Archive for author
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Diane
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I just bought a book I can’t wait to read.
Why?
Because I heard a great interview by the author on the radio. I knew I had to get his book.
Alex Mandossian often said, “You don’t make money writing books, you make money explaining books.”
Test it for yourself.
Think about the last time you bought a book. Wasn’t it either because someone recommended it, or because you somehow heard the author talking about it and it seemed interesting to you?
Notice too the viral element. I’m telling you about it, and word is going out via my blog, emails, Twitter, Facebook. All because of one interview! (And no, I do not work for the publisher. They don’t know I’m doing this, but I would love a review copy, hint hint!)
Check out my past Virtual Book Tours and see if you’re not at least tempted to get one of the books. Just browse the left-hand column for an author or topic that interests you. I’ve got lots of topics to choose from, from leadership to parenting to health. www.virtualbooktourexpert.com
The book, by the way, is Richard Swenson’s In Search of Balance: Keys to a Stable Life. I took notes on the interview, and can’t wait to read the book. It’s a topic I’ve been thinking about a lot, and Dr. Swenson’s other book, Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives
, was excellent. Life-changing, really (though I admit, I need to go back to it).
Why is a topic for another blog post….
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Diane
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Becoming a successful author is very much like the growth of bamboo.
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 Read More→
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Diane
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Do you dream of becoming a bestselling author someday?
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?
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Diane
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It hit me forcefully just how much publishing has changed as I reflected on my recent interactions with a major publisher over a client’s potential book.
As I mentioned in one of my Publishing Coach Weekly teleseminars, there are three paths of publishing one can take.
1. You publish just because your life dream is to have a published book. The book is really all you care about.
You can go either the self-publishing route (faster, possible to get published if you have the money), or you can take the longer, more uncertain route of trying to get a publisher to publish you. If you do go the traditional publishing route, you will need
Read the rest of this new Publishing Coach Weekly article
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Diane
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The recording of the Great Author Promotions interview with Noah St. John is ready.
Those who were on the live call and frustrated by the sound level of my voice on the webcast will be pleased to know that the recording is MUCH better. I had no control over the webcast quality, but because I don’t trust technology, I had a good backup system in place and thankfully, that worked.
(You’ll be introduced to my dog, Millie, barking in the background at one point. She’s usually nice and quiet but missing her walk for two days due to rain made her jumpy, I guess.)
Anyway, Noah had some interesting things to say.
But I did not agree with EVERYTHING he said.
In fact, I want to say a couple of things before you even listen.
Read More→
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Diane
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I am so excited about the next Great Author Promotions teleseminar!
My guest will be Noah St. John, author of The Secret Code of Success, the book published by Harper Business books that got him a six-figure advance.
Noah is a pioneer in what I call “New Era Publishing” strategies, and tomorrow he is going to reveal what he’s done in two specific areas: the media, and building a community.
I will also reveal some tidbits about what I’ve been learning about what big publishers are looking for now, from my ongoing dialog about one of my client’s books.
Learn too what Noah is doing to try to get on the Oprah Winfrey show–and how you can participate.
And of course, ask your question! If we have time, we’ll get to it.
http://www.greatauthorpromotions.com
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Diane
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It was what Alex Mandossian calls a “pack-your-bags” moment–a moment when you have such an “aha!” that you could pack your bags right then and feel you’d gotten your money’s worth from the event.
And the event hadn’t even started!
The moment was over dinner, when Jay Aaron (brilliant guy, very nice too) was talking about Oprah Winfrey.
“There are two ways to be an expert,” Jay said.
“One is to be a guest on Oprah’s show.
“The other is to BE Oprah.”
He paused. Watch out, here comes the $64,000 insight. Read More→
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Diane
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One of the key aspects of what I call “New Era Publishing” is to provide content in more than one format, so that the author’s message can be consumed in the ways the consumer chooses. “Your content on their terms” is how Paul Colligan puts it.
Publisher Thomas Nelson just announced a new program called NelsonFree, which “allows readers to receive content in multiple formats—physical book, audiobook and e-book—without making multiple purchases.” With NelsonFree, the price of the hardcover book includes both the audio download and the e-book, available in several formats, including EPub, MobiPocket and PDF.
Once readers purchase a book with the NelsonFree logo, they are directed to a Web site where they register and answer a security question. They then can download an audio MP3 file and choose the format of e-book.
Interestingly, Joel Miller, v-p and publisher, business and culture, said Nelson will not raise the price of hardcovers in the NelsonFree program. “I only see the price going up if a particular project has unique added expenses in producing the audio and digital books,” Miller said.
Nelson president and CEO Michael S. Hyatt said, “I believe that the industry is shifting and we, as publishers, need to explore new methods of getting our content into the hands of customers. NelsonFree will give readers a new level of value and flexibility. It will enhance their literary experience and allow greater employment of the content without breaking the bank.”
I applaud Nelson for being proactive here and leading the way. As an author’s advocate, I can’t help but wonder, do authors get any added royalties for the digital content? My guess is not, if the publisher is not charging extra.
On the other hand, making the content available in many formats should only boost sales and gain an author more exposure and reach. And isn’t that what we want as authors?
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Diane
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Noah St. John’s new book, The Secret Code of Success, just came out, and he’s doing some innovative things to promote his message that are worth studying.
(By the way, he got a six-figure advance for the book from a major publisher, no doubt on the strength of the content, the platform he’d already built, and his marketing plan.)
Noah is currently doing a “bookinar” in which, over the course of 4 or 5 modules, he is being interviewed by Alex Mandossian about the content of the book. The book is your “ticket” to attend the webinar, which makes sense, since the book is the curriculum. On the bookinar Noah explains the book, and gives exercises that will enable you to get the most out of the content.
It’s a lot like a Virtual Book Tour, but it goes a step beyond by becoming an interactive course, based on the book.
Brilliant. This is “New Era Publishing” strategy at its best. Noah is providing a way for readers to Read More→
