Open A New Door for Your Writing

It's important to experiment as a writer with different types of writing. Why? Because until you try it, you never know where you will find your own area of expertise.

Maybe you love to write magazine articles for printed publications (which I recommend) or you are focused on a longer novel. Even in the middle of that type of writing, I recommend you take a little time and try other types of writing.

The experience of trying new things adds life and richness to your writing and communication. This commitment to growth and continual learning has always been a dynamic in my own writing life. It's why I continue to read how-to write books—even though I've published. Or I read online publications or Ebooks because I'm committed to trying new things.

As I've attended conferences, seminars, read books and teleseminar events, I've determined that I want to learn from experts or experienced people. The experienced people can cut your learning curve and show you how to avoid the pitfalls and discover even greater success with your writing.

It's one of the reasons I continue to write these entries in The Writing Life and bring you experienced resources. Almost five years ago, I met Ellen Violette at Mega Book Marketing University in Los Angeles. She was teaching one of her early live events yet I could see that Ellen knew her topic: Ebooks. Known at the Ebook Coach, Ellen has had her own success with Ebooks and taught many others about this area of writing.

To help you learn about Ebooks, Ellen has agreed to teach a free event on Wednesday about The 7 Biggest Mistakes that People Make Authoring an Ebook and How to Avoid Them.This one hour event is free and will be rich with content and ready-to-apply information. I encourage you to register for it.

As a part of the registration, you will receive a link to a study guide. Print the study guide and attend this training opportunity on Wednesday, January 18^th at 4 p.m. PST/ 5 p.m. MST/ 6 p.m. CST/ 7 p.m. EST.

If you can't make the live event, go ahead and register because you will receive the exclusive link to the training which you can download to your computer or iPod—and still catch all of the information.

Ellen is a true expert in this topic of Ebooks. This training can open a new door for your writing. Hope to speak with you during this live event.

Why Clickable PDFs Are Important

Have you ever been listening to teleseminar or reading a new book, when the author or speaker casually throws in a bit of information which startles you with the significance? I had one of those experiences this week.

I was listening to an information packed teleseminar from Ellen Violette, the Ebook Coach called The Top 12 Ebook Questions (follow the link if you want to listen to it). For one of her early points, Ellen mentioned that many people use PDF995 to create PDF files yet this program strips out the hyperlinks so they are not clickable.

Now if you have never made a PDF from a Microsoft Word document that little fact might not be significant to you. It was significant to me. I have been using this little free program for many years to create PDF files. In fact, I used it to create all of the downloadable transcripts for Proposal Secrets. Each transcript included a number of hyperlinks to additional resources--yet with this information from Ellen Violette, I returned to check my links to see if they were working. She was exactly right. They did not work (here's an example of the old file). Yes the links show up in blue--but they are not functional.

I used google and searched for an economical solution for a program which would take Word documents and change them into PDF files yet maintain the hyperlinks. I found a free resource in Open Office from Sun Systems.

OK, now I have a program which performs for me yet I still had to rework each of the 50 Secrets for Proposal Secrets. Here's the sample audio postcard on the Proposal Secrets page. Notice the downloadable transcript on this sample--and the difference from the one above. The links are clickable. Instantly readers can access a resource from a PDF which they can't do if you are using the wrong program. It's another lesson I learned in the school of hard knocks. It also shows me again the value of continuing to learn new skills and new insights. You never know where you will discover that relevant bit of information for your writing.

Two Free Teleseminars For Authors

I'm constantly learning new ways to sell books and want to help other authors to accomplish great sales with their books. One of the most cost effective ways for you to learn about new aspects of marketing and communications is through teleseminars. I held a paid teleseminar last week but some of these events are free. You may have to call into a particular phone number but with flat fee rates in the US, it is basically free training (except for your time) and you don't have to travel anywhere or pay a conference fee. I wanted to mention two opportunities that are coming up fast—in fact Thursday, January 17th.

The first opportunity is January 17th, Steve Harrison, the publisher of Book Marketing Update is holding a free teleseminar with Matthew Bennett (use the link to register). Last fall Bennett and Harrison held a day-long live event on this topic. I was intrigued with their information but was going to be at another seminar at the same time. I ended up talking with Bennett on the phone for a few minutes. If you don’t know, Matthew Bennett is a self-published author who's relatively unknown to the general public. Yet he's sold over 5 million books in quantity to Fortune 500 corporations including Disney, Reebok, NBC, Abbott Labs, Pfizer, US Healthplans, Subway and innumerable others.

You'll hear how, as a single guy living in California, he wrote a book called "The Maternal Journal." He sold more than 3 millions copies of that book alone to companies like Ross Labs and Babies 'R Us. These companies offered the book as an incentive to increase sales. He'll also reveal:

--How he's used this strategy to sell millions of books AND raise over $1 million for charity.

--The top three reasons it's often easier to make one huge sale than it is to make small ones.

--How even shy, introverted writers can sell a boatload of books to big companies.

--The three things you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO ARM YOURSELF WITH before ever pitching your project.

--Matthew's five secrets of how to identify and reach the right person at the right company to sell truckloads of your books.

--How to never pay a printing bill again with your own money! You'll learn how to get paid BEFORE you print your books!

--Three proven ways to avoid wasting months (and sometimes years!!) on your project.

--How to get nonprofit organizations to endorse your book (he's gotten endorsements from such organizations as American Heart Association, March of Dimes, and American Diabetes Association!)

Again, to register for Thursday's call with Matthew, go here now. I've signed up for this free call tomorrow—and I wanted you to know about it.

For the second teleseminar (and actually two teleseminars rather than one), my friend and colleague, Ellen Violette, The eBook Coach is giving not one but TWO free preview calls for her upcoming Get Going! Teleseminar Coaching Program where she is going to teach people who to create ebooks with NO writing and sell them helping them to create a 6-figure income using teleseminars! (And Ellen isn't just talking about it, she's done it herself!)

This Thursday, January 17th, 2008 5:30 p.m. Pacific/ 8:30 p.m. Eastern she'll be discussing "Answers To Your Most Burning Questions About Teleseminars and Creating eBooks with Teleseminars. (When you register for the call you'll be taken to the page where you can ask your burning question.)

And on Monday, January 21st, 2008 5:30 p.m. Pacific/ 8:30 p.m. Eastern she'll show you how to start creating an eBook with NO writing! This is information nobody else is teaching! For details use this link. Even if you don't think you can make it, register so you can hear the replay lines for both calls.

I know firsthand about Ellen Violette and her excellent teaching. I met her last year at Mega Book Marketing University in Los Angeles and Ellen participated in my recent efforts for Proposal Secrets. You can see if you go to this page and scan down into the bonus items.