Your Book Publishing Coach

I have a new Publishing Coach Weekly article for you!

It’s called “The Real Job of an Author” and I think it may surprise you.

Whether you have a book yet or not, this article will get you thinking about the real focus you need if you want to be a successful (read: influential) author.

It’s not what it used to be.

As usual, I have suggested Action Steps and recommended resources.

(Because … “successful authors T— A—–,” right?)

And please, ask your questions! I’ll be answering questions here on the blog, so ask away!

Seth Godin has a great blog post called, “Is Effort a Myth?” Read it and ponder this: “Am I willing to do what it takes to succeed as an author, or am I hoping for luck?”

There’s a reason some people get published and others don’t, and usually it has to do with the fact that published authors have put in the effort to gain expertise, build an audience, and actually write the book or get a good ghost writer to write it. They go through the work of putting together a good proposal, they don’t quit when they get rejected, or they self-publish intelligently.

My goal with this blog and my other resources is to give you the tools that can lead to your becoming a successful author. However, a hammer does no good in itself. Only in the hand of the carpenter does it hit the nail on the head.

Read Seth’s blog. To suggestion #2, I would amend, if you want to become a successful author, spend your 120 minutes:

• writing an article and posting it to article directories
• coming up with some free “Special Report” on your topic that you can give away to start relationships with people (ask them for their email addresses to get the report)
• setting up a blog and writing 2-3 times per week
• finding other people who are already talking about your topic (Ning groups, Yahoo groups, blogs) and enter the conversation by posting. Put your Special Report offer in your email signature line when you do post.

Everything else, listen to Seth!

I received a wonderful surprise in the mail today: a book.

It was a book I had bought but … not THE book I had bought.

The note that came with it explains all. It was from Seth Godin.

Hey …

Here’s a gift.

No strings attached.

I want to thank you for

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m excited to be doing several Virtual Book Tours in the coming weeks, and I’d like to invite you to the first one.

If you’re a parent or educator, or have a child in your life you’d like to love and understand better … or you just want to know more about the many ways one can be smart, tune in on October 13 to listen to my interview with Dr. Kathy Koch, author of How Am I Smart? A Parent’s Guide to Multiple intelligences. We’ll be talking about the eight multiple intelligences and how to apply it to helping children succeed in school.

As usual with these Virtual Book Tours, you get to ask Dr. Kathy Koch your question, and we’ll answer submitted questions on the live teleseminar. You’ll be able to listen to via your phone (normal long-distance charges apply) or via webcast (no long-distance charges).

All the details are here. Even if you don’t have a question, sign up so you’ll get the call-in info and the link to the replay, if you can’t make the live call.

This book has helped my daughter’s self-esteem as we identified her strengths, and helped her to value her friends’ strengths as well. It’s been fun to have a “new language” to use when talking about our uniqueness.

When you sign up, you’ll get access to a sample chapter of How Am I Smart? A Parent’s Guide to Multiple Intelligences, plus a link to another interview I did with Dr. Kathy. Good stuff!

I’m excited to be doing several Virtual Book Tours in the coming weeks, and I’d like to invite you to the first one.

If you’re a parent or educator, or have a child in your life you’d like to love and understand better … or you just want to know more about the many ways one can be smart, tune in on October 13 to listen to my interview with Dr. Kathy Koch, author of How Am I Smart? A Parent’s Guide to Multiple intelligences. We’ll be talking about the eight multiple intelligences and how to apply it to helping children succeed in school.

As usual with these Virtual Book Tours, you get to ask Dr. Kathy Koch your question, and we’ll answer submitted questions on the live teleseminar. You’ll be able to listen to via your phone (normal long-distance charges apply) or via webcast (no long-distance charges).

All the details are here. Even if you don’t have a question, sign up so you’ll get the call-in info and the link to the replay, if you can’t make the live call.

This book has helped my daughter’s self-esteem as we identified her strengths, and helped her to value her friends’ strengths as well. It’s been fun to have a “new language” to use when talking about our uniqueness.

When you sign up, you’ll get access to a sample chapter of How Am I Smart? A Parent’s Guide to Multiple Intelligences, plus a link to another interview I did with Dr. Kathy. Good stuff!

This week’s new article is about … well, articles!

About how to build your book (or other information product) starting with articles.

But it’s not just about writing them.

It’s about USING articles to test your market.

And, perhaps, even leverage them to convince a publisher to publish you.

It’s all explained at http://www.publishingcoachweekly.com.

As usual, I suggest ways to take action, because Successful Authors Take Action.

One of the ways is rather time sensitive, so please go read the article now and consider if Resource/Action Step #2 is right for you at this time. (Hint: It’s called BAM Secrets. Doesn’t that intrigue you?)

As always, you can ask your question. I’ll be answering questions on this blog and in the next Publishing Coach Weekly teleseminar.

One of the most common questions I get is, How do I create a platform for myself?

Well, I just came across a most exciting new resource to help you get exposure in, perhaps, The Washington Post or New York Times.

Could that help you in any way, do you think?

I’m talking about a service called Help a Reporter. Sign up with your email address and three times a day, Peter Shankman will send you a list of all kinds of things reporters are looking for. (Thank you, Peter Shankman–and Bonnie Dillabough,founder of the Yaktivate.com podcasting network, Cookie Cutter Group teacher and Internet marketer extraordinaire, for telling me about this!)

Here’s what Peter served up tonight (I included the Washington Post and New York Times details–but act fast!):

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s quite an interesting discussion going on about “creative imitation”–what it is, and whether it’s good or bad.

I just posted a couple of comments on Alex Mandossian’s blog (Jeff Herring’s post), and Stu McLaren’s.

I don’t quite get why Jeff Herring is backing someone who is obviously doing more than “creatively imitating” him.

What do you think? Comment here, please.

Someone asked an interesting question:
“What if I want to become an author but I don’t really like to write?”

Well, that got me to thinking about why we might not like to write, even though we feel we might have something important to say.

I think a lot has to do with whether or not we’re operating from within our own natural style.

Work from within the way you’re wired–in anything, not just writing–and it will automatically be more enjoyable.

Work against your preferences, and the task becomes a chore.

Sort of the difference between letting the current of your natural wiring carry you down the stream almost effortlessly, or fighting against the current.

So in this week’s Publishing Coach Weekly article, I show you how to begin to assess your natural writing styles.

Read it, please, then come back here and comment!

No doubt you’ve heard the term “Web 2.0″ bandied about, almost so it’s already become a cliche.

What does it really mean?

Two definitions I like.

One is that it’s your content, on your audience’s terms.

Audio/video content they can download and listen to when they want, where they want, how they want.

Printed material in various formats (ebook, blogs, articles, print book) that people can read as they want.

Your message in printed AND audio forms (perhaps video too), so that people can consume your info exactly how they want.

“Give unto others as THEY want to receive it.”

Which brings me to the other piece of Web 2.0.

Read the rest of this entry »