Today’s special post is from Rebel Brown, author of Defy Gravity. To receive a free workbook with your copy of Defy Gravity, click on the book cover now.

How Big is that Dinosaur?

Publishing has to be one of the largest Gravity markets I’ve seen in years. By hanging on tightly to the way they’ve always done it – publishing status quos can make it really difficult for innovative authors to do their thing. Talk about dinosaurs!

In my own personal journey toward the publication of Defy Gravity, I’ve learned a lot about avoiding the publishing tar pits where the dinosaurs exist. Here are some tips I’d like to share with you.

1. Independent is a good thing. Publishing is the only industry I can think of where being an independent entrepreneur is viewed by some as a negative. In technology, financial services, small businesses and more – being innovative, striking out on your own and choosing to be different gives rise to resounding applause. In publishing – if you choose to independently publish your book – some of the old guard will say you’re not a real author. What rubbish!

As an independent author I had the chance to make my own decisions about everything from content to book cover design to promotion. I had the opportunity to do things differently, to stand out above the noise – and most of all to stay true to myself and to my vision for the book. Those are all things I would have lost at the hands of a traditional publisher. They’d own the book – not me. They’d make all the decisions – not me. And they would do it exactly the way they’d always done it. Where’s the innovation in that?

2. Dare to be different. I’ve been a consultant for twenty something years, yet I’ve never heard so many rules about what you can and can’t do when it comes to a book. All based on the way it’s been done in the past, all designed to have you conform to those who came before you – all designed to make you a follower and not a leader. I’ve never heard a business want to make their products conform to what everyone else is doing – where’s the value in that?

Maybe that’s why so many people tell me I’m an original voice in this market. I chose to ignore the rules and do what I thought was best –based on my own experiences and knowledge, which after all is what my book Defy Gravity is all about. I wrote the book the way I thought it needed to be written, zany humor, commentary and all. I focused on my own voice and I didn’t listen to what others were writing about. Write your own book, not everyone else’s.

3. Stick to your guns. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “That isn’t done in this business.” My response was, “Well, maybe it should be!” Then there was the time when one of the retail chains told my publisher they wouldn’t carry Defy Gravity unless I changed the cover art. The reason? It didn’t look like every other business cover out there. Here we go with the status quo again. Well, I’d just returned from a conference where some 500 people showed me how much they loved the cover on the Advance Review Copy. So I wasn’t about to back down. And I didn’t. I decided to keep the cover – because I knew it was the right cover for my book. If that retailer didn’t carry the book, so be it. There was a lot of consternation in certain quarters about my decision, but I stuck to my guns because my readers had spoken.

Today, that cover gets more positive comments than I would have ever imagined. It’s the thing that gets people to pay attention to the book – and isn’t that what a cover is all about? It wasn’t very easy to follow my intuition and stick with the design I believed in. As an author, I want every retailer to carry my book and get the word out there. But, I’m happy to say that despite their initial reluctance, the retailer in question wound up coming around and placing a substantial order. When you stick to your guns, dinosaurs either evolve, like they did in this case, or they go away and become extinct.

4. You don’t need millions. The first three publicists I spoke with asked the same first question. “How much money do you have?” The story was that I needed 5-6 full time people, a million dollars and a corporate backer, and of course a nice big retainer with a big fat publicist to launch my book if I wanted any attention.

More Gravity! That’s like saying you have to advertise and do mega email blasts to communicate with your customers. That’s such OLD news. Thanks to social media and the internet – you can create a groundswell of momentum behind your book without breaking your bank. I’ll let you in on a little secret. Darned near every person who supported my book with endorsements, promotions, interviews and more – I met on Social Media! Not my clients, of course, but everyone else.

Social media gives us the opportunity to form relationships, share ideas, get to know one another – all in a down to earth, truth on the table fashion. What better way to create momentum for your book than through the people who appreciate your messages and story. Forget the big dollars – be yourself, make friends, share your views and let social media build the momentum for you.

Most of all – write the book you want to write. Believe in yourself and be unique. That’s the best way to ditch Gravity, dump the dinosaurs and power your success.

I help authors sell books, build a business and take their messages to the world.

We do that in two ways here.. a lot of free information on the web, and high paid clients. Unless I get a crazy idea to test new software and give away the paid consulting.

I am trying out a new webinar system for my private coaching sessions. So you get this same ME, hopefully a great show, and the fun of watching me bumble through with new technology (OK.. you can get that anytime)

The only catch.. I’m just doing this ONCE.. it will NOT BE RECORDED (no evidence if I screw up) and it is on SHORT NOTICE.

Friday at Noon Eastern (9am Pacific) on July 16th (yes, that is tomorrow.. I did say SHORT NOTICE)

Grab a slot here –> Warren’s free coaching session

I’m going to share some new tests from what is working on FACEBOOK, how partners are getting 10x the publicity on the MEGA SUCCESS DAY promo for next week and other freebinarific advice. I may talk about Twitter if you twist my arm.

I will answer ANY question… show any secret site.

You can still ask your question in a comment, on Twitter or whatever.. but you won’t get the real live me with a mouse in my hand showing you exactly what YOU need to succeed unless you register here

Guest Post by Dr. Daisy Sutherland

I chose Dr. Sutherland from the authors visiting this blog as my Blog Reader of the Day. After visiting her web site, YouTube channel and Facebook page, I just had to share some of her writing with you.

Now that I have your attention, I must confess that a PERFECT article does not exist, but I will share tips that will make your articles more enticing and enjoyable.

If the articles you are developing are meant for marketing of your business it is important that they are informative and of the highest quality.  Remember the articles you produce will be a reflection of your business and service or product that you provide, so let’s keep the following tips in mind:

• Share your knowledge: Write about what you know, the article will flow nicely and will be easier to write.  If you are writing on a topic you are unfamiliar with, be sure to research, and write the article when you are confident on the topic.
• Make an outline: When developing an article it is important to plan, and write an outline first.  Doing this will ensure that your article flows nicely and will keep the reader enticed and motivated to continue reading. Nothing is more annoying than reading an article that is scattered without a flow that is necessary, it is not only confusing, but it will more than likely not get read and your goal is to have your articles read, right?
• Be informative: Many articles are meant to share information whether it is teaching, how-to or inspiration. When sharing information, share examples that the reader can associate with. This can be in the form of stories.  Think back to the text books you read in school; sure they were informative, but they were also very BORING.  Be witty in your articles and your readers will crave more.
• Avoid sales pitches: No one wants to read an article that has a sales pitch through out its content.  If you must add a link, add it to the end or add a resource box or area.  The resource area can include your name, title, as well as website information.

Writing a perfect article will not be difficult if you put some effort into it, and simply let it flow.

I read best selling author David Meerman Scott’s excellent blog because he not only agrees with what I teach authors about creating a best seller campaign.. but he does it better than just about any author.

Today he posted and excellent post and inspired me to watch an hour long presentation video and read more on the interviews he did with other best selling authors like Seth Godin.

My favorite concept is one we’re using more and more in out best seller book marketing campaigns.. that is giving away great content to attract readers. David went to one of my all time favorite authors, Tom Peters and got two excellent examples of blogging to book writing.

You can easily see how Peter’s latest book, BIG comes from 163 blog posts that were posted as free content on the web.. but you might not have known that the huge hit of 1982 was developed in much the same way.

Tom Peters is a prolific author and very successful. David Meerman Scott is on his way to being just as successful. Watch this video and see how you can model what they have done in your own book marketing and promotion

Tried out Screenr

Here’s the results.. EASY,  You could do this too!

Look at all I’ve got going on tonight

Last week, we featured authors who have been successful with blogs during our Profitable Social Media radio show.

I liked the methods used by DJ Heckes to create her book and asked her to submit here story here for all to read.

How I Wrote FULL BRAIN MARKETING

by DJ Heckes

I have spent a lot of time reading articles related to marketing, leadership, and economic outlooks and in doing so posted comments with great feedback along the way. I dabbled around in Blog writing in 2007 and 2008 but was not consistent. By mid 2008 I decided to get serious and test my writing ability. I have always been passionate about writing but wanted to be sure I had relevant and original content to write about for others to learn from.

In mid 2008 that is what I did. I sat down and listened to the audiences out in the cyber world through Blogs, Articles, research, and face to face customers an what I heard was that business owners and marketers were starving for knowledge to keep a competitive edge in this hyper competitive environment we all work in.

I researched the most popular topics and selected areas where I felt I had some expertise, which included how to thrive in a downturn economy, and various marketing initiatives that were proven successful in using through my own company as CEO of EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts.

By the end of 2008, I had written several Blogs and found the Top 50 Article Posting Sites and selected a few to test out my Blogs for becoming published articles. Yes, it happened! All of a sudden I was getting link building and link backs with references to my Blogs! This was exciting. I then sat down in December 2008 and created an outline from the Blogs I had started for my new book to write in 2009. Once the outline was finished with relevant leadership and marketing information, I began my journey to become an author and starting January 2, 2009 I went to my office and started spending EVERY Saturday writing unless I had a planned trip or a family commitment to be at. Through this discipline I was able to focus topic by topic and took some of the prewritten Blogs and rewrote them and turned them into actual Chapters. I started first with identifying What makes a good leader. To me, being a good leader is easy, but being a great leader would equate to becoming a “Winston Churchill” type leader.

Over the next seven months I had become so disciplined and enjoyed writing that I completed my first manuscript draft by July 22^nd. I had also been using Social Media (LinkedIn mostly) to reach out to my connections I had built to find a publishing company. Throughout this process, it only took me 72 hours to get some great feedback from the first reach out touch point in social media. I received connections to Authors to interview, publishing companies to interview and spent the next few days making phone calls and person to person conversations. I found four publishing companies and one that had turned me down as my demographic audience was the small business owner. Wow, what a trip this was! I actually enjoyed the conversations with two authors that gave me their stories of how they published their books.

Throughout the interview process, I was ready to send my manuscript off to two to three of the publishing companies. Two publishing companies accepted the book and then I realized the timing that was going to take place with going with a publishing company. I had some book content that could be outdated in a year if I were not careful in selecting the right place to publish my book and timing was everything to me.

I then decided to self publish as that was what many authors had told me was best. You control the timing and the content. Yeah!!!

After I had a copyrighter go through my book and work with me, I was ready to turn the book over to the editing team at the Self Publishing Company (Create Space). Ok, this is when I realized I am really NOT a left brain thinker w hen it comes to the details of Word’s “track changes.” I thought this would put me over the edge in completing the two edit stages with line by line editing throughout the 208 pages written for the book submission.

The editing process was completed by mid October! Next was the technical design process as I wanted control of the book cover and design. After all, I own a company with two talented graphic designers who really wanted to help out with the creative. The technical design was much more fun than the track changes!

By late November I submitted the book again and it was accepted by December 24, 2009! Christmas was wonderful knowing that I had accomplished my dream to be an author but most of all an author for such a well needed book with relevant content for the small business sector.

The book has been available through Amazon.

There are many articles, blogs, and newsletters that offer advice for what business owners should and should not do to grow their businesses in tough economic times. We seem to come across a trend article or tips piece at least once every day. We sift through all the hottest trends in recession and stalled marketing tactics and the rash of strategic opinion articles to come up with our own suggestions of what we should “do” or “not do.”

To make a long story short, Blogging is another valuable resource to build your credibility online. Become the expert through delivering fresh, targeted content. This will attract inbound links and relationship building if you deliver relevant information that can be of value to the person reading the blog. Once you have determined a great way to deliver a blog to the audience of a chosen target market, step it up by posting articles on public sites. Try writing twenty-five tips and publish the article online. There are many sources to publish articles online, but the information MUST be original content and not duplicate content. Write white pages or papers and post them online with links to draw attention to these resource tools. Win an award lately? Write a press release and post all the information online. A good reason to write articles is to increase visibility, establish authority, develop inbound links, and broaden the spectrum of prospects. This enables companies to reach people that may not otherwise be reachable in a particular market. Overall, it is about increasing awareness of your company brand, product, or service.

Once you are comfortable with writing articles, try publishing them. Some popular platforms we use to publish many articles are listed in my book to help you get started to become the author inside you, whether it be Blog writing, Article writing or writing a book!

DJ Heckes, owner and EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts and named 2009 Top Performing CEO in New Mexico, is actively involved in the New Mexico local community and is on the National Board for American Marketing Association and the local board for Albuquerque Independent Business Alliance, in addition to being a member of NAWBO and many other statewide and national organizations.

Guest Post by Denise Wakeman.

Denise will be our guest on Profitable Social Media radio on March 26th. Details on the Profitable Social Media show page

Are you getting results from your book blog? Is it getting harder for you to spend time on your blog because you’re just not seeing how it is going to pay off? If so, you’re not alone. Hundreds of blogs are started each day and many of them are abandoned after several months because it takes time and energy to keep a good book blog going.

Make no mistake, blogs are a great tool for building community, interacting with readers, and marketing your book. And, it’s not enough to set one up and post occasionally. You have to use it effectively to drive traffic and attract readers.

I’ve discovered several common mistakes authors make with their blogs. Most aren’t using features available with blogging software. Eyes glaze over with the mention of RSS, pinging, trackbacks and permalinks. Does this describe how you feel? You may be ignoring these things, hoping you don’t really need to know. But you do if you want great results from you book blog.

Here’s a list of what I found on a recent trip around the author blogosphere:

Content:

1. Not posting frequently enough.
2. Content is not focused or optimized for the search engines.
3. Articles are too long.
4. Not linking profusely to sources. Links are the currency of the blogosphere.

Design

1. No author name on the blog home page.
2. No author photo.
3. No subscription form; no way to get blog updates through RSS or email.
4. Readers can’t leave comments or have too many hoops to jump through.
5. Too many categories or none at all.

Marketing

1. Blog isn’t listed in the 200+ blog directories.
2. Blog posts are not being syndicated to social networking sites.
3. There’s no call to action to buy the author’s book.
4. No contact information.

If you’re using a blog to build your online visibility, optimize it by taking time to learn how to leverage your content to get the widest reach. A blog is like any other marketing tool – you’ve got to use it effectively to get positive results.

© Denise Wakeman, The Blog Squad, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Denise Wakeman is Founder of The Blog Squad and is an Online Marketing Advisor. Get more blogging tips at http://Facebook.com/BlogSquad. And, you’re invited to claim your free instant access to a 5-part video course on how to get the best out of your blog. Visit http://masterbusinessblogging.com

This morning got me thinking about the copywriting secrets that separate the pros from the rest of us.

1. Testing everything
2. Bullet Points
3. Strong Headlines

My friend Thom Scott put out a tweet that mentioned the power of 3, 7 and 10 for making a list when you can’t think of what to blog. I had other plans, and replied that I ought to write a post about the Top 3 numbers… a catchy headline, but I meant it as a joke. I know he’s right though. I’ve tested it.

Next I saw “The Secret To Driving Blog Traffic” by Jason Falls How can you pass up a headline like that? Jason is right, I’ve tested headlines myself and nothing works better to increase readership.

From there I went to Google Reader.. where I have been practicing not reading all the 100’s of posts I get each day, but skimming for the best headlines and subjects, marketing them with a star and   cutting out 80% of the time it was taking to use Reader (my best source of inspiration, news and ideas)

The last 3 paragraphs are my story. A good story makes anything you write more readable and is much easier to write than the more boring non-fiction style we learned in school.

I took what I know, what I have tested, and a spark of inspiration to make a list of 3 very important items to share with you. I didn’t use bullet points.. I wanted to emphasize that TESTING beats the other two.

Put Bullet Points in Everything

Every letter, most emails, many of my blog posts and much of my conversations with people are based on bullet points. I use them to:

• Emphasize the essence of the message
• Visual stimulate you to keep reading
• Group ideas together.

If you haven’t guessed, my favorite number is 3. I’ve tested longer bullet point lists, 3 is most readable..(except when you have a lot of info that has to be included)

Did You Like My Headline?

I didn’t spend 90% of my writing time on this headline.. but I did think about it for 2 hours before writing. It came from inspiration, so I need to test how it will go over with you.

If you liked this headline, the bullet points or the talk of testing, say so below in a comment. Let’s discuss what you’ve found. I’m sure that your results won’t be the same as mine.

I hope this is the start of a discussion, not the end point. Let’s all work together to make our books, blogs, information products and marketing more engaging and persuasive.

Are you with me?

I just heard that the search term “elizabeth potts weinstein is annoying” can get you to the always entertaining Elizabeth Potts Weinstein blog site.

According to her web site, Elizabeth is:

My full name is Elizabeth Potts Weinstein, and I empower solo entrepreneurs to live their truth in their businesses & lives. I’m also a mom, attorney, author, speaker, entrepreneur, video blogging addict, lover of passion, tweetup connoisseur, people loving introvert, and truth evangelist. To keep up with me,subscribe to this blog or follow me on Twitter!

Is Elizabeth Potts Weinstein annoying?

I don’t think so.

She may have done a few annoying things. (check out the Elizabeth Potts Weinstein blog to see for yourself) but I’m pretty sure that you could search for just about any combination of words starting with Elizabeth Potts Weinstein and get similar results.

The photo shown here notwithstanding, I don’t think Elizabeth Potts Weinstein is annoying.

Authors Can Learn From Elizabeth Potts Weinstein

It wasn’t long ago that Elizabeth Potts Weinstein was just another awesome author that I didn’t know. She started engaging me in conversations… some of it silly, some of it about whatever the topic of the day was, but always insightful and fun to read.

She started blogging a few months ago and shared some interesting photos and experiences along with a good dose of wise advice for her readers. The momentum started to grow.

Now I read much of what Elizabeth Potts Weinstein has to say and consider her a friend.  Yesterday, she was commenting on the odd search queries people have used to find her blog (are you looking for these.. you can learn a lot about what readers are looking for) and tweeted a message about the “Elizabeth Potts Weinstein is annoying” query used by one person to find her blog.

Not the kind of self promotion you’d expect for an author to use but it worked. Here’s the proof, a post on my own blog inviting you to read more about Elizabeth Potts Weinstein and see for yourself if she is annoying.

What are you doing to stand out online?

Share your comments below. Who knows, we might find something useful you never would have imagined using for self promotion of your book, blog.

Today, more than ever, it’s important for authors to share lots of fresh content with their readers.

Blog posts, articles, information products, presentations. How do you get it all done?

My output has gone up by 3x since I started adding told like Evernote. Here’s a fun video showing how elephants in the clouds help you remember everything.

You readers expect to be in contact with you.. asking questions and getting a fast response. As you become better known online, this demand will continue.

Let’s all step up our game. I’ve put Evernote on all my machines and updated other systems and tools that I will share here soon (thanks in no small part to Evernote).

What are you doing to step up your content creation schedule this year?

New York Times Best Selling Author Daniel Pink says that most people are note motivated by the 20th Century carrot and stick management we’ve all grown up with and would do our best when was have

• Autonomy
• Mastery
• Purpose

as our goals.

I just finished reading Pink’s lates book “Drive” and WOW!.. this is a must read for authors and entrepreneurs on what motivates people today (actually, always has).

Be sure to check out Daniel Pink’s book marketing.. his blog, web sites and media show him to be following what I teach as “Listen and Love”.. a two way communication between authors and readers.

Here’s one example of many online videos from Daniel Pink

Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

I’m getting ready for a special class for authors called

“Best Book Marketing Strategies for 2010″

You can attend this Teleseminar Nation event FREE by calling in at 11:59AM Pacific Time (3:00PM Eastern) on 1/28

To Listen Live by Phone:
Phone # to Dial: 323-476-3672
Use Conf ID: 921346#

I suggest you head over to the Teleseminar Nation web site now… at the site, you can scroll down to 1) Submit a question before or during the class or 2) Use the Web Player to listen online

While at Teleseminar Nation, be sure to sign up for an account (FREE) which will allow you:

1. Updates about teleseminars, classes, radio show of interest
2. Free promotion for your own teleseminar or radio show
3. Directories of authors and businesses using teleseminar (great networking tool)

Using Teleseminars and Radio Shows to Promote Your Book

Teleseminars and Radio are wonderful tools to build momentum in your book marketing. There is little or no cost, you can reach anyone with a phone and it’s the easist way to establish a additional channel of communication with your readers.

We all like to hear a voice behind the words we read.. I have had dozens of experiences where I meet someone that I only knew through a teleseminar or radio appearance and it really breaks through to a new dimension when you have had this experience.

Have you used teleseminars to teach the material in your book? Leave a comment below and include links to any free playbacks you offer.

Do you have a Radio Show?

Every author should host their own radio show. There is no cost, and no commitment to length or number of shows.

We’ve seen authors get additional search engine rank and web site readers with just a single BlogTalkRadio show. Each show is submitted to directories, indexed by the search engines and can be found as a podcast on iTunes. Sign up takes just a few minutes.

You can see my show page at http://BlogTalkRadio.com/warren

Be sure to click “Add Friend” and make a connection so we can network and build audiences there.

Secret to Entertaining Author Radio Shows

Most authors can speak on their topic for hours, but it gets lonely speaking into a phone as the only voice (and not much fun for the listeners either).

The cure is easy… just add one or more guests.

You’ll find that it’s much easier to book a guest than to get booked as a guest (which is fairly easy anyway). When you are a show host, you add another creditial to your resume, and you will be amazed at the authors and experts that will set aside time to be on any radio show.

Find guests by browsing through your keywords at BlogTalkRadio, connecting with the other members of Teleseminar Nation or visiting the leading bloggers in your niche. You will find that most of them are open to reciprocating to use you are a guest blogger, show guest or joint venture partners once you have had them as a guest (NOTE: Don’t make reciprocity a demand.. do the favor or having someone as your guest.. waiting to ask until after they have had a pleasant experience on your show.

Need a Social Media, Twitter, or Book Marketing Expert?

I would love to say yes if I am not booked or on a plane… contact my staff at j@BestSellerAuthors.com for availability.

You may have recently seen a Security Warning for this site.

DO NOT WORRY.. WE ARE SAFE… we did not spread the infection.. but learned a valuable lesson we need to share here:

We have WordPress Blog software installed in an unused folder and it was not up to date.

Hit by badware which we removed and clean up. Days later, we were still seeing the warnings due to caches. MORAL: Keep you blog software up to date. We would have saved hours of work had we installed timely updates.

Read more about preventing badware on your site

A MUST READ for WordPress blog owners

One of the few areas growing in publishing is the Blogoshpere. While others are shutting down, worried that e-books or the economy will kill sales.. the bloggers I know are talking about bigger advances, best sellers and respect from media and publishers.

How to connect with Bloggers.

There are millions of blogs and bloggers. The vast majority are splogs (blogs set up to spam) or static, underutilized locations with a few posts talking about themselves.

These are NOT the ones to talk to :)

Instead, meet the bloggers. They love to congregate. There is a blog meetup or seminar every week in some cities.

This is how Twitter Revolution got started. I wanted to connect with bloggers to promote books, found them online, at blogger conventions and on Twitter. I started using Twitter just to promote other’s books.

At a recent convention, I met Murry Newlands. He pulled out a camera and asked me about my book. You’ll see that I didn’t have one in hand.

Murray did not edit the interview.. put it up on YouTube and I just grabbed th code from them to embed here (a simple cut and paste).

Now I’ll add a link back to Murray to thank him and encourage him to talk about my book and this site.

Watch the video and see how easy this is:

http://www.murraynewlands.com/2009/10/warren-whitlock-an-interview/

Technorati : Twitter Revolution, author promotion, author video, book marketing, promoting books, self promotion, selling books, social media
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