There were at least 250 people signed up, and around 50 on the call. That may not seem like much, but actually it’s very good, considering the size of her list and the fact that most physical, in-store book signings don’t get nearly that many people. Many more people will listen to the replay–and pass on the word to friends.

Now that the VBT is finished, the author has a tool which she can use to market her book, find and develop her audience, and build a list of people who are interested in her message. In fact, I’ve identified 26 ways one can use a teleseminar Virtual Book Tour to build a list of loyal followers who will buy the book, tell other people about it, and come back to the author for more of the message. (Provided the author use the VBT in the ways I suggest.)

Not incidentally, this author got a call from a major magazine and did an interview, which appeared in the magazine. VBTs are great for generating interest from the media.

More recently, I conducted another Virtual Book Tour with another first-time author. There were 500 people on that call; nearly 2500 signed up. We sold a lot of books, and continue to sell them.

Contrast this with the experience of a friend of mine, a successful author of eight novels and several nonfiction books (all by mainstream publishers). After a two-month book tour for her newly released books, with various speaking engagements interspersed, she completely collapsed from exhaustion.

Were the book tours successful in terms of sales? I didn’t have the heart to ask after she used “abysmal” to refer to one of them.

These true incidents portray the difference between two approaches to publishing and promoting books, what I now consider the “old era” of publishing.

Publishing is changing, big time! We may or may not like it, but we can’t escape it.

Technology is altering everything, for better or worse.  When you understand where things are going, you’re in a better position to make choices that are right for you.

I happen to think many of the changes are for the better, and that now may be the BEST time to be an author.

Read on for seven ways publishing is changing for authors and publishers alike.

This is one series you’ll want to add to your library and really STUDY. Takes notes, for they chart a pathway to author success based on real life.  So far they’ve covered how to Claim Your Expertise.

I’ve listened to two of the three so far and all were excellent! (Sorry, Andrea Lee, I’ll have to catch yours on the replay later–the weather derailed all ability to listen).

I encourage you to sign up for your free pass now–so YOU won’t miss any more.

Especially since tonight (August 5), they start on Step Two: Expand Your Vision.

The guest will be none other than Michael Gerber, definitely a thought leader and best-selling author qualified to expand your Vision!!

You can catch some of the highlights from my Tweets about it, which I wrote as I was listening.

More will be forthcoming tonight…

The success attracts a top-notch literary agent.

Now the big question is: Should you go with the agent, who may be promising you a huge contract with a Big Six publisher?

Surprisingly, the answer is NOT a no-brainer.

It may not be in your best interest as an author to let the agent take your book and shop it around.

Why not?

Here are the considerations from  someone who’s been in publishing for a long time and has seen all sorts of things happen (few people will tell you what you’re about to learn). Read more

What, you don’t know what the three publishing paths even are?

Don’t feel bad, few do. Until recently, there weren’t really more than one publishing path.

But as you know if you’ve been reading me at all, things in publishing have changed tremendously.

Now there are three pretty distinct paths of publishing, and if you don’t know what they are and which one you’re on, you could make some pretty bad mistakes.

Like you could even publish the wrong way, spending money you didn’t need to.

Or you could spend years of your life trying to get published one way when another way would save you time and prove much more profitable.

So, I am making available a class I taught awhile ago, at no cost to you. There’s even a Study/Resource Guide available for you to take notes on and refer to.

Go here and find your best publishing path!

So what makes an author successful?  “[Successful books] are typically written by known authors or from authors who at least have media platforms and can help us promote them,” Hyatt says.

There you go again–platform. Will they take a risk on new authors? Yes, if the books are “exceptionally well written.” And, of course, if the author has a platform.

Hyatt says Nelson is going to cut 50% of their new title output. That means it’s going to get even more difficult to get published this way. I’m sure they’re not the only ones taking this stance (because I know so many people in the industry, and other publishers are doing the same thing).

So that leaves us with the same issue: how to establish a platform. It is possible. You have to be patient and work steadily toward that goal.

I’m working on a course that will help you do just that, but I also recommend Mark Joyner’s Bestseller Blueprint course. It’s the most thorough I’ve seen, and it includes information none of the other “gurus” talk about because they don’t know it. Mark is a #1 New York Times bestselling author four times over, so he should know what he’s talking about! Plus the lessons are fun and easy to digest.

Make no mistake, it takes an investment–time, energy, money.  Joyner’s Simpleology courses talk about how these constitute the  only Power we really have–time, money and energy.  Money is actually a result of an investment of your Power. In Simpleology 102 he defines money as “the direct result of the intelligent use of Power (time, money, energy).”

The money part of being an author will come only from the intelligent use of your Power. My goal is to steer you toward that.

Boy, you asked a big question! Just about everything I’ve written on my blog and various websites are geared toward answering your question.  Many of my teleseminars also talk about what it takes to get published, especially the one I did with Terry Whalin at www.askaboutpublishing.com.

So I suggest you poke around my sites, especially this blog. Also, get the Author Success Plan. That 5-part minicourse is packed with insider’s tips on publishing and being a successful author gleaned from my 30+ years in publishing. It answers your question and shows you where to start: With the A-B-C’s of becoming a successful author.

Basically, it boils down to: Having a great idea, and building a following of people who like you and your idea. If you have enough of a following, a traditional publisher will take the risk of publishing you. Or, you need to publish it yourself, and glean a following through marketing.

Publishing has been undergoing a massive sea change, especially in the past 3 years. These days it’s very difficult to take the traditional publishing path, in which you get a publisher to take on all the costs of publishing and pay you a royalty (percentage of sales–usually 7.5% of what they get after they give the bookstores their 55% discount). Publishers just don’t want to take the financial risk of publishing an author unless the author can practically guarantee they can sell a lot of books, because the author already has a large following (called an author “platform”).

But while that old way of publishing is crumbling, a lot of alternative ways of getting published are springing up. More publishers are offering “publishing services” in a sort of partnership model of publishing whereby publisher and author share the costs.  That’s one of the things Terry and I talked about in the interview I mentioned, which you can listen to after signing up at www.askaboutpublishing.com. (I send you to the Ask page to sign up just so you’ll see how a cool way to market books works. It’s call the Virtual Book Tour, and I do these for publishers and authors.)

So I suggest you do a little more research on my sites, and if you still have questions, ask! I have a form on this blog (upper right corner) where you can ask questions any time. I periodically hold FAQ teleseminar to answer questions; asking a question on the form assures you’ll be notified.