Be More Than An Author

It is terrific to be an author and have books in the world. Over 80% of Americans plan to write a book at some point during their lifetime. Many people have published books through traditional publishers or self-published their book.  It's exciting to hold the new book in your hand and dream of people reading and enjoying your book.

This morning I watched this eight-year old video of Robert Kyosaki for at least the third time. Why? Because this video contains multiple messages and insights from a bestselling author. He and his wife, Kim, are always learning, always promoting, always selling and do not see themselves as authors but as entrepreneurs. Leading up to the Quantum Leap program Steve Harrison offers a series of free teleseminars. The next one is Thursday, September 17^th  and you can sign up here. I always learn a great deal from these sessions and recommend it to you.

If you watch this video, you will hear Kyosaki encouraging you to be more than an author—to be an entrepreneur. In the last few years, I've been hearing the term authorpreneur. The word combines the word author and the word entrepreneur.

The authorpreneur is “relevant, entrepreneurial, action-oriented and literary focused.” I pulled these words from the back cover of Will the R.E.A.L Authorpreneur Please Stand Up?

An authorpreneur gets it. They understand they can't simply throw their book into the world and expect people to buy it just because it exists. No, it takes more effort than publishing a book to achieve success. I participated in this book and contributed a chapter to it called Always Learning. If you read this book and study the content of the various participants, it will get you started on your own journey to become an authorpreneur.

From my years in publishing, I find many people looking for the path to become a bestselling author. They are saying, “Just show me the path and I will follow it.” Unfortunately the journey is different for each author.  If there was a single tool or a single path, every author would find it and all of our books would sell many copies—which is not happening. The key from my experience is to always be learning, always trying new tools and new ideas. If the ideas work and increase your sales and your presence in the marketplace, great. If not, then discard those ideas and try something else.

The point is to be taking regular and consistent action in the marketplace. It certainly will never happen if you do nothing.

As I've written before, 80% of the sales for every book is up to the author. As an author, I encourage you to follow the first principle of The Success Principles by Jack Canfield: I will take 100% responsibility for my life. It is far easier to blame others and depend on others than to take your own responsibility.

What actions are you taking today to move forward for your book?

Flexible Learning

As a writer and editor, I’m constantly learning and trying new programs or new tools or new ways to explore opportunities and grow. I’ve written about a number of different opportunities in these entries in The Writing Life such as:

• Live events or conferences
• Reading Books
• Teleseminars
• Membership courses like my Write A Book Proposal course

Today I want to highlight one more opportunity which has great flexibility: podcasts.  Many people are using this tool to get their message and information out to new people. As an author or entrepreneur, you can learn how to create a podcasting course. Just follow the link to learn more about how you can create a course. Podcasting is another tool that you can use as an author to build your audience and establish yourself as an expert.

There are thousands of podcasts with great information for you to learn about almost any subject. Many of us are carrying a smartphone with us. Make sure you have the podcast app on your phone. Then through iTunes you can search for podcasts which appeal to you and subscribe to the podcast.  As that podcast adds more programs, you can download the program on your phone and listen to it whenever you want.

Many people listen to podcasts as they exercise or walk. If I don't have something like a podcast to engage my mind, I find exercise is boring. If I exercise while listening to a podcast, I can gain some new insights during the process. My local church puts past sermons on podcasts. There is an endless variety of topics and subjects for podcasts.

Four Possible Podcasts

I'd like to highlight three different podcasts for writers and authors. I selected these podcasts because they are long enough to have some substance to them and with valuable insight for every author or would-be author. I recommend you listen to several of these podcasts and see if the content helps you. If not, try something else which will help you with your writing life.

Recently I was on a live radio show It’s all About the Questions with Laura Steward. Our interview was a live AM radio broadcast throughout Florida. To Laura's credit, she also recorded  and edited this this broadcast as a podcast. Follow this link to hear our interview.  I love the flexibility of this interview. You can download it to your desktop or your phone or catch it as a podcast.

Writers and Authors on Fire is another recommended podcast. I've known the host John Vonhof for many years. The quality of the interviews and the information for writers is excellent. I've heard a number of these interviews and appreciated the contents. John interviewed me and here is my recent podcast at Writers and Authors on Fire.

Another podcast that I've been listening to is Authorpreneur with Jim Kukral. I've heard several of these interviews and appreciated the information and education for authors in this podcast.

Finally I recommend Author U, Your Guide to Book Publishing by Dr. Judith Briles. I've known Judith for many years and she has a large volume of podcasts and many different topics in this podcast. I would encourage you to download several of them and gain from this information.

You may like a different set of podcasts. My main point in this article is to celebrate these flexible learning tools but also to encourage you to listen to these resources—or even start your own podcasting course.

Which podcasts do you listen to? Let's get your ideas in the comments.