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How Technology is Changing the Publishing Process. Or Not? by Paulette Nunlee

The Blood, Sweat and Tears Were Part of It All

Authors Beverly Jenkins, Brenda Jackson and other traditional published writers have learned the secret. Whatever happens in the publishing industry, they’ll always be at the top of their games. Their names will forever come first when I’m asked to list my all-time favorite authors.

When they started, their creativity was only the first step in producing a best seller. Their talent piqued the interest of a publisher who took the rawness that was submitted and dissected it thought-by-thought, word-by-word and returned it to the writer for another chance to rework their masterpiece. The cycle repeated over a long period of time until a perfect product was produced.

Ask them and I’m sure they’ll say those weren’t fun times, seeing their words red-marked and whole pages and chapters crossed out that may have taken weeks or more to put on paper. I’m certain there were many days of self-doubt before they could even sit down and attempt the rewrites. But in the end, it was worth the blood, sweat and tears.

Technology Has Created a Monster

I stand up and cheer for today’s writers being able to publish their own work. That means they now have the freedom to create their masterpiece how and when they please, in their own words. Technology has made it possible for writers to put out as many books as they want, limited only by the number of hours they’re willing to put in.

Readers are no longer satisfied with wondering what happened with their characters after turning the last page. Being able to communicate 24-7 with authors on Facebook, Twitter and etc., etc., has created that monster of a reader that demands to know what happens next. And they want to know—right now. Likewise, a growing addiction for book series has readers pushing authors to constantly churn their imaginations for more and more storylines.

While the monsters want to know—right now—they’ll also rip writers apart in the reviews if they’re not getting that same quality they feel their purchase entitles them to. Even if it’s free. Why read a bad free book when there’s a ton of good free books written by writers trying to break in? Readers expect publisher standards. They don’t care how it’s done, they still want the best for their time and their bucks.

Slow Down! You’re Moving Too Fast

Where technology has helped, it has also harmed many good storytellers. While it allows writers to generate raw books at breakneck speed, it also exposes their weaknesses. Finishing a book and uploading it on Amazon can’t make a new writer a best-selling author. Neither can an influx of good reviews by family and friends. A writer’s one and two-star-rated reviews because of poor grammar and misspellings are only a Google search away. And that stays. Forever. In 2015 reviews have become an author’s resume. Although volume is overtaking quality, how many books can a tarnished or destroyed reputation sell?

Today’s microwave culture has created such a rush to publish that too many writers have deleted the crucial steps the Beverly Jenkinses and Brenda Jacksons had to endure. New writers are flooding the marketplace with pieces of work that only generous teachers would have graded an incomplete because of typos and inconsistencies. Many of those unedited, and probably imaginative, stories would have probably been emptied from a publisher’s shredder long before the editor reached the manuscript’s midway point. That stuff wouldn’t have made the cut because they tried to rush and cheat the process.

What Are The Steps?

Know your role. You are the creator. Your talent lies in telling the story. But your responsibility is ensuring your final piece is a masterpiece.
Understand the process. If you’re playing the game to win, learn the rules and stick with the process. You can’t skip the fundamentals. Create-Edit-Edit Again-Proofread-Upload-Market-Sell.
Invest in the right tools. Realize that to showcase your work properly, you’ll need professional help. Your sister or BFF may read all the time, but are they qualified to edit your book by publisher standards? Your nephew and SO both taught themselves Photoshop, but can either design your book’s cover to meet professional specifications? Ask trusted, successful writers who they recommend and be willing to pay the price. You can’t play in the monetizing game without spending some money.
Trust your resources. If my host author and friend Deatri, in her Become a Successful Author, shared how to format your book, follow that. She’s had years of paid experience from a traditional publisher to transform raw manuscripts to books fit for printing. And now she’s doing what you want to do—and accepting awards for doing it well.
Make that first impression count. Your mother already taught you that. Need I say more?

What do Beverly and Brenda Know?

Twenty years and they’re still doing the blood, sweat and tears. Enduring the red-marked words, but not agonizing so much over those lost pages and chapters. They still do the creative, raw part because that’s what they’re good at. The other stuff—the developmental and copy editing, and proofreading—they leave to the pros. They know that’s a partnership that should never be left out of the publishing process—traditional or self. They know the secret. While technology continues to make things faster and easier and allows writers to self-publish, they know that over time quality is going to win out. And finally, they just know their adoring and demanding readers expect the same publisher’s standards they’ve always wanted, and will accept nothing less.

Paulette Nunlee is the proofreader for fivestarproofing.com. A former telecommunications executive, she has many years experience in editing corporate communications. She currently proofreads for award-winning authors and is writing her first book. Reach her at paulette@fivestarproofing.com.

Goodreads for Authors: 8 Easy Ways to Raise Visibility for Your Books by Lynn Emery

Book geek heaven, that’s a good description of Goodreads. Even now that Amazon owns the site, it’s still very much reader centric. The czar of customer service seems to have recognized this and mostly left the way GR works alone. If you want to increase your reach with serious book lovers I recommend considering these tips to leverage GR.

Disclaimer: I’m not trying to convince writers that they MUST be on Goodreads NOW or their writing careers are OVER! I have few extra hours or energy to invest in another time suck, like many writers. Still there are low cost ways to get your info flashed to readers without spending a lot of time.

1. Do giveaways. Ignore the GR advice. Have short giveaways of 5 to 15 days. Why? GR promotes new giveaways and those about to end, urging readers to hurry before the deadline. In between your giveaway is merely listed with thousands of others.

You don’t have to give away 10 + books. Do less. Some writers do just one. I think that’s a bit restrictive. I’d say 5 is a good number. But you should open the giveaway to all countries, or at least multiple countries. I hear you, “But Lynn, GR only allows print books as prizes. That’s a lot of postage!” Drop ship your books directly from your POD company. Mail books to foreign winners from Book Depository (www.bookdepository.com). You can ship one book to worldwide for free! Check their list to make sure your winner lives in a country they ship to, but it’s a long list. Tip: you can only send one book to another country for free during a shopping episode, but I found a work around. I had three foreign winners. I discovered that if I waited a day to send the next one it was still free.

2. Add books to your shelves. GR members love seeing what other members are reading. They want to know you’re not just hanging out to push your books, but you’re a reader, too.

3. Post what you’re reading so your friends (and their friends) will see the books you like.

4. Post reviews. Members read reviews. It’s word of mouth. While they’re doing that guess what? They notice you’re an author and check out your titles.

5. Post book trailers on your author profile. We’re living in a visual world like it or not.

6. You don’t have a GR author profile filled out? Create one.

7. Try GR ads. They’re surprisingly affordable.

8. Open up the new “Ask the Author” feature. One tip I read is to pose a question yourself, answer it and give visitors insight into your process. I just started using in the last month, so far no questions. Still it’s another useful took to reach out.

None of these will guarantee your sales will jump. What you will do is get your name and book covers in front of hungry reader eyes. The goal of advertising is to reach your target audience so as not to waste time and money. GR members are some serious book fans.. I don’t hang out on GR a lot, and I haven’t searched for and added a bunch of friends. But I actually enjoy posting my current reads, when I finish each book, and doing short reviews.

My results: sales increased about 7%. Several hundred GR members added my books to their “To Read” lists. GR sends out updates to members, so others see my book covers listed in their friends “To Read” lists. GR reviews increased significantly (about 35%). Admittedly I don’t have a huge number of reviews per book, but that’s a lot more than I had before. Updates also show reviews to the friends of those members, therefore e visibility for my books increased. This led to more reviews. Print sales went up, but not significantly.

Give it a try. You don’t have to spend any money or a lot of time. Where else can you find millions of book-a-holics looking for their next favorite read? It just may be worth it.

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Lynn Emery: Mix knowledge of Louisiana politics and forensic social work, with the dedication to write fiction while working each day as a clinical social worker, and you get a snapshot of author Lynn Emery.

She sold her first novel in 1995 to Kensington publishing for their groundbreaking Arabesque line. NIGHT MAGIC went on to be recognized for Excellence in Romance Fiction for 1995 by Romantic Times Magazine. Her third novel, AFTER ALL, became a movie produced by BET and aired on December 3, 1999. Holly Robinson Peete stars as Michelle Toussaint, an investigative television reporter. In 2004 Lynn won three coveted Emma Awards. She was chosen Author of the Year and her novel KISS LONLEY GOODBYE won Best Novel and Favorite Hero. GOOD WOMAN BLUES was nominated for the Romantic Times Best Mainstream Multicultural of 2005.

Visit Lynn Online: http://www.lynnemery.com/

Don’t have a copy of the SECOND EDITION of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99 (print) from: Amazon (US) or Barnes & Noble

Five Reasons Authors Need GoodReads By Terry Whalin

I am no GoodReads expert. Millions of readers are on this site talking about books. Over four years ago in 2011, I learned about this site through some email or article or bit of information that came across my computer screen. I registered at GoodReads then for three years I almost never returned.

Earlier this year, I saw GoodReads likes book reviews. I have reviewed over 450 books on Amazon (who also owns GoodReads). I took about an hour and cut and pasted some of my Amazon reviews on the GoodReads site. Currently I have reviewed about 85 books.

Almost two months ago, my friend Sandra Beckwith interviewed Cynthia Shannon, the Author Marketing Coordinator at GoodReads. The teleseminar was excellent and if you did not hear it, you can follow this link and get this inexpensive educational teleseminar.

As I listened to this event, Cynthia spoke about the need for authors to claim their Author Profile Status. While I had not done much on my profile, I had taken this step to be identified on GoodReads as an author. Next Cynthia talked about the incomplete profile which didn’t have the author’s photo or links to the Author’s website or twitter account. As I followed along online during the event, I discovered, I was one of “those” authors.

Immediately I fixed my GoodReads profile. I added my photo and filled out my profile adding my twitter link and much more. Yet I didn’t complete the teleseminar and was pulled away from my computer. It wasn’t an issue because the event was recorded and Sandra sent us the recording (which is still available). Days and weeks passed before I caught the final portion of this event this week.

There was a place for book trailer videos so I uploaded my two videos. Also I saw a little shadow image at the top of the GoodReads home page with a number next to my small photo. It read 495. To my horror, I discovered this number was people who had requested to be my friend on GoodReads and I had not responded or answered. Thankfully I’ve resolved all of these requests and accepted these friends and grown my friends on GoodReads.

Now you can tell the truth of my opening statement: I am no GoodReads expert—but I am learning and growing in my knowledge of this site. In fact, this week I learned the salesmen at Ingram Publishing Services can see a little icon when they look up our names. It is a GoodReads icon and shows whether the author has an active GoodReads presence or not. IPS is the distributor of the Morgan James books. My Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham biography are both published through Morgan James Publishing. It is important that I work at reporting my promotion activities to these sales people because they sell the book into the bookstores. Every bookstore buys books based on the perception of what the author is doing to promote the book. See why I became more interested in being active on GoodReads?

If you are an author or want to be an author, here are five reasons authors need to be on GoodReads:

1. There are 30 million readers on GoodReads. Yes 30 million. Earlier this year they touted 25 million and now it is 30, so it has increased five million in nine months. Just look at the growth curve for this site and that is a good reason for your involvement.

2. You want to interact with people who love books. GoodReads is all about readers and reviews and finding good books then talking about them. Marketing Expert Penny Sansevieri had a lengthy section about GoodReads in her Ebook HOW TO GET REVIEWS BY THE TRUCKLOAD ON AMAZON. I wrote about Penny’s book several months ago (follow this link).

3. You want to be involved in reading and talking about books. On GoodReads, there is a section called Groups. There are thousands (no exaggeration) of groups on any imaginable topic related to talking about books. Join a couple of groups and just like any forum or group, observe and read the conversation before jumping into it. If you can contribute to the discussion, then that is terrific. You will find more readers through tapping into these groups.

4. You want to get more reviews of your own books. I’ve discussed this important aspect of books in other articles but book reviews sell books. If you want to get more reviews, then as an author I encourage you to participate in Giveaways.

5. If you are a book author, you need to claim your GoodReads author profile. One of the relatively new features on GoodReads is a section called Ask the Author. The author has to turn on this feature. Then on your dashboard (that only you can see), you will see new questions to answer. It gives you a place to interact with your readers.

I’ve only scratched the surface of this extensive site. There are many more reasons than these five to regularly visit and learn about GoodReads. It will pay off for you in ways you can’t even begin to imagine.

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. To help writers, he has created 12-lesson online course called Write A Book Proposal. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com.

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What Is Going On In The African American Lit World? By Kisha Green

For some this is a touchy subject so I will try to approach it with the passion I feel for the topic without sounding preachy. I love this industry and consider it a blessing to have a gift and a pleasure and great responsibility to bring great stories to readers as well as offer services I provide to authors and publishers in the industry.

In my opinion, one of the biggest reasons African American literature is not taken seriously is not because there isn’t a market, it is the un-professionalism of the people publishing books. Self publishing a book is a big responsibility. It is also an investment on your mark in this industry. It is very IMPERATIVE that you invest in a professional team of like-minded individuals to make your dream come true. If this is something you truly want to make a career or even a legacy for your family to take the torch, shouldn’t you want the best?

Bookstores are already trying to make us believe the urban market isn’t lucrative. They are closing doors left and right because of the readers no longer visiting stores but are instead one clicking books from mobile devices. These quick sales have turned into somewhat of a gamble because the price is often parallel with the low quality work. Representing product that is lack luster due to poor editing, armature style cover art, and all around poor print eminence handicaps the genre as a whole and gives mainstream one more reason to turn a blind eye to what many may consider the greatest and most vast genre in literature.

With the way the industry has changed, now more than ever there are lots of talented authors hitting the market everyday. Some have more experience than others in the business aspect but make no doubt about it, this is a business. We owe it to ourselves to conduct ourselves as such. That means reading and honoring the contracts we sign, showing up for all engagements (offline and online), and presenting a professional image at all times.

Engaging in a public beef or disparaging other authors or companies online and during radio interviews, not only damages the other party’s image but yours as well. If you do have a legitimate claim or complaint with an author, or service provider, I would contact them directly and then follow up with what can be done with the third party in which the person was paid. Ultimately one must go through the property channels.

With the age of social media we live in now you would think there would be cross promotion, partnerships being formed, alliances being built to further the thing that is your dream. Instead of effective networking and solid marketing, I’ve seen an amazing amount of cyber bullying, online high school cliques, and a major case of crabs in a barrel syndrome. If we can’t take each other seriously and represent ourselves as professionals why would anybody out side of this take us seriously?

Conduct yourself online like a professional and ultimately you will be treated like one. People know who they can say certain things to. Social media is indeed a gift and a curse but at the end of the day you are the one solely responsible for what goes on with your accounts. If you want to be successful you must surround yourself around other successful people. In conclusion all African American authors play a contributing factor to getting our books out there and while it is a great accomplishment to become a published author and see that dream become a reality, but the old saying still holds true. United we stand divided we all fall.

Kisha Green is no stranger to the literary world. She is the well-informed, knowledgeable publisher of DivaBooksInc.(www.divabooksinconline.com). Green is a senior writer and founder of the Writer’s Vibe (www.writers-vibe.com) a literary site to help promote artists.

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Pre-Orders Amazon Style by Deatri King-Bey

I have a love/hate relationship with Amazon, as many authors do. But I have got to give them their props. They promote the products they distribute better than any other distributor out there. Now they’ve added the ability for self-published authors to set up their eTitles for pre-order. Bravo!

I must admit, I do not like pre-ordering books because I know I won’t keep up with if I actually received them but a lot of readers love to do pre-orders. Soooo, with this new functionality, I decided to give it a try so I could tell you about it. They began this option two weeks before my new title was released, so my title was only on pre-order a week, but I learned a lot from that week.

Setting up for pre-order is very easy. Go into your Amazon KDP account and upload your manuscript as usual and select the option for pre-order. A week before your release date, you must upload the FINAL version of your manuscript. If you do not upload the final version, you will not be able to place another title on pre-order for a year. Once you have uploaded your final version, you will not be able to change the file the last week before the go-live date.

Great news. Your title DOES NOT have to be enrolled in KDP Select in order to set it on pre-order. KDP Select is the program where you give Amazon exclusive distribution rights to your title for ninety days and in exchange they allow you to give the book away a few days and they add it to their free library. You are paid for the free downloads from their library.

So a little over a week before my title went live, it was available for pre-order. The night before the book was available for everyone, the people who’d pre-ordered it received their notice that they could download the book. I had a few readers contact me saying they’d read the book and two even posted a review the morning it went live. Having reviews from users with the “Verified Purchase” is a good thing.

I wondered how they’d do the sales rank. I had hopedthe titles that were sold during pre-order wouldn’t count until the title went live, but that was not the case. They count during pre-order then they also give your ranking a little boost when it becomes available. I don’t know the algorithm they use to calculate how much and I’m sure they’ll be changing it often.

From the KDP Reports Dashboard, you’ll see the Pre-Orders option that will give you the number of pre-orders your title has.

Back to ranking. You need to understand how pre-orders will affect your ranking. My last seven titles hit the top twenty in their first day of release. In my category, that’s around fifty-sixty copies. By the second day, the new title is usually in or close to the top ten. Then my sales usually shoot off and stay pretty good a few weeks. I promote initially, but don’t do the continual promotion that I know I should, but that’s a different post.

I discovered that getting into the top twenty and even better yet the top ten your first few days is crucial. The higher your rank, the more Amazon pushes it. That was why I wanted to know how the pre-sale copies would affect the first day sales. For me, if my new title can get into the top twenty the first day, that title will do good.

The night before my title was available, the sales rank was 103,000. According to the report, there were twenty-seven pre-orders. The morning it was live, without any additional sales yet, it was 42,000. So there was a bump up in ranks as a result of the pre-orders.

During the course of the day, thirty-eight additional units of the book sold. I checked at 9 p.m. before I went to bed. So my first day sales were 27 (pre-order) + 38 (first day sales), which, when combined, is in the range of what I usually sell on the first day. So what do you think my Amazon ranking was? Did it make the top twenty as usual?

As you see, it did not. I have a base of around sixty readers who usually buy my new title on the first day. This puts my title in the top twenty quickly for my category, which did not happen because the pre-orders didn’t count as full units. This ranking isn’t bad, but I’ve noticed a huge different between being in the top twenty on the first day.

Here are the rankings from 6 p.m. the day after it went live.

Second Day For Keeps

The title continued to climb the charts, but not enough for my liking. That loss of twenty-seven sells makes a big difference. So for me, I will not be doing pre-orders again anytime soon, because I don’t have a large enough base that pre-orders will not hurt my ranking. I need that big bang on the first day. You will need to do what works for you.

Deatri King-Bey

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $8.99 (print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Five Ways to Get Your Writing Unstuck by W. Terry Whalin

Throughout my day writers will email me for help with their writing. The words I have in my Twitter profile is one of the key reasons: I love to help writers. Let me know how I can help YOU! I include my email in my twitter profile to encourage such correspondence.

As an acquisitions editor at a New York publisher, I get a lot of email every day. Yet I make a point to answer each one of the emails from writers who are asking for help. From my 20+ years in publishing, I know it is hard to navigate the publishing world. I’ve sent my share of emails and letters into the system which have gone into a void—or so they seem because nothing came back from my careful shaping and sending them. It can be discouraging.

Recently a ministry leader wrote me about being stuck. He had started writing a book but gotten stuck at the second chapter. What actions should this leader take to move forward on his dream of writing a book?

Many times writers are stuck and unsure how to move forward. It happens with book projects because they are not simple 30 minute or an hour in length. To write a book takes a great deal of consistent effort and energy. When it comes to writing a book, one of the best tools is to first, write a book proposal. The key portion of the proposal that will keep you writing and moving ahead is the chapter-by-chapter outline. This simple outline is the structure for your book. You can even print it out then cross off the chapters as you write them.
If you are stuck in your writing, here’s five ways to get unstuck:

1. Evaluate Your Goal. Are you committed to this writing project? I’ve always found if I’ve made a commitment, then the writing will get handled. OK. I’ve committed to write a book or a magazine article or an online article or a press release. Think about the type of consistent effort will it take to accomplish your goal. For example, books are not produced overnight but will take a consistent effort.

2. Set a Goal You Can Accomplish. Be reasonable with yourself and set a writing goal that you can achieve. From my experience it is often a certain number of words such as 500 words a day or 5,000 words a day (which is a lot of intense writing to reach 5,000 words a day but it can be done).

3. Move Consistently toward Your Goal. To accomplish any goal you have to move forward. I like what one of my writers friends told me about creating a 400+ page novel, “No little elves come out at night and write my pages.” No one else can do the work for you. You have to find the time and simply do it. If it means getting up an hour or two earlier or staying up late at night or skipping some television, then you have to work at it to meet your goal.

4. Periodically Evaluate Your Goal. If you are having success, then take moments to celebrate. Each of us will celebrate differently. It is important to evaluate and celebrate if you are moving toward your goal. If you measure how you are doing with your goal and you are not making progress, then possibly it is time to readjust your goal and make it more reasonable or something that you can actually accomplish. Don’t beat yourself up that you have to readjust. Simply acknowledge it and keep moving forward.

5. Get an Accountability Partner. Yes maybe you could accomplish your goal on your own. From my experience, it is better if you have someone else asking you periodically about your goal and how you are moving toward it. This person can be someone that you speak with periodically on the phone or email or best physically see often.

I know I was only going to write five ways to get your writing unstuck. I’m throwing in a bonus sixth method. Maybe you are stuck in your writing because you have been trying to accomplish a long piece of writing such as a book or a novel or a workbook. If you have been chipping away at completing a longer work, here’s something to consider in this process:

6. Diversify Your Writing. While many people want to write a book, there are many ways to get published—outside of books. Often books take a long time to get into the market—especially if you go through a traditional publisher. Magazine articles are short and fun to write plus you can get them published a lot quicker than a book and it will reach many more people than the average book.

People like me who are in publishing want to see that you have been published. Your magazine publishing credits will help you attract the attention of a literary agent or book editor. My updated version of Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams has a great deal of information about publishing to help you get unstuck.

Use these five methods to get unstuck and move forward with your writing. Take action today.

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Build Publishing Habits by W. Terry Whalin

If you are writing a novel or a nonfiction book, what are you doing each day to succeed with this writing project?

Yes, it is important to craft an excellent work with terrific storytelling and craft. We learn these skills through our own reading and continual practice. Writing should be a habit which you continually cultivate and practice on a regular basis.

Yet what about other areas of publishing where you need to develop habits?

Recently I heard from an unpublished author who was getting rejected or no response from literary agents. She was sending out a children’s book and couldn’t understand why she could not succeed. I wrote this author that she needed to do more to understand the marketplace. Only a few literary agents that I know represent children’s books for several reasons. First, the advances are very low for children’s books.

Also it’s hard to get a children’s book published and much of the writing work is Work Made for Hire or something an agent wouldn’t be involved in. Finally agents are looking for writers who demonstrate that they have been published. You have to show this skill through writing for print magazines or other recognized forms. This unpublished author was floundering because she had not done the basics to understand the market. As a daily habit, she needed to be reading published authors and how-to books as well as connecting with someone to help her.

Reading in the field is another publishing habit that every author or would-be author should be developing. There are free newsletters and many ways to learn from others. Are you tapping into these resources?

Another publishing habit is to constantly build your connections to others. It doesn’t require tons of time but it does require consistent effort. For example, posting on Twitter and Facebook in your area of expertise is a publishing habit. You can use tools like Hootsuite so it does not have to consume much time but the consistency will pay off.

I spend the majority of my days working with authors as an acquisitions editor at Morgan James. My personal goal is to help as many authors as I can to achieve their dreams of getting published. As a result of these goals, I’m on the phone with authors or literary agents. Or I’m answering emails or interacting with my Morgan James colleagues about book projects. I have a series of habits that I execute each day related to my work at Morgan James.

What goals do you have for your publishing life? Have you written them down and are you looking at them on a regular basis? What habits do you need to develop in order to achieve these goals?

As you are consistent, it will pay off for you in the marketplace. I have a great deal of free information in my ebook, Platform-Building Ideas for Every Author. If you haven’t read this Ebook, I suggest you get it and study it, then apply the lessons to your writing life.

What new publishing habits are you developing?

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W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Irvine, California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. To help writers, he has created 12-lesson online course called Write A Book Proposal. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com.

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Book Signing 101 by Kisha Green

You just got booked for a book signing and you do not know what to do? Don’t fret, below are some basic yet effective tips that will ensure a good time and most importantly books sold.

Book stands for your book to stand up on the table. (Target or Walmart)
Take a lot of pictures and or video to share online after the event that will hopefully generate a buzz in who you are what people missed.
Book marks to give to the consumer that isn’t ready to spend but is slightly interested. (www.nextdayflyers.com)
Get a fishbowl that visitors can place their business cards in and for those without card have blank index cards available with pen for them to write their contact info on.
Make sure you have plenty of singles and change to break large bills and for those with no cash have you Square credit card attachment for your cell phone. (www.squareup.com)
Candy dish filled with mints and small candies.
Comfortable shoes.
Smiles and a positive attitude.
Street team and this can be one person or more walking around handing out bookmarks and flyers that should drive traffic to your table.
24×36 poster with your book cover. (Staples or Office Depot)
Advertise! Advertise! Advertise! Network! Network! Network! Promote your book signing using social media and create events on Facebook and advertise your e-flyers via Instagram and Twitter. Create a Meet Up event.

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Publishing Leeches by Deatri King-Bey

A lot has changed in the many years that I’ve been in the publishing business. One thing that hasn’t changed is people who want something for nothing. This occurs in all walks of life, but I want to focus on publishing today. I want you to take a cold, hard, honest look at yourself and see if you are being a leech, then stop it if you are.

Inconsiderate, Lazy Leech
This is a common type of publishing leech. I was helping an aspiring author who had a million questions. After about two hours on the phone, she still had a billion questions. I informed her that my book, Become A Successful Author, answers most of her questions, then I gifted her my book and told her to read it first, then ask follow-up questions. The following month this author sent me a ridiculously long email with questions that were answered in the book and asked if we could speak on the phone again. I asked her if she had read the book (maybe she had comprehension issues), and she said she hadn’t had time and wanted me to just tell her what she needed to do.

She didn’t have a few hours to read a book that would answer her questions and give her a good base of knowledge to conduct her own research from, but wanted me to spend hours of my time spoon-feeding her information. Yep, that’s lazy and inconsiderate.

If you expect others to do more for you than you are willing to do for yourself, you are a leech.

Something For Nothing Leech
This is also a very common publishing leech. Editors, graphic artist, proof readers… anyone in the service industry suffers from leeches who want something for nothing. Don’t get me wrong, we all want a good deal, but there are a lot of authors who are trying to make money (increase book sales) on the backs of the editors, graphic artists, proofreaders… If someone has the skillset you need to get the best product out there, you need to pay them for their talent. If you are not willing to invest in your business, why do you expect others to invest in your business by purchasing your books?

Me, Me, Me Leech
We’ve all experienced these. I run two reading groups on social media. I’m shocked—not really—how many authors IM me because I only allow promos two days a week. Somehow I’m responsible for them not making the NYT best sellers list. I’m tempted to share some of the messages I receive from authors whining because they can’t treat the reading groups like their billboard. They don’t care that they are promoting to the wrong genre. They don’t care that we are there to talk about the books we’re reading, not be bombarded with their promos. If it’s not about them, they don’t care. Those type of authors suck the life right out of a group.

Concept Leech
This is one of the more rare publishing leeches. Or maybe they are better at hiding. I was at a writer’s conference a few months ago and overheard an author talking about a concept she had for a novel. I thought, great idea, then went on about my business. Later that day, I heard a second author talking about the same concept with a few differences. They were too similar to be a coincidence. This is exactly why I do not tell people about my book concepts. You never know if there is a concept leech around.

Spirit Leech
This one is very harmful. Be carful. These are the authors who are so negative and nasty that their vibe throws you off. It’s like they suck your spirit dry. You’re trying to be and do positive, but all they see is the negative.

Clinging Leech
These are the authors who hang around a more popular author in hopes of syphoning new readers from the more popular author. This one is hard to explain. We are authors and we hang out in the same places. These leeches are users. Once they get what they want, they move to the next target.

What’s the cure for leeches? I know none of you see yourselves in anything I’ve said, but if you are the victim of a leech, remember, you teach people how to treat you. I’m not saying to stop being a giving person. I’m a giving person and will continue to do so. That doesn’t mean you have to stand there and be sucked dry by leeches.

I wrote this article so you can keep an eye out, but there is good news. There aren’t as many leeches out there as one may think. Social media has made them more visible, so they seem to be in greater number than they are.

Keep your focus without falling into the “It’s all about me” mode, and you’ll be fine.

Much Joy Peace and Love,
Deatri King-Bey

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When You Hit A Bad Day by W. Terry Whalin

Let’s face it head on. Everyone has a bad day. You know what I’m talking about.
When you walk out to your car and see the tire is flat—and naturally you are trying to rush off to some important meeting.

Or your computer crashes in the middle of an important rewrite on an article or book and you lose hours of work because you didn’t back it up.

Or you get sick and land in bed. Or someone in your family gets sick. Or a dear friend suddenly dies.

Or a friend or a co-worker promises they will do something—and they don’t. So it creates huge amounts of unexpected work for you or a project you were counting on completing didn’t happen.

These various possibilities that I just listed are a fraction of what happens to everyone. The unexpected happens to each of us with our writing and publishing lives.

Here’s the critical question for you: when you meet one of these difficulties, does it totally derail you so you don’t complete what needs to be written. Or do you rise to the challenge and continue forward with your writing?

Something derails writing for a day. Do you shake it off and return to it the next day? Or do you set it aside and say, the time must not be right? There is a time and place to persevere.

This month many publications and programs have been celebrating the storied career of journalist Barbara Walters. At 84, she is retiring from 17 years on The View. This week I read an article about Barbara Walters in AARP magazine, which claims to have the world’s largest circulation at 24.4 million (more than three times the circulation of Reader’s Digest).

In the AARP article called What I Know Now: Barbara Walters, she shares the secrets of her success saying, “I think the secret of my success is that I persevered. I didn’t give up. I didn’t say, ‘This is a lousy job, and I’m unhappy, and I’m going to quit.’ I went through the tough times, and they were tough. And I was fortunate that I came out the other end.” I admire Barbara Walter’s perseverance.

Recently my agent friend Steve Laube wrote an article What to do when technology fails? I did feel bad for the author who lost the entire manuscript on a computer the day it was due at the publisher. As a result the book was canceled. Buried in the story was the fact the author had missed the third extension. What happened in the case of the first two extensions? This story wasn’t told.

About ten years ago when I started working as an editor on the inside of publishing houses, I learned that writers are notoriously late. I’ve often been the editor who the author calls and tells about their bad day then asks for an extension. Publishers know about bad days so they often build some flexibility into the deadline.

Yet writers should not count on that flexibility or extension. Here’s how to distinguish yourself as a writer and make editors love you: turn in your writing when you promise to turn it in—with excellence.

It’s one of the elements that I’ve done over and over with my writing deadlines—met them. I recall writing one section of a book where I stayed at my computer all night in order to meet the deadline. At that time, I had a full-time editorial job and I had taken on a book project to write.

When I didn’t come to bed, in the middle of the night my wife came down to my office to see if everything was OK. Everything was fine except I had to meet a deadline and did not make it to bed that particular night. I fired off my deadline material to the editor, cleaned up and went off to my full-time job. Yes, I drank some extra caffeine that day and was tired but I delivered what I promised to the editor and put in a full day at work. I’ve only done it once so I don’t make a regular habit of such actions.

How do you handle bad days? Does it derail you so you don’t complete what needs to be written or do you shake it off and continue?

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Advice for Aspiring Authors by Deatri King-Bey

• Listen and verify: You’ll want several mentors with a mix and match of strengths such as writing, editing, business, marketing and networking… Realize that the publishing world is ever changing, so take lessons from others to use as a base for your own research. I’m not saying finding mentors is easy, but you must try. Attend conferences, workshops, join local groups, take online courses, network…. There are many affordable options out there. Get to know the publishing community.

• Learn the craft: Great storytellers are not always great authors or even halfway decent authors. Never stop learning the craft and improving. The moment you think you know it all and there is no room for improvement is the moment you start to lose your edge. I’ve seen many seasoned authors fall prey to losing their edge because they didn’t see room for improvement in their writing.

• Don’t abuse your muse: There are those who say you must write every day. I do not believe in that philosophy. Writing fiction is creative. If you force your creative side to write daily, you can cause writer’s block—or what I affectionately call your muse going on strike. I think you should do something related to your writing most days of the week. Besides writing, you may read, take courses, attend workshops, read articles, teach others…

• One genre at a time: Know what genre you write. I’m dumbfounded how many authors say their books don’t fit a genre. That their books have something for everyone. That all readers will love their books. Sorry, but no. Am I saying your books must fit 100% into a single genre? Nope. There are cross-genre hybrids, but you should understand the rules of the genres to know how you are creating a hybrid. Once you lock in your genre (even if it’s a cross-genre hybrid) start mastering it and building your audience. After you have a nice sized audience, then branch out to include other genres in your portfolio if you’d like.

• Get an editor: The other day, a debut author told me she didn’t need an editor because she was confident in her work. Confidence is a good thing. It’s also not the editor’s job to give you confidence. Editors help you make your manuscript the best it can be. Stop making excuses. All authors need editors. Even NYT best selling authors have editors. Is it expensive? Yes. It’s an investment in your writing career and business that you can carry into future works. With each developmental edit, you should learn more about the craft.

• Know the business: Whether you go the self and/or traditional route, you need to understand the business side of things.

• Avoid the promotion trap: Promotion and marketing are important, but the best way to grow your audience is releasing outstanding books. Be smart when promoting and marketing. Know your genre, then promote to large groups of that genre. Cross promote with other authors in the genre. Stop trying to convert romance lovers to horror. Stop wasting time running after readers. You’re an author. Writing should always be your main focus.

Deatri King-Bey

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Let’s Get Down To Business by Deatri King-Bey

This is a repost of a spot I placed on my personal blog. I’m posting it here also, because many of the concepts carry over to the publishing business…

——–Repost——–

I’ve decided to do it. I’m going to make a business out of my new hobby—Soaping! I’ve been making infused natural oils for your body and hair for years and giving them away and recently began making soap. I’d been considering starting a business, and the other day just decided to go for it. The grand opening of my new business is still a ways off, but it’s coming.

Don’t think that I took starting a business lightly. Nope. I started one fifteen years ago that is still going strong and mentored others over the years. I know what I’m getting into. I see people deciding to start businesses and think it’s great. Just know that the majority of businesses fail in the first two years. You must be realistic. I say set yourself up for success. There are no guarantees, but there are things you can do to help you stay on the positive side of the odds. Anywhooo, I thought I should give a little insight into what I do to start a new endeavor in case you’d like to give a swing at it some day.

Research: My first order of business was to do research on the product, market and business. This requires more than an Internet search on whatever it is you want to sell. Read books about your product, take courses, interview others who are already in the business you want to go into to find out the pitfalls and how to avoid them. Do your research on the market—both locally and extended. Know what all goes into setting up a business, including costs. There should be more to it than setting up a website and Paypal account. Did you start an LLC or incorporate? Did you open a business banking account? Do you have Terms of Service on your website? What is your return policy? What are the tax laws in your state? Are you supposed to charge tax in your state for online sales?

I could go on and on about the research. Check to see if there is a local Score chapter in your area. They give free workshops and advice to people who want to start small businesses. The website also has a wealth of information. It’s a great place to start your research about business so you’ll know what you’re getting into: http://www.score.org.

Business Plan: I think of the business plan as the what and how. What goals do I want to achieve and how do I get there. The business plan lays out the vision for the company and the steps needed to get there, which is why it’s important to do your research. I know what my start up cost are. Cost to make the products. Who my suppliers will be. How I’ll ship. What services I’ll need. How I’ll build the brand. Timelines. Taxes and accounting. Events. Goals…. And a whole lot more. I’m going to mention Score a lot because I think it’s a fantastic organization. Lots of useful information and they have mentors and free courses. Guess what else they have, yep templates. Here’s one for a business plan: http://www.score.org/resources/business-plan-template-startup-business Don’t just open the template and become overwhelmed. Once you do your research first, this will be much simpler. And you can probably get a Score mentor to help you.

I’ll be honest, you do not need to have a business plan as detailed at the attachment to start your business, but should have a plan of action that covers at least those first two years.

Networking: You see me online a lot, but I’m an introvert. Networking is a key to success in any business. I haven’t done it yet, but I will be joining a local women in business group. I’m also becoming part of the “soaping network.” Whatever business you go into, there are others who are in that business. Seek them out. Learn from them. What events do they attend? How do they connect with the market? Listen but verify. Always do your own research. Use what others teach you as a starting point. Including me.

Branding: What do you want your company to be known for? It takes a long time to build a recognizable brand. What image do you want your company to portray? What will you sell? What is the name of your company? Do you have your logo? Have you purchased your domain (website address). Please, please, please do not use those free websites for your business. Why would you put someone else’s business name in your web address?

Customer Service: How will you ship your products? When will you ship the products? What about returns? What about complaints? What are your hours of operation? Mailing list? How will customers contact your business and how timely will you answer? Write (or have written) a few standard letters. As new issues arise, write an additional letter for that situation. You will want consistency. Don’t tell one customer one thing and anther something else. Standard letters will maintain consistency. If you have a website (and I hope you do), have a Terms of Service, Privacy Notice and Frequently Asked Questions pages.

Website: I think free websites are the rope many small businesses use to hang themselves. What is the purpose of your business? If it’s not related to your business, then it shouldn’t be on there. Think of your website as your online storefront. Make it easy for users to purchase your product. I like to buy from small businesses and it drives me CRAZY when I can’t find out how much something cost quickly. Some sites make you go through hell just to get to the ordering page. It’s crazy. I’m also into natural products so I need an ingredients list. If you are making something that people eat, drink, or put on their body, you should ALWAYS have the ingredients listed. I go natural because we have bad sensitive skin and a lot of allergies in my family. But I digress.

When you create or have your site created, remember the main focus is your product. Anything that will distract from the product is not good.

Customer Base: You’ll be selling a high quality product, so your customers will want more of what you have to offer. Your customer base will grow as your brand grows. Will you have a newsletter, blog, members…? How will you stay in contact with your customers? How will you make your loyal customers feel special?

I absolutely love loyalty cards. Will you be implementing some sort of loyalty card?

Okay, that’s enough for today. I started writing this thinking it would be a short checklist and got carried away. There’s more that goes into starting your own business, but I think this is a good base. If you are interested in starting a business or already have, I HIGHLY suggest you check out Score. http://www.score.org.

Deatri King-Bey

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The Submission Process by J’son M. Lee

For the last few years, I’ve focused on the careers of other authors. I co-authored a project that went on to garner a few awards, and as president and owner of Sweet Georgia Press, I am an editor with a growing client list. During this time, I wrote a few short stories here and there, but never took the time to focus on another novel. I wrote a few chapters, titled the projects, and even created covers for them for my book vision board. But, there never seemed to be enough time to focus on a full-length project. As I reflected on this reality, I came to the conclusion that I needed to invest more in myself. To this end, I picked up Become A Successful Author by Deatri King-Bey. While there were many takeaways from this book, the one that registered most with me was her belief that “…all authors should pursue traditional and self-publishing.”

Aside from a short story that was published in an anthology (1998) by Painted Leaf Press, I’d never submitted for traditional publishing. I realized there was no time like the present. So, for almost a month, I worked with my gal pal, Michelle “Big Body” Cuttino, on my submission package (query, synopsis, and sample chapters). I also connected with an outside consultant who had a database of agents and publishers who agreed to receive e-query proposals. The desired format was very specific. My package was assembled and sent to me for final review. I had my mentor look it over, and she gave great advice. I made more changes, and my query was finally ready for submission…

The consultant advised that many of the responses would be form emails saying the query was not right for their office. He cautioned me to not to get discouraged by these emails as they likely hadn’t read the query, but said no based simply on the genre or word count. He went on to say that I would not receive responses from all the agents as most did not have the ability to respond to every e-query, not even with a form email. Lastly, he advised I would likely receive the bulk of my responses the first week, with others coming in for up to two months. The goal was to have about half a dozen agents who wanted to learn more about my book.

As he predicted, responses began rolling in immediately:

“Not for me-thanks anyway.”

“Thanks, but I’m not the right agent for this.”

“Thanks for the query. I’m sorry but I’m overwhelmed with submissions and this didn’t pique my interest enough to add to my stack of manuscripts. Good luck to you.”

“Thank you for your query, but I’m afraid this project just isn’t right for my list at this time. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but others will surely feel differently and I certainly wish you every success in finding the right agent and publisher for your work.”

“Thank you for your letter. From your description, I don’t believe I’d be the right agent for this project. I’m sorry to have to pass on the opportunity to read your work, and wish you the best of luck. Sincere apologies for not being able to answer more personally; given the volume of queries, it is simply not possible.”

“Thank you so much for querying me and giving me the opportunity to consider your material. I’m afraid, though, that after reading your letter, I just didn’t feel strongly enough to ask for more, and I firmly believe every writer needs an agent who is passionate about his or her work.

Much of this boils down to personal preference, so please bear in mind that what isn’t right for me might be right for another agent. I encourage you to continue querying and working on your next book. I wish you the best of luck and much success with your writing career.”

“Thank you for thinking of me, but I am not a good fit for this.”

“It’s a pass for all of us here, but we do appreciate being included.”

“Not for our market, sorry.”

“Thank you for your query. Having considered it carefully, we have decided that your project is not the right fit for [us], and so we are going to pass at this time. Tastes and specializations vary widely from agent to agent, and another agency may well feel differently. Thank you for thinking of our agency, and we wish you the best of luck in your search for representation.”

“Thank you for letting me review your query. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that we are the appropriate agents to represent this material. In this very competitive market, we are simply not enthusiastic enough about our ability to sell this work to offer you representation. We wish you the best of luck placing this successfully. Thank you, once again, for letting us consider it.”

“Thank you for thinking of me with your query for JUST TRYIN’ TO BE LOVED. While this sounds like a strong project, I’m afraid it doesn’t strike me as a likely fit with me and my particular editorial contacts. I wish you well in finding the right agent for your work.”

Despite all the rejections, I remained positive. It’s important to have thick skin as an author. Always ask yourself if a criticism came from someone to whom you should listen. Whether you agree or disagree, look for ways to learn from what they said. If there’s nothing to learn, discard it. Move on!

Just as quickly as the rejections came in, there came a glimmer of hope:

“Thank you for your interest in our agency. Per [our] guidelines, please send the first ten pages of your manuscript, along with the original query, to this email address with both embedded in the body of the message. Please note that we do not open attachments.”

“Thanks for your recent query, which Jane passed along to me. I’d be happy to take a look at your manuscript. Kindly send it along for my prompt review. A Word attachment is most preferable if possible.”

“We would be happy to read something if you would like to email it to submissions@…… for my attention. Many thanks.”

I didn’t know how to respond. I wanted to make sure I put my best foot forward and not ruin my chances. The consultant said, “Just respond politely with whatever they ask for. They are regular people, only extremely busy. So try and give them exactly what they ask for, exactly the way they ask for it. Do not respond to the nos, you don’t have to worry about them.” Easy enough, right?

So…I responded…I think I’ll read Characters Make Your Story by Maren Elwood while I wait. I’ll keep you posted!

J’son M. Lee (Editor)

See you at www.sweetgeorgiapress.com

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $8.99(print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Romance Slam Jam 2014 by J’son M. Lee

This year marked the 19th anniversary of Romance Slam Jam. Emma Rodgers, Ashira Tosihwe, and the late Francis Ray founded Romance Slam Jam in 1995 in Dallas, Texas. Their goal was to bring writers and readers together to celebrate Black love—and that’s what happened!

This year’s Slam was held in New Orleans, LA, from May 7 – 11. All conference activities were held at the Hilton New Orleans Airport, located in the suburb of Kenner, LA. With clean, comfortable rooms, a quaint courtyard, several onsite eateries, and ample meeting facilities, the hotel was the perfect venue.

The theme of this year’s Slam was Romancing the Big Easy. Since this was my first Slam, I decided to attend the “First Timers to RSJ” workshop, facilitated by Toni Bonita Robinson. Ms. Robinson described the event as a family reunion of sorts where the focus was love. I immediately felt at home.

Romance Slam Jam offered a series of intimate workshops for both writers and readers. There was something for everyone. Since my focus was continuing education to help hone my craft, I migrated towards the writer workshops facilitated by literary greats like Deatri King-Bey (Point of View), Patricia Sargeant (Plotting), Norwood Holland (Crowdfunding), Seressia Glass (The Art of Writing Novellas), Sheila Goss, and CEO of Smashwords, Mark Coker (Ebook publishing, etc.). If that were not enough, I also had the pleasure of meeting two of the premier storytellers of our time—Beverly Jenkins and Evelyn Palfrey. As were the other facilitators, they were gracious and asked that I reach out to them if I had any questions.

While there was a lot of work (if you want to call learning work), there was also a lot of time allotted for fun. Lunch breaks were leisurely and allowed you to bond with new and old friends. The author panels afforded you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pick the brains of some of your favorite authors. The keynote luncheon speaker, Author Angie Daniels, was funny and inspirational. Lastly, the night out in the Big Easy, was a wet one, but traversing the flooded streets with new friends made it all worthwhile.

The Slam came to a close with the Emma Awards banquet. The Emma Awards is one of the preeminent awards event for readers and authors of Black romance. I was happy for all of the winners, but I cheered the most when my friend and mentor, Deatri King-Bey took home the award for Heroine of the Year (Isis Michaels in The Only Option). The organizers took us out in true New Orleans style. The second line consisted of readers and writers alike. They danced, cheered and twirled their handkerchiefs in the air.

If you are a lover of romance, or just looking to network with people who enjoy a good read, Romance Slam Jam is the event for you. Organized and professional, this event surpassed my expectations. Authors, if you’re seriously interested in honing your craft and truly connecting with readers, please consider attending Romance Slam Jam 2015 in Irving, TX (March 26 – 29). “This isn’t a conference to sell books,” says Deatri King-Bey. This event was about building a lasting network of friends and supporters— this event was truly about love!

J’son M. Lee (Editor)

See you at www.sweetgeorgiapress.com

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $8.99(print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

The Power of Consistency By W. Terry Whalin

W. Terry Whalin

If you want to get your writing published, are you consistently working at that goal? From interviewing more than 150 bestselling author, many authors set a specific word count they want to produce in a day or a week. With this goal firmly in place, they sit in their chair and put their fingers on the keyboard and crank out words toward their goal. There is immense power in working toward a goal on a consistent basis.

If you want to write a novel, then you need to be writing ___ words a day consistently for __ days to achieve this goal.

If you want to be published in magazines, then you need to be writing query letters to editors and pitching your ideas on a regular basis. Then when an editor gives you the assignment, you consistently write excellent material and return it on their deadline.

If you want to write a nonfiction book, then you need to create a riveting proposal which captures the attention of literary agents or editors. A good proposal isn’t created in a single session but takes time and energy to craft one.

If you want to build your social media presence in the marketplace, then you need to consistently work at growing your Facebook friends or increasing your twitter followers. I’ve written about my methods to do this in the past. It is one of the reasons that in the past month I’ve gone over 100,000 twitter followers.I’ve worked at this goal on a regular basis.

Besides working to increase my numbers, I’m also delivering good content to my twitter followers and my Facebook friends and my LinkedIn connections.

At a recent writers conference, I met with a writer who thanked me for the good content that I put on my twitter feed. She had noticed that it was consistently worth reading. I appreciated this feedback. It is true that I do not spend a great deal of time on what I post on twitter—but I am consistent. It’s why I’ve tweeted over 18,000 times since the summer of 2008. There is power in consistency.

If you want to be selling your book to people and having them talk about it, then you need to be consistently working to build a larger audience and get in front of people and the media. Whatever your goal, I encourage you to follow what Jack Canfield calls The Rule of Five. In this short video (less than two minutes), Jack explains the rule and how it will help you tap into the power of consistency to accomplish your goals and dreams.

Consistency doesn’t have to take a lot of time but the results will add up for you. Eventually you will achieve your goals if you take regular and consistent action.

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