First Word

I've had several partnerships over the years. You could say I've had the good, the bad and the severely unattractive. Partnerships in business are no different than partnerships in marriage or life. Your husband leaves the cap off the toothpaste; your partner doesn't like the cap off the pen. Well, it's not quite that petty (most of the time). I've rarely seen partnerships that flourish over the long-term. I do think for overall success once you entered a business relationship/partnership, you should use this checklist. Tip : Take your time in evaluating a prospective partner! Like a marriage it can end badly or it can work wonderfully over the long haul . Are you like-minded in a good way ? Oh, you can be like-minded in a bad way, believe me. For example, strengths and weaknesses. It's better to be yin-yang and then simpatico in thinking than yin-what-the-heck? Like-minded thinking in the positive means your outlooks match on how to do things or how to mana...

Writers tend to think first about just writing a book. Most of them don't think about marketability and business. If they do think about it, they don't consider the broader demographics and factors. When you write in a niche genre, for example, it's already going to have a narrow audience. A narrow audience though is relative when it comes to sales. What does this mean? A narrow audience is like a narrow river. You have about "this much opportunity" in that space. It flows and people come in and out (your audience and customers).  You probably don't have that much competition in that space, because it's not a common theme or idea you're writing about. You do want to attract people from the narrow audience to your book. Because you don't have much competition than your book might be one of a handful or the ONLY one on the bookshelf to select. If you're one of a few, your chances of capturing those few buyers goes way up. So fewer consumers...

"The book business is hard," said an author. "Yes, the book business is a business ," replied the publisher. The glamor of publishing seems, well, glamorous. Book signings, parties, congratulations, book reviews, and attention. Reality is though -- it's a business . No getting around it. No matter how you look at publishing and books, it requires effort, time and pressure. Have you ever been to a dozen signings in three weeks? Is it fun? It's always fun. But after the 200th signature and a lot of talking and selling, it hits home -- this is work. Doing the marketing and supporting the book -- work. Staying the course with book when you're exhausted and maybe worked a whole other job during the day -- work. Writing marketing material and blogs and social media posts and generally trying to be consistently brilliant and clever -- work. Would I trade this business for any other? No! When authors want to publish their books, I always try to ensure they...

It's one thing to want to do something, it's another thing to actually do it. They can teach theory in the classroom, but until you've dug deep, gotten your hands sublimely dirty, and really entrenched yourself in the experience, you can't learn the most important lessons and realities. So, to help anyone else (and these are life lessons) here are some general tips. Do not beat yourself up if you're an editor and there's a mistake or even two . All those meticulous copy editors out there who are single minded about not making one mistake in a 50,000 to 75,000 or 100,000 word book have truly put too much pressure on themselves into a never-good-enough reality. If I have learned nothing else in editing ... there is going to be a mistake ... somewhere. It requires minimally two sets or preferably three sets of eyes to clean up a manuscript. If you're sense of "perfection" (which there is no such thing) is about the erroneous belief you will see ever...

I am one of those overly concerned CEOs who somewhere along the way of leadership and success in the middle of it lost her way ... a bit. Over the last couple of years, an eroding of net profit began. Under the idea that it was okay, I began getting too relaxed about collections and ensuring that 3L Publishing wasn't paying unintended costs. Then I noticed something that was eating away at my leadership skills. We'll call it "client guilt". I felt like even though not a single client made a single complaint that our work wasn't somehow measuring up (especially on the public relations side where results are very "airy-fairy"). I felt awesome about the books for sure. Our books are award-winners. But self-doubt and that "guilty" feeling despite all of the efforts going into it, were eating at me -- but MORE important EATING our bottom line and profits as I devalued my time. I devalued myself. Are you identifying with what I'm saying? I bet ...

*****Five Stars Yet another really well-done movie from the incomparable Clint Eastwood -- and another amazing film in the middle of some really great and new films just released. The movie is the true story of Chris Kyle AKA "The Legend" who shot down the most terrorists during four tours of the Iraqi War. The movie depicts a beautiful balance between Chris the man and Chris the sniper. In-between taut war scenes, we come to understand this is a man driven by intense personal integrity, humility, sensitivity and love of family and country. The movie begins with an authentic foundational scene where we discover Chris' gift with the rifle, but also what his father and mother taught him about life, bullies and heroism. The movie then shifts to right before the 9/11 and finally the war. As we watch Chris meticulously take out one insurgent after the other, we also understand the emotions behind the acts. While Chris might have made the "shooting" look almos...

Reviewed By Joy Hannabass for Readers’ Favorite There once was a little bear named Cubby who had big, big dreams. Bigger than he could ever imagine! You see, Cubby Bear wanted to learn to fly. He could do it, couldn’t he? As he sits high on his tree branch, looking out through the forest, he sees two of his friends watching him, probably wondering what he was up to. Couldn't Cubby Bear see that his friends were worried about him and wondering why he was acting so strange lately? Would little Cubby Bear let them in on his thoughts and secrets so they could help him? This is the cutest story for little ones. The first time my now 6-year-old niece saw it, I ended up reading it to her about 5 or 6 times. Then she sat for an hour or more looking at the pictures, making up her own stories. This is a big book with an awesome message for those who read it. In The Little Bear Who Wanted to Fly, Cubby, Chatter and Crunch show kids of all ages that it is okay to dream, and ...

So those who have erotic content in their books will find this to be true. A friend of mine has an erotic chapter in his book, and he's constantly showing me Tweets or things "fans" send him based on a particularly sexy chapter in his book. When I wrote California Girl Chronicles (books 1 and 2) the consistent question, "Is that based on your life?" Now I have to be honest that my friend's salacious photos he gets sent from overly zealous fans I find a bit astonishing. A Smart Phone and a selfie stick will go a long ways toward personal debauchery. But we're digressing ... If I wrote it doesn't mean I'm doing it or having done it or will be doing it. Let's put "fun" and erotic writing as based on some experience (I'm obviously not a prude) and a fabulous imagination. If you think all erotic writers are secret porn stars your mind has run amok. Are we great writers (especially if the scene is particularly hot)? Yes. Are we all...

I have been working on a self-help book soon to be released by my company 3L Publishing titled Step Aside and Get Out of Your Own Way by Syndee Hendricks . I've also been working on a new program of meditation and hypnotherapy, which ask me sometime about. Hypnotherapy should never be discounted. I have several success stories about it. The sub-conscious mind is amazing. Anyway ... back to Syndee's book. She discusses drama queens and kings in the book. I would have to say that as I've gotten older, more grounded and rational, and aware I've been able to discern these personality types much better. I don't like or invite needless drama into my life. And the more I don't invite it, the less it comes to me. How is that you ask? Drama people cannot knock through what I'll call the "grounded" wall of cool observation. When you learn to ground and stay grounded you are far less prone to provide the necessary response or "fodder" the drama ...

I had a conversation yesterday with a client about marketing. We were talking about why one method of marketing always seems to work, but it also worked for only a short period of time. Over the years the businesses I've seen thrive are those whose leadership is flexible and nimble on their proverbial "feet". Management is responsive and understands that "change" and more importantly the "ability to change" with the marketplace will take the company forward. Companies that get stuck in a rut and unresponsive as the marketplace shifts will often find their market share erodes over time. Cutting-edge leaders in an area are often confronted with competition, and then that competition eats into that market share. Leading-edge companies know that the minute their competitors step into the arena, it's time to reinvent the arena. And that takes the aforementioned flexibility. They key is to avoid being the old dog who begrudgingly learns the new trick...

Many people think they have a "book in them", but the difference between being an author and thinking a book is ready to be written is ACTION. It's not true that anyone can write a book just because they thought about it. I hear that all of the time, too, which demeans the art of writing. BUT with the right education, training and guidance, anyone can indeed write a book. Fiction and nonfiction books have a framework of reader expectations. The key is to understand how that structure is set up, which is why education and training are helpful. Some people have a natural knack from reading and taking in other writers' works, but that in and of itself is another form of training. Readers do expect certain forms and techniques. They expect basics like a beginning, middle and end even if that structure is creatively redone. But notice that an exercise in experimentation that goes awry gets labeled "bad" and readers won't read it. So, it's important whe...