Free call helps you evaluate whether or not your writing habits are contributing to your personal brand building efforts.

Writing is the key to building a strong personal brand.

It’s the core competence required to attract prospects and convert them to clients.

As I wrote in a recent article on the Personal Branding Blog, now–as 2013′s first quarter segues into the second quarter–is the time to evaluate your personal brand building.

As the second quarter begins, this is also an excellent opportunity to evaluate the extent to which your writing is strengthening or weakening your personal brand.

Evaluating your writing habits

To evaluate the extent to which your writing habits are supporting your personal branding, attend this week’s Published & Profitable book coaching call (postponed from last week).

During the first part of the call, I’ll be sharing some of the ways you can evaluate and improve your writing habits and productivity:

• Questions. I’ll sharing some of the questions you can ask yourself as you examine the relationship between writing and personal branding success,.
• Resources. I’ll also offer resources to help you improve your writing productivity.

After this brief introductory presentation, I’ll open the line for your questions and comments.

During the “open mic” portion of the call, you’re also invited to share your March writing progress and your April goals.

The call takes place Tuesday, April 9, and 4:00 PM. All Published & Profitable friends and members are invited to attend. There is no charge to attend.

To the attend this free book coaching call

To join in this free book coaching teleseminar call, Tuesday, April 9, at 4:00 PM Eastern. To attend, simply call 605-475-6150 and enter PIN 513391#. We’ll also be discuss ways you can set realistic writing goals for the next 90 days, as previously announced.

Get help setting your writing and content marketing goals for the next 90 days by attending Published & Profitable’s free book coaching call, Tuesday, April 2.

The call takes place at 4:00 PM Eastern.

This call’s for you, whether you’re an author writing a book to build your personal brand, or a content marketer interested in attracting qualified prospects to your business. It offers you a opportunity to:

• Look back and evaluate your writing progress during the first quarter of 2013.
• Look forward and set your writing, publishing, and content goals for 2013′s second quarter.

The call also offers you an opportunity to address issues like:

• Realistic writing goals, reviewing and prioritizing your writing goals and set attainable goals.
• Manage your time. Get help finding the time to write and develop the habits needed to make the most of your time.
• Review your writing progress to date. Share your first quarter 2013 writing progress with others and get their feedback. Find out how others have overcome obstacles similar to yours.
• Explore new possibilities. Publishing is a field in transition. There are more ways to publish books and ebooks than ever before. There are also new formats for sharing your expertise and ideas.
• What’s working in book marketing. Book marketing is changing as quickly as book publishing. Learn where to look for new ways to market your book while writing it, like blogging a book.

In today’s world, writing plays a key role in business and career success. Attend this free book coaching call and learn how to adapt proven ideas and tips to your personal branding and content marketing goals.

Book coaching call details

Attend the next Published & Profitable free online book coaching call, Tuesday, April 2, at 4:00 PM Eastern. To attend, simply call 605-475-6150 and enter PIN 513391#. I’ll begin the call by discussing my downloadable Express Topic Planner Worksheet, then I’ll open the line for your questions about writing and content marketing. You can also submit your questions ahead of time, below.

Save time blogging a book by choosing a title like 101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization.

This type of title helps you quickly get specific, because it focuses your attention on the next step–locating and organizing your ideas.

Getting specific as soon as possible
means faster progress.

The next step involves list building, in this case, creating a list of the 101 different design methods you can describe in a series of blog posts and the book that follows.

There are several types of online and offline tools you can use to organize your lists:

• Online tools. These include software programs like word-processed lists and tables, spreadsheets and databases, or mind mapping software you can use to organize ideas into the right sequence.
• Offline. You can also use whiteboards, index cards, and sticky notes, to organize your book’s content into a logical order.

From blog to book

After you’re through organizing 101 the ideas Design Ideas into the right order, you’re ready to start writing your books as a series of blog posts.

Your writing is likely to proceed quickly because your addressing shorter segments of your book that address  specific topics. Your list provides a structure to move forward.

Other approaches to blogging a book

101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization is just one example of a book title that lends itself for efficient writing. You can find dozens of similar book ideas profiled in recent posts on this blog, including examples of:

1. One Idea a day books, each containing 365 ideas for a year’s worth of reading.
2. Other examples of books with numbered titles for sharing information in an organized way.

What do you think?

Take the time to examine books with numbers in their titles. Visit the author’s website to find out if the books were written as a series of blog posts. As you explore various books with numbers in their titles, examine the amount of space given to each topic. (Often, the larger the number, the smaller space dedicated to each topic.)

Learn more about blogging a book

by attending the next Published & Profitable free online book coaching call, Tuesday, April 2, at 4:00 PM Eastern. To attend, simply call 605-475-6150 and enter PIN 513391#. Share your comments and questions about blogging a book as comments, below.

Use my Express Topic Planning Worksheet to save time choosing a topic for your next book or ebook.

One of the hardest parts of getting ready to write is selecting a topic for a book or ebook.

Often, the problem isn’t a lack of ideas…the problem is that there’s so many ideas that it’s hard to choose between them!

To save time, you can use the Express Topic Planning Worksheet, shown at left.

It’s the same tool I use myself, and share with Published & Profitable members and my book coaching clients.

3 steps to book topic success

The starting point is to download and print my Express Topic Planning Worksheet. Then,

• Step 1. List 8 possible book or ebook topics in the left-hand column. You don’t have to go into great detail. All that’s needed at this point, is to include enough information to describe the “big idea” for your book or ebook. Evaluate the advantages and possible disadvantages of each topic on the basis of urgency of the problem it addresses, existing competition, and the amount of work it will take to complete each topic.
• Step 2.  Next, in the center column, list the 3 most practical topics. Avoid the temptation to second guess yourself after you’ve selected the 3 most likely options by going back to the original 8. Instead, concentrate on comparing the pros and cons of your top 3 choices.
• Step 3. Finally, select the most obvious topic and list in the third column. This is the topic you should focus on in the days to come.

Moving forward

After choosing the most likely topic, avoid the temptation to second guess yourself. Instead, move forward to look for title and content ideas to flesh-out your topic.

As you move forward, you may find that your original title wasn’t as wonderful as you thought it was, or new possibilities may turn up.

If this happens, simply print out a new copy of the Express Topic Planning Worksheet and repeat the process.

Express Topic Planning Worksheet Tips

• The worksheets are intended to be printed and filled out by hand.
• I encourage you to print the Express Topic Planning Worksheet on 3-hole punched paper, available at office supply superstores.
• Store the various versions of your worksheets in a 3-ring binder, so you can easily locate  them in the future.

To learn more

I’ll be sharing more information about the Express Topic Planning Worksheet during Published & Profitable’s next book coaching call, Tuesday, April 2, at 4:00 PM Eastern. To attend, simply call 605-475-6150 and enter PIN 513391#. Download a free copy of the Express Topic Planning Worksheet before the call, and share your experiences or questions below, as comments.

Last week, I described a 3-step content creation writing formula, with examples, in an article on the Content Marketing Institute Blog.

So far, over 300 content marketing professionals have recommended and Tweeted my article!

I based the article on my popular Content Catalyst.

My Content Catalyst ebook and consulting program has helped thousands of clients–including authors, Internet marketers, and self-employed professionals–profit from their expertise.

400+ topic  ideas

The Content Catalyst contains over 400 ideas, topics, and examples you can immediately put to work in your writing and content marketing.

Millionaire Internet marketing consultant Ryan Lee was one of the first to encorse my Content Catalyst. Ryan called it,

“The most useful content book I’ve ever purchased!”

Fresh perspective on content creation

Get a fresh perspective on writing and turning ideas into content marketing by reading my article, Content Creation: 3 Steps to Great Marketing Writing.

It’s the ideal complement to my Content Marketing Institute article, 12 Months of Content Marketing Ideas for SlideShare (or view my SlideShare presentation). After you’ve finished, share your ideas, questions, and suggestions about writing and content marketing as comments, below.

There are 2 ways to get a year’s worth of content marketing ideas for SlideShare.

You can read my post on the Content Marketing Institute Blog or you can view the presentation on SlideShare.

Over 61,000 content marketers have already viewed it on SlideShare!

12 Months of Content Marketing Ideas for SlideShare describes topics and titles that never go out of style.

Use the ideas to prepare the types of articles and blog posts your markets has been looking for! Numerous, practical, examples, ideas and tips for putting the topics to work are included.

If you’re already read the blog or viewed the presentation, describing the 12 months of content marketing ideas for Slideshare, and the Slideshare presentation, share your impressions, concerns, and questions as comments, below. We’d love to hear from you!