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I meant to post this before Christmas, but was “held hostage” on the phone for hours on end and and lost 10 hours or more. (The case involved a networki router, Internet access, bridged lines, and tech people from India who are only allowed to read from their flow charts. When I finally got to “second-tier tech support” with my ISP, the problem was solved in less than 10 minutes.)

So here’s a belated Christmas gift that nevertheless comes in time for the new year.

If you have ever contemplated getting paid to publish your book or article, you will want to check out this gift right away.

It’s a recording of a class that Suzanne Lieurance and I did on writing queries and book proposals, for the University of Masters online university.

If you want to get paid for your writing, you need to convince an editor that your article or book idea is worthy of being published in their magazine or by publishing company.

How do you do that? By writing a knock-out query (for magazines) or book proposal.

Writing for pay is not the only way to go, but it’s the best way. Not only for the obvious reason (you get paid!).

Getting published anywhere helps establish your credibility, but getting published in a magazine that pays its writers catapaults you up the ladder of expertise.

Likewise, having a published book lends you a lot of credibility. But being published by a traditional publisher, as opposed to self-publishing, opens many more doors. The media are much more likely to go with someone published by a publisher who took all the risk.

Believe me, the media can tell the difference at a glance.

Writing a killer query or book proposal is an art, but it’s one that can be learned if you have the right guide.

Suzanne Lieurance is widely known as “the working writer’s coach.” A successful author herself, she specializes in helping people make the transition to full-time freelance writer (who of course, gets paid!).

As you know, I help individuals and companies become the leading experts in their fields through publishing books and other information products.

In this recording of the class Suzanne and I did, you will learn exactly how to write powerful queries and book proposals that will get you published. You will learn the proprietary book proposal outline I used to sell every book I ever proposed (11 in
all, plus a book I resold despite three agents telling me “nobody’s buying reprints.” I got two publisher offers for that book–Abundant Gifts).

Clcik here to access this recording.

It’s my gift to you, with the heartfelt wish that your holidays, and the year ahead, will be full of many abundant blessings.

And may one of them be a contract for your upcoming book!

Is one of your goals for 2007 to write a book?

If so, the next question becomes, how can you fit it into your already over-full life?

I have two suggestions. Both of them require a bit of time and effort, but no costs are involved.

1. If you’re not familiar with Simpleology–”the simple science of getting what you want”–I suggest you start that immediately. Mark Joyner says practicing Simpeology will at least double or triple what you could accomplish without it. It’s part goal-setting, part time-management, part self-improvement–all rolled together into a system that is, in fact, rather simple.

I’ve been doing Simpleology for more than a year now. Within a month of starting it, I was able to finish the MotherStyles book two weeks quicker than anticipated. I believe I am now at least 50 percent more productive than I was a year ago.

Best of all, it doesn’t cost a cent.

2. Start writing a blog. If you like to write, and you haven’t already started a blog, start writing your book by writing a blog.

There are several advantages to this approach.

One, you get started right away. Before you start your blog, take a few hours to outline your book ahead of time. This gives you at least a rough idea where you’re going, and an order that makes some sense.

Every week, plan to post at least three times. (That’s what the search engines like.) Take your outline and brainstorm topics within each chapter. These will become your posts.

Another advantage to writing your book through a blog is that you can get reader comments. You can then fine-tune your material, solicit more material from your readers,and generally let your readers help you know what’s most helpful for your final product.

Yet another advantage: publishers are paying more and more attention to blogs. They’re a great way to build that all-important “platform”–an audience that’s proven to respond to your topic.

An author friend and I were just chatting the other day, and she told me a publisher approached her about writing a book based on her blog. Her story can be repeated many times over. Andy Wibbels, author of Blog Wild!, was approached by a major New York publisher, Penguin Books, because of his blog.

In fact, in his book Andy highlights how Andrea J. Lee wrote her book through her blog. She says, “The blog structure allowed me to pour the content of the book out of my brain and into a structure. Each post was a chapter and I was able to rearrange the chapters cleanly and easily, so that I could see, at a glance, how the ‘bones’ of my book were looking. By the time I had reached thirty posts, I knew I was done.”

You can get started right away at www.blogger.com. That’s a free site and they take you step by step, and in five minutes you’re up and running.

Another great place to check out–and I recommend this over Blogger–is the WordPress Guru blog. You’ll learn how to easily use one of the best blogging software platforms out there, WordPress. There are lots of formats–called templates–to choose from for the look of your blog, and WordPress is generally considered a superior system.

Again, all this is free.

There you have it–two great tools for the coming year, Simpleology and a blog–that will enable you to get your book started without costing you a cent.

Consider it my gift to you at this holiday season.