Monthly Archives: April 2016

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Publishing Your Book: Preparing Your Book For Createspace: Part Eleven

once uponAfter writing a book, many people want to know how one goes about publishing a book. A well-known author once said recently that “it’s no great feat to get one’s book published—it’s no great mountain to climb.” He is right, but his opinion is subjective. To you, reading this blog, it is a huge mountain to climb to get your book published. There are many paths you can take up that mountain, but it is still a huge feat.

This week we are going to look at using one of the most common paperback publishing platforms, CreateSpace. Let’s take a look at some of the basics of uploading your book to CreateSpace. You can hire a professional to do this, but more than likely you will want to do it yourself.

Planning

This might seem obvious, but a little planning can go a long way to getting best result for your book. I’m not talking about the actual writing of it – you’ve probably got that under control.

Things to think about when you’re planning your book:

Opening and setting up an account with CreateSpace
What size do you want your book to be?
Have you purchased your own ISBN? If you haven’t, don’t worry. CreateSpace will assign an ISBN to your book.
Has your book been formatted?
Now take a few minutes to think about what you’re going to need on hand to complete the publication of your book. You will more than likely want to work all of this out before you even start.
Title of the book
Author name
Series title, if applicable.
Publication date
Description: How are you going to describe your book to prospective readers?
Author biography: What are you going to tell readers about yourself?
Category: Which category are you going to assign your book? Is it inspirational? Is it a romance? What is it?
Keywords: 5 terms that you can input that will help people find your book—for example “western.”
Price: How much is your book going to be to purchase?

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Learn The True Power of #Hashtags This Warrior Wednesday!

once uponTo be a true entrepreneur, you have to keep yourself ahead of the trends, and that’s part of what our Warrior Wednesday is about. We want to inspire you to achieve the very best you can, and we want to give you many of the tools that you will need to get there. This week, I’d like for us to continue looking at #hashtags. In recent years, the #hashtag has become important to marketers at every stage. Some of the biggest companies in the world have used #hashtags to the greatest effect on #Twitter.

Let’s see how they did it…

#TweetFromTheSeat—Charmin

Just to prove that even a mundane company like Charmin can compete—we are going to start this list with one of their most successful campaigns. This is a prime example of a company really getting to grips with their product—and it was surprising to see such innovation from a toilet paper manufacturer like Charmin. The tissue company broke out of its ‘boring’ niche with the campaign #TweetFromTheSeat, which had people use that hashtag when they were, well… most likely to use it.

#PutACanOnIt—Red Bull

Recently popular drink company Red Bull came away with the prestigious “Best Use of a Hashtag” Shorty Award with its #PutACanOnIt campaign. Though the hashtag was created by Red Bull, it was inspired by a photo the company found on Twitter wherein the photographer is seen holding a Red Bull can above a Mini Cooper to make it look as though it was a trademarked Red Bull car.

#OreoHorrorStories—Oreo

Oreo, a company notorious for a fantastic social media presence, really outdid itself when it created one of the most fun Halloween hashtags of all time. The cookie company created quick, Oreo-themed parodies of popular horror films. This campaign helped the company maintain their position with today’s buyers.

#ShareaCoke—Coca Cola

Coca Cola has had some seriously amazing marketing initiatives over the years. From the classic “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke”—all the way through to the Twitter age. One of the best examples of their advertising genius in the modern world is the unique way they rigged their vending machines to interact with customers.

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Holding Back the Fears: Conquering Fears — Part 17

fear1The only thing normally holding many people back—and away from their dreams—is themselves. They suffer from terrible fears when they try to better their lives. Inner fears like frustration, failure and lack of confidence allow some to be talked out of success by their own demons. These fears control the lives of many people but can be conquered. This new series of blog articles is all about fears that will hold you back—and how to conquer them. This week we are going to take a look at the ways entrepreneurs overcome fear and succeed through sheer mindset.

Entrepreneurship Is a Lifestyle:

Entrepreneurs wake up as entrepreneurs, go to work as entrepreneurs, come home as entrepreneurs and go to bed as entrepreneurs. There is no nine to five. There is no “work life” and “home life.”
The advantage of this is that you have total control over your business and your professional choices. The disadvantage of this is that you carry your business with you everywhere you go. Entrepreneurship becomes your work and your life, and you need to be prepared for that if you’re going to survive the lifestyle.

Opportunity Comes from Challenge:

Setbacks, obstacles and challenges are painfully common elements of entrepreneurship. Most people react to these hurdles with stress and pessimism, with an attitude that obstacles are negative experiences that only hinder progress. As an entrepreneur, you encounter so many challenges, you simply can’t afford to react this way.
Instead, successful entrepreneurs view challenges as opportunities. Each challenge or setback reveals a key opportunity to grow — either to improve upon an existing weakness or take measures to avoid experiencing a similar setback in the future.

Competitors Are Your Research:

Rather than viewing competitors as a threat, like most people would, entrepreneurs see competitors as enriching opportunities to learn more about their industry and target market. By looking at your competitors’ business models, you can learn what makes yours unique and embellish that uniqueness in your branding and marketing efforts. Studying your competitors’ emphasis on customer experience can teach you how to make yours better.

Mistakes Are Success:

The popular vision of massively successful entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos illustrates them as infallible leaders. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Successful entrepreneurs, even the rock stars among them, often make mistakes. Furthermore, they aren’t afraid to make mistakes, and they know how to learn from them.
Making mistakes is healthy and normal, and the sooner entrepreneurs realize that, the better.

Perspective: 

Many business owners keep their business models and directives too rigid, ultimately restricting their ability to grow and leading to failure. Successful entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are constantly searching for individuals and experiences that will challenge their way of thinking and lead them to see things from a new perspective.

Discipline Is Everything:

For most people, it takes extra thought and effort to exercise, wake up on time or do anything other than spend leisure time. To successful entrepreneurs, discipline is normal. It’s a part of their inner training that carries into all aspects of their lives. You have to know what you want and be prepared to do whatever it takes to get it.

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Publishing Your Book: Websites That Help Promote Books: Part Ten

once uponAfter writing a book, many people want to know how one goes about publishing a book. A well-known author once said recently that “it’s no great feat to get one’s book published—it’s no great mountain to climb.” He is right, but his opinion is subjective. To you, reading this blog, it is a huge mountain to climb to get your book published. There are many paths you can take up that mountain, but it is still a huge feat.

This week, I would like to look at some of the places you can list your book for free to get noticed. These five sites have been proven to be some of the most effective free promotion in the book world. But even with these sites there are some ups and downs. The downside is that you will still be fighting for places on these sites with thousands of other authors. The upside is that once you get listed on these sites they may well help you create sales.

All of these sites give your book potential—the potential to get a huge dose of publicity and a run of strong paid sales. These paid sales will drive your rankings and will turn into more sales. People always say that the free stuff isn’t worth it—but sometimes it is.

Addicted to eBooks

This website is perfect for readers who love cheaper books. The website also allows authors to rate some of the content of their book. If you want to know the level of sexual, violent or rude content before you buy a book, this site will appeal to you. I’m excited that authors can now rate their books for the readers.

Author Marketing Club

One of the best resources for writers. You don’t have to chase around the internet trying to find sites to submit to. You can just go to the Author Marketing Club and see which sites are available to use.

Books on the Knob

Bargain reads, free ebooks and book reviews for the Amazon Kindle, nook, Kobo, Sony and other ereaders, Kindle Fire, nookColor, Kobo Vox, and other tablets, along with some games and other stuff. A useful site for authors to know about.

Digital Book Today

Includes both free and paid options for writers looking to promote. A great place to promote your book, and a place that you may have to work to get into—but once you are, you’ll reap the rewards.

eBooks Habit

Each day, this site brings you 20-30 great ebooks that are free at the time of posting, as well as some bargain ebooks with reduced prices. If you have a promotion going on—a free giveaway, etc.—then this may be the site for you.

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Learn How To Use #Hashtags This Warrior Wednesday!

fear11To be a true entrepreneur, you have to keep yourself ahead of the trends, and that’s part of what our Warrior Wednesday is about. We want to inspire you to achieve the very best you can, and we want to give you many of the tools that you will need to get there. This week, I’d like to look at one of the most puzzling aspects of modern business. Hashtags. If you are thinking about setting up your own business, building your own brand and succeeding where others have failed, you will need to master this very important cataloguing tool.

Let’s take a closer look at why hashtags are important and what they do…

Business and Marketing

Many major brands now have Twitter accounts, and some choose to create hashtags to promote specific events or campaigns. If you want to use Twitter as part of your business strategy, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Consolidate your tweets: Choose a specific account that will represent your brand or business. Set up a business account, or designate one employee to tweet on behalf of the company. That way, users can find all of your tweets in one place.

Use relevant hashtags: See which hashtags other businesses in your field are using. If you’re promoting cheap airfare, you will want to use hashtags like #CheapTravel and #FlightDeals so users will find you when they search for those keywords.

Follow trends: See what hashtags are trending and make use of them — if they are relevant to your business. Using a popular hashtag that has nothing to do with your brand (for example, including #MileyCyrus in a tweet about cheap airfare) makes you look like a spammer and will hurt your credibility.

Create your own hashtag: If you want to create a special hashtag for an event or campaign, select one that hasn’t been used before and remind everyone to use it in related tweets. Be sure to include the hashtag in any promotional materials. Make it informative but short — for example, Mashable uses #MashReads to talk about writers who visit their HQ.

Generate buzz: Creating a contest, raffle or promotion is a great way to get Twitter talking about your brand. Users will be more likely to retweet your hashtags if they know they might win a prize by doing so. For instance, if you’re promoting a new confectionery shop called Candy Land, get Twitter buzzing by offering free treats to users who tweet #CandyLandPromo.

Remember, your hashtag’s visibility will depend on your privacy settings. If your Twitter account is private, only those authorized to see your tweets will have access to your hashtags. If you are using hashtags to increase your brand’s exposure, make sure your tweets are set to Public.

Twitter has a helpful list of best practices for using hashtags, but here are three key tips for all users:
Be specific: If you’re using a hashtag to join a conversation, make sure the hashtag is specific and relevant to your topic. If you’re talking about Obama’s healthcare plan, use #Obamacare instead of simply #Obama. A vague or generic hashtag like #health or #opinion isn’t effective, either.

Keep it simple: Hashtags, like links, look like spam if they are used too often. Three hashtags should be the maximum on Twitter and Facebook, but you can get away with more hashtags on Instagram and Vine. And don’t hashtag the same word twice (“#Gravity is a great movie! Everybody go see #Gravity”). It’s #redundant.

Give context: A tweet that contains only hashtags is not only confusing — it’s boring. If your tweet simply reads “#happy,” your followers will have no idea what you’re talking about. Similarly, if you tweet “#BreakingBad is #awesome,” you’re not really adding much to the conversation.

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Holding Back the Fears: Conquering Fears — Part 16

fear1The only thing normally holding many people back—and away from their dreams—is themselves. They suffer from terrible fears when they try to better their lives. Inner fears like frustration, failure and lack of confidence allow some to be talked out of success by their own demons. These fears control the lives of many people but can be conquered. This new series of blog articles is all about fears that will hold you back—and how to conquer them. This week we are going to take a look at six fears that stop would-be entrepreneurs from succeeding.

Where Do You Begin

Most entrepreneurs don’t actually know where to start when first setting their ideas in motion. Start out by finding someone who achieved the goal you’ve set for yourself.

Read about the person, the structure of her business, and reach out to see if she can offer advice or information. Even if the businessperson doesn’t have the time or an interest in speaking with you, you’ll know that she has achieved success so it’s possible for you. Just take a first step forward, and do what makes sense. The path will unfold as you continue to walk.

Apparently, You’re An Expert…

You probably know enough about your product or service to answer the lion’s share of questions and solve most issues that may arise. So don’t worry if you don’t feel like a complete expert in the field yet.

For the things you don’t yet know, you can find answers. There is no shame in continuing to learn. In fact, this is a requirement for continued growth. You will never be finished learning: Wear the “expert” label anyway, and commit yourself to excellence.

Too Crazy

Some people will think that you’re crazy to start a new business, and they will be correct. The safe and rational thing to do would be to never take a risk and work for someone else for the rest of your life.

Believe you are a bit crazy to step out on a limb, believe in your talents and convince others to believe in them, too. Accept your craziness, and then appreciate that it’s the crazy ones who end up making a difference in the world.

Not Having Any Money

Being a business owner would be so easy if every person with an idea could wander into a bank and receive a loan straight away. Since this is not a dream world, entrepreneurs without investors must jump-start their businesses anyway. Even if you don’t have the necessary capital at first, you’ll soon learn that a slow and steady process of building the business may be the best thing, after all.

No Belief

Even if you have doubts that people won’t react well to your business because of your credentials (or lack of them), skin color or gender, show up anyway and deliver outstanding service. People might be influenced by a physical appearance, but no one can argue with a solid work ethic. Even if at first no one believes in you, people will believe in your results.

No Customers

It’s terrifying to take the risk of offering your skills to the world, wondering if they’ll be valued. Unless you start your business with an established audience of people ready to throw money at you, a bunch of would-be customers won’t immediately swarm to knock your door down.

If you approach your business with joy, you may very well experience a turn of the tide. In the meantime, work your marketing plan feverishly, study to increase your level of expertise and be kind to yourself because you’ve already made it further than most.

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Publishing Your Book: Covers: Part Nine

fear1After writing a book, many people want to know how one goes about publishing a book. A well-known author once said recently that “it’s no great feat to get one’s book published—it’s no great mountain to climb.” He is right, but his opinion is subjective. To you, reading this blog, it is a huge mountain to climb to get your book published. There are many paths you can take up that mountain, but it is still a huge feat.

This week we are going to look at getting your paperback onto the market. In the modern publishing world, it has become common for authors to forget all about paperbacks—but whatever form of publishing you take, the good, old-fashioned paperback will be available to you. Let’s take a look at two of the major platforms.

Createspace

Createspace is actually the easiest platform you can use to get paperbacks onto the market for free. All you need to do is carefully look at their formatting guidelines and follow their cover design rules. It is possible to upload your book to Createspace within a few hours and have it on the market 12 hours later. The book will be made available on Amazon worldwide, and the quality of Createspace books rates well. Createspace also take care of ISBNs and barcodes, so you won’t need to buy them separately. It is possible to print picture books using Createspace, and through creative formatting, you can find a template on Createspace to fit almost any style of book you can think of.

IngramSpark

A more difficult platform than Createspace, IngramSpark allows you to upload your book, and for a fee, you can make it available for purchase through a multitude of platforms. Ingram is one of the easiest of the professional book platforms—but people new to it may want to track down a formatting expert to help them upload their book. With IngramSpark, you will need to purchase your own ISBN and your own barcode. Books cannot be published without them. You can do a variety of books through Ingramspark including picture books, cook books, and their image print quality is extremely high. One of the major downsides to Ingram is that you will need to pay a fee each time you re-upload the book, so it is advisable for you to carefully check your book before you upload it so you don’t incur more fees than necessary.

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Let Your Worries Go with the Wind on Warrior Wednesday…

fear11“Let it all go and just look to achieve… look be at peace with yourself, make your warrior Wednesday the best day of your week!”

Living in the modern world isn’t easy. Your whole life may feel like it is exploding around you on a daily basis. The constant demands on your time, energy and finances can be more than you can bear. Obstacles, roadblocks, arguments, problems and people are all things that lead to stress. This week, I want to talk about ways to relieve yourself of these everyday stresses that will stop you from achieving your dreams.  Kick back, forget about the world and its problems, and indulge in the things you love.

Become Addicted to Reading

Picking up a book allows you to get away — without even leaving your room. Take this time to learn about any topic you wish, including whatever it is that’s causing your current stress. You can gain insight, advice and peace of mind by reading. If you need some good suggestions, check out this list.

Write Off Your Stress

Writing is something that many of us don’t do on a daily basis anymore. Yet many people believe that it’s one of the most powerful exercises to success.  Experts believe that writing can help you better understand any dilemma or situation. Why don’t you pick up a diary and start jotting down your problems? You may find that the answers come to you easier with the problem on paper.

Exercise Yourself to Health

You’ve probably been told this a thousand times. Exercise is a good way to relieve stress. You can literally lose yourself in something so consuming. Time can fly when you are at the gym. From working moms to billionaires, the gym has been a proven stress reliever for everyone.

Relaxation and Meditation

One of the most amazing ways to destress is to meditate. You can remove yourself from everything going on around you and truly relax. Meditation has been proven to help remove stress, focus your mind and to help you see clearly. Give it a try!

Dump Technology

Every single person on this planet seems to be obsessed with their email, Facebook, Twitter, and the internet. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to really relieve yourself from stress until you remove technology from the equation. Try to switch off all the devices and spend some time in the real world, away from problems, clients and all the other things that stress you out. You’ll find yourself unwinding soon after unplugging!

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Holding Back the Fears: Conquering Fears — Part 15

fear11The only thing normally holding many people back—and away from their dreams—is themselves. They suffer from terrible fears when they try to better their lives. Inner fears like frustration, failure and lack of confidence allow some to be talked out of success by their own demons. These fears control the lives of many people but can be conquered. This new series of blog articles is all about fears that will hold you back—and how to conquer them. This week we are going to take a look at Hypnophobia, a crippling fear that can stop you reaching your full potential, and can even stop you from living a normal, everyday life.

Hypnophobia, clinophobia or somniphobia, as the condition is often called, is the irrational and excessive fear of sleep. It may result from a feeling of loss of control, or from repeating nightmares or anxiety over the loss of time that could be spent accomplishing tasks or maximizing leisure time instead of sleeping.

Recognizing Your Phobia

Hypnophobia, known as fear of sleep and fear of being hypnotized, can significantly impact the quality of life. It can cause panic attacks and is often defined as an abnormal, persistent and unwarranted fear of sleep or being hypnotized. Rapid breathing, shortness of breath, sweating, feelings of dread and nausea are all symptoms of hypnophobia. Every year, hypnophobia causes distress to countless people. Most hypnophobia therapies take months or years, and sometimes require the patient to be exposed repeatedly to their fear. Therefore, it makes the condition even worse.

Focus

Focusing on your mind can tell you a lot about your fears. The way you describe things that happen to yourself inside your own head can be very telling. What really scares you about sleep? Try to focus and discover what the problem is. Are you afraid of nightmares? Do you think you won’t wake up? Do you feel it’s wasted time? Once you know the problem, you can start to fix it.

Relax and Breathe

Try heading to bed with a book. Lie on your bed until you begin to get drowsy and linger in a state of drowsiness. You are not asleep, yet not awake. But is there anything scaring you? Try to take notice of the world around you while you are in that state. If you start to feel uncomfortable—open your eyes. You can leave at any time.

The Positive

Singing your favorite song, watching your favorite movie, spending time with your friends, family and loved ones can all put you in a positive frame of mind. Perhaps organize a sleepover with friends who will be at your side throughout the process of sleep. If you can’t do it alone, do it with others—that is, after all, what friends are for.

A Positive Spin

Waking up all refreshed, relaxed and happy can be the end result of sleep—you know that. Why don’t you try giving sleep a positive spin? Tell yourself all the reasons why you should enjoy sleep, and try to keep them in mind—sleep is an enjoyable thing. Just try telling yourself that it is.

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Publishing Your Book: Covers: Part Eight

fear1After writing a book, many people want to know how one goes about publishing a book. A well-known author once said recently that “it’s no great feat to get one’s book published—it’s no great mountain to climb.” He is right, but his opinion is subjective. To you, reading this blog, it is a huge mountain to climb to get your book published. There are many paths you can take up that mountain, but it is still a huge feat.

This week we are going to look at some pointers about cover design. Covers are a selling tool like no other. They are usually the first thing people see, and they are usually the thing that makes someone buy or not buy. Covers capture interest—so it’s important for you to have the right one.

The wrong cover can be devastating to your sales. A poor cover can turn off readers and can even cause your book to be returned by customers. Bad covers can also lead to poor reviews. But what do I mean by a bad cover? Let’s look at the four biggest problems we see on covers. You can see covers that have these problems all over Amazon.

• Spelling errors on the cover
• Poor punctuation
• Pixelated images
• Poor name and title placement

But these are not the only things you have to think about when putting your cover together. You also have to become an ad-man and create a cover that looks good as a thumbnail. I bet you didn’t think about that! Yes, your cover has to stand out as a thumbnail on Amazon. So keep that in mind and test your covers. Shrink your cover in size and spend some time looking at it. Can you still make out the image on the front? Does it still look as attractive? Would you buy that book?

Give it a try—and see for yourself!

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