts aren’t essential, but they certainly can help.)

Do you have an agent? Someone who will champion your work—someone who is passionate about your message? (If you’re approaching small to medium-sized publishers, you don’t need an agent.)

Do you have a platform for selling large numbers of books like a radio or television show, a weekly or monthly column in a highly circulated magazine/newspaper, or a huge customer/fan base that buys your existing products?

Do you have an enticing, fresh idea (or a new spin on an old idea) for a book that a publisher will want to publish? And do you have the “expert status” to back it up?

Other Factors for Making your Decision

Motive: Why are you writing this book? Are you looking for fame or fortune? Are you just trying to share your message? Your motive for writing this book is an important consideration: You may be happy just getting a hundred copies of your book from a print-on-demand service. Or you may want to walk into a bookstore and find your book on the shelf. Perhaps you just want an additional product to sell at your speaking engagements.
Time: You can self-publish your book in about a fifth of the time (if not less) than it will take a big publishing house. Do you need the book right away to begin building your career? The publishing process of a major publisher generally takes a little over a year. Add the time it takes to land a publishing contract and you’re dealing with a long timeline.
Money: There are two factors to consider about money.
Are you financially “able” to self-publish your book? Self-publishing a run of 5,000 hardcover books will cost you $20,000 to $50,000, depending on the quality of the final product. There’s a misconception that self-published work has to look self-published. This is only true if you cut corners: one can typically distinguish a $250 book cover from a $5,000 one.

Do you want to make money with the book? This goes back to your motive for writing the book: if you already have a platform from speaking, etc., your book can become an income-generating product in the back of the room. From an economic standpoint, you can make considerably more money if you self-publish instead of going with a publishing house. Conversely, if your book has bestseller potential, a major publisher will give you significantly greater distribution capabilities.

The Economics: An Illustration

Self-Publishing: Let’s say each book costs you $2 to print (all costs included) and the book sells for $15. For every book you sell, you earn $13.

Publishing House: Let’s say, as the author, you get 20 percent royalties (meaning you get 20 percent of what the publisher makes, which is around 55 percent of the retail price of the book). With the same $15 book, you’ll earn only $1.65. (From the discussion above in “The Advance,” 30,303 books at $1.65 equals your $50,000 advance.)

If you sell 10,000 books at your venues, you’ll bring in $130,000 versus $16,500 from a publisher—that’s a 780% difference! Of course, if you don’t have a built-in platform for selling those books, they can take up a lot of space in your garage.

Advantages of a Major Publisher

There are many advantages to going with a major publisher:
Self-publishing a book is like starting a company—there are innumerable hours of work and challenges involved in producing the final product.

Publishers generally offer strong distribution capabilities for getting your book on the store shelves. Although there are a select number of distributors that work with self-publishers, it’s difficult to match the distribution capabilities of a large house. Plus, there are loads of headaches in dealing with these distribution channels.

You’re enrolling an entire team of professionals to help. Publishing houses have graphic designers, editors, copy editors, proofreaders, etc. in-house. Finding all of these components on your own can be a daunting task.

Publishers have relationships. You never know what contacts your publisher might have that could catapult your book to stardom.

Publishers take on all the risk (and invest all the money). Instead of investing tens of thousands of dollars of your own money, publishers take on this responsibility and even give you an advance prior to any book sales.
There’s a certain level of additional legitimacy that you get from a large house. It’s as if they are validating your existence in the marketplace.

Scott Jeffrey is an author coach and the author the 10-CD audio program, Everything You Need to Know to Become a Best-Selling Author. For more information, please visit www.BestSellingAuthor.com

by Jean-Noel Bassior

1. Forget the horror stories you’ve heard about the publishing world
Your friend Jason told you that his cousin’s mother, Edith, sent her manuscript to a publishing house or literary agent two years ago – and she’s still waiting for a response. What Jason left out is that Edith wrapped her 400-page manuscript in brown paper and addressed it to “Editor,” Simon & Schuster. Are you getting the picture? You wouldn’t respond either if you got a thousand packages in the mail each week for “Occupant.” A lot of stories circulate about what happens when authors submit their material to agents and editors, but be slow to judge. The truth is, if you learn to play the publishing game like a pro, you won’t have Edith’s experience.

2. Be a letter, not a package when submitting to literary agents
Believe it or not, literary agents open their mail. Why? Because they’re looking for gold – a lively, focused query letter. What’s in it for them? Sheer joy. They know that if a writer can craft a dynamic query that actually tells them what the book is about, it’s worth their time to ask for more material – and they do. That’s when you send a package – and when you do, on the outside you write “Requested material.”

3. Know how agents and editors think
Ever been to Manhattan? It’s not just the center of the universe – it’s the hub of the book publishing world. And even though not every agent lives there, most of them are in a New York state of mind. If they seem brusque, don’t be fooled. That impatience is just a drive to get to the Next New Thing – which, hopefully, is your book project. They want you to hook them on your query in 10 seconds or less because they’re on your side. They’re looking for fresh, focused ideas, and they’re hoping your query letter, book proposal and sample chapters will be page-turners. In short, they want you to succeed.

4. Your query letter must do two things
Whether your book is fiction or non-fiction, your query has to (1) make agents and editors see the book in their mind, and (2) make them ask to see more material. There’s an art to writing the irresistible query. It may take some time to get the hang of it, but don’t give up. Learning how to write powerful queries and book proposals sharpens your writing skills.

5. To beat writer’s block, write it badly
Most writers never show you their first draft. Why? Because it ranges from fair to awful, with flashes of brilliance in between. Writing is about bringing visions and concepts from your mind into physical reality and you don’t always get it on take one. Fortunately, there’s an activity called “rewriting” that gets you from “Geez, will this ever come together?” to “Wow, I like that!” So relax and start anywhere – at the end, in the middle, even with just one word – and write it badly. Get something – anything – down, and trust the rewriting process to shape it. It’s like chipping away at a block of marble to get the sculpture inside to emerge. Or, as artist Paul Klee once remarked, “take a line on a walk” and see where it leads you.

6. Where there’s a will, there’s a way to organize
Ever feel overwhelmed by stacks of research? Are you staring at piles of notes, e-mails, interview transcripts, clippings and reference books, wondering how all this material will ever flow magically into chapters? Relax. You can find a way to organize your material. Here’s just one:

Print out a few pages of notes or an interview transcript, or photocopy some pages from that book with the info you need. Number the pages with a felt tip pen at the top right-hand corner of the page (1, 2, 3, etc.). What you’re going to learn is how to divide the info on each page into bite-size chunks that can be indexed with, well, index cards. Let’s begin.

Let’s work with that transcript of your interview with Dr. Snark, a famous scientist you’ll be writing about in your book. As the interview begins, he’s talking about the discovery that won him the Nobel Prize. As soon as he changes the topic (or you ask him about something else), take your felt tip pen and draw a horizontal line across the page. Mark a big “A” in the right-hand margin. That’s section A, where he talks about winning the Nobel Prize.

Read on. Now he’s talking about his childhood, still on page one. When he finishes, draw another line across the page and label that section “B” in the right-hand margin. As soon as he changes topics, draw another line and label that section “C.” Keep reading the transcript, drawing a line with your felt tip pen across the page whenever the topic changes and assigning that section a letter in the right-hand margin. Begin with “A” on each new page. On some pages, there will be three subjects, so you’ll have “A,” “B” and “C” in the right-hand margin. On other pages, Dr. Snark may talk about six different things, so you’ll go from “A” to “F.” Remember: Every time you begin a new page, start with “A.”

After you’ve done a few pages, reach for some 3 x 5 index cards and create a card for each section. For example: Remember where Snark talked about winning the Nobel Prize? That’s 1A. Mark 1A in the top right-hand corner of an index card, and write a key word in the middle of the card that will bring back that part of the interview. “Nobel Prize” may be enough. Take another card, label it 1B, and write some key words that will remind you of what he said about his childhood. And so on. Are you getting the hang of this? Eventually, you’ll have a card for each section of the transcript, and you’ll know precisely where everything is. And guess what: You can plan your chapters by shuffling the cards into different orders, experimenting with the organization of a chapter – or the entire book. Then, when it’s time to write, lay the cards out in order on your desk and follow the plan – or change it. You’re in control.

Yes, it’s a challenge to do this grunt work, but it beats thumbing through hundreds or thousands of pages of research over and over, muttering, “I was sure I saw that quote in this pile.” You can index anything – e-mails, old newspaper clippings, even those opening lines for Chapter 8 that you scribbled on a cocktail napkin one night in a stupor. (Just tape the napkin to an 8½ x 11 page and number it, too.) And this is just one way to take control of your research. You can create a system that works for you. The important thing is to know that you can take control of your raw material instead of feeling it’s about to crush you. Even if you end up with hundreds of index cards, you’ll know where everything is – and that’s a great feeling. It’s the way out of overwhelm.

7. Do these 3 things in bookstores when nobody’s looking

• Read Acknowledgments. Look at books similar to the one you want to write. Does the author thank his or her agent or editor? Grab those names. You may want to send those folks your query letter.

• Go on a title search. Looking for a title for your book? Browse the titles of bestselling books on display. Notice the rhythm and play between title and subtitle. Make it a game – you may want to jot down titles you like, but the important thing is to let that rhythmic play seep into your subconscious mind. (Don’t be surprised if you wake up one morning soon with a great working title for your book.)

• Read at random. Open a book that looks interesting and read a page. Like it? Keep reading. Bored? Put it down. Why do you like some books and not others? The ones you like keep you glued to the page, right? How does the author do that? Study his/her style and figure out why it keeps you reading. Your own style will improve as you notice what skillful writers are doing.

8. Hey, kids! Start your collection of rejection slips now!
Every writer has them. They mean you’re serious, you’re in the game. See them as badges of honor.

9. If you crave love or a response to your query, include a SASE
Be sure to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope so the agent or editor can reply on your dime. Or, use a pre-paid postcard with a box for them to check if they’d like to see more, that is, your book proposal or sample chapters.

10. Believe that you can and will get published. In the end, that’s what counts.

Jean-Noel Bassior is a journalist who specializes in celebrity interviews. Her work has appeared in many publications, including Redbook, Parade, McCall’s, Woman’s World and AARP The Magazine, and she’s been syndicated worldwide by The New York Times and Knight Features (London). She is the author of, Space Patrol: Missions of Daring in the Name of Early Television, published by McFarland.

For more info about the Book Mentor Program, call 310.285.3009 for 24-hour taped message or e mail thebookmentor@gmail.com .