Good Communication Is Critical

It may seem pretty basic but if you are going to work in the communication business, you need to work at this thing called communication. It seems like I need to work at it every day--even when I don't want to work at it.

This past week, I received a strongly written email. Someone had purchased one of my Ebook products and here's part of what they wrote, "Well, I have contacted you by email several times now, and I have received no response. All I could download for $39.00 was the title page. Only one page which gave me only your name and that of another. I have asked you in repeated emails to communicate with me about the status of my order, which I asked you to send by email or hard copy to my physical address. I am not able to download it on the Internet with any of the links you provided, even though you state you want to give me the best service on the net. Is this a scam or do you think I am trying to scam you?...I do not want to think you are intentionally scamming me, but what other conclusion can I reach unless you communicate with me about what I can expect from you."

I was upset about the threatening tone of this email because it was the first time I had heard about his problem (even though he claimed to have sent several emails--according to him each email increased the confrontative tone and now I saw the final straw as my first email). The experience reminded me again that you can never count on email alone for communication--if you are going to have good communications. I wanted to resolve his issue--but I could not if I didn't know about it.

For the rare times that a customer has trouble downloading a product, I send the file to the person using a different method, then the person confirms they have received the Ebook and I've resolved the situation.

For some reason, this situation didn't seem like it was going to be so simple to resolve--and it wasn't. I telephoned the customer to see if it was resolved. He explained that he had not checked his email yet later that day, he called to report that he was still not able to download the Ebook. Why?

Here's where it is critical to have good communication. Through some questions and probing, I learned this person was on a dial-up modem. No wonder he couldn't download the Ebook because he's part of a rapidly shrinking part of the Internet world. He asked me to print out the ebook and mail it to him.

As I thought about this customer's experience on a dial-up, I printed the ebook. Then I considered the bonus items for the Ebook. These items were also downloadable files--and anyone on a dial-up would also experience trouble getting these files.

I decided to send more than the printed book in the mail. I copied the Ebook and the audio files on a CD which I tucked into the package along with my cover letter. In addition, I emailed the customer about what I had put together and asked him to watch for the package.

I could have refunded his money, shrugged it and forgotten the situation. Instead, I chose to find out the real issue and furnish him with the product that he wanted--even if it was not the normal way to deliver it. Good communication and even good customer service is worth the extra effort.

Here's the "rest of the story." The Ebook that I'm talking about was Writing For The Christian Market. Recently I was talking with someone about a Christian publishing company and the way they treated their customers. The person I was talking with was not a Christian but he complained, "This company talks all over their site about God and uses that reason why people should use their company. Because they are Christians, I hold them to a higher standard of excellence." While I didn't turn the discussion into one about faith and standards, I agreed with the person.

What are you doing to foster or hinder good communication in your writing life? That connection is critical in many different areas of life and it was a good reminder for me.

Commit To Make Progress

Did you see this news from the Association of American Publishers? They just released their November statistics. In terms of change, one of the strongest categories was Ebooks which rose 36.4% with sales of $2.5 million. I continue to read from various sources that we are in the early days of the Information Marketing on the Internet. Maybe you are only considering jumping into the Ebook area. It has been a successful area for me with my Book Proposals That Sell and also with my Writing For The Christian Market.

One of my mentors in this area has been Bob Bly and following his Internet Marketing Retirement Plan where he invests minimal effort in his Internet business each week. I've heard him say it's measured in an hour or two and earns considerable profit.

Sounds nice you say but I don't know where to start or how to get there. The Internet Marketing Retirement Plan gives step-by-step resources with nothing held back. I have a problem with some of these products because you get them and they are mostly fluff and don't have enough content to give you value for your time. This program isn't like that but is loaded with specifics--provided you follow through and take action on those specifics.

Some days you may wonder if you are moving ahead or standing still. I understand and have those days at times but I'm committed to making progress and moving ahead with my various projects. You can do the same for your writing life.

Keep learning new insights and skills. For example, from something that flew across my desk this week, I learned that if I type the word "time" followed by a major city in the world into the Google search engine, it will instantly give the time in that location. For example, you could type: "time London" and the first item will be the time in London, England. This week I received an overseas call which was set for a certain time here and a certain time there. Because I used this Google tool, I correctly estimated that I had been given the wrong time by an hour. Yet when this call came an hour earlier than planned, I was prepared.

Whatever you are facing in your writing life, make a commitment to keep making incremental and measurable progress. Eventually you will get there.

Not Worth The Panic

Last night I held another live teleseminar about Writing For The Christian Market, my new Ebook. I sent out messages to several thousand writers about the session and reminded them of it. Then several hours before the teleseminar, I received a comment on these entries from someone who wanted to register but couldn’t get on the website. Immediately I checked it out and couldn't pull up the site. I called my host server who has been doing some migration work on their equipment. Yes, they were down but would be back up soon. I asked for a definition of "soon" and they couldn't tell me but reassured me that I would be able to hold my event.

People use askterrywhalin.com to register and ask their question. On the "Thank You" page, they could download the free offer plus the same page is where they could return to listen to a live telewebcast of the seminar. If you have a high-speed computer connection, it's a way for you to listen to the event without cost. Yet my pages were down and no one could reach them. It did cause a few moments of concern but I decided it was not worth the panic.

Almost exactly an hour before the event, my host server company called and told me they were bringing their equipment live and my site should be functional in a matter of minutes. It was available about 45 minutes before the event so it worked fine.

My special guest for about 30 minutes of the call was Shawn McMullen, editor of The Lookout which is a weekly publication with a circulation of about 85,000 copies and an audience of close to 100,000. Shawn described the types of articles that he uses and how writers can best approach him and meet his editorial needs. If you are looking for a new place to get published in the magazine area, I recommend you consider The Lookout.

After the event, I downloaded the MP3 from the teleseminar, then used Sound Forge to add music to the beginning and end of the session. In addition to the full program, I divided the session into three parts and uploaded the files into my audio generator account. If you don’t know about audio generator, it's a flexible system to provide various types of sound to your website. Follow the link for a trial subscription. Then I added the files to the replay page. Later today, anyone who registered for the event will receive the link to the replay.

Last night I launched the replay page. I used Box.net to upload the files and for the first time, anyone can download the entire program to their iPod or they can download each of the three parts. Why are these links important? It allows the participant to download the files and listen to them whenever they want to listen to them--instead of forcing them to listen on the replay page. Anyone who registered for the event after I launched the replay page will be taken to the page as a confirmation of their registration.

Why should every book author care about how I've put together these details? You will see this process is modeling what you can do to launch any book or product of your own. Gather people to a teleseminar and it will stimulate your exposure in the market and sales of your book. If you want to know more about the details of a teleseminar, there will be a great opportunity starting in early December. Alex Mandossian will teach his Teleseminar Secrets course. This training is excellent for any author. It's some of what I'll be teaching next week at the Glorieta Christian Writers Conference. Hope to see you there.

Use What You Have

Last week I wrote about The Unwelcomed Teacher: Adversity. If you haven't noticed it, the publishing world is full of bumps in the road. You have to determine whether you will let those bumps become obstacles or opportunities.

I ran into one of these "bumps" yesterday. To help launch my new Ebook, Writing for the Christian Market, I'm offering a free teleseminar. For a portion of the teleseminar, I've been promoting the fact that for part of the session, I have a magazine editor for one of the best places to break into the Christian magazine market. I did not reveal this editor’s name. This editor had agreed to participate and I needed to send him the details about how to call into the session. Imagine my internal groan when I received his email that he would not be able to participate because he teaches a weekly Bible study at exactly that same time period. So much for my magazine editor who would be my mystery guest. Or was it?

With this cancellation, I could have shrugged it and not had a guest editor--or I could use what I have in front of me (a massive network from my years in this market is what I'm using) and see if I could get another participant. I looked in The Christian Writers' Market Guide and located another publication which was similar to the first editor. I picked up the phone and called this editor. I mistakenly thought I had previously met him at a writers' conference. It turned out I had met someone else at his publication. This editor has not taught at writers’ conferences nor ever done a teleseminar--yet he is the main person who edits and selects the articles for his publication. I asked him to participate and he's agreed to participate. What initially looked like a difficulty became something even better.

And the first editor has agreed to participate in another session which I will give next month. Instead of no editors, I'm going to have two different editors give their information to writers who want to break into writing for the Christian magazine market.

If you can't participate in the live event, I hope you will register--so you can get the link to the replay.

My lesson for you is not to give up when something goes another direction than you first planned it. Look for a way to use the resources that you have to make something even better happen from it. That persistence will pay off in the long run.

What Does The Audience Want?

It's a question that many people within the publishing community are asking. If they could figure out the answer and produce it, then they would create a winning product. There is probably a previous question to this one: which audience? The audience has to be large enough to make a profitable product yet targeted so you can write specifically for the needs of that market.

The simple way to learn the needs of your audience doesn't usually cross the minds of most authors: ask them. One of the best tools to gather this information is The Ask Database. I'm using this tool for a number of different functions. For example, Wednesday, I've scheduled another free teleseminar to talk about Writing for the Christian Market. You can either call into the teleseminar on your phone or listen to it free through a telewebcast over your computer. I will create the contents for the teleseminar around the various questions from the audience. Use this link for a special arrangement that I've made for you to try the AskDatabase for only $1.

Here's another resource for you to learn more about this method. It’s over two hours of free instruction on this topic.

I hope to answer your question on Wednesday's teleseminar. If you can't make the session, please sign up because I'll be sending the link to the replay to everyone who registers.

Writing for the Christian Market Now Available

Several months ago I was talking with my friend, Bob Bly, about Ebooks. He knows that for many years I've been writing in the Christian market. He suggested that I write an Ebook called, Writing for the Christian Market. In fact, Bob and I worked together on the project and he edited the book, arranged for the cover design and the design for the interior.

I've poured a lot of my background and experience into this new product and hope you will benefit from getting it and learning from my insight into how to write for various publications and publishers. If you read these entries often, you know that I'm constantly learning new methods and using different software and techniques. It's part of how I continue to grow and improve in my craft of writing. I'm also someone who handles most of the routine parts of the marketing and website efforts. Many years ago I had a "webmaster" and found it a poor experience not to be able to update my own website--and update it when I want it updated. I know many other writers have chosen to go a different way with this matter. I've decided to learn some basics about website, copywriting and some other skills which are often delegated to others.

Because I worked with Bob Bly on this project, I benefited from his prodding and clarification of different aspects of the book. He pushed me for some answers to different questions and resources in the book which on my own I probably would not have included. It's one of the benefits to working with someone else on the production of this type of project. Every writer can benefit from a good editor.

Bob arranged for the designer who created a beautiful cover for the Ebook and also the links inside the book are active for the reader. It's a feature which I have not learned how to execute. To this entry, I'm adding an image of the interior of the Table of Contents for Writing for the Christian Market. While the image is small here, I hope you can see the little lines underneath each number. They are links which take you immediately to the appropriate page within the Ebook.

To launch Writing for the Christian Market, I'm holding a free teleseminar on Wednesday, September 5th where people can ask their questions about writing for the Christian market. I will answer them during this teleseminar. A special mystery guest magazine editor has agreed to join part of the teleseminar. He's the editor of one of the best publications where writers can break into the Christian market and will be providing insight about how to catch his attention when you pitch your magazine ideas. I'd encourage you to sign up at for this free teleseminar. If you can't attend at that time, you will be notified where you can listen to the replay of the session.

I'm celebrating the release of this new Ebook into the marketplace.