It also takes four other things. I call them the Four Rs.

You must do the right things the right way,  in the right sequence, to the right people.

Let’s break this down.

The Right Things

There are two main things any author needs to do consistently over time in order to become successful.

1. Master your craft.

Without craft–and by this, I mean the freshness both of your message and your delivery–you will be here today, gone tomorrow. We’ve heard everything before. What fresh approach are you bringing to the table? What bling do you bring?

If you’re not really a writer, and don’t care to be one, you must put up the money to hire a very good writer. Period. Schlock never sells for long.

There’s something else you must master, or pay for.

A message is must reach its audience. So you must:

2. Market your message.

Everything you do as an author (or speaker, or business person, in fact) comes down to these two things.

Master your craft–the what–and your marketing–the how.

Which brings us to …

The Right Way

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of ways to reach your audience.

Nowadays there’s a plethora of social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, forums), as well as blogs, YouTube, apps for all sorts of technology.

There are article directories, magazines (online and off), speaking opportunities, podcasting, radio, television, YouTube, to name just a few things.

The right way means you do the right things consistently. That you test and evaluate regularly, discarding what doesn’t work.

But you must know not only where to start, but how to proceed, so you need …

The Right Sequence

So where do you start? And how do you continue from there, in the right sequence, so you’re building with a strategy, according to a blueprint, and not just performing a lot of frenzied activities?

That brings us to …

The Right People

You start with your who.

The people you are trying to reach is your who, and where you should start.

You must know your intended audience intimately. You must bring your message to the right who.

Know who they are (age, gender, economic status), what they like to do, where they “hang out” (online and offline). What they read. How much time and money they have for what you have to offer.

What you’re looking for is a connection. The vital link between your message and your audience.

Do you know what that key is that unlocks all these “right” approaches?

YOU!

You are the key. Knowing what you want to accomplish, what you want to say, what motivates you to reach your audience–this is the starting point.

Knowing yourself also shows you where to start with the how. As I said, there are thousands of ways to promote your book. Where do you start?

You start with the who–who your audience is, and who you are.

You connect the dots, using the approaches you enjoy (which will probably boil down to either writing or speaking primarily) that will also reach the people you want to reach.

You like to write primarily? Then you can focus on articles, blogs, forums and the like. But make sure your audience hangs out in these places as well. Or, if they’re not online, that you know how to reach the journals and magazines they read.

You like to speak? There are opportunities galore here, both online and offline. Again, make sure you focus on where your audiences likes to hang out.

What spells author success? The four Rs, and most of all, the connection.

And if you want more help with the four Rs and the connection, I invite you to check out “Write Your Book Right,” and/or my personal coaching to set up a plan that is right for you.

Bamboo is an interesting plant. Its growth starts underground, where the rhizome system that supports the canes are developed.For three whole years, the plant establishes itself underground and there is no apparent growth. Nothing appears to be happening.

In the fourth year, shoots appear. The bamboo canes grow in height and diameter for only 60 days every spring. After the 60 days, that particular cane will never grow again.

However, because of the rhizome system, the next spring the shoots that come up will grow much taller and faster in those 60 days. After a bamboo grove has been establishing its rhizome system for 5 years, the canes that grow in that fifth year can reach as much as 90 feet (for certain species, in certain conditions)–all in 60 days!

Becoming a successful author is largely about establishing a strong “rhizome system” that will support the growth you can experience seemingly overnight–growth in the number of people who are exposed to your message and who themselves will begin to spread the word.

What it takes to develop that underground system is what I’m all about as a publishing coach.

That’s why you see a bamboo image in my new header.

I’m not about to promise you overnight success. I just don’t believe the real world works that way. You don’t really believe it does, either, do you? Much as we’d like to believe the fantastic claims of writing a book in 14 days or becoming a bestseller overnight, you and I know deep down that these are promises from clever marketers who want to sell us their products.

Instead, I’m going to show the exact process you need to go through so that you can lay the proper groundwork (“rhizome system”) and accelerate your growth.

Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to take 3 or 4 years for you to see any signs of growth. Unlike bamboo, the process for you can be accelerated.  That is my goal!

However, I do want you to not get discouraged if at the beginning there’s no apparent sign of anything happening at all. Under my direction, you WILL make progress.

The first step is to sign up for my Author Success Plan, a meaty, 5-part course that will lay the groundwork and show you the ABCs of Becoming a Successful Author.

What you learn in these 5 lessons is based on my 32 years of experience in publishing as an author (11 books),  editor, copywriter and marketer. They are things no one else is saying because few people know them.

The investment is small–$5. I’d give it to you free, but if I do that it’s likely it will just sit on your computer gathering cyberdust. I’m asking you to invest a little something so that you actually open and read and do the lessons. (Each lesson contains Action Steps.) I want you to benefit from these lessons.

Get your Author Success Plan now so you can immediately begin to receive your first lesson in what it takes to become a successful author. (If you want to see more of what’s in each lesson, click here.)

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.

“Independent publishing” can mean a lot of things. It includes what most people think of as using a self-publishing company. It can also include various small presses.

As the lines in publishing models blur, new publishing models are being developed. The most exciting model is what I call “hybrid publishing” that companies like Intermedia use. With this new model,

authors pay upfront for publishing services. The good “hybrid publishers” have the same important infrastructure in place that traditional publishers do: designers, editors, and distribution to the retail outlets.

In my opinion, it is becoming more and more advantageous to the author to publish this way, versus a traditional publisher. (Remember, for 30 years I was in that traditional publishing world, as an author and editor.)

In fact,  I recently advised one of my clients to NOT pursue publishing with a major commercial publisher but instead to go with Intermedia Publishing Group.

The biggest issues were control, ownership, timing, royalties, and distribution.

Intermedia won on all these counts. In fact, I just went over the publishing agreement with a fine-toothed comb, and am extremely happy with its author-friendly terms.

Control: Author has total control over the title and cover. The publisher came up with an outstanding cover design. We surveyed the list (you may have participated) and came up with a winner of a title and subtitle.

Also very important: This is a non-exclusive contract. Meaning if a big publisher came to you and offered you $100,000 to publish you, you could say yes.

Another control issue has to do with what you can put into your book. Traditional publishers often frown on your putting in information to get people to your website, say to “register” the book so you can begin a relationship with a reader. You can put whatever you want into your book when you publish this way.

Ownership: The author owns everything, including the cover (with Intermedia, it’s a work for hire, and the author owns the images etc.). I had to PAY the publisher AND get an agreement to use the cover for my Abundant Gifts book from the first edition, and never could get anything on the cover for the second. This can be huge–to own the cover rights.

With Intermedia (and other good self-publishing companies), you own everything.

Timing: The turnaround for the cover and everything else so far has been outstanding.  We were, frankly, amazed at how quickly the designer came up with a great cover. (You’re amazing, Kimberly!)

Royalties: The publisher does not take royalties, but does split for distribution. (More on that below) This is only fair, and the fact that they even have the distribution channels they do is a huge plus and not true of many self-publishing companies.

Author gets 100% of the royalties, and only splits with the publisher if the latter is helping with distribution. If the author sells from his/her own site and fulfills the order, author gets 100% of the profit.

Another big difference:  You get paid every month with Intermedia, as opposed to once or twice a year with traditional publishers.

Distribution: Here’s where it gets juicy. Most self-publishing companies, especially if they’re Print on Demand, can only promise they will make available your title to retailers. They do not have the distribution channels already in place that most traditional publishers do. (Intermedia does both POD and offset printing, by the way.)

Intermedia is unique in that it already has true inroads into Wal-Mart, Target and other big box retailers, as well as amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online retailers, and even airport book buyers.

They also have some 16,000 online bookstores tied into their distribution channels, a mailing list of 35 million, and they include your book at the dozens of events they put on yearly. They are printing a catalog that goes to a mailing list of 70,000.

They will also warehouse (free for a certain period of time) and fulfill orders. There are various splits with the author for the distribution  services, but all are very fair and in line with typical distributors practices.

All in all, in working with them and going over the contract, I’m very happy with what I see.  This “hybrid publisher” offers the best of both worlds, in my opinion.

The only downside? You pay upfront for these services. You need capital for this.

But that is as it should be. Like it or not, becoming an author means opening a business. You are creating and owning an asset (intellectual property), and there are business considerations and great potential rewards, as with any business. You have to learn how to market and sell your asset and protect your rights. (For more about how to become a successful author, get my Author Success Plan 5-part minicourse. For help with no-hype, heart-based marketing, check out the Bridging Heart and Marketing virtual conference.)

I think this model is the wave of the future, and the best way currently to publish. Intermedia offers the best of all publishing worlds. My only concern is that, with the great services they offer,  they may grow too big too fast.

(To eavesdrop on an in-depth dialogue about publisihng between another publishing veteran, Terry Whalin, and myself, go to www.askaboutpublishing.com–you can ask a question about publishing and listen to the replay.)

Most authors do.

But most authors also have a problem.

There is a word in the phrase “bestselling author” that is troublesome to many of us.

Can you guess what it is?

“Selling.”

We want our books to sell, yet we do NOT like the idea of “selling.”

Why is that?

Mostly because we have this idea that “selling” means “in-your-face, over-hyped copy.”

We see it everywhere. Over-the-top headlines that feel like they’re screaming at us.

Inflated promises that only make us more jaded.

We run from that kind of marketing ourselves. We certainly don’t want to impose it on others.

Yet we assume that’s what we have to do to “sell.”

Well, there is another approach, and I’m happy to say it works BETTER than the hype.

It’s a whole new approach to marketing that fits well with authors, called “Soft Sell Marketing.” It’s pioneered by my friends Judith & Jim Sniechowski, who are themselves authors of the excellent book and #1 bestseller, The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back.

I love their concept of “selling as spiritual service and extended prayer.” They explain, “When you really know what you’re alive on this planet to fulfill, your life becomes a prayer and you move into more and more of who you are and what you’re here to produce and contribute. You are extended. And as you serve others, they extend the prayer. Then there is true meaning in what you do every minute of the day.”

In a conference that starts in just 10 days, they will we will show you how to incorporate these principles into the heart of your business as an author so you can best serve your followers while taking care of yourself at the same time in ways you have not yet imagined.

If you’ve gotten my Author Success Plan, you know that one of the keys to becoming a successful author is approaching it as a business. This conference will show you how to run a business with heart. I resonate with that.

In fact, here’s a free coaching tip:  I suggest you study this page carefully for an example of this very kind of “selling.” If the style appeals to you, then go ahead and sign up to learn how to do it for yourself.

The line-up of speakers is impressive. I know many of them, and have learned from many of them myself. It promises to be content-rich, not a “pitch-fest.”

The best thing about this conference is it’s VIRTUAL. You can attend from the comfort of your own home, and if you choose the Interactive option (recommended), you can get MP3 downloads that you can listen to at your own pace, and go over again and again.

This is the first year Judith and Jim are holding this conference virtually rather than live, and everyone benefits. It’s now eminently affordable. I highly recommend it! Sign up now!

I’ve been working secretly on something for some time, and on this week’s Publishing Coach Weekly teleseminar, you’re going to be the first to know about it, before anyone else!

(Don’t worry, this won’t cost you anything, and you ARE going to love it!)

Here’s a hint: It has to do with my goal for you–to become a successful author.

On this teleseminar, I talk about what that means, AND tell you about this exciting Thing that you will be the FIRST to know about. (It’s not even up on my site or anything yet!)

A few weeks ago, I interviewed Charlene Baumbich about being a successful author. (If you haven’t heard that yet, you might want to do so at www.publishingcoachweekly.com/teleseminarreplays.html.) But I myself have a lot to say about this topic, and I can’t wait to share it with you!

If you have any question at all about what it takes to become a successful author, please ask it here.

The call-in details can be found on that page, or if you don’t have any question for now, just go here to get call-in details or listen to the replay.

My name is Diane Eble, and my goal with this blog is to give people who want to write and publish the information and resources they need to get started and, if you so choose, actually make money at it.

I want you to “be well heard and well paid for what you know and love to do.”

What do I bring to the table here?

I have 32 years of experience in just about all aspects of the writing and publishing fields.

I’m the author of 11 books, all of them published by “traditional” publishers (as opposed to vanity publishers, or self-published) and more than 400 magazine and/or online articles. I’ve even won awards.

One of my recent books is  MotherStyles: Using Personality Type to Discover Your Parenting Strengths, was written in collaboration with Janet P. Penley. The “book of my heart” is Abundant Gifts. If you like stories that touch the heart, like the Chicken Soup for the Soul books you will enjoy Abundant Gifts. People have told my book is better, but I’ll let you decide that.

I’ve also been an editor for both books (mostly fiction, but also nonfiction), and magazines (Campus Life and Marriage Partnership magazines).

Finally, in the quest to actually make a living at writing words, I’ve learned copywriting (i.e. sales copy), other kinds of marketing writing, and publicity. Just recently (Feb. 3, 2006) I was on the national radio show, Midday Connection.

Now, I have to be honest with you. One of the things I want to do with this blog is bring reality to the table. Lessons I’ve learned the hard way, that I will pass on to you so that you will be able to leap over the years of heartache and empty bank accounts that I and countless other writers have experienced.

I’ll bring you the good, the bad and the ugly about writing and publishing. I’ll pass on writing tips and publishing pitfalls to avoid. I’ll introduce you to wonderful products, services and people who will really deliver, There are plenty that promise you the moon. I will warn you of what’s mere hype and what is “the real deal.” I won’t promote anything I don’t honestly believe will help you. I won’t promote anything unless it’s:

A) Proven to work
B) I’ve used it or read it before
C) I know the person behind the service or product personally.

Whether writing is your dream or your current livelihood, I think you will find much value here. Please take a moment to subscribe to this blog so that you will be alerted whenever I make a new post.

Also, I encourage you to check out the Author Success Plan. This will get you started on the right path in an almost-free meaty, five-part minicourse on “The ABCs of Becoming a Successful Author.” You won’t find these “insider” insights anywhere else, I promise.

If you have a question about writing, publishing, or promoting a book, ask it in the box to the right of the blog. I answer questions on this blog, in Publishing Coach Weekly articles, and in teleseminars.

You might also want to check out the links on the blog. There will be many more, as I check out new resources. Again, though, I only want to make sure they’re truly the best value around. I’ll be reviewing resources here as well.

To get back to the main blog with all the places to subscribe, ask your question, and sign up for the Author Success Plan, simply click the Back button on your browser to get back to the main blog page, and look to the sidebar on your right. All the goodies are there!

Happy writing and profitable publishing!

Diane Eble

Your Book Publishing Coach