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May 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

What will a book do for me?

Literally? Nothing. A book, even one with a  cover, and your name and face on it, and marvelous content describing your uniqueness, and the uniqueness of your approach to your clients’ greatest pain, will do nothing for you. Nothing.

However, you can do a lot with your book. You can use it as a key to unlock hitherto sealed doors, a credential to bring you the respect you deserve, a validation to allow you to charge the fees that are your due.

Moreover, the book-writing process–actually, my book-writing process–will empower you to take the stuff that is floating around in your head and turn it into an organized body of knowledge. That organized body of knowledge can become a book, and much more–ebooks; courses; keynote speeches; and many other products.

By writing your book my way, you actually inventory your store of knowledge. You see, if you are like most people, you don’t know what you know. That is, you can’t make a list of all the things you have learned. You just know them, and they serve you in your profession. But if asked to make a list of them, you’d be hard put to lay them out.

My book-writing process empowers you to do just that–to list all the things you know in a way that you can share them with others.

Once you have this catalog, this inventory of your peculiar expertise and experience, you can easily turn it into products. Each chapter in your book can be a string of podcasts. Each subchapter is, at the very least, a blog entry. The book’s title is a theme for a course, a membership site, a coaching program–you get the idea. It’s all knowledge, and it has value.

So do it. Try my book-writing process. Build your new business.

Filed Under: book love, book writing, course writing, marketing, people & ideas, planning, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , ,
May 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Quain: Kindle worthless?

My friend and colleague, Bill Quain, sent me this shocking thought:

The Kindle Is Practically Worthless

I just heard a very interesting story about the Amazon Kindle.  It demonstrates just how much publishing has changed, and how many opportunities there are today for authors – if you just open your eyes and your minds!  It is time to think different.

Why do I say “The Kindle is worthless?”  Read this:

My friend Rocco is one of theose classic gentlemen from the Old School.  He is 79 years old, and after a career in the hotel business, he became a college professor, and eventually a college dean.  Today, semi-retired, Rocco still travels frequently.  Before his recent trip to Paris for a meeting, he bought an Amazon Kindle.

Rocco was amazed at the convenience of the Kindle.  He told me that he immediately bought four books and put them on the machine.  “It only weighs 11 ounces,” he said.  He loved it, and used it extensively on the plane trip.

When he got home from Europe, he was unpacking the Kindle and dropped it on to the tile floor.  When he turned it on, a large area in the upper right corner of the screen was unreadable.  He called the Amazon support center to see what they could do.

The technician he spoke with tried directing Rocco on a few “saves,” but nothing worked.  So, the technician said “We will overnight a new Kindle to you.  The package will have an envelope to send us the old one back – no charge.”  Sure enough, the next day, the new Kindle arrived and Rocco was back in business.  Amazon even transferred his four books to the new machine.

Do you see why I say the Kindle is practically worthless?  Amazon places very little value on the machine.  They place TREMENDOUS value on their channel of distribution.  If that channel closes (if the reader no longer has a working Kindle) then Amazon  cannot sell books!  Folks, the machine is practically worthless.  The problem-solving process is where the value lies.  A Kindle is only worth something (to both the owner and the supplier) if it is in working order and if the owner is buying books to read on it.

Some Points to Ponder

  1. Amazon is not trying to keep books out of the market.  They want as many books available as possible.
  2. Amazon does not make any decision about the quality of the books.  They let the customers decide if the book is good.  And do you know how Amazon judges the quality of a book?  “Is it good enough for someone to buy?”
  3. Amazon does not care if a book is good or not because they have no costs invested in the book.  This is quite different than “traditional” publishers who spend thousands of dollars–no, make that hundreds of thousands of dollars–on a book before they ever make a dime.
  4. If a book only sells ten copies, and those ten readers were satisfied with it, then that makes Amazon happy.  Amazon knows that happy customers buy more books.

Some Lessons to Learn

Stop wasting your time trying to find a traditional publisher and a traditional agent.  Self-publish your book NOW.  There are people out there with Kindles who want to read your book.  There are also people who buy from Amazon (and other distributors).

Remember, there are riches in the niches!  Know your market segments and work them hard.  Give them exactly what they want and they will want more.

If your dream is to be in a bookstore, then write a great book and promote it to your niche.  Sell some books.  Look for a traditional publisher AFTER you sell a lot of books.  Better yet, let them look for you.

Kep your costs down.  Amazon makes money because they have few costs.  Look for a “print on demand” company.  Better yet, look for a company that gives you ALL the tools you need to publish your book for FREE.  (For more information on this incredible news flash, write to me at bill@quain.com and use the subject line “How do I get FREE publishing tools?”

Be like the Amazon Kindle.  Don’t worry about the bookstore, worry about the book buyers.

Bill Quain, Ph.D.
CEO & Executive Author
Wales Publishing Company
(609) 399-2119 – office
(305) 606-8976 – cell
www.walespublishing.com
bill@quain.com

Helping authors WRITE,PUBLISH, and SELL their books

Filed Under: book love, book writing, marketing, people & ideas, write a book Tagged With: , , , , , ,
May 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The dance of communication

I went to an amazing seminar this weekend. The focus was on sales–and I just saw you wrinkle your nose. That’s ok. That was my reaction, too, when I first thought about it. I see it differently now.

Two years ago I began to realize that I was resisting sales. When I was a computer-aided design consultant, I did almost no sales. I was a celebrity, and $10,000 keynote speeches, $25,000 consulting engagements, and more, just flowed to me, because I was THE star.

When I became a coach, and decided to focus on helping people produce books, and income from follow-on products, all that changed. Nobody knew me. So I knew I had to learn about marketing and sales.

Marketing–letting my market know who I am and what I can do–has come fairly easily to me. But sales? No.

I realized I resisted sales as a yukky activity, as a sleazy kind of coercion, as a way to get people to do things they don’t want to do, for my own benefit. I knew that wasn’t right, so I adopted a motto: “Selling is an act of love.”

You see, I know I have something nobody else has: A way to help people express themselves by producing a good book, quickly and easily. And then taking the work they put into producing the book and leveraging it into an entire business. It can be a life-changing experience, as it already has for several of my clients. I want people to know about it.

But I was stuck with these bad–and incorrect–beliefs about selling. And one more, even more deadly to the sales process, that I just discovered this weekend.

What I discovered was that the overriding program in my communication process was that I want to be liked. I so wanted to be liked that I’d gladly forgo a sale to ensure that the person I spoke with would leave the conversation liking me.

Thus I sabotaged myself–and them.

Sometimes, just shining the light of truth on a situation is enough to change things. I believe that’s the case here. I learned to lead my prospect through a series of transactions that result in us both being able to make an informed decision about the question: Are we right for each other? Is there a match between their wants and needs and what I offer?

To help my prospect reach that point, I have to take control of the conversation–gently, but definitely. When the prospect asks, “Never mind all that, how much will it cost me?” I must civilly get their permission to bring them to the point where I can give them an answer that will make sense. “Of course you want to know how much it will cost. Would it be ok if I ask you just a couple more questions so that I can give you an accurate and meaningful answer?”

It’s a dance, and I must lead skillfully, so that my dancing partner enjoys and profits from the dance–even if we never see each other again.

Think about this when you write your book. Communication is a dance.

Filed Under: book love, book writing, people & ideas, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , , ,
May 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Lots of ways to write a book

You may think there’s only one way to write a book, even if you’ve read my free book on the subject. You name it, plan it, structure it down to the sub-chapter level, then write it.

That’s the way I teach, and it works very well. But it isn’t the only way to produce a book. Here are several others that may suit your needs:

  • Interviews. Find leaders in your niche and interview them. Tell them you’re going to transcribe the interviews and include them in a book. (Don’t forget to ask how many they want to order.)

    The interviews don’t have to  be very long. An ideal length will result in just a few pages of material.

    Pick a unifying subject for the book: “What’s the Biggest Problem in (your niche), and What Do the Experts Say about It?”

    You can conduct the interviews over the phone and record them. You can also package and market the recordings; don’t forget to get the interviewees permission. And ask them for a link to their website or a sales page for you to publicize; that’s their motivation for participating in the project.

  • Quotations. Collect a bunch of quotations (that are out of copyright) relevant to your niche. Put each on its own page. Beneath it, or on the opposite page, write your interpretation of Socrates’ wise saying to people in your field. (You can also leave room for the reader to add their own reflections.)
  • Blog. You may have already written your book: Your blog entries might be its content. In fact, FastPencil.com will let you import your blog, then rearrange and edit the entries into a book. That’s fast.
  • Photo-journal. You can use the special book-layout tools of Blurb.com to create a gorgeous book of your photos. The price per book is fairly high, depending on various factors, but might be still worth it for, say, a construction project proposal or an investment offering, a commemorative book or gift.
  • “The 47 best tips on…” Elicit tips, opinions, whatever from your readers, your Twitter followers, your Facebook friends, whatever, and compile them into a handbook. Jokes. Toasts. 6-word short stories (Hemingway’s famous one: “For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.”) Collect ‘em. Publish ‘em, with your intro, and a link to your website. You are now an opinion leader in your field.

A stroll through a bookstore or your library will inspire you with even more ideas.

Filed Under: book writing, inspiration, people & ideas, planning, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , , , ,
April 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Does your book have “juice”?

By “juice,” I mean “emotional content.” Life is juicy, love is juicy, and you can think of negative juicy stuff on your own. Your book must be juicy if you want it to be read, and if you want your readers to take action, or at least remember what you wrote.

Thinking is dry. Concepts are lifeless. We have to tie them into some aspect of human life if they are to attract us.

What sorts of things are juicy? Sex. Pain. Conflict. Power. Transformation. Money. Fear. Overcoming.

Your use of juice must be appropriate. Open your daily newspaper (if you still get one), and you’ll see examples of appropriate and inappropriate uses. An inappropriate use: Sexy woman in an ad for dental care. Unless the dentist is that sexy woman, this is simply an attempt to get attention, and to associate what is for some readers a juicy image with the proffered service. It may get people to read the ad, but I recommend against it in your book.

If you use sex to get attention, there needs to be some kind of a payoff for the reader. Are you offering sex advice? Health counseling that covers sexual activities? If not, that’s an unkept promise, and your reader will be left frustrated at some level.

The “offer” made by your book’s title and cover, the pain it promises to abate, the desire it claims to satisfy, must be congruent with its content. When the reader reaches the end of the book, they ought to be able to flip it over to the cover and say to themselves, “Yup. She promised a way to relieve lower back pain, and she gave me one.” Or whatever the promise was.

Put juice in your book, authentically and congruently. Your readers will enjoy it and reward you with their attention.

Filed Under: book love, book writing, inspiration, people & ideas Tagged With: , , , , ,
April 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

If structure must precede content, how do you get your structure together?

A discussion I had with my wife after posting yesterday’s blog entry made me think about how I teach people to write books. I’ll try to lay it out for you in brief here, so that you can see if this fits your thoughts.

My market for my book-writing products and services has been, to date, anyone who has professional knowledge they want to share with clients. They have a body of knowledge, and a method (perhaps more than one) for applying it to the needs of their clients.

So my book-writing “secret” is simply this: If you want to write a book quickly, you must complete the structure–a simple outline–before you do any writing. And I mean ANY writing.

If you do this, your path from finished outline to finished book is just days long; maybe even hours.

But how do your produce the structure?

Steven Johnson, the author I mentioned yesterday, describes his process: He spends months collecting pieces–notes, quotes, websites, articles, etc.–without being quite sure what the book looks like, or even what it is precisely about. That emerges as he sifts through the stuff.

Important distinction: My method does not necessarily offer anything to replace this process; it’s really not intended for this type of explorer. My ideal client already has a body of knowledge, and a way that she teaches it to her clients. So she can start her structuring process by simply clustering; it will all pop up.

Steven Johnson’s approach is for getting to the point when structuring is possible.

Now, I believe he could benefit from clustering, and from understanding the diamond (if you don’t know what these are, use the “search” above to find my explanations). And maybe he does, but just didn’t mention them in that article.

I’ll have more to say over time about what must precede structuring. What are your thoughts?

Filed Under: book love, book writing, people & ideas, planning Tagged With: , , ,
April 22, 2010 By 1 Comment

How NOT to write a book–I think…

BoingBoing.net often has really interesting pieces on a wide variety of topics.  I ran across this 1/2009 post from Steven Johnson that is illuminating (how one really good writer writes),

1990 Boing Boing logo, from a t-shirt
Image via Wikipedia

thought-provoking (what a wide range of interests), and befuddling (how in the world does a coherent book emerge from such a chaotic process?).

Now, it may not make sense to compare the style of a frequent NYTimes contributor and multiple-bestseller author to the method I have adopted and teach. But I would have expected to find within his approach something that I might identify as my “structure precedes content” principle.

But maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong place. What Johnson describes as being the major part of his collecting process is really what happens for me before I begin my writing process. I, too, read a lot. I too grab all kinds of articles and Web pages and notes. I stuff them into Evernote (for reasons I’ve elaborated upon here) rather than Devonthink. I just haven’t identified that magpie-like activity as part of my writing process.

Johnson says how having a collection of notes, quotes, and Web pages gives him a starting point for each chapter. What he tells about his structuring is that a unique approach for each book’s structure is suggested to him by the material, and he converges from there.

I love his books and his writing. But I don’t think the process he uses is easy to replicate, although I love reading about it. I like my method better.

What do you think?

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Filed Under: book love, people & ideas, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , , , ,
April 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Check out our new Author Forum!

In the menu bar at the top of the blog, there is a new tab: “Forum.” Come check it out! Post your questions, comments, thoughts.

Warmly,

Joel

Filed Under: book love, book printing, book writing, inspiration, marketing, people & ideas, planning, publishing, steps to write a book Tagged With: , ,
April 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

First new presentation/brainstorming tool I’ve seen in years

It’s Prezi.com, and it gives me a new way to think about presentations–and about brainstorming and planning.

Here are its salient features:

  • It’s Web-based.
  • You work on an infinite canvas.
  • You click and place text, which can be colored, styled, rotated, etc.
  • You can also click and place pictures, pdfs, and videos.
  • You click and create a “path” to tell a story.
  • The story can include zooms. So words and pictures can be tiny and huge, and smooth zooming traverses between them.
  • If you can picture Prezi from these bullets, you are a powerful visualizer. This presentation tells the story much more clearly:

Academy: Prezi Workflow in 15 minutes on Prezi

How to use Prezi to write your book? I’ve just discovered it, but I think it might work as a way to cluster. It is certainly a wonderful place to brainstorm and to create presentations. Love to hear your thoughts about it! (Since it’s Flash, it won’t be on your iPad anytime soon…sigh.)

Filed Under: book writing, inspiration, people & ideas, planning, write a book Tagged With: , , ,
April 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Perspective

Got an email from my friend: “I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is, I’ve been given a great opportunity to focus. The bad news: Cancer in my liver, spine, and brain.”

The prognosis is pretty negative–a few months, perhaps.

Because my friend is a private person, I won’t share my friend’s decisions about plans for the remaining time. (Notice I’m avoiding gender references.) Suffice it to say the plans are inspiring, brave, and loving.

Whenever I hear this type of news, it makes me think of my own mortality. I’m 62. I expect to be around for a while yet. I feel good.

But I have to ask myself: What do I want to do in the time that is left to me? What message do I want to share with you, with my family members? What impression do I want to leave here, when I move on?

I want to encourage you to ask yourself these questions. I think they help us leave more congruently, so that our intentions match our actions and values.

Take some time. Think. Write. Express your love.

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