First Word

Already impressed by Josh Mathe's new book In the Footsteps of Greatness , I sat down to my own writers' group ( Writers Who Mean Business ) last night to listen to his presentation on the subject. Kudos to Josh for a dramatic home run. As his publisher and publicist I want to point to why Josh's presentation was well done. Organized and thoughtful . He had created a PowerPoint he kept on his iPad so as he went through the slides he had it there to prompt him, but he didn't rely on it per se. He referenced it. Targeted and on message . He knew what he was talking about and (more importantly) WHO he was talking to. He was discussing "how he wrote his memoir" to give other writers fresh perspective and ideas. Natural and easygoing . He was "authentic" (as he described it) and relaxed. He wasn't try to sell anyone on his book. He was naturally and effortlessly leading the audience along through his message. In other words, Josh acted like ... ...

I don't like micromanagement. I had a conversation with an old friend of mine I ran into at Bistro 33. We came from some familiar stomping grounds together. I've known her for years. Anyway the discussion turned to micromanagement. Some people don't truly understand the difference between true leadership and being a micro-manager. Micromanagement is actually time consuming and in many ways very unproductive. Here is my credo: hire the right people, put them in the right jobs, and trust them.  If you can't trust your people to do the job (after proper training, of course) then you shouldn't have hired those people. Micro-managers are not effective. People typically want to work (if you hired the right ones), and they often enjoy the responsibility. If you feel the "need" to sit down and look over your employee's shoulder (an employee doing a good job) then my question to you is, "What is wrong with you?" Answer the inner questions, ...

Sometimes you just got to throw your hands up, shrug and say, "I don't know!" Life doesn't always serve up answers to questions in one swift reply. Sometimes I wish it would! Much is unknown as our life unfolds. We want to see the road ahead. We wish to know our futures. We go to psychics for hope of answers (some of us do). Sometimes we get answers we don't want to hear. Sometimes we get answers that make no sense. And sometimes we get no answer at all. To achieve true peace in life you have to let go. You have to be willing to surrender to your higher power, and when the time comes to make a choice, let your inner voice guide you. Is this easy? No! We all think we can control life, but we can really only control ourselves. We can only control how we chose to respond. We can empower ourselves. We can make good decisions. We can let the questions stand without answers. It is easy for me to write this information. It is harder for me to live it. I would imagine...

Do you want to build readership for your blog? Are you a non-writer but you want to hire a writer? Are you thinking, "I could pay to have it done a couple of times a week..." Most clients don't want to pay a writer to blog more than a couple of times a week. Understandable given the expense. Blog writers are paid per hour. The obvious value in blogging isn't easily put into a results measurement either. The number one question is almost always, "How do I know if it's working?" So let's walk through some of these points. How often should you really blog to be build effective readership ? This answer may not be the one you want to hear: every day. You have the minimum which I say is 2-3 times a week. Then you have the favorable maximum, which is daily (sometimes including weekends). Two to three times a week builds audience but it becomes more sporadic than consistent. You'll see in the statistics spikes in readership that coincide with articles ...

Once in a while I open the door to my world and tell people about my adventures. Since I'm private overall, I don't really talk too much about where I've been, what I've done. Life is to be lived first and foremost. I don't get caught up in pretense. I recently got asked by a client, "Have you ever represented anyone famous?" I was startled by the question, because fame in many cases is of no consequence to me. I have always focused on the work. Celebrities are people -- nothing more nothing less. If you've worked around celebrity you'll truly become even less impressed. I remember going to the ladies room when I was working on a project on the Paramount lot and Ellen Barkin came in to use the facility. I just remember pretty much glancing at her and not thinking too much about it. Later I kind of chuckled and thought, "Everyone has the same business to do." LOL I was there to work. So Ellen Barkin wandering into the bathroom was the le...

The work smarter not harder formula is a tough one to figure out. I think it's a balance between a few key areas: team work, responsibility, delegation of the right tasks, and (this is a bonus) passive revenue. The last item (passive revenue) is the entrepreneur's ultimate dream goal: make your product sell itself and bring in constant revenue based on previous work. I am a fan of passive revenue. One of the key things it provides is unexpected income (my kind of bonus). Breaking down the other areas it works like this: Team work -- you need a competent team of professionals who know their jobs. They don't need direct supervision that can suck up your management time. The more time you spend managing people resources the less time you have to work as a CEO. The CEO should never be bogged in minutia (what I call small details). The minute you spend too much time on the grains of sands, the less time you have on the beach :) (and that's a semi metaphor), but the beac...

I consider myself seven parts writer and three parts editor. The only problem is that five parts of my job is two parts less then I want it to be (and I don't think that makes sense so I must be no-parts math :). I had this great "text" conversation with an associate the other day. I was discussing my company 3L Publishing ( www.3LPublishing.com ), and I remarked how grateful I am to have this opportunity in life. My quip, "It's better than the alternative. I could be digging ditches." But reality is I have to make money -- and this is a business. Making money is often driven by market demand. If the market demands I publish other people's books and edit all day then I edit all day. I would rather be writing all day. Back to my earlier comment though: I am grateful I get to do what I do regardless. I also own the company and the freedom inherent in business ownership while not providing nearly enough time to myself does afford the little things. My fav...

People don't amaze me anymore. I've seen enough in the world not be amazed. I should maybe be pleasantly surprised and delighted, but amazed and in a stupor -- sometimes. Social media is often one of the biggest culprits of said amazement. I love social media. I've met so many people I might not have otherwise met. I've stayed connected to some people I have met and got to know better and thoroughly enjoy. I've enjoy the community support, and it gives me a place to "hang" out much like the water cooler only in a more productive way (via marketing). At the same time, I've connected with people who are a whole other breed of "folks" -- and sometimes they are odd ducks with different stripes of color I don't get. I'm an old fashioned girl. I am polite, well-mannered, and as my fiancé aptly puts it, "have social skills". I care about people. I try to help them. What I don't understand is the raw nature of social media whe...

In my "throw myself on the funeral pyre of martyrdom," I had an epiphany. I am generous to the point I found that I was often taken advantage of. No realizing or necessarily discerning the difference between helping, being taken advantage of, or just plain being robbed LOL ... I set myself into an unproductive mindset. Always "other" focused and concerned with client needs vs. my own needs, I began to see an erosion in profits, and I started to struggle. Blame part of it on the economy, part of it marketplace competition, and part of it on -- me. I recently was invited to work on a project that once launched would be a tremendous profit center. I immediately felt "profit guilt pangs": what gave me the right to create such a profitable business model? Why should I make that much money? Anyone out there hearing this and realizing they suffer from "profit guilt pangs"? Doesn't this make me greedy? I had a whole litany of thoughts like these tr...

I have a personal belief that if you're going to position yourself as a subject matter expert on a topic then you might want to set an excellent example in regards to what you're talking about. This premise applies to your professionalism and field of expertise, too. I recently posted a Facebook statement that went like this: it's risky to live in a glass house and throw stones. What did I mean by that concept? The real statement is "those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." I switched it up to emphasize the risk involved of shattering one's house when involved in the proverbial stone toss. I'm sure you're all now wondering where those two paragraphs are supposed to lead. Now I'm going to story tell so you understand the professional meaning behind these ideas. I've seen this a lot in those who position themselves in the self-help or counseling industries. I happen to know several people who work in these industries. I...

Well! Finally something to get excited about -- Eric and Sookie reunited in the Season 7. I bet over at MyFutureLover on YouTube the videographer had a party LOL. She finally had a reason to "Ship Sookie and Eric" after like three seasons. Let's face it boys and girls, vampire fans ... Eric and Sookie as played by the wonderful Alexander Skarsgard and Anna Paquin have all the chemistry. The tenderness and connection between these two was evident. You don't feel the same sparks when Sookie and Bill are together -- sorry you just don't feel it. I don't care if they're married in real life. They don't ignite the screen the way Eric and Sookie do. It was the first time in many episodes you were able to see the real love beneath the surface as they had thrown these two characters in separate directions for quite some time. Now we have Eric on the verge of death with Hep V, and with the season winding to a close, I'm not thinking anything wonderful will...

The last six months roughly 80 percent of my new business leads are coming from social media (Facebook). I began by accepting "friends" who were connected to  my other friends. I personally friended about 200 people way back in 2009. Since then I have build up 3700 connections off the 200 base. I get about 5-10 friend requests per day. I accept most, but if it's a foreigner with no connections I avoid those ones. A lot of those men only want a "bride catalog" and no way and no thank you. It was a snowball effect in terms of the payoff. At first, I received the occasional query. Now I get anywhere from 1-2 solid leads from Facebook. I also get general questions from people who just need help. So what do you need to know about why I am getting steady interest? Here are my social media tips: Be Authentic . People like to work with people they like. So whatever you're posting let it reflect your personality and the real you. Don't try to manipulate your ...

The big revelation in storytelling ... pacing! How you pace your story can either absorb your readers or bore them. It's easier to define pacing when it comes to a screenplay. In a screenplay you have a short space to write either dialog or action. You also have to write these things in the average of 120 pages. The action cannot be bogged in minutia. You set the scene simply and quickly and move on. In books, you have a much wider berth. But if you want to keep the story moving and well paced then don't get bogged down in narrative or exposition. Yes, you do want to paint the scene with the right colors but you don't want to describe every last detail down to the color of the kitchen sink unless that is somehow important to the story. How can you pace your book? Move the dialog along and don't have random discussions about things that don't belong in the story or reveal anything interesting about your characters that the audience needs to know. Keep the scenes...

The pressure I put on myself can't be any harder than the pressure I ... put on myself. Stand up and confess, "I, Michelle am a workaholic." Truth is I started my business not to have to work myself into the ground to meet other people's demands. Over time, I made the great discovery, I still have to meet other people's demands (clients). The saying "work smarter not harder" is the applicable tool to keep life in balance. Problem is economics + delegation are conflicting at the moment. So sharp manager that I am I need to "noodle" some solutions to the scale tipped the wrong way. Ever find yourself stuck in this quagmire? I bet if you're a business owner reading this blog you know what I'm talking about. Here are some things to think about: Guilt is not an excuse to give 10 times more than you get in payments . If you're being paid to do a job do the job to the best of your abilities. But you are not obligated just because you h...

What is social media etiquette when it comes to marketing your business in this growing area of community connection? We don't have a rule book on what is appropriate, but we do have common sense and a pretty good idea of what we don't like to see done. Here are some basic "rules" when it comes to using your social media "ecosystem" to promote business and not lose "friends": Marketing Promo Shared or Tagged on My Wall -- Big No, No ! I call this "hijacking" another person's social media connections. When you hijack another person's wall for your promotional purposes and post what is essentially a billboard on his or her wall you run the risk of being "de-friended". I find it very offensive when someone posts what is nothing more than an advertisement on my wall. Now... there are exceptions: The person is someone I really do know and talk to either in-person or on social media . This real friend hijacks my wall for h...

Where are we going with this? Is the idea to kill off every character before the final episode? I'm beginning to think so. (Spoiler Alert) The demise of Alcide was anti-climatic and downright boring. Alcide, our beloved burly werewolf, finally met his end with a few quick gunshots and then bam! Dead! Well, except for one brief moment of Sookie having learned her lesson about sanctioning the creation of new vampires. The very first episode saw the demise of long-time character Tara who went through so much only to end up dead after all. Other long-time characters are biting it, too. What did we learn in this episode? Alcide loved Sookie more -- and that made her feel bad. Okay ... Sam had a gay vampire escort who got immediately shot down (we didn't have any investment anyway) so all right. Eric has Hep V and was ready (a la Godric) to just go on his 1,000-year-old way. Note: How many times do we have to see the retread scene of Pam begging Eric not to die? She loves him! Blah...

As is the case in life, we have things we like and we don't like ... I have a very balanced list designed to either make you nod or write me a protest letter. Here it goes ... Arrogance + Ignorance = :( --I don't like arrogance not in the least. Arrogant people think they know everything, and it almost seems they don't know anything. Arrogant people try to tell me things that my educated mind refutes, but also they stand on it like it's a solid platform. I especially dislike arrogant people whose opinion about something like my profession that I do know backward and forward turns into absolute truth (for them) and they seem to know so much they will take it upon themselves to argue and argue and argue. Well, truth is ... I won't engage so that's a waste of time anyway. Humble, Open Willing --I DO like humble people. Humility goes a long way toward success and an open willingness to learn and understand that by God's grace, "No, you don't know ev...

It's not easy at a table full of authors to have to state the most unpleasant reality of self-publishing tools like Lulu or Lightspeed or even Smashwords or Createspace. No one wants to hear it. They especially don't want to hear it with their self-published, print-on-demand book in their hands. Now you might construe my points as self-promoting, but I'm being honest and blunt, it is what is ... First and foremost, those "tools" ARE NOT publishers. They do not provide professional editing, proofing (yes, proofing is a whole other process), graphic design, or even truly "publish" your book. Second (and people especially don't want to hear this one), I can tell a self-published book just at a glance. I don't have to scrutinize or even analyze. Lulu looks a certain way as do all of the others. Third, unpleasant truth: if I can tell it's a self-published, print-on-demand book within seconds, the critics (who have equally critical and experi...