Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Is getting an agent as easy as attending a conference?

by John Feldman 

Image courtesy of GoodBooks.Online
Imagine you’re trying to find true love through a dating site. You’ve been on ninety-nine dates so far and have had no success—this site stinks, it can’t find me anyone. And tonight is your one-hundredth date. It’s the last one you’re going to try. After this, you’re done. You’ve got your Cancel Membership page already up on your computer at home, ready to go back and get a drink from your fridge, click the Cancel button—then subsequently the Are Your Sure? button—and try your very best to look forward to a long life of being single.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Can You Use Grassroots Methods to Kickstart Your Writing Career?

by Dana Gore

Image courtesy of GoodBooks.Online
I hate to break it to you, but if you're an author, writer, or blogger, you're in the company of millions of people who want the same things you do. You want people to read and benefit from what you have to say. You want others to share your work. You want to be fairly compensated for your efforts.  Last but not least, you want to  leave a positive impact in the world by helping people.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Silly Is as Silly Does - An Author’s Take on the Writing Process

by Ken Dixon
Image courtesy of GoodBooks.Online
I used to be really silly.  And, to be honest, I still am.
That's why I gravitate toward humor writing.
At the advanced age of (muffled sound), I think I should be far more serious.  Apparently, I have managed somehow not to grow up.
You can't just skate through life finding "funny" wherever you look, can you?  You need to "knuckle down", right?  I was supposed to do that in order to "get anywhere".  Well, here I am.  I ended up somewhere, in spite of myself.  But that other place might have been more interesting and and quite a bit more lucrative.  I'll never know, because it's too late now - and that's as good an excuse as any to keep doing what I'm doing (whatever that is).

Friday, July 22, 2016

Sit Back, Relax, & Enjoy the Apocalypse!

By Jay Mouton

Imabe from en.wikipedia.org
My recent novel, Apocalypse Awakening, is first and foremost a work of fiction.  It is a story.  It is one of those what if this happened adventures!  It’s important to remember such aspects of fiction when one is reading fiction.  Yeah, I know I’m pointing out the obvious.  Still, many forget the simple fact that fiction is fictional.  Yep, a no brainer—right?

Not so much.

I spent over a decade of my life teaching college literature courses, and we covered a great deal of fiction.  For the most part, it was fun to delve into various stories with well over a couple of thousand students over the years.  It was also a learning experience, as time after time I got the chance to re-experience so many stories with so many people.  We got the chance to live inside fiction: made up stuff.  And I never let my students forget this “made up stuff” aspect of fiction.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Is the Traditional Book Publishing Route a 1-Way Street?

by Carl Weiss

Image courtesy of flickr.com
When it comes to writing books, authors will spend untold amounts of time and money polishing their prose.  When it comes to marketing their books however, many authors still harbor the notion that a literary agent is going to provide them with the ticket to fame and fortune.  But when you factor in the reality that there are a limited number of literary agents in the US and that in 2015 there were more than 300,000 books published in this country, then the odds of your landing representation is like hitting the lottery.

These Agents Have a License to Thrill

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Reading Between the Lines: the Realities of Fiction

by RJ Jojola

On the Verge— Overcoming the Past

My dark fantasy novel, On the Verge, is very much a coming of age tale where adults in their 20s are forced to deal with and overcome their childhood traumas. As their trust in everything and everyone wanes, the character’s paths become intertwined. As they begin facing their pain and suffering head on, they discover that they are the last and final hope for their world. It is solely up to them to dispel the evil and chaos that had been unleashed by the adults who were supposed to have protected them. In essence, it shows the cyclical nature of not only the downfalls and mistakes that affect the history of a civilization, but individuals and their families as well. 

The Realities of Fiction— Turning Real Life into a Fantastical World

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Can You Still Work the Web to Win?

by Hector Cisneros & Carl Weiss

In the 20th Century, businesses used print, TV and Radio as the preferred marketing media to take their products and services to market. To flex your advertising muscles today, you also need to add the internet to the mix.  Unlike traditional forms of advertising, the internet easily crosses most borders and allows businesses “in the know” to Geo-target their ads to any regional or local level they desire.

Courtesy of www.cnbc.com
Every business today is trying to take advantage of the leverage that the internet provides. This process is made more complicated because the internet is a multi-media platform. Not only can it provide a media-rich experience on every page, it can also provide access to many forms of marketing that even includes analogs of their traditional counterparts like TV, Radio and print. Better still, it also provides superior tracking and analytical feedback to make sure your marketing is actually working!

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Caveat Author

by Carl Weiss

Image courtesy of GoodBooks.Online
You've just completed your manuscript.  Congratulations!  Now comes the next step, having your book edited and possibly represented by a professional.  While that seems like a simple task to accomplish, finding a professional who is ready, willing and able to take your manuscript to the next level is a daunting task.  In fact, it can be an expensive and potentially perilous journey that can prove more of an adventure than the one presented in your book.  My blog this week cover a number of ways in which unscrupulous editors, book doctors and "agents" try to convince authors to part with their hard-earned money.

If it looks too good, it probably isn't.

My co-host of the Good Books Online Radio show sent me an email that sounded like a heck of a deal.  A company was offering a package for $695 that purported to offer everything from editing and book cover creation, to formatting and publication on amazon.com.  The advertisement itself included a toll-free number.  Calling the number led to a "consultant" that quickly made me understand that the $895 price was only valid for eBooks of 100 pages in length or less.  For more lengthy manuscripts, the prices quickly rose to 4 figures.  There were also a lot of restrictions on edits made to cover art as well.  I asked to see a contract and I am still awaiting its arrival.  I'm not holding my breath.

When it comes to proofreading, paying more than a dollar a page is excessive unless there are major holes in the plot or other serious character deficiencies.  I know this for a fact, since GoodBooks.Online provides this service for authors.   Book cover creation can be had by a skilled graphic designer for $500 or less, regardless of the number of edits.  Having your book formatted for inclusion on amazon.com or for print could also set you back a couple hundred dollors, but it's worth it to get it done right.  The trick is to make sure that the editor and/or designer will deliver the service at the price they quoted.  You should also never work with a company that asks for all the funds to be paid up front.  Especially if the company is not located in the US.  Try getting a refund from an offshore firm can be next to impossible.

Agent Smagent

Another area of concern to authors is getting an agent to represent them.  The classical interpretation of a literary agent is an emissary that will act in the author's interest in dealing with publishers as well as other entities that are interested in licensing a book.  As such, an agent will derive a commission for fees received from the book.  This includes everything from advances, as well as a percentage of royalties received from book sales, movie deals, licensing and merchandising.  A good agent can be worth their weight in gold to an author.  A bad one can be a nightmare, since agents invariably require the exclusive right to deal in the author's behalf.  If the agent misrepresents their connections, becomes incapacitated or just decides to sit on their hands, an author can be in a world of trouble.

Even worse are "agents" who insist on being paid before they deliver the goods.  A reputable agent will never ask an author for money.  They get paid a piece of the money they make by representing in essence selling the authors books.  If you find yourself speaking to an "agent" that suggests you send him or her money for reading fees, expenses, or any other reason, run do not walk to the nearest exit.  Even if an agent has a legitimate need to be compensated for such things as postage, overseas phone calls and the like, they should be willing to take these expenses out of the fees they generate for the author.

Speaking of fees, whether you are dealing with an agent, a publisher, an editor or book printer, make sure you receive an itemized contract that details the services to be performed and the rights that you as well as the other party is entitled.  That's another way for an underhanded party to dig deep into your pocket, by using bait and switch tactics.  Even worse, once you sign an agreement, you will be held accountable to it.  This could not only have a deleterious effect on your current book, but subsequent books as well.  (Always have an attorney read over any agreement given to you that concerns your books.)

Onc horror story I will share with you was from a client who had contracted a company to edit her cookbook, create the cover art and print 1,000 copies. By the time the process was finished, she had paid more than $25,000 only to realize after the fact that she now had no way of publishing her book electronically.  Even worse was the fact that the publisher held the rights to the cover art and that the contract bound her to the publisher for all subsequent printing of her cookbook.

When you consider that her cookbook retailed for $19.95, there was no way for her to even break even should she sell every single copy she had printed.  In short, the only thing that got cooked was her goose.

Image courtesy of GoodBooks.Online
Speaking of contracts, any legitimate agent will be more than happy to provide you with their terms, commissions, marketing, distribution and sales list in advance of the contract.  Any agent that tells you that all or part of this information is confidential is a sure sign that you need to look elsewhere.  Also beware of agents who actively solicit you.  Unless your previous title on amazon resulted in 6-figure sales, there is no reason that a legitimate agent will seek you out.  They don't have to since they are buried in queries and book proposals every single day.

Beware that there are businesses created around the premise of milking authors while returning little or no services of value.  Some of these agencies are well-heeled and can afford to advertise in the toniest of periodicals, as well as online.  Before you wind up getting fleeced by a predatory agency, publisher or printer, below are the top-10 questions you need answered:

  1. How long has your agency been in business?
  2. What are your credentials as an agent?
  3. What authors do you represent?
  4. Can you provide me with references. (Don't take endorsements on their page from satisfied "authors" as gospel.  It's far too easy to create these yourself.)
  5. Do you charge a reading fee?
  6. What other front fees do you charge?
  7. What kind of expenses will you be reimbursed for and how will those expenses be handled.
  8. Do you use outside resources, or is my book going to be handled in-house?  (A number of underhanded publishing businesses outsource most of their services, making them little more than a broker.)
  9.   When can I see a copy of the agency agreement?
  10. Has your agency ever been sued?  
Even if you receive a satisfactory response for each of these questions, do your due diligence online by checking for good and bad reviews, complaints and scam reports for both the agency and the agent.  If you find no reviews whatsoever this is a sign that the agent or agency is new, or that it changed its name due to negative reviews.  Do your research well and you will have a reasonable chance at being a successful author.  Do it poorly or not at all and you could wind up derailing your writing career before it ever gets started.

Carl Weiss is an author and president of Working the Web to Win, an online marketing company in Jacksonville, Florida.  He is also co-host of Good Books Online, a weekly  online radio show and YouTube series.






Tuesday, June 14, 2016

What are They Up to Now?

by Mark Goldwich

With a title like, “What are they up to now?”, you might think I’m writing about my kids, the presidential candidates, politicians in general, or some other high-profile group. What I’m talking about in today's blog are Insurance Companies. You see, earlier this week I attended a two-day conference presented by the Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters. The conference is billed as an educational and networking event designed to improve our skill sets, become better at what we do, and network with other industry professionals.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
One of the main takeaways from the conference was learning about significant trends in insurance industry tactics and strategies. These strategies are usually marketed as “consumer protections”, which also just happen to help insurance companies stuff billions more into their collective coffers. A happy coincidence, I’m sure (that’s sarcasm, for those of you who are unfamiliar with my writing style). Those of us whose job it is to protect the insured from their own insurance companies, see these tactics and strategies for what they really are, profit boosters.


Thursday, June 9, 2016

Why Every Author Needs a Virtual Assistant

by Debbie Cosby
Image provided by Debbie Crosby, Virtual Assistant
If you're like most authors, your workload is overwhelming. There are only twenty-four hours in a day, but you keep losing time. You're drowning in work and are wasting precious time trying to serve too many masters. Why spend hours on tasks which aren't your strengths?  When you want to do less and write more, a virtual author assistant is the way to go.
In order to write, publish and promote books, there are certain tasks that must be accomplished. The author can choose to do these him or herself, but the cost of the author’s time could often be much more effectively spent on revenue-generating activities.  
What Is A Virtual Author Assistant?
Image courtesy of GoodBooks.Online
A Virtual Author Assistant (VAA) is a business professional who provides virtual services for an authors. Performing certain services can make the author’s life so much easier.  A VAA plays many of the roles and takes on many of the responsibilities that fall to the author, but which the author may not have the time or expertise to take on.  However, their main responsibility is focused on giving authors more time to write.
A Virtual Author Assistant Has Different Skills They Specialize In. 
The author’s assistant does a wide variety of work, and may specialize in one or more aspects of the author’s workload.  Those specialized skills usually fall under two categories: administration and marketing.
On the administration side:
  • Sending information about the authors/books to those who request it;
  • Updating websites;
  • Organizing spreadsheets;
  • Pulling sales reports;
  • Setting speaking engagement;
  • Doing research and fact checking;
  • Proofreading and much more.
On the marketing side:  
  • Following up with individuals who will be reviewing the manuscript;
  • Creating book jacket copy;
  • Running street teams;
  • Creating newsletters.
What Kind Of People Use A Virtual Author Assistant?
  • Busy entrepreneurs
  • Business consultants
  • Business coaches
  • Financial planners
  • Professional speakers
Image courtesy of GoodBooks.Online
 Every bestselling author has an author’s assistant – someone the author can call on to do many of the tasks that surround the successful completion, publishing and marketing of a book.   You need someone who can make sure the books you’ve written are professionally edited, and printed and delivered on time. Where are you going to find the time to do that yourself?
The occupation of the VAA has been around for over hundred years.  Virtual Author Assistants are well known inside the publishing industry, but not recognized by many outside of it. It is predicted that will change very soon because of the increasing numbers of authors who are getting published, either as independent publishers or via the more traditional route with established publishers.
The VAA is now a key component in the success of these entrepreneurial book publishing efforts as new authors are using virtual services of all kinds instead of hiring employees. Even established publishing companies themselves use virtual services.
One of the most important things when looking for a VAA is to make sure he or she provides the skills you need.
A Virtual Author Assistant Can Help You By:
  • Saving your valuable time. This is the top reason to hire an author assistant. Just because you CAN do a task does not mean it is cost effective. Most authors simply do not have enough time in the day to complete their writing and the other marketing and admin tasks they need to. By hiring a VAA the author has more time to focus on what only they can do, write!
  • Supporting and encouraging you. Having another passionate team member is valuable. A VAA can be that needed force to help overcome deadlines, bad days, and overwhelming times.
  • Motivation and goal setting. Sometimes you just need someone to keep track of things and keep you going towards your dreams. A VAA rock at that.
Ask yourself if there are things you know you should be doing but don’t have the time to accomplish without sacrificing sleep or writing time? Are you willing to delegate your work? If you answered yes to either of these questions it may be time to consider hiring a VAA. Don’t go it alone. Get the support you need and you will be well on your way to publishing success.
 Debbie Cosby Virtual Assistants – Helping overwhelmed entrepreneurs and businesses grow their business.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Why Blogs are an Author’s Best Friend

By Carl Weiss

Image courtesy of GoodBooks.Online
In my last blog, “Your Book, Your Business,” I wrote about the many moving parts that make a successful online marketing campaign work when it comes to promoting a book.  In today’s post, I would like to delve deeper into the one component that can be the most valuable of all: Blogging.

The BIG Deal about Blogs

Most writers know that a blog can boost readership when combined with social media.  They feel that blogs sort of pick up where the short copy of social posts leaves off.  When you realize that posts to Facebook and Google+, not to mention Twitter rely on short copy, then it only seems natural that blogposts would make a natural springboard to posting longer copy that can provide more detail and fill in the blanks.  The problem with this way of thinking is that it relegates a blog to kissing cousin status that denigrates the blogpost to second class citizen.  As I will prove below, this way of thinking turns the power of blogging on its head and reduces its effectiveness as an online marketing tool.

In the first place, blogging can and should be the focus of your efforts online, if you are looking to build a large, loyal following of readers who hang on your every word.  Properly crafted and deployed, a blog can inform, engage and convert large numbers of readers to come back week in and week out to see what you have in store for them.  It can build a bridge between author and reader like nothing else.  More importantly, it can help you develop not only a relationship with readers, but a database of large numbers of readers that you can use to spur sales and reviews of your next book.

How big of a reader can you create, you ask?  Below is a screenshot of my other blog, Working the Web to Win, which is the title of one of my books.  As you can see in the image below, we are currently knocking on the million pageview mark.  Granted, it took four years and nearly 300 blogposts to do it.  But it was well worth the effort.  As you will notice from the stats, between 1,000 and 2,000 readers daily find their way to the WWW blog.  Many of these readers are repeat customers eager to read more about the ins and outs of the Internet, which is the main theme of the blog and the accompanying book. 




While the numbers are impressive, so was the amount of staying power that it took to sustain the effort.  I’m talking four years of weekly effort that saw me and my business partner post 1-2 blogs like clockwork.  This meant not only coming up with a topic every or two single week, but taking the time to craft a well thought out blogpost of 1,000-2,000 words.  These weren’t what my business partner calls “Fat Tweets.”  These are full blown magazine-quality articles replete with accompanying photos or even videos that are topic-related.

When most bloggers are happy to put out 500-800 word posts, we were delivering four times that length.  Why?  Because longer posts are far more engaging, they deliver more robust content and last but not least they also allowed us to embed a couple of offers on each blog that are designed to help us generate a database of prospects.

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You’ll notice that two out of the three above mentioned elements were expressly for the benefit of the reader.  If you want to generate a massive audience, you need to keep that in mind.  First and foremost, a blog needs to be centered around your readers as opposed to yourself.  If all you do is write about you, a reader is going to look elsewhere for information and entertainment.  Don’t delude yourself into thinking that readers are interested in rhetoric.  What they really want is what I refer to as Infotainment.  Give them a speech and they will not return.  Tell them how to save time or money, impart an idea or skill that they have not before considered, or make them laugh and you have set a hook in that reader that will allow you to reel him or her in week in and week out.

Of course, the onus is on you to produce weekly posts that grab a reader’s attention and make them come back for more.  The question is, do you have the staying power to come up with a riveting post week in and week out.  Make no bones about it, if you want to create a massive following, you need to post at least one blog every week.  Where most author bloggers fail is that they put out a post every once in a while.  Then they lament the fact that they have precious little readership.  Is that what’s bothering you, Bunky? 

How to Put the Blogging Pedal to the Metal

 When it comes to making the wheels of a blog turn, there are three key elements:
1.      Content
2.      Consistency
3.      Distribution

You’re a writer, right?  So the content should come naturally.  If you believe that, then I have some Florida swampland that I can let you take off my hands.  If you are going to write a minimum of 52 posts per year for years on end, you need to find a way inspiration for your blogs that doesn’t quit.  Since I not only write my own blogs, but get paid to ghostwrite other people’s blogs, let me clue you into the secret sauce that will allow you to write blogs galore. 



In the past 5 years, I have written weekly blogs for everyone from chiropractors and eldercare providers, to plumbers and replacement window dealers.  The way that I learned about all these varied topics was to research them online.  Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I used the power of the Internet to roll out weekly blogs on topics I know nothing about.  This boiled down to perusing competitor blogs and newsfeeds in order to find timely and even trending topics that could be crafted into articles designed to engage an audience.  Crafting doesn’t mean plagiarizing.  It means generating a germ of an idea that can be used to generate a unique article.

Even though you may be an expert in your own right, trying to come up with 52 articles each and every year is more daunting a task than you might think.  Let me give you another secret of my blogging success.  I call it putting on your associate producer hat.  In the TV industry the associate producer is the person tasked with making sure all the actors have their scripts, the guests are ready to join the talent on the set and the lighting crew has done their part.  In short, the AA is a glorified gopher who is used to wearing a lot of hats.  Here’s how that applies to your blogging efforts.

Every day you literally trip over ideas for a blog or two.  Whether it occurs while you are reading or texting or going through your daily routine, somewhere somehow an idea or an anecdote pops up that makes good fodder for a blog.  The problem is, if you don’t push the pause button long enough to make a note of it, it’s gone forever.  What’s even worse is that in today’s wired world it couldn’t be easier to lay down the groundwork by using whatever device comes to hand to jot it down or shoot a few frames of video to lay down the foundation for a blog. By following this tenet, you will take two thirds of the weight of producing worthwhile blogs off your shoulders. 

Why You Need a Blog Buddy

This and working the web will give you enough rope to start turning out weekly blogs that are informative and entertaining.  This leads us to the next fly in the ointment: staying power.  Enthusiasm and good writing habits will only take you so far.  What you need if you hope to be able to sustain the effort over the long haul is someone you can call on for feedback, somebody that you can bounce ideas off.  In short, you need a blog buddy.  

A blog buddy can be a fellow writer, an employee or a friend.  The most important requirement of a blog buddy is that he or she gives you honest feedback.  The last thing you want is to assign the task to a "Yes Man" who only tells you what you want to hear.  Because if you hope to build a massive following, be prepared to invest a lot of time in the effort.  We're talking years here.  

While you may dream of having a million readers, in the beginning you will only have a handful of the faithful.  This leads to the last and most critical part of blogging success: Distribution.  Unlike websites which are beholden to the whims of the search engines, blogs generate the majority of their readership from social networks.  Your social networks.  If you have thousands of followers, they can be leveraged to generate readership.  If you have a few hundred, you have a problem.  Of course, that doesn't mean you can't build a following.  The question is, how to get the job done in as short a period of time as possible.  
You can find Carl's latest book on Amazon

Remember, once published, a book has a relatively short shelf life.  That means you need to have your audience ready to go.  If not, you might want to consider hiring the job out.  One of the ways we achieved nearly one million pageviews was by creating a system that helps our clients and ourselves to generate readership fast.  We call it Team Tech.  What Team Tech does is assign 5 non-competing businesses to read, comment on and repost blogs to Twitter, Facebook and Google+.  When you consider the fact that blogs that are reposted generate a far wider distribution, this reciprocal system gets the job done in a hurry.  An added benefit is that it also provides feedback from other readers.

The bottom line is that if you are serious about building readership and with it an audience of loyal customers eager to buy your next book, you need to make blogging your best friend.

Carl Weiss is president of Working the Web to Win and publisher of GoodBooks.Online.  He has also written hundreds of magazine articles and blogs, plus 5 books.  







Saturday, May 28, 2016

Could Getting in Shape be Hazardous to Your Health?

by Dana Gore

If you watch television, flip through glossy magazines and pay attention to billboards, perhaps you’ve noticed what I’ve seen over the years.

We are being spoon fed the idea of what it means to be beautiful.

Beauty advertised this way revolves around attaining a lean and toned body chock full of rippling muscles and virtually no imperfections.

Everyone wants to feel admired, loved and accepted. It also hurts like hell to have others criticize our looks. Whether they don’t want to date us or hire us – or if they spew out some hurtful comments and looks that give us the impression that we’re ugly and don’t fit into society…it isn’t uncommon to take measures into our own hands to try to fix our weight and image problems as quickly as possible. While some opt to go under the plastic surgeon’s knife, others turn to diets and exercise to shed the ponds and tone the body.

Image courtesy of http://iammyimagination.com/
Every day, we see television shows that promote diets and exercise regimens that promise to help you shed vast amounts of weight in a short period of time. Many of use stay up until the wee hours of the morning viewing infomercials that promise us a new body in only 60 days if we whip out our credit cards, order their program and engage in high-intensity exercise programs that aren’t designed for beginners.

But when emotional turmoil is present - when you’re in such intense pain because you hate your body (and yourself), you’ll try any means necessary to fix your problems as quickly as possible because you can’t stand your life as it is for one more minute.  The reason this matters is because when this state of mind prevails, all caution, critical thinking and discernment go out the window.
No one stops to think about how to go about their diet/exercise regimen in a safe and structured way. This is a problem because when it comes to health and fitness, injuries can and DO happen. Most of them are preventable. But it takes awareness and a different approach to making sure your fitness program geared toward wellness.

Exercise Safety – Why It Matters

The reason I painted this picture for you is to help you to understand how our emotions dictate our decisions. When we approach something while we’re engaging in internal conflict, we’re immediately on the defensive. We feel we’re being attacked by society in addition to our own thoughts. Coming from this place, we don’t approach a solution from a sound mental standpoint.  We overlook important details that could render our diet and exercise practices either rewarding or detrimental. A rewarding program offers numerous benefits that can last a lifetime. A detrimental one, however, can ruin our lives and jeopardize our health and possibly even our lives.  How many times have you read about an unfortunate soul who dropped dead while either dieting or exercising?  It happens more often that you’d think.



I followed several popular diet and exercise programs on the market for quite some time until I enrolled at Fitness Institute International, Inc. School for Personal Training in Boca Raton, Fl. As I sat through 360 hours of academic and practical hands-on education, I quickly learned there was more to the fitness industry than I had realized. The truth is, there are several things to take into consideration before engaging in a weight loss program.   Far from being a simple one-size-fits-all environment, the science of fitness includes a number of different disciplines including:

     1.       Fitness Testing
     2.       Strength and Conditioning
     3.       Nutrition and Weight Management
     4.       Functional Training
     5.       Pre-existing health conditions

People want results, and they want them quickly.

The idea that you can get “six pack abs” becomes less important than whether you should be screened medically before taking a boot camp class; or if exercising with gum in your mouth could be deadly.
·         Do you know how to tell a well-qualified personal trainer from a quack?

·         Are you aware that your family’s medical history matters regarding your own exercise program?
·         Do you know why warming up and cooling down are a must?

·         Have you thought about how dangerous it is to enter into an extreme fitness program if you’re a beginner – or if you’ve taken a hiatus from exercise for a while?

·         Do you know the difference between “good and bad” exercise pain?
·         Do you know whose nutrition advice you should follow (if any)?
·         Do you fit into the “special populations” category? Do you even know what that means?

These are important questions – but almost no one asks them. I didn’t either. It took going through the curriculum at Fitness Institute to realize they deserved attention.

Dr. Anthony Abbott, the president and chief educator at Fitness Institute, would tell us some of the stories about how people died from things such as skipping a proper cool down or choking on their chewing gum while exercising.

I sat there and thought:“How on Earth will anyone know about this? How can I let them know?”
I soon started writing about health and fitness.  At first I focused on popular topics such as how to eat healthy, why strength training is an essential part of a fitness program and why healthy weight loss takes time.  I then decided it was time to write a book (a lifelong desire of mine) and got started.

What was originally slated to be a weight loss book turned into a guidebook on exercise safety, because once I realized how long the chapter on safety was going to be, I understood there was nobody out there bringing attention to this subject. So it just made sense to dedicate an entire book on how to stay safe in a program designed to inspire well-being.

Image courtesy of Dana Gore.
“A Simple Guide to Exercise Safety” was born out of this concept. The term “simple” in my case means that you won’t find any technical language in its 101 pages.  There are also no diets to follow or exercise programs to engage in. To learn more about Dana's book, click here.

What the book presents are easy to follow tips on how to go about improving your wellbeing while keeping you safe. You’ll discover life-saving tips you’ve probably given little (if any) thought to. If nothing else, you’ll be in a position to prevent unnecessary injury.

The chapter on “assuming personal responsibility for our role in society” is a particularly important one because it talks about how to own yourself, stare your emotions in the face and deliberately decide to take charge of your well-being in a clear and well-thought out manner.

Doing Things the Right Way

The idea behind creating a lifestyle based on healthy living is to combine all aspects of wellness into your life instead of just focusing on the physical.  Emotional, spiritual and mental well-being is as important as physical health. All 3 of these components need to support one another to enable you to live a happy, healthy life. 

When you are no longer running away from a problem, but instead seek to become the solution in and of itself, your actions become intentional and are geared toward doing things in a clear and concise manner. By making healthy living your overall goal, you’ll end up losing the weight because it’ll be a natural by-product of a way of life.

~ You’ll choose foods designed to provide optimal health.
~ You’ll work with health and fitness professionals who care about your safety.
~ You’ll engage in a fitness program that is suited for your level of fitness, but will encourage you to work harder at the right time, for the right reasons and using the appropriate levels of progression.
You'll also approach the entire process from a place that encourages mindfulness and research.

You’ll do this because you’re no longer desperate. You’ll find activities you’ll stick with for a lifetime because it’ll become your truth.  You’ll no longer compare yourself with unrealistic images and stereotypes because you’ll create your best body by simply being a healthy individual.

This is how you do things “the right way.”

I’m currently writing a new book that will elaborate on this very subject matter, entitled “Weight Loss and Well-Being Done Right.”

It’s about shifting to a new paradigm. If we want to experience different results in life, we have to be willing to create them from a place of balance and awareness.

For more information about A Simple Guide to Exercise Safety, visit http://iammyimagination.com/

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Your Book, Your Business

by Carl Weiss

Congratulations on completing your book.  For many people this is the achievement of a lifetime. More importantly, it is an achievement that required a significant investment of time.  Whether your book took you months or years to complete, this is not the end of the road.  It is in fact just the beginning.  Because you will find out in short order that writing a book is one thing, promoting and selling your book is another.

Most authors are well-equipped to write a book.  The problem is that unless their book is picked up by a major publishing house, they are woefully ill-prepared to promote their book.  That's why the average book on Amazon only sells somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 copies.  Sure there are some authors who sell thousands or even millions of copies.  But those are few and far between.  Many of those that reach the ranks of bestseller are backed by major publishing houses that have an army of editors, bloggers and publicists to help them get the word out.  But as I pointed out in my previous blog, "Read Any Good Books Lately" there have been a number of self-published authors that have sold more than 1 million books.

Bestseller or Bust

Image courtesy of GoodBooks.Online
So what differentiates the successful authors from the rest of the herd?  Research and marketing.  Every single self-published author that has cracked the million copy mark spent as much or more time researching and marketing their books than they did writing them.  The reality of the matter is that if you want to achieve bestseller status you have to think of your book as a business.  Unlike the fiction that says if you create a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door, anyone that sells mousetraps or any other product or service realizes that having a superior product doesn't matter a damn if you don't find a way to tell the world about it.  So why do most authors think that the business of book selling is any different.

John Locke, who was the first author to sell 1,000,000 copies of his books didn't just fall out of the sky.  He spent a ton of time and money promoting his books.  I know this because I read his book, "How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months."  Among other tidbits, John details the meticulous planning and execution that saw him publish 4 titles simultaneously, then follow publication up with an online media blitz that included blogs, social networking and interviews.  He also encourages readers to email him.  (All the better to create a mailing list.)  John Locke has become so successful a bookseller that he turns down offers from major publishing houses so he can retain complete control of the publishing process.

Unless you are merely publishing a book for bragging rights, you need to take a tip from John Locke as well as from businesses large and small.  If you want to sell anything, you need 3 things: Marketing, Advertising, and Publicity.  Fortunately for modern authors, especially those that publish eBooks, there are a number of no-cost and low cost solutions to all three of the above.

We Don't Need No Stinking Websites

Unless you intend on publishing only a single book, you need to have a platform that enables you to brand and promote you and your line of books.  This means creating some sort of web presence that includes everything from a "website" to blogs and social networks.  The reason I put quotes around the word website was due to the fact that there is more than one way to skin a search engine.  By that I mean that it is one thing to have a website and it is another to have your website appear on page 1 of a major search engine.  (Having worked as a professional online marketer for more than 20 years I know what I am talking about.)

Where generating a page 1 result on a search engine used to be a snap, in the last few years it has become exceedingly difficult.  This is due to the fact that most of the ranking factors that generate a page 1 result are not on the website itself.  Today a website is like the tail that wags the dog in that only 25% of the ranking factors are taken from the website itself.  The other 75% comes from off-site properties such as blogs, social networks, and videos.  That means that unless you are prepared to feed your blog once per week (or outsource the task), your social nets every day and shoot at least a video a month, the odds of your author page appearing on page 1 are slim to none.

Image courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org
However, that doesn't mean there isn't another alternative.  For many small companies I recommend creating a blog on Blogger (Google's free blogging platform).  In the first place, a blog can do everything a website can, including sell.  It can even emulate a website by creating multiple tabs, embed photos, videos and buying cookies, and you can even create a unique url for your blog.  The blog itself is easy to build and maintain.  Since it is a Google property, you can even get your blogpost to jump onto page 1 of the world's most popular search engine, provided you know how to optimize your post.  (If you don't believe me, google Working the Web and you will find my digital marketing company has 3 page 1 links: for the website, our radio show and the blog.)

If you're wondering if you can succeed with a blog-as-a-website, let me point out the fact that as I am writing this blog, our Working the Web blog has amassed 989,072 pageviews.  This figure dwarfs the traffic that the workingthewebtowin.com website receives, even though it is listed at page 1, position 1,  That's due to the fact that the blog, unlike the website, isn't at the mercy of the search engines.  You see, the prime driving factor to generating blog traffic are the social networks.  Again, this necessitates feeding and growing your social nets, as well as your blogs.  So there's no free lunch.  That being said, there are systems that can help you feed and grow both. (We'll cover this further on our show.)

Guest Blogging to the Rescue

Image courtesy of GoodBooks.Online
As I have pointed out to readers and clients alike, if you have the best blog in the world and nobody reads it all you have is a billboard in the desert.  What this means is that there is an easy way and a hard way to create blog readership.  The hard way is to go it alone in the pig-in-a-rut fashion where you diligently pound out blog after blog for week after week only to realize at the end of a year that you only have a couple hundred readers. (If we took that route with our WWW blog, we'd be lucky to be at the 10,000 pageview mark as opposed to knocking at the 1,000,000 mark.

The question you have to ask yourself is if you look at book publishing as a hobby or as a money-making enterprise.  If you opt for the former, then the pig-in-a-rut method could work for you.  However, as a money-making venture it leaves a lot to be desired.  If you want to sell thousands of books you need to up the ante.  Just as with an online business, online booksellers need to advertise.  This equates to spending money.

Just as John Locke learned the hard way when he first delved into the self-publishing game, throwing money at the problem does not always deliver the desired result. Sure, you can run pay per click campaigns on the search engines, as well as on social networks and author portals.  But what you have to understand is that in the pay-per-click arena, that is all that your money is going to buy you: a click.  Not a purchase, nor a registration.  In fact, unless your website, splash page, and/or blog is designed to generate a registration or sale, all you will find out in short order is that you can go through a pile of money with little to nothing to show for it.

Again, this is why, just like savvy entrepreneurs, you really need to seek the advice and assistance of an online marketing professional before you blow your budget.  While most neophyte business owners follow the point, shoot, aim school of marketing, a professional marketer will help you determine your ideal customers and which advertising media are most likely to engage them.  Next they will create an environment designed to engage and convert this traffic.  Only then will they begin to write copy and lay out a marketing plan that has a high probability of success.

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Start the Presses

Advertising, while effective at creating an environment in which to sell your books, is neither the only nor even the best way to make a splash.  If you really want to jump from obscurity to the bestseller list you are going to need the cooperation of the press.  Face it, the quickest way to the hearts and minds of the reading public is by jumping onto the headlines or the morning news shows.  Fortunately, there is a tried and true vehicle to help you do just that.  It's called a press release.

Just as readers are constantly on the look for books that grab their attention, so are reporters and TV/Radio producers.  If you want to create a buzz about your book, the press release could be your ticket to the bestseller list.  That being said, there is a science behind creating and distributing press releases.  In a nutshell, editors and producers get bombarded with press releases.  Therefore if yours doesn't grab them by the throat, your release will quickly find its way to the bottom of the pile.  The 6 basic rules of press release creation are:

  1. Have a grabber headline
  2. Stick to the facts
  3. Less is more.  Keep it brief.
  4. Include a photo
  5. Use an approved format, such as the Associated Press
  6. Include contact information
Click here to buy Carl's book.
I could write a book on all the dos and don'ts of press release writing.  Since you are going to have to spend money to have your press release distributed, I would advise you to talk to a marketing professional who has experience at writing and distributing press releases. Click here to learn more about how GBO can help you write and distribute your press releases.

While there are a myriad of other elements that can help you create a brand in order to sell more books, the bottom line is that if you want to play with the big boys you have to start treating your books as your business.

Carl Weiss is president of Working the Web to Win and publisher of GoodBooks.Online.  He has also written hundreds of magazine articles and blogs, plus 5 books.