The Outrageous Offer

If you follow my tweets from Twitter, you know I'm a fan of bestselling author, Harvey Mackay. I met him several years ago when he spoke at a Mark Victor Hansen Mega Book Marketing University in Los Angeles. I subscribe to his column online but I also read it each Monday in the Arizona Republic, my local newspaper.

I found today's column, 'Outrageous' has instant advertising potential to be fascinating. Are you dissatisfied with the results of your advertising or promotion efforts? Mackay quotes Bill Glazer saying, 99% of small business owners are dissatisfied with the results from their advertising. Glazer wrote a book called Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful. If you click this link, you can get the book for $4.95. BTW, notice the simple website where they are selling this book: billsnewbook.com. The site is at the end of Harvey Mackay's syndicated column which is in business sections around the country.

When I read this article and looked at the book website, I understood that I could learn something from this book and the extra bonuses. I took action and purchased the book. I will receive it and plan to read it and take action on the information that I learn from it.

Why would they make such a great offer? As I purchased the book, I found out and Bill Glazer is quite explicit about it in the materials. One of the bonuses is a free month trial in their $59.95 a month Glazer-Kennedy Insider Circle Gold Membership. If I don't cancel within the first month, then this amount will be automatically deducted from my credit card each month. Through the offer they are counting on a certain percentage of people who will continue with this membership. I will consider it but I strongly doubt that I will be staying as a Gold Member. Yet their offer has tremendous value and I believe I can learn something from the book and other materials.

I wanted to tell you about this experience for several reasons.

First, I'm constantly learning new techniques and information about how to become a better communicator / writer. I'm determined to continue growing in my craft and ability to reach the marketplace. I take action when I see these types of offers because I can learn something. Also I'm actively working on the new material which I will be teaching in Oregon and Philadelphia next month. I've gained some new insights which I will be passing on to the people in my sessions (maybe you? I hope so).

Second, I wanted to point out the necessity of taking action and moving forward. Not everything I try works but at least I am actively looking. When I meet with writers and even long-term professionals at conferences, often they are quick to confide in me about the lack of sales or the decline in the market and the demise of a number of well-known publications. Yes, those things are happening in the marketplace--but do not get mired in those conversations!

I encourage you to press forward. You are looking for the open doors of opportunities. It make mean you have to make some outrageous offers and create some new products for the marketplace.

Answers For The Continual Author Question

I spend the bulk of my work hours talking and emailing authors because of my role as a book publisher at Intermedia Publishing Group. These individuals have many different ideas, goals and dreams for their books. I'm committed to getting each book out into the marketplace with excellence and a high professional standard.

While these authors have many different goals for their books and some of them openly talk about what they want for the impact of the book and the message, one concrete measurement of the impact of their book is the earnings from their book. Whether they verbalize it or not, each author would like for their book to make money. Throughout my years in publishing, I've been involved in many books as an author and as an editor and now as a book publisher.

Wednesday, July 14th, I'll be talking about the topic of how to make money with books in a live teleseminar. I've built a great deal of thought and value into this event. You can sign up free to attend either on the phone or on the live telewebcast. If you can't attend the actual event, go ahead and sign up (even if you don't have a question) because it will be recorded. Everyone who registers will receive the replay link to the recording.

After you enter your first name and primary email address and a question, then confirm the information, you will reach a thank you, confirmation page. On this page, you can return to listen to the live event but also you can download a copy of a new ebook which I've created: Buzz Your Book, Marketing That Matters. Also you can download an action guide and use it to take notes during the live event or when you listen to the replay.

Hope to speak with you on Wednesday.

A Summer Special For A Limited Time

Schools are letting out for the summer. Families are headed out for some vacation time. I've watched a number of celebrities speaking at graduation ceremonies. The weather is definitely heating up in the desert. We're going to be in the triple digits a good portion of the forthcoming week. Yes, the snowbirds (the folks who come to Arizona in the winter) are long gone and the roads are feeliing less crowded.

Summer is a great time for a different routine and to attempt something new and different. What are your plans and agenda for this new season?

The bulk of my day is consumed as a book publisher and helping authors get their books into print at Intermedia Publishing Group. In my few moments away from those responsibilities, I'm developing a new series of workshops on marketing for the writer. I'm working on a new series of lectures but also a new series of interactive handouts. I'll present these lectures at two conferences in August. The Oregon Christian Writers Summer Conference is August 2 through 5 in Canby, Oregon. I will have a small group of writers for my continuing session. Then from August 12 to 14, I will have an entirely different group at The Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference. If you haven't scheduled a conference for this summer, either one of those conferences would be a terrific option for your own personal growth.

OK. You may be wondering about the headline for this Writing Life entry: A Summer Special For A Limited Time. The revision of my latest book, Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams, has been available for a few weeks. I've been learning how to make better use of my shopping cart.

Recently I noticed my shopping cart allowed for coupons--yet I had never used them. In celebration of summer and to encourage you to grow in your own publishing dreams, I've set up a coupon code which has a limited time attached to it. The coupon code is good for 20% off the purchase price of the book. When you check out with either the paperback or the Ebook, notice the field in the shopping cart which says, "Coupon Code (optional)" and there is a blank field with a button "apply." The coupon code to enter is: June2010 If you add this code and hit apply, it will take off 20% of the retail price which is the greatest discount available for this book. Here's the limited time part of this coupon: you have to act now or before the end of June. After July 1st, this coupon code will not be effective.

I want to call to your attention, one additional space in the shopping cart that you might want to use. When you get to the checkout screen where you put your payment information, near the bottom of the page, it says, "Comments / Special Delivery Instructions." What goes into that space? If you have purchased the paperback, indicate in this space that you would like me to autograph your book--and give me the name to use. For example, "Please autograph to Jane." When I pack your book, I will be glad to autograph your book. I personally love autograph books and treasure them and I wanted to give you the same opportunity when you get Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams.

Now the choice is yours. I hope you will take advantage of this summer special for Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. I've packed this book with easy-to-apply practical material that could change your writing life--provided you take advantage of this limited time offer. I encourage you to get it today and take action with the summer. Seize the day.

Let's Go Global Monday

I'm going to be teaching a live teleseminar Monday evening called Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. This free event will not be recorded so you have to catch the actual event.

This class marks the second time that I've taught with this group. I taught Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams earlier this year and I had a terrific experience.

I encourage you to look around their site because they have well-qualified speakers and some of them may be of interest to you.

During my hour-long session, I will be covering a dozen different ways that you can jumpstart your desires and ambitions about publishing. My teaching will be a mixture of practical ideas and concrete how-to tips. One of the benefits of attending this event is that I will be offering a special discount on my book, Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. In order to get the discount, you have to be listening to the session.

It is a bit ironic to me when I see the authors pictured on the Global Teleclass header. Alex Loyd and Ben Johnson are two authors that I worked with in recent months to publish their book, The Healing Code through Intermedia Publishing Group. Last Thursday, June 3rd, these authors mounted an Amazon bestseller campaign where people are encouraged to purchase the book on a particular day. The Healing Code was the #3 book on Amazon last Thursday and the #1 nonfiction book. Only two bestselling fiction authors were higher on that list.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to be involved with the Global Teleclass and teach this live event. I hope to see you there.

Discover The Missing Piece

Are you missing a critical piece of your business? If you are a small business owner, speaker, coach or consultant, according to Sophfronia Scott, you need a book. In fact, you can build your business around a book.

Wednesday evening, I will be interviewing Sophfronia but I want to ask your questions so now is your chance to watch me grill this journalist who spent over twenty years writing and editing for People and Time. When she published her first novel, "All I Need to Get By" with St. Martin’s Press in 2004, one prominent reviewer referred to Sophfronia as potentially "one of the best writers of her generation." Sophfronia holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Harvard. In her current position as executive editor of The Done For You Writing & Publishing Company, Sophfronia helps entrepreneurs and speakers to write and publish books to promote their businesses.

Whether you have a question or not, go over to AskSophfronia and sign up. You will receive a free copy of her special report, The Missing Piece which you can instantly download.

Hope to speak with you on Wednesday.

Ask Plenty of Questions

At first I didn’t notice the publisher name on my room key at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. It was Cross Books, the self-publishing arm of Lifeway.

Last Wednesday at breakfast I spotted several writers who I met originally a year ago during the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. One of the authors, a pastor’s wife of a Baptist Church had decided to publish her first book with Cross Books. I listened to this author tell me about her challenges producing the book, getting in touch with the publishing house and how with each connection she was speaking with a different person at the publisher.

Finally this author pulled her new book out of her bag and showed it to me. I immediately noticed the barcode on the book did not include the retail price of $16.99 nor was the price printed on the back of the cover. As I looked closely at the book, I noticed the publisher address on the copyright page: Bloomington, Indiana. Then the pieces fell into place. This author had published with Author Solutions. I located this article from Publishers Weekly. It points out Cross Books is an imprint of Author Solutions, the largest self-publishing company in the country—yet this author was unaware of Author Solutions and had never heard of them. Author Solutions is the parent company for several imprints including West Bow Press with Thomas Nelson, the largest Christian publisher. The PW article mentions that West Bow has published 50 titles with another 200 in the process.

Almost two years ago, I interviewed Susan Driscoll, who was then the president of iUniverse. Susan moved to a different publisher when Author Solutions purchased iUniverse. At that time, iUniverse was publishing over 400 books a month. According to this article in American Way magazine, Author Solutions brought over 21,000 titles into print in 2008 (or an average of 1,750 books each month). Self-publishing has only grown in popularity in the last two years, I can’t imagine the number of books they are publishing at this time. While I'm sure some authors have great experiences with Author Solutions and their various imprints, it only seems fair to be aware of their large number of books. This newly-published Cross Books author that I met at the writers' conference had no idea she was a small part of a huge publishing entity.

The experience reminded me again of the necessity of authors to ask lots of questions before they sign up with any publisher. You want to make sure it is a right fit for you and your publishing goals. The author at Cross Books left our conversation encouraged with some plans and action steps to take with her book.

I found the experience renewed my own commitment to my authors to be a good communicator and to be in touch with them about their questions in a timely fashion. Only through good communication can people feel informed and able to do good work in the creation, distribution and marketing of books. Once again, I learned and grew as a member of the publishing community. What active steps are you taking to grow in your knowledge of the publishing world?

Take Action for Your Dreams

Over the last few days, I've been pulling together my handouts and teaching notes for the Colorado Christian Writers Conference and the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. If you check the dates on these two events you will see they are back to back or I will be nine days on the road. I'll be teaching six hours in Colorado and three hours in North Carolina plus meeting with many writers one-on-one and enjoying the conference experience.

At each of these conferences, I meet new people and also can catch up with long-term publishing friends. Every conference is an event with many conversations and benefits which happen from these exchanges.

Are you planning on going to a conference this year? I highly recommend that every writer or would-be writer make the effort to get to a conference. If you want to see my schedule for the year, here's where I keep it. I've added a couple of events over the last few weeks.

These events seem to start and end quickly. In between there are many interactions and dozens of ideas which are discussed. Resources are offered and sold. Many people leave these conferences enthused and energized about the opportunties for them in the publishing world. Yet there is one key distinction of the people who would like to be published and the ones who eventually get published: the ones who get published take action on the ideas and teaching.

If you could come along with me to these events, you'd be surprised at the number of times I offer to help someone--and I never hear from them again. They do not take an active follow-up role after the conference. The participants who take action will eventually succeed. That perserverance will pay off.

Over the last few weeks, I've been listening a second time to Arielle Ford's Everything You Should Know series. In some cases, I'm listening to the teaching for the third time. Why? It is a great deal of information to absorb and recall and especially to apply to your writing life.

I heard Arielle Ford affirm something that I've found true as well: there is no such thing as an overnight success. Every author who ultimately becomes a bestselling author or well-known has been in the trenches for years. They've been interviewed on the small radio stations and they've been telling people about their books for years and faithfully working on learning the writing craft.

Arielle told about an author she was promoting years ago who was a PhD and was riding the train over from Connecticut to a small cable TV station for an interview about his book. As this author rode the train, he felt regretted making the effort and time for this interview. He wondered if anyone would be watching the interview. That day, a reporter from the Wall Street Journal was home sick and caught this interview. The journalist was fascinated with the author and eventually wrote a front page story for the Wall Street Journal. That article propelled the author into the media eye and ultimately on the New York Times bestseller list.

You can't always tell the value of an interview or a review from what you see on the surface. Instead, you need to continue to take action and work toward achieving your dreams.

In each chapter of Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams, I have a dig deeper section with additional resources and a section for the reader called Awaken the Dream. I'm pushing the reader to take action and apply the material to their writing life. It's what I will be doing in Colorado and North Carolina--encouraging writers to take action. It's the only way to achieve their dreams.

What steps are you taking today to move forward and achieve your own plans in the publishing world? For some people that will involve learning the craft of writing. For others, it will mean reaching out and forming new relationships with editors or writing some magazine articles. For others, it will mean looking for new ways to reach their audience and tell them about their book.

From my years in the publishing world, every editor and agent that I know are actively looking for the best projects to bring into print. My encouragement is that you make a plan then take action on your plan--today and tomorrow and the next day. It will pay off for you.