If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Thinking of self-publishing your book? There are some good reasons to self-publish (see my article on “Why You Should Consider Self-Publishing Your First Book“).

However, you can easily get gouged by choosing the wrong self-publishing company. I’ve had people come to me saying they invested $5,000 to $40,000 in a self-publishing company, with little to show but a garage full of poorly produced books and a contract that precludes them ever making any money from their book.

I’m very passionate about helping authors to avoid getting ripped off. I hate when companies or individuals prey on the desire to become an author and share your wisdom with the world.

That’s why I was overjoyed when I discovered Mark Levine and his book, The Fine Print of Self-Publishing: The Contracts & Services of 45 Self-Publishing Companies–Analyzed, Ranked and Exposed!, now in its Third Edition.

I invite you to listen to an interview I did with Mark Levine recently on how to choose the right self-publishing company. Find out the most common mistakes authors make when choosing a self-publishing company, and how to avoid them–among other things.

You can also ask Mark Levine your question about self-publishing, and sign up for my upcoming Virtual Book Tour in which Mark Levine will answer your questions about self-publishing.

Please–don’t even consider self-publishing a book until you’ve listened to this interview and checked out Mark’s book and the resources he offers along with it

Here’s a question from this blog I’d like to answer. (Ask your question in the box to the right.)

Helen asks:

“I am a teacher working with kindergarten children for 50 years. I would like to publish books relating to children and others. I have no knowledge how to start. Can XSite Pro help me who knows nothing about website or the internet? Please advise, Helen”

My answer:

One of the great things about XSite Pro is that

Read the rest of this entry »

What do you do when you don’t want to do a project you have to do but don’t want to do?

If you’re like me, you procrastinate.

Today I found myself getting to a project I’d been wanting to do for a long time. One of those “important but not urgent” things you never seem to get around to doing, because “urgent” always takes precedence.

Why did I finally find the energy and focus to do this one project?

Because there was another project that was important, urgent–that I didn’t want to do!

So I procrastinated. But by turning to something “important” but not urgent.

Next time you find yourself putting off something, use “creative procrastination” and turn to something you’ve wanted to do but somehow couldn’t find the time to. It’s amazing the energy you can find when you’re avoiding an unpleasant task!

(I’d love to hear ways you “creatiely procrastinate.” Please post your comment.)

I have a brand-new article for you AND Recommended Resource of the Week.

Both are marketing tips, and the resource is time-sensitive.

First, read the article, please. It’s called “Building Relationships of Gold with Readers” and it’s about “How to Market Your Book through
Articles and Relationships.”

The resource is related: Jeff Herring’s “List-Building Gold” course. I give 5 reasons why I recommend Jeff and this course, here.

Jeff is doing a preview teleseminar tomorrow night, so if this interests you, sign up here:

I think you’ll learn something from tomorrow night’s call, even if you don’t sign up for the course.

A friend of mine, a successful author, told me her blogger.com blog was suddenly taken down because they thought she was somehow spamming.

Suddenly, her web presence is yanked away. She has to jump through hoops she barely understands, and MAYBE Google (who owns blogger.com) will decide in her favor. Maybe not.

All her old posts are gone, maybe forever.

This is not uncommon at all. What happens is that if Google’s robot (not a human) detects just ONE complaint, it will shut your blog down. (Get this: Google shut down it’s OWN blog a few months ago! Not for long, you can be sure, but it happened!)

It’s a shame to have a blog shut down, because it’s so damaging, yet so easy to prevent.

Prevent it simply by

Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve heard me quote often from publishing industry expert Michael Cader: “The Internet was designed for us [publishers and authors]. We couldn’t have made something any better, and I think precious few publishers have taken aggressive advantage of all the ways in which a good Internet strategy can spread the world about their products, bring them closer to their customers, and help them drive sales. Every publisher [I would add, author] should be thinking of their digital strategy as really beginning with the Internet, and branching out from there.”

Okay, so we know that we authors could probably be doing better with this amazing tool called the Internet. But where does an author or would-be author start? Read the rest of this entry »

“Write a book in 28 days!”

“Get published in 6 weeks!”

“Become an Amazon best seller and rake in the publishing deals!”

“We’ll publish your book and get you in all the book store chains.”

“We think your book sounds promising. Forward your manuscript with a $25 (or $50 or $100 or …) reading fee.”

Perhaps you’ve seen these and other promises made to people whose dream has always been to write and publish a book, and even, perhaps, get on the bestseller list.

Promises like these make me angry. I hate it when people prey on other people’s dreams, just to make a buck.

If you are unsure of whether a company or resource you’re considering is credible, I invite you Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re interested in creating easy web sites, read on.

Otherwise, move on. I know your time is precious.

Sunday at 3.p.m ET is the last webinar to explain how XSite Pro can help you build great-looking, search-engine optimized sites fast.
I was thinking about how much money XSite Pro has saved me.

I spent $110 to get the basic web site for Words to Profit designed (via someone at elance.com that a friend recommended).

And … that’s it!

With the basic design for www.wordstoprofit.com, I could create the variation you see as the header to this blog.

Then, I decided it made more sense to change the header for two of my sites, from Words to Profit design to Your Book Publishing Coach:
http://www.writingsecretsrevealed.com
http://www.writeyourbookrightnow.com

It took four clicks to change, save, and publish each site; 1 minute 22 seconds for the whole process.

And I did not need any web master to do it.

If you like the templates you’ll get with V2 (full sites, sales letters, product pages), you won’t even need a designer. Attend the webinar or just watch the video to see all the things you get “out of the box.”

If you already have a header or logo, you can just use that.

What I did NOT have to spend anything on:

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a question submitted by Mylow. I thought my answer might be useful for other people, as well, so I thought I’d share it. (Ask your own question here.)

Mylow wrote:

“I submitted my book to a family member for editing. She was an English professor who does a lot of reading. She sent it back to me saying it wasn’t in book form but more like a screenplay because, she said, it had too much dialogue and character interacting. One of the points of my book is to get something out of the interacting (as far as real life is concerned) and the dialogue, I feel, is essential. Funny thing is, I don’t do a lot of reading myself but I write a lot, mostly poetry (this is my first novel). After browsing through a couple of other authors (one is a best seller) I found that there are novels that do have a lot of dialogue. My question is, can a novel be successful if it’s made up primarily of dialogue? Is it just the readers preference?”

My answer:

Yes, the amount of dialogue compared to description, etc., is somewhat a matter of style.

Having said that, however, you do have to Read the rest of this entry »

One of the best ways to “monetize” your knowledge is to create a membership site, and I wrote an article about how to do that, which you can read here.

In the article, I quote Jimmy D. Brown and why, from his experience, typical membership sites don’t work. Jimmy has a unique model for membership sites called “fixed term membership sites.”

His model makes sense to me. I think will work for A LOT of people who either have a nonfiction, how-to book (it would be very easy to “chop up” your content into chunks, which become lessons) or who want to write such a book.

(Jimmy doesn’t talk about using this model to actually WRITE A BOOK, but I say, when you’re done with your FTM, why not also turn it into a print book? My added twist. And if you want to go that route, I’ll show you how!)

The cool thing about Jimmy’s approach is, it will work for you even if you don’t yet have a book idea, because the very first lesson includes a Bonus that gives you 20 ideas for starting a membership site.

I am now on Lesson 22 of Jimmy’s Membernaire program, so I have seen a lot of this program. (Yes, you WILL be hearing from me about my new Fixed Term Membership sites. I have two programs coming up–one for writing a book, the other on marketing.)

I have taken a number of other courses from Jimmy D. Brown as well, and here’s what I like about him.

1. He has a knack for making things simple. Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” I think Jimmy hits this balance.

2. He makes so many things simple: coming up with ideas, writing, creating a web site, writing a sales letter. Everything you need to start your membership site in 48 hours, as he promises, is made crystal clear.

3. He fulfills his promises and doesn’t rely on hype. For instance, he really does show you exactly how to set up a membership site in 48 hours. Two 8-hour days is all it takes.

4. He teaches step by step. Again, very clear, exactly what to do each step of the way. He also gives assignments to keep you on track. And, if you really need more help, you can get his personal coaching at any time.

5. I learn at least as much from HOW Jimmmy does things as from WHAT he says. (Come to think of it, I learned that from him!)

THE BEST PART:

Jimmy always gives lots of examples and ideas. Again, it goes with being a good teacher.

In fact, as mentioned, right from the start in Lesson 1 of Membernaire you get a Bonus lesson of 20 Membership Site Ideas. So even if you don’t have an idea yet, this list will get your creative juices going!

It’s worth $27, I think, to at least get the first month of lessons and see what you think. With those lessons you’ll have everything you need to start your Fixed Term Membership site in 48 hours.

In fact, by the end of that month, if you keep up with the lessons, you’ll have your membership site up and going and bringing in revenue.

You know I am very picky about whom and what I promote. Jimmy D. Brown is one person I recommend without reservation, and I think this particular program is terrific.

You can always cancel if you don’t agree that Jimmy’s course will get you going on a very profitable venture. Check it out. I think you’ll be blown away.

Note: As of early this morning, there were only 94 openings left to the Membernaire program. I know it sold out fast 6 months ago, when he first opened it up. So I wouldn’t wait, if I were you.

One month or even one week from now, you could have your own FTM going! Remember, even if you don’t have a book now, or even a concrete idea, Lesson 1’s Bonus will give you 20 ideas from which to choose.