Write, Publish and Market a Book with No Out-of-Pocket Money

Do you dream of having a book published, but don't know where to turn? Already have a book, but unsure of how to promote it? Looking for cost effective high-return strategies to market your book? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then the following information is for you.

Many writers and aspiring authors are under the mistaken belief if their book is published by a publishing house they can sit back and watch sales miraculously happen. Nothing could be further from the truth. Fact is, competition to have your manuscript noticed and published by a large house is extremely fierce. Additionally, no matter who publishes your book, you absolutely must take an active roll in marketing, promoting and selling your book.

Moreover, profit margins are not extremely good when you go through a publisher. Sure, if you sell tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of books, you make substantial amounts of money. In reality only a small percentage of writers achieve this level of success.

A great model for achieving success is to self-publish and actively promote your book. Self-publishing is one of the best ways to get your manuscript to market quickly is to. Another great benefit of self-publishing is you have complete control of the creative process. You make the decisions on content, editing, cover design, title and you reap the profits.

10 Ways To Generate New Articles Ideas And Topics

1. Brainstorm for new ideas.

Add your brainstormed ideas to an idea file that you can go back to when you are stuck for a topic.

Also add ideas you get from other sources into this file so that you'll always have a fresh source of inspiration.

2. Visit forums and message boards.

Look for an interesting topic or thread in the posts that you can turn into a new article.

3. Check out newspapers and news programs.

Depending on what you like to write about, you could find some new hot topics.

4. Subscribe to e-zines that reach your target audience.

You'll be able to get new, relevant information that could spark an idea for an article.

Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking

Knocking knees, butterflies (who came up with that word?) in your stomach, sweaty palms, quavering voice. We’ve all been there – some of us more than others. I’m going to share with you some of the tricks of the trade to help manage and reduce your anxiety before and during your presentation. These methods are tried and true and have helped many presenters.

The first time is always the worst and it gets better from there. In 1991, I gave my first presentation to a large audience. My audience was 150 fifth and six grade students in an outside courtyard of an elementary school. I was scheduled to give a 35-minute student assembly that explained a collection of international artifacts (masks, musical instruments, hats, and other interesting items). It was a program designed to increase multicultural understanding. I was so fired up about the topic, and thought that it was such an important subject that I thought I could deliver the program.

Well, of course everything went wrong! The wind picked up and knocked some of the items off the display table (the kids thought this was funny, I didn’t). The microphone had that horrible screeching feedback. My knees shook the whole time, my voice quavered, my heart pounded – and I felt like it was going on forever. I got through my content somehow and looked at my watch. I gave a 35-minute presentation in 15-minutes! I think that I probably forgot to breathe.

After packing up my items and loading them in my car, I collapsed in the driver’s seat. When my heart starting beating normally, I had a realization. My realization was that I did deliver the program, yes–terribly, but I did finish it and it would probably never again be that bad. From that point on, I learned something from every program I gave; how to keep the audience engaged, how to test AV equipment BEFORE I started, how to breathe normally and speak at the same time. The list goes on and on. In three years, I delivered this program to more than 100,000 students and teachers.

The "Real" Lazy Man's Way To Riches Revealed!

Is there really a lazy way to riches? Most people would say no. I used to say that too, but not anymore.

Before we start off let me first define what I mean by lazy. Lazy to me doesn't mean that you don't do anything at all. Even the guy who wins the lottery has to go buy a ticket at some point, pick the winning numbers and submit it for the draw.

So as you can see, lazy doesn't mean you do nothing at all. It means you just do far less than normally required in proportion to the money you earn.

A good example of a "lazy way to riches" can be found in paid membership sites. When you join a membership site you usually pay a small monthly fee. In exchange you get a chest-load of free products. Some sites also give you the option to refer new members for a referral commission.

The referral commission you get paid is usually recurring. What this means is, you do the job (referral) once and then you get paid for it over and over again.

Let's say you join a paid membership site tomorrow and you refer your friend John. When John joins, in other words pays his membership fee, you will receive a portion of that as a referral commission.

10 Simple Ways to Turn Your Creative Spark into a Flame

Creativity and innovation begin with the spark of an idea. But for so many, the process ends there with no plan to manifest. Understanding simple ways to turn your ideas into action will give you the edge to turn that spark to a flame and rise as a leader in innovation and creativity.

These ten simple tools not only jumpstart your creative spirit, but they help you maintain and sustain the idea flow. Making these steps a part of your life will reinforce a solid creative foundation in your life, facilitate innovation, and ease your problem-solving process.

1. Understand What You're Passionate About.

You can accomplish this by creating a mission statement, an artist's statement, or a set of guiding principles. Finding what truly drives and inspires you helps focus your attention on your creative gifts. A well thought out mission serves as a beacon on your path, helping you decide when to say yes and when to say no. This process is crucial for creative people-especially those who find themselves overwhelmed by numerous ideas.

2. Catch Your Ideas.

Special Reports Position You as an Expert

Special reports can be one of the easiest and most profitable ways to gain visibility and position yourself as an expert. Everyone has knowledge about something that is of interest to others. What you need to do is find out what is of interest to your customers and potential customers.

You can easily turn your knowledge into a special report offered for free on your website or through direct mail. Basically, a special report is a multi-page document packed with valuable how-to information that readers can use immediately.

Offering any type of information positions you as an expert. The key is to make sure the information is timely and useful.

Brainstorm with key people to determine several topics you could write reports on. Send a series of four to six to keep your name and knowledge fresh in people's minds. Be sure to include contact information at the end of the report.

By Kathleen Gage

Kathleen Gage is a business advisor, keynote speaker and trainer who helps others gain marketing dominance and visibility within their market. To receive Gage's fr*ee report "Learn How One Salt Lake City Based Consultant Made Over 100k With One Idea" visit www.kathleengage.com

Top Seven Ways to Promote your Ezine

To grow your ezine subscriber numbers, you need to let people online and offline know about it. Here's seven ways:

1. Network offline. Visit professional like-minded groups. These groups usually meet once a month, have speakers, and networking time for you to mix with other professionals. Have your free ezine 30-second "tell and sell" ready at networking time, or put your free ezine announcement/ad on a half page flyer to post on the networking table. Always include the top 3-4 benefits of the ezine. Example: I'm Judy Cullins and work with small business people who want tomanifest their book dreams. To get my free monthly ezine, The Book Coach Says, full of tips, articles and resources on book writing, publishing, and promotion visit my site at www.bookcoaching.com.

2. Speak to groups as a teleclass guest speaker or to a group in your city. Pass a clipboard around that has your ezine's title and space for signups below. Ask them to print clearly their name and their email address. Make sure you let them know it's free--that's the big attraction usually. After receiving good information for a few months or so, you may start getting sales from people who now trust you as the savvy expert.

3. Promote your ezine on your web site. Don't just say "Subscribe to my Free Ezine." Give your audience a reason to buy. The free ezine helps you finish, publish, and sell your book-fast! Dan Poynter, Mr. Self-Publishing says, "totally worth your time." Offer an opt-in and opt-out place to subscribe and unsubscribe that automatically sends the notice to your email.

Four Keys To Effective Delegating Delegation

-- one of the critical determining factors for everyone who wants to be an effective leader or manager. And for those of us control freaks, lack of delegating skill can be a real show stopper.

Because the harder you try to hold on to things, the faster they can get away from you, and if you want to extend your reach beyond your ability to do everything at once, you must delegate some things to other people.

In my business coaching practice, and in our franchise for business coaches we find that delegation is simply frightening for many people.

Why?

First of all, you may enjoy doing the thing you have to delegate...

You may think you do it better than anyone else. You imagine it won't get done properly...

And you know it won't get done your way. You might even believe if you don't do that thing, you won't have enough to do.

Strategies for Planning and Conducting Effective Meetings

Did you know that business executives spend about half their time sitting in meetings? In fact, 40 to 50 percent of their working hours are consumed by meetings, according to a study by the Annenberg School of Communications at UCLA and the University of Minnesota's Training & Development Research Center.

Meetings are inevitable - whether you’re a business executive or member of a volunteer, social, or civic organization. But meetings can be a very effective and efficient way to communicate, if properly planned and conducted. To help you pull off successful meetings, below are some key strategies to follow. You may only need to address a few of them, if you’re conducting an informal meeting. For a meeting with major consequences, you should give all or most of these areas careful consideration.

Prior to the Meeting

First, you’ll need to define the purpose of the meeting and develop an agenda with the cooperation of the key participants. Then distribute the agenda and circulate background material, lengthy documents or articles ahead of time. This will make participants feel prepared, involved and up-to-date, so they can be ready to make valuable contributions to the meeting.

Coaching Tips for Powerful Presentations

It is an awesome responsibility and privilege to address an audience as a speaker. If you are a coach or business professional who wants to enroll clients from the platform, you need to connect and engage with an audience quickly and show them the benefits of working with you.

Tip #1 The purpose of your speech is to get results; to help people make changes and think or act differently.

Tip #2 Show your audience that coaching is a process. It is different from consulting.

Tip #3 Determine what kind of coaching the client wants and needs.

Tip #4 People learn in three ways: Visual (what they can see), Auditory (what they can hear), and Kinesthetic (what they can touch). Try to include all three ways in your speech.

Tip #5 People have short attention spans. Review your main points before you end your speech.

The Lazy Writer’s Way to Creating Killer Headlines!

Dear Friend,

I have a confession to make.

It’s about the title of this article. I stole it and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

I “modeled” the title after the highly successful ad headline “The Lazy Man’s Way To Riches.” Contrary to what you believe, Top copywriters don’t make up the “killer” headlines they write, they steal them.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about word-for-word plagiarizing here. I’m talking about taking already “proven” headlines and using them as a basis for writing your headlines.

Here’s an example of how to do it: Let’s use the famous headline...

" Who Else Wants To Look Like A Movie Star?"

This headline has been ripped-off (ethically) many, many times by nasty marketers... including yours truly. Why? Because it works!

Coaching Tips for Powerful Presentations Tip 10 List

Tip #1 The purpose of your speech is to get results; to help people make changes and think or act differently. So start with the end in mind. What do you want people to do as a result of your speech? What do they need to know to do this? What do they need to feel to do this?

Tip #2 Show your audience that coaching is a process. It is different from consulting. Do some coaching (role playing) during your presentation. Let audience members see what it would be like to have you as their coach.

Tip #3 Determine what kind of coaching the client wants and needs. Interview a few people before you give your program to find out what challenges they are experiencing. The program chair can provide you with a few names to contact. Then use this information in your speech content.

Tip #4 People learn in three ways: Visual (what they can see), Auditory (what they can hear), and Kinesthetic (what they can touch). Try to include all three ways in your speech. Most of your audience will be visual and need to "see" what they "hear" from you. So tell your personal stories to support your points. When the audience hears your story(ies) they will feel connected to you.

Writing Articles that Get Read

Writing articles is one of the best and most effective ways of promoting your business because it does three things:

*Brands you as an expert.
*Makes your marketing efforts viral.
*Gives you content to attract potential buyers.

There are several things you can do to make sure that your articles get read.

1. Write an article potential buyers will find interesting. Even if you know your topic very well, it pays to do research. Find out what changes are occuring in your field and include that material in your articles. No one wants to read something that is outdated or inaccurate. Readers will find your material far more interesting if you tell them something they don't already know, and you present it from your own unique perspective.

How to be a Great Speaker

Did you know that great speakers are often nervous with butterflies in their stomach before giving a presentation? And there are many actors/actresses who can not speak to live audiences without cue cards. My 13 years as a professional speakers bureau owner allowed me to hear several thousand speakers give their presentations. Here are a few tips I learned from them.

1. You want to be nervous. Get your butterflies to fly in formation. Some tension brings about a great speech. You usually don't look as nervous as you feel. Be prepared, be relaxed. Practice, practice, practice. Use visualization techniques. One speaker suggests that you curl your toes and get rid of your adrenalin. Get out of your head and in to your heart. Reduce nervousness with self talk.

Your mantra might be - "I am a relaxed, confident speaker."

2. Great presentations are well organized.

Opening - You have 60seconds to get their attention. So start with a great question, quote or short story. Tell 'em what you will tell them.

Using The Right PDA

When we think of writing it triggers many thoughts and visions depending on our framing. It could trigger a lone man with a full astray, unshaven, staring at an old plunking typewriter with white blank crisp paper waiting in anticipation for his words.

If a mother or younger, it could conjure up an image of a 30-something woman typing away on a keyboard with an apron on, in between making formulas or getting ready for work, still dark outside. Pounding on the keys because the flow is there, just as the light from the window begins to change, trying to get as much onto the page before the kids need her attention.

If you grew up in a Catholic school in the 50s, writing could mean perfect penmanship and a rap on the knuckles if you didn't.

The times have changed, thank goodness, and now children grow up with memories of learning to cluster and freewrite. To allow whatever needs to flow appear onto the page. There are more books than ever on creativity, and how to play and embrace the craft new everyday. It is a freeing time for writers.

The Art of Knowledge Sharing

Among all the concerning facts that surround us these days, there is one point that shines a positive light on current developments: The progressive trend of knowledge sharing.

Even in the not so far past education, whether in schools or non-traditional settings, was merely a matter of dumping knowledge from one source (the teacher or trainer) to another (the students or trainees). The person in front of the group was the almighty supplier of information, and everyone else was quietly and subserviently absorbing.

Fortunately, there has been increasing awareness that this "bank-deposit" method is not very stimulating or effective. More than half of the lecture gets lost when knowledge transformation is executed from an active to a passive source. There is growing evidence that active learning sorts much better and more rewarding effects.

Why Pacing and Leading is for Wimps!

Okay, you have read some books on body language and they all said you must mirror and match, pace and lead....

And you failed miserably when you went out into the real world.

Let me tell you why and what you need to do instead. But first a story that illustrates my point...

A few years ago I moved into a very well paid position in the company where I worked. And in my new job I was dealing with company directors, business owners and senior executives -- face to face.

And to make it all even more challenging I would meet them on their territory - in their offices.

Teachers of pacing and leading would tell me to pace these executives and then to gradually lead them.

Top 7 Ways to Succeed in the Business of Speaking

How attractive are you as a speaker? No, your looks, but your consistent ability to provide a quality presentation, attract clients, and be irresistibly attractive to meeting planners and speaker bureaus? Below are some useful tips that I learned while owning a national, professional speakers bureau for 13 years.

1. Presentation - do you have something interesting, inspiring, and useful to share with audiences? Be mindful of your voice (keep it deep and low pitched), your personality and attitude (positive), your tone (soft, loud. Encouraging as needed), your style, your vocabulary.

2. Connection - how quickly do you get to the core of your audience's problems and challenges? Skip what is between their ears and go straight to their hearts.

Top 7 Tips for Speakers

Public Speaking is the number one way to advance your business career.

Do you get nervous when speaking to a group? Do you feel butterflies in your stomach? The following tips will help you get your butterflies to fly in formation.

1. Everyone feels some nerves before a presentation. Try to do a quiet meditation, visualization, or exercise before you speak. Breathe deeply. Memorize those opening lines.and then quickly engage your audience with a question or humorous story.

2. Three keys to being a top presenter: practice, practice, practice. In front of your mirror, in front of your stuffed animals. Use a tape recorder and a cam recorder for playback and feedback. Try your material out with service clubs.

Get Results from Your Writing & Speaking

When we communicate, we usually want something to happen. We want results. And, when we're conscious of results, we're seeking effective communication.

To put it another way, the effectiveness of communication can be measured by the responses it gets. It's not measured by how well we wrote or how eloquently we spoke, although those can help us get the responses we want.

Good writing and speaking help us get a response because they help get the message across. As I've argued in my book, A Manager's Guide to Newsletters, a newsletter that doesn't get read cannot get a response from readers.

So, writing, designing, speaking, and all those other creative activities matter. But, in the end, responses are what count, and effectiveness means getting the responses we want.

That's true for all types of communication, and not just marketing campaigns. Managers who send messages to employees, for example, want employees to respond in a particular way. Maybe they want the employees to do something differently, or maybe they want to reinforce existing behaviors.

Making Transitions

Ever notice how smoothly some speakers or writers move you through their speech or memo? It seems they effortlessly take you from start to finish without making you strain to follow.

Yet, while the reading may be effortless, the writing probably took some extra work and attention to detail. In fact, some writers would say you should work as hard on the transitions between ideas as you do on the ideas themselves.

Consider copywriting guru Joe Sugarman, who says the job of each piece of copy, from the headline down, is to get you to read the next paragraph. And the paragraph after that. And to keep on reading them until you get to the 'offer,' where you're asked to order the featured product.

To get readers from one paragraph to the next, or from one idea to the next, we use transitions, words or phrases that 'pull' the reader along, or in the case of speeches, pull the listener along.

Speak With E's Part 3

"Educate, Energize, Entertain, and provide an experience
for your audience"

1. Use direct eye contact. You can focus on one person when
making a point. and everyone else in the audience will
think you are speaking to them, too.

2. Don't just stand behind the lectern move around,
gesture. Be animated. (Fifty-five percent of how people
perceive you is by body language; 38 percent by your voice;
7 percent by your words.)

3. If you are telling a story, assume the posture of the
character you are acting out. For example, if you are
talking about babies then look like one and sound like one.

Speak With E's Part 2

"Educate, Energize, Entertain, and provide an experience for your audience"

1. Use the "Rule of 3." The most successful speakers limit their remarks to three major points. Here is where you use your signature stories (your own personal stories) to support your points and help people visualize what you are saying.

2. Every five to seven minutes, back up your facts with signature stories (about you or others). Stories are out there everywhere. Find them in stores, at restaurants, on the airplane, at home. People retain information better when they hear a story.

Speak With E's Part 1

"Educate, Energize, Entertain, and provide an experience for your audience"

1. The most important objective of any speaker is to appear credible and knowledgeable about the subject.

2. Embrace your audience. Remember, it is about them, not you. Are you going to challenge them to think or behave differently, or perhaps confirm or explain something they already feel?

3. Speak to your audience as if you were having a conversation with them. Don't lecture the audience. Be inclusive. Say "us," not "you".