Jun

25

PRWeb helps authors promote their book with press releases distributed to journalists and targeted markets

Filed Under Step 3: Promote

Wednesday’s promoting tip for authors

Every author’s book marketing and promotion should include a strong press release program. But, many authors ask, “How can make sure my press releases are noticed and read by journalists writing about my topic?” For many authors, PR Web offers the ideal solution. PRWeb is an online service that simplifies press releases distributing press releases that help ensure your message will reach journalists searching for information on your book’s topic.

Journalists can search for press releases organized into numerous categories. In addition to searching by topic, journalists can sign-up to receive RSS feeds containing appropriate press releases.

To acquaint authors and entrepreneurs interested in using press releases to promote their books and market their businesses, PR Web offers numerous free webinars throughout the week. These review the basics of effective press releases plus a guided tour through PR Web’s specific offerings. Learn more by clicking the “Learn More” tab, or going directly to PRWeb’s webinar listings.

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Jun

24

Time management tip: keep your book on schedule each day by reviewing your writing goals for the next day

Filed Under Step 2: Write

Tuesday’s writing tip for authors

If you want to learn how to manage your time and complete your book on schedule, explore Donald Murray’s many books about writing, including A Writer Teaches Writing. Don was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a popular Boston Globe columnist, a passionate friend to all writers, and a member (emeritus) of Published & Profitable Editorial Board. Don was always willing to share his ability to leverage short daily writing sessions, such as 30-minutes a day, into weekly autobiographical newspaper columns, a new book, and frequent updates of his previous books each year.

Don’s productivity was based on nightly reviews of the topics he wanted to write about the next day. In his words:

If I know tomorrow’s writing task today, I can harvest in a matter of minutes what has grown during the previous 24 hours.

Don Murray continues:

We should remember that during the busy hours of work and living our physical lives, we are also living a mental life reflecting, observing, remembering, connecting, playing words and phrases, building forms and knocking them down, hearing voices. When we sit down to write, we are drafting, documenting, shaping, and redrafting, what flows from our mind.

You may only have an hour a day, a half-hour–or just twenty minutes–to sit before your computer, but if you have told your subconscious tomorrow’s writing task, you will surprise yourself by what you have to say. The writing is there, ready to flow. You will write what you did not know you knew.

This is from Don’s privately published and distributed monograph, Welcome to the Writer’s Craft, 2002.

I’ve been using this technique for years, printing and reviewing project mind maps before I go to sleep at night, and continue to be surprised at how effectively it works.

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Jun

23

Keith Rosen can help you find the time to plan, write, promote, and profit from your published book

Filed Under Step 1: Plan

Monday’s planning tip for authors

Several Published & Profitable members and several recent Guerrilla Marketing Association interview guests have stressed the importance of going “outside of field” in order to gain new ideas and inspiration for their projects. With that in mind, I’d like to describe one of the most useful time management books I’ve ever encountered: Keith Rosen’s Time Management for Sales Professionals.

Although Keith’s book targets sales professionals, it’s lessons are equally relevant for authors and would-be authors. It’s the first time management book that a), I thoroughly enjoyed reading, and b), made sense.I was introduced to it when he stated, during a recent interview:

“Time management lies at the heart of becoming a successful published author!”

Keith Rosen is one of the country’s leading executive coaches. Inc. Magazine and Fast Company have both named Keith one of America’s Top 5 business coaches.

Here are a couple of the ideas and terms I especially liked about Keith’s time management book:

  • The Adrenalin Trap. Many business owners are unconsciously addicted to the “rush” of overwork, confusing being busy with being productive. If you are constantly busy “putting out fires” that don’t satisfy your long-term goals, you’re unlikely to ever attain your goals.
  • Non-negotiables. Identify what’s really important to you–which, in your case, may be writing a book to position yourself as an expert in your field–and create your daily schedule around one or two short writing sessions.
  • Learn to delegate. In order to find the time for your non-negotiable activities, as well as handle the unplanned client distractions that are certain to show up, free up time by delegating activities that others can perform nearly as well as you.
  • Routine versus chaos. Your success is determined by your daily routine. If your routine is defined by chaos and distraction, you will never achieve your potential. If your routine is based on activities in alignment with your goals, i.e., planning, writing, promoting, and profiting from a book, you will succeed.

Time Management for Sales Professionals is a “short read,” giving you time to apply its lessons! Best of all, for a limited time, it’s also available as an e-book for only $15.69–regular $18.95!

Time Management for Sales Professionals may be written for sales professionals, but every present and future author can benefit from it.

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Jun

20

Explore the links between writing and self-promotion from Elsom Eldridge, Jr., by writing the right book

Filed Under Events, Mind mapping

Friday’s upcoming event for authors

If you’re a business owner or self-employed professional interested in distancing yourself from your competition, you’ll want to attend the next Published & Profitable interview. You’ll learn how others have used techniques like submitting articles, writing books, public speaking, and numerous other self-promotion techniques to position themselves as the obvious expert in their field. I’ll be talking to Elsom Eldridge, Jr., co-author of the landmark book, How to Position Yourself as the Obvious Expert: Turbocharge Your Consulting or Coaching Business Now!

Elsom and I will be discussing author and small business self-promotion topics like:

  • Advantages. What are the benefits that come with obvious expert status? How do you become an obvious expert?
  • Case studies. What kinds of people write books while running a business? What are some of the time management techniques they’ve used–and you’ve used?
  • Tools and trends. What are the latest tools that authors and business owners are using to position themselves as obvious experts in their field?
  • Personal experience. How did your book change your business? What was your writing experience like? What would you do different? What recommendations and advice do you care to share with others considering writing their first book?

This exclusive Published & Profitable “obvious expert” promotional teleseminar interview with Elsom Eldridge, Jr., takes place Wednesday, June 25th, between 11:00 AM and 12:00 Noon EST. All Published & Profitable members and friends, as well as those exploring the possibility of writing a book, are invited to attend. You are invited to ask questions. The call will be recorded. After the call, members can access he recording 24/7, on the Published & Profitable site.

To attend, call 218-486-1616 and enter PIN 513391.

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Jun

19

Online research helps authors generate new speaking opportunities

Filed Under Step 4: Profit

Thursday’s profit tip for authors

One of the best ways you can develop new speaking opportunities is to explore the websites of speaker’s bureaus and identify the leading speakers in your field. Once you know who the successful speakers are, you can visit their websites and search for ideas you can adapt to promote your own speaking.

Speakers bureaus receive a percentage of the fees their speakers earn. As a result, they tend to focus on the most successful speakers in each area. At most speakers bureaus, you can search by field or by topic. This will help you identify what the most popular topics are. You can gain an idea of what kind of fees are being paid to the top speakers. You can also gain an idea of the types of questions you should be prepared to answer when you approach a speakers bureau.

When you visit the speaker’s websites, you can often download their specific marketing information, which can be a guide to creating your own marketing materials.

Get started by searching for “speakers bureaus” using your favorite search engine, then refine your search to speakers bureaus in specific fields. One of the best books in the field is Dottie Walter’s and Lilly Walter’s Speak and Grow Rich.

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Jun

18

Boost book sales by creating a list of firms and organizations who can benefit from bulk sales your book

Filed Under Step 3: Promote

Wednesday’s promoting tip for authors

In less than 30 minutes a week, or less, you can greatly increase sales of your book while opening new doors of opportunity. Authors, particularly self-published authors, often go to great lengths to promote the sale of single copies of their books. But, unfortunately, many fail to aggressively promote multi-copy sales their book to non-bookstore markets like associations, firms, and organizations. Investing just 30-minutes a week exploring prospects for multi-copy sales can help you sell thousands of additional copies your books each year!

The advantages of these special, non-bookstore, sales frequently outweigh the benefits of single copy sales through direct or retail channels. Advantages include immediate payment, no returns, and frequent re-orders. More important, special sales open the door to “bundling” opportunities, like providing copies for everyone who attends a speaking or training engagement.

Taking action
To explore multi-copy sales opportunities, ask yourself questions like the following:

  • Businesses. What types of firms are most likely to benefit from employees who have access to the information I provide in my book? Identify the specific departments or positions that are most likely to benefit? Then, create a prospect list of managers who have the authority to purchase copies of your book for their employees.
  • Associations. Many associations devote significance resources available for member education and skills development. Make a list of associations whose members can benefit from your book, bookmark their web sites, and sign-up for their newsletter. Be on the lookout for upcoming events where you could speaker and distribute copies of your book, or opportunities where you book could be used as a membership premium to attract new members or as a renewal incentive.
  • Organizations. Explore possible opportunities for multiple-copy sales of your book to non-profit and government organizations, too. Look for opportunities where the organization’s employees and volunteers can benefit from the information in your book. Like businesses, organizations share a need for increased efficiency and productivity that your book may be uniquely qualified to offer.

It’s not enough to plan and write a great book. Your book has to be marketed and promoted to those who can benefit from it. Often, the easiest and most profitable approach is through multi-copy sales.

Recommended resource
Brian Jud offers numerous specialized resources to help you develop alternative sales and distribution channels for your book. To learn more, visit Brian’s Book Marketing Works website, subscribe to his Marketing Matters newsletter, or read his Beyond the Bookstore book. Published & Profitable members can also access an exclusive Published & Profitable interview.

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Jun

17

Authors must avoid the “curse of perfection” during their daily writing sessions

Filed Under Step 2: Write

Tuesday’s writing tip for authors

Whether your goal is to write an article, a book, or a monthly newsletter, the secret to making the most of your short, daily writing sessions–scheduled with the help of a free online calendar, as previously described–is to cover as much ground as possible during your budgeted time. To do this, you must avoid the “curse of perfection,” the widely held, but totally mistaken, belief that your first draft has to be perfect.

Nothing can be further from the truth. Your first draft is simply the starting point of the journey your words will take between your brain and the page (or computer screen) where your words will be displayed.

There will be time enough, later, to refine the first draft, to take care of the pesky details that obscure your ideas, such as:

  • Eliminating run-on sentences, (2 short sentences are always better than a single long sentence)
  • Replacing passive verbs with active verbs (i.e., “The ball was hit by John” versus the clearer “John hit the ball)
  • Deleting extra, unnecessary, redundant, unwanted, words
  • Making sure that verbs agree with nouns, (i.e., substituting “They were wrong” for “They was wrong”)
  • And the like.

So, write the first draft as quickly as you can, without self-editing. Later, review it with the help of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, after you have shared it with a co-worker, or after submitting it to your editor.

There is always time to improve something after it’s been written, but it’s impossible to improve something that hasn’t been written.

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Jun

16

Authors can plan their book’s success in daily working sessions as short as 30 minutes, or less

Filed Under Step 1: Plan

Monday’s planning tip for authors

Planning can help authors greatly increase the likelihood of getting successfully published. Authors must plan their book before they begin to write their book. Planning a book involves tasks like analyzing existing books in your field, choosing a unique title for your book(i.e., one that creates a memorable brand), and identifying the right publishing alternative. Authors can make significant progress on these planning tasks in short, daily, working sessions as little as 30-minutes, or less.

Here are some examples of the tasks you can accomplish in working sessions of 30-minutes, or less:

  • Analyze competing books online. In a single 30-minute working session, you can learn a lot about 3 or 4 of the books your’s will be competing against, noting details like the strengths and weaknesses of their titles, the years the books were published, the names of the publishers, and what readers had to say about the books.
  • Visit author websites. In another 30-minute working session, you can visit 2 or 3 of the websites their authors have created, noting the author’s qualifications, how they promote their books, other books the authors may have written, and the kinds of incentives they use to build their e-mail mailing lists.
  • Research publishers in your field. After identifying the publishers who have published books in your area, you can visit their websites to download their proposal submission requirements and find out other titles the publisher has published.

Missing books
Perhaps the most important task you can complete in 30-minutes, or less, is to begin grouping existing books available in your area of interest into categories, and then ask yourself the question: “What books are needed, but haven’t been written yet?” Brands are not built by writing books that duplicate existing titles. Even a little time each day spent searching for a unique position for your book can pay big rewards.

To learn more about these planning tasks that you can work on in short, daily, working sessions, visit Published & Profitable video topics like Choosing the Right Title for Your Book and How to Analyze Existing Books In Your Field.

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Jun

14

Discover what inventing, marketing, and writing have in common on the next Guerrilla Marketing interview

Filed Under Events

Attend the next Guerrilla Marketing Association expert interview call as my guest, and meet Jared Joyce, an inventor on his way to making his first million before he hits 30. Jared has not written a book, he is not a famous public speaker, and he won’t be selling you a limited time offer at the end of this call.

What Jared has done, however, is bring a product from conception to market in only 3 years–when the industry average for such a process is 10 years!

Jared will describe the steps of his invention timeline, and other tools, he’s created which can help you convince skeptical prospects to trust you and hire you. Jared is a Renaissance Man of ideas and street-smarts, as a visit to his website–http://jaredjoyce.com–will reveal. Attend this call and you’ll:

  • Learn new ways to think “outside of the box”
  • Discover new techniques for gaining trust and making your expertise obvious
  • Identify ways to replace your prospect’s fear of making a mistake with confidence in your abilities

This Guerrilla Marketing Association call takes place, live, Wednesday, June 18, from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM EST. You can take part by e-mailing Roger C. Parker.

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Jun

13

Bob Bly teleseminar: Making Money with Your Writing: Profiting from Content in the Internet Age

Filed Under Events

Friday’s upcoming event for authors

Be there on Friday, June 20, at 11:00 AM, EST, when Published & Profitable interviews Bob Bly, one of America’s most prolific authors and respected direct-marketing copywriters. Bob’s written more than 60 books, many of which are classics, such as his Copywriter’s Handbook. As a direct marketing copywriter, on more than one occasion, I’ve been in audiences where Bob Bly–who wasn’t even in the room–was referred to as America’s greatest living direct marketing copywriter.

Bob’s books have been an inspiration to me for decades, and I’ve traveled thousands of miles to hear him present. (We’ve also shared the microphone at several events.)

What Bob doesn’t know about writing, copywriting, lead generation, marketing, and white papers probably isn’t worth knowing!

Here’s your chance to hear Bob address issues of importance to authors who want to sell and leverage their books and e-books to the max.

This exclusive call takes place Friday, June 27th, at 11:00 AM. It’s your chance to speak directly with a marketing and copywriting legend. To attend, call 218-486-1616 and enter PIN 513391.

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