Posted on Friday, March 18, 2016

Publishing Your Book: Pre-Promotion: Part Five

once upon After 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’d like to talk to you about the different avenues you can take to promote your book before it’s even published. You can start to spread word of your books arrival weeks before the book hits the market. For those of you who have already published a book—you may find something here of use to you on your publishing journey—but for those of you who have a book in the pipeline, you may want to copy and paste this article into a Word document and follow up on some of the things we are going to talk about. Ready? Let’s go…

Blogging

The book industry is split about the actual real-time use of blogging. Does it sell books? I’d have to say that it can help sell books—but has to be done in connection with other forms of promotion. But blogging shouldn’t be seen as a tool to sell books. It should be seen as a way to grab your audience and keep their interest. Take, for example, this blog. I write about a lot of things, but you’ve found this article, and this article may have some information that may be relevant to you. Try writing about all manner of things—and see all manner of people visiting your blog.

Social Media

Some authors, and promotion experts, will say that social media is overcrowded, but so is the world. If you consider that every single advertising campaign on television is vying for the same attention, then you could see it negatively. However, if you consider that many campaigns are successful, you will see opportunity. When you join social media, don’t see it as an easy thing to break. See it as a challenge, a puzzle. Join groups and try to make friends with different administrators of those groups. Try to build friendly relationship with those who can help you. When you’ve built a marketing platform that you can post to—and people who will help you post—you may see results.

Mailing Lists

One of the most useful tools in the book business is mailing lists. Places like BookBub can help you gain important exposure, but beware! Mailing lists can cost money, so weigh up how successfully your book will entice their audience. A good mailing list can help you gain a lot of success, but a bad one will hit your confidence and make you less likely to want to use one again. That would be a shame, as the right one will really help you gain crucial exposure.

Dr. Princess Fumi Hancock, DNP, MA, BSN
Your Vision Midwife, Lifestyle Entrepreneur
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Posted on Wednesday, March 16, 2016

It’s Warrior Wednesday, and You Know That Today Is the Day

once upon “If you’re awake today, you can achieve today…”

What have you done today? That’s a question many of us are asked on a daily basis. What did you do today? How did your day go? I’m asking you that right now. What did you do today? The answer may be that you did absolutely nothing, or perhaps you helped the homeless. Perhaps you just went to work and caught some dinner with your workmates. My next question, however, is… How did your life change today?

Now that sounds like a major deal—and it is—but not as major as you may think. It’s actually a case of looking at your day and seeing where you made a difference. Did you make a new friend? Did you help out a colleague? Did you achieve something that makes you proud? Did something happen that made you smile? Changing your life is a major thing, but if you look at the daily achievements, you will find that your life is changing all the time. Today is the day to make the most of your life—so is tomorrow, and so was yesterday. Every time you go to bed, ask yourself: “What made today my day?” Let’s look at a few steps that will help you find the life changing moments that happen to us, sometimes without us ever knowing, every single day.

Little by Little

So, today was a major disaster. You upset your boss, dropped coffee on your desk and had an awful dinner with a client. There was nothing to redeem your day at all, or was there? How about that lady who smiled at you in the cafe? How about the guy who said ‘hi’ in the grocery store? These are the highlights of your day—and the life changing moments you can look back on.

Love Is All You Need

In every single life, there has to be a certain amount of love. Sometimes it’s a neighbor mowing our lawn, a husband giving us moral support, a wife giving us a hug. Even during our worst moments, a human life is filled with love. Love is also a life changing event. Every single time love is shown to a human, we know that we have achieved the best feeling a human can achieve.

Negativity Sucks

You can’t find anything good about your day? You’re not looking deep enough. Surely, there was something that happened. Look back over your day, retrace your steps and find the life changing moments. I can assure that you that every single day, something good happened to you—you just need to search for it.

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Posted on Friday, March 11, 2016

Publishing Your Book: Platforms: Part Four

fear11 After 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.

There are a few things to consider before pressing that “publish” button. That’s what we are going to talk about this week. The last minute problems that crop up, or get forgotten, as writers rush to get their book onto the market. For example, how often do you think about keywords? Categories? How about author name? These might seem like easy things now—but authors all around the world have forgotten to fill in the metadata before they hit the publish button—and those authors have been cramped by these problems throughout their book publishing run.

Keywords

These seem like gobbledygook, meaningless things when you first see a section to select keywords. What is a keyword? Well, take a major publishing platform like Kindle, and you will see that there is space for seven keywords. These keywords are how readers find your book. Many authors just overlook this spot on the page and don’t fill them in. That would be a mistake. Take some time, think about what search terms people will be using to search for your book. Is it a Western? A horror novel? A book about bamboo sticks? What is it? Fill in the space with words that will help you sell books.

Categories

This is a crucially overlooked part of the publication of a book. People tend to find the biggest category that applies to their book, and then just add it to the metadata. But normally, you get to pick two categories. Spend some time going around Amazon and looking at the different category opportunities out there. Look to see where similar books to yours have been placed. It’s a good idea to note that the smaller categories will give you more exposure. Why? Because it will take you less sales to get to number one in a small category, and then once you’ve hit number one, the momentum of being at number one will hopefully keep you there.

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Posted on Monday, March 7, 2016

Holding Back the Fears: Conquering Fears — Part 10

The 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 look at a fairly common fear that stops people from reaching their full potential—a fear called Atelophobia by experts, but known as a fear of imperfection to you and me.

Sometimes, we all struggle with the idea that we aren’t good enough. It’s a common enough assessment when we look at all the achievements of one person and stack them up against our own. I mean, if I were to try and stack the achievements of a great statesman up against my own—I may come out short. But does that make me less valuable as a human being? That’s the question millions of people around the world are asking themselves. Am I just too imperfect to be of use to society?

Recognizing Your Phobia

If you are finding yourself overcome with fear each time you consider doing something, then you may very well be suffering from a fear of imperfection. You may worry a lot about the idea of taking on a role or opportunity and finding out that you just aren’t cut out to do it. Do you turn down chances and opportunities? Do you want to stay away from the world and never have to deal with anything? Are you scared that your boss may discover that you may not be as good at your job as he thought you were?

Overcoming Your Phobia

Who IS Perfect?

Take a look around the world. What a hopeless mess it seems. Seriously. If you want to look at imperfection, you should start by looking at the world in which we live. We live with imperfection every single day, and that’s okay! It’s important to realize that nobody is perfect. Like every other human being, you can get things wrong, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

Being Wrong Isn’t Bad!

You know sometimes we all get things wrong. I do. I can guarantee at some point in life, every single human being has been wrong. But that isn’t bad. It’s all part of this giant learning curve we call life. It’s adventurous, it’s fun, and it’s all an experience. Don’t set out to be wrong—but if you are wrong… who cares? Learn from the experience and try again. As a famous man once said, “If at first you don’t succeed… try, try again!”

Fools Rush In…

It takes a smart person to realize that all situations can be handled—but must be handled in different ways. If you are starting a new job, try taking your first few days steadily. Get to grips with the tasks at hand. It’s like dating. You take it slowly and build to a crescendo. Just take things one step at a time, and you’ll find that you will make few mistakes.

Relax

Just relax! Even if your boss does realize you aren’t cut out for the job… the worst thing he or she can do is fire you. Relax, enjoy yourself and do what you want to do. Let nobody stand in your way.

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Posted on Friday, March 4, 2016

Publishing Your Book: Platforms: Part Three

There are several platforms that allow you to publish an ebook online. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses will help you decide which platform will help you achieve your writing goals. In this article, we will be taking a look at four of the major platforms.

Amazon

Hundreds of thousands of books are published and sold on Amazon each year. It is said that Amazon is the biggest player in the book business. As a writer, you may find it hard to achieve any success without the platform Amazon offers. Amazon is a company that rewards loyalty. By joining the Amazon KDP program, you will gain a 70% royalty share—but you will have to have your e-book exclusively on Amazon. There are many pros and cons to using Amazon… but, as many authors are discovering, success in the book world can be made much tougher if you don’t use them.

Barnes & Noble

A traditional bookseller with a large online platform that you may be tempted to use. Barnes & Noble are one of the easiest platforms to become part of. Their formatting process is one of the easiest to navigate. Just remember that because you have your book published online with Barnes & Noble, it doesn’t mean you will automatically be available inside stores.

iBooks

For some time, people thought that iBooks was going to overtake Amazon. That has been proven as folly. Many authors consider the iBooks platform to be a mess—without any real co-ordination or easy access. This platform is easy to get onto, but the chances are that you won’t have instant success here.

Smashwords

One of the more interesting platforms. Smashwords has been around for a long time now and has a proven track record. If you have a free book, Smashwords may be the one for you to go for. It’s easy to release and market a free book with them. If you are looking for paid sales—it may be tougher for you to get any traction on Smashwords. The formatting is easily navigated, though, so don’t worry about the technical side of things.

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Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2016

It’s Warrior Wednesday, and Dreams Are What Life Is Made Of…

once upon “Dreams Are What Lives Are Made Of…”

Ask any successful person how they entered the business of being successful. The answer that you will hear overwhelmingly is that they dreamed of doing something. Something big. Something important. Something that nobody else had ever done. They dreamed of becoming, finding, having, being, saying. The dreams you’ve had are a direction. A desire that comes from deep down inside your body and soul. Dreaming is half the journey to success.

But, you may say, BUT… How do I know what I want, and how do I get what I want? That’s the hard part! You have a dream journey—but you have to make it from place A to place B. It may be a difficult journey with lots of frustrating stops, starts and detours. It may be something you feel that you can’t do. It may be that you are at a place in your life that doesn’t allow you to pursue your dreams—but that doesn’t mean you won’t stop dreaming. It doesn’t mean that tonight you won’t discover the way to make your dreams come true. There is nothing stopping you from doing anything in your mind—your dreams cannot be taken away from you—so instead of decreeing that in reality your dreams are nothing more than made up, you should embrace them, watch for an opportunity and strike when you feel the time is right.

Knowing Your Dreams

Sometimes people wake up after a vivid dream, and for a short time after they wake up, they can remember the whole thing. As your day progresses, you lose more and more of that dream, and within a few hours it may be gone. How about keeping a pen and a piece of paper by your bed? When you wake up in the morning, jot down your dream. This way you can see patterns, direction, and make sense of what your inner self is telling you—at your own pace—without fear of forgetting it.

No Dreams?

Rubbish. Everyone has dreams. It may just be that you don’t feel your dreams are achievable, therefore, you may be more likely to quash your dreams before they can even take shape. Think about it—at some point in your life you have wanted something. You’ve wanted to go somewhere, see something, be someone. Think back and try to reconnect with your dreams.

Honestly…

Okay, I am not saying that tomorrow you can wake up and make your dream come true. You are welcome to try that, but for the majority of people it will be a journey or a quest. It will be something that takes time to take shape. You need to be honest with yourself. Is this the right direction? Am I in the right place to make my dreams come true?

Maybe It’s Time…

From time to time, people get a buzzing feeling that it’s time. When you get that feeling—act on it. If it feels right, if the time is right—do it. Just DO IT!

Allow Yourself Space

When you are lying in bed at night, think about the wide blackness of space. Look at the planets, look at the distance between Earth and the other planets in our solar system. Now imagine that your journey is between Earth and Jupiter. How would you make that journey? What would you need? How long would it take? Problem solving skills are going to be very important to you as you follow the path leading to your dreams—ask yourself questions and come up with the answers. The more you come up with answers, the more you will think outside the box.

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Posted on Friday, February 26, 2016

Publishing A Book: Editing: Part Two

One of the most controversial things about the self-publishing business is that authors now opt to not have their work edited. This article will all be about the pros and cons of having your work edited.

Why You Should Have Your Work Edited

Editing is the last chance for you, as an author, to have your work checked over by a professional set of eyes before you leave yourself open to negative reviews. For anyone who is seriously looking to skip the editing step, you need to consider whether or not your writing can stand the scrutiny of readers around the world. Are you sure you have every error corrected? No? Well, now might be the time to consider looking up a good proofreader to have those problems ironed out.

Who Is a Good Editor?

Unless you’re an English teacher, or someone greatly skilled in the English language, you won’t know what makes a well-edited and proofread book. That’s why you need to speak to several editors and find out who has the skills you need. Don’t just contact one editor—contact a bunch of them and see what they come back with.

The Responsibility Lies with You

Sorry, but even with an editor, the responsibility lies with you to correct mistakes. You should take your editor’s advice seriously—try to cover all the areas of the book they’re concerned about. Don’t cut corners or miss out steps. Just go through their work and take great pains to make sure you are correcting all the errors they have pointed out.

Editing Takes Time

I know we all want things done instantly, but quality editing takes time. Try to ignore those instincts inside your body that will want you to rush the editor. Let them get it done in their own time, and let them do it properly. Do not badger, bug or try to push the editor to get the work done quickly. All you will get is missed errors and embarrassment later on that will be nobody’s fault—but your own.

A Good Editor Is Probably Right… Even Though You Attended English Class

It’s common for people to know best. It really is. But when it comes to hiring an expert to work on your book, you should consider their opinion to be the right opinion. Don’t argue or try to assert your expertise of the English language. If you start to suspect that the editor isn’t catching all of the errors—gently let them know. If they turn out not to be competent, find another editor.

Connections & Friends

Yes—that’s right. Friends. A good editor is hard to find. It’s in your interest to build a relationship with a good editor and to make that relationship work. If you are planning to write more books, you will need an editor. The way you treat your editor may be the deciding factor in the quality of your future publications.

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Posted on Wednesday, February 24, 2016

It’s Warrior Wednesday, and “No” Is Sometimes the Most Important Word…

fear11 “No can be the most important ‘yes’ you’ve ever said.”

One of the most common problems faced by people around the world is an inability to say no. People don’t feel that they can say no; they feel pressured to always make other people happy. No is just a word many people can’t say… and I’m telling you that No might be the most important word you may ever learn to say confidently. Have you ever thought about the millions of problems that could be avoided by someone just saying “no” and saying nothing further? No… No… No… No…

Warrior Wednesday is all about empowering you, and giving you the tools that you need to make your life better. No is just another one of those tools that will serve you well. Deep down, nobody wants to say no, but sometimes we have to, and our lives are better for having said it.
“No” Never Means “Yes”

You know some salesmen say that a “No” is just a “Yes”? Well, they’re wrong. When you feel deep down that your answer is “No,” it’s “NO!” That’s the important thing to remember. When you are saying “No” you mean “No.”
Cut Out the Conversation

One of the best ways for people to get around “No” is by continuing a conversation and going around the side of your “No.” When you say “No” to someone—I’d suggest cutting the rest of the conversation short. It’s no, and don’t give anyone the chance to turn your “No” into a yes.

It Feels Bad…

Saying “no” can feel bad. It really can. But when you truly want to say “No,” you should just say “No.” Nobody can force you to do anything. You call the shots in your life, and you control what you do. Try not to feel bad for saying “No.” Just do it and move on.

But!

The most common response to “No” is “But…” and those buts can go on for a long time. Try to just keep your direction and move forward with it. Don’t listen to the reasoning and arguments of others. Don’t be persuaded or sold on doing something you don’t want to do. Every time you hear “but” think “No!”

One No at a Time

You won’t wake up tomorrow with the ability to say “No,” but you should start saying it in your head. You should try to envision what it would look like to tell someone “No.” If you can comfortably visualize saying “no,” you can actually say it whenever you want. Practice saying “no” in front of the mirror—and every single time you need to say it, say it. It could save your life.

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Posted on Friday, February 19, 2016

Publishing A Book: Types of Publishing: Part One

So what I would suggest is that you look at the two different types of publishing. Self-publishing and traditional publishing. Both have huge pros and cons—and both differ greatly.

Self-Publishing

Hundreds of thousands of books are published each year on self-publishing platforms like Amazon KDP and Createspace, Draft2Digital, Barnes & Noble, and the list goes on. But what does it actually mean to self-publish? It means that you will have a book on the market for purchase on a platform that will do no promotion for you. You will be promoting your own book, but that’s a good thing because you can control price, keywords, optimization, content, description and all the other goodies that a major publisher probably won’t let you change. You can also run promotions through these platforms and allow your imagination to take over. On the other hand, you will be the one paying for editing, cover design, promotions and the costs that would normally be covered by a reputable publisher. Self-published paperback books are held in disregard by many for being of lesser quality—but as print-on-demand platforms like Createspace grow, their standards have grown, too.

Traditional Publishing

Traditional publishing is the old, tried and tested way of getting a book onto the market. You will, in many cases, have secured an agent who will fight the good fight to get your book picked up by a publisher. The publisher, if reputable, will cover the costs of editing, designing a cover, and to some degree, promoting your book. You will have little control of the way your book is presented, you will be bound by contract to the whims of the publisher, and you will be given royalty statements every six months or so to show progress. You will not get an advance unless you are a very popular author or an author they feel will be very popular, for example a celebrity with a memoir to sell. You will be constrained by being traditionally published but will save on all the costs and headaches of publishing a book.

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Posted on Friday, February 12, 2016

Bring The World A Bestseller: A Writing Guide: Part 5

People are always asking about writing their own books. It seems rather simple, doesn’t it? You get your laptop, open Word and off you go. A few pages in, you start to question your story. “It’s not very good, is it?” you say. You start to wander away from the story, and suddenly you’re on Google, reading about the 2005 election. You have lost the vitality you need to keep to write a book. This is the fifth of a five-part series on publishing a book. We are going to go over a few goals, a few settings and a few ideas that will help you get that book finished. This week I’d like to touch upon one of the most popular types of book—the memoir.

There is nothing quite like delving into the life of someone interesting, experiencing the things that people have gone through and succeeded at. There is nothing more heartbreaking, at times, than reading the story of someone’s loss. You may want to write the story of your life, and I’ve prepared some tips to help you do just that!

Starting Point

Start at the most interesting point of your life. When was that? Had you just climbed a mountain? Held your child for the first time? What will draw readers into a story about your life?

once upon

Letters, photos, diary entries, and other mementos will bring back memories and inspire you. Did you forget something? Don’t you remember? Talk to your friends and family, and ask them to share stories and memories. The likelihood is that you will remember more than you thought you did.

Just Do It

Sometimes writers can spend too long planning their books. It’s natural—you want it to be as perfect as possible, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I would say that starting to write and keeping at it will allow your creative juices to roll. You know the story already—but the experience of continuous writing will help you creatively display the things you want to say.

Third or First Person?

Memoirs are a personal thing, and because of that most of them work best in the first person narrative. There is nothing like that fireside story manner you can get from reading a memoir. “I climbed the mountain slowly and looking down, realized how far up I was…” Gripping isn’t it?

Cut, Cut, Cut!

Most memoir writers will tell you that they went through many different versions of their book before they got the perfect one. You don’t need to change the very essence of the memoir—but sometimes you do need to cut some of the things that bog down readers. Is that conversation too long? Did I dwell too long on that incident? Do I really need to tell people about that? And so on.

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Category Archives: Writing A Book

Publishing Your Book: Pre-Promotion: Part Five

It’s Warrior Wednesday, and You Know That Today Is the Day

Publishing Your Book: Platforms: Part Four

Holding Back the Fears: Conquering Fears — Part 10

Publishing Your Book: Platforms: Part Three

It’s Warrior Wednesday, and Dreams Are What Life Is Made Of…

Publishing A Book: Editing: Part Two

It’s Warrior Wednesday, and “No” Is Sometimes the Most Important Word…

Publishing A Book: Types of Publishing: Part One

Bring The World A Bestseller: A Writing Guide: Part 5