First Word

Many authors mistakenly believe that it’s enough to just have their books on Amazon. What they don’t understand is that unless they purchase advertising through Amazon, free promotion through the company is virtually nonexistent. Best sellers enjoy some promotion by being named “best in new fiction”, but that kind of helpful promotion means the book is already selling. New books and low sales don’t get anything for free. I recently had an author contact me with a really great question: how do you get your book to be more easily searchable. Again, books that are ranked lower in sales won’t be at the top of a nonspecific keyword search. For example, to find this author’s book requires the full title be input into Amazon. Its keywords aren’t enough to make it move to the top of the search because it’s not being routinely searched and clicked on. Other books with similar keywords and higher sales will come up first in a search. It’s similar to Google. What people cl...

How many of you have heard the phrase "everybody has a book in them"? What does this really mean? We're all writers? No, it means we all have a story to tell. Living on this planet and making our lives happen creates our biographies or stories. The current trend in business is the memoir/business story. Many leaders have turned to telling others about their journeys to share life's lessons and experiences. When I read about another person's story and I see commonalities between their experiences and mine then I know I'm not alone. People like to learn and be entertained at the same time. Storytelling is a way to share that common ground with others.   One problem though ... maybe you're not a writer. Maybe you have a very compelling story to share, but writing wasn't your strongest skill. Maybe you are a fairly good writer, but you've never written more than an essay or business letter. You don't have the slightest idea where...

Is traditional public and media relations dead? The analysts are asking this question because of the rapid rise of social media as the main technique to start buzz and sell products. My answer is no, it's alive and well. Today, you've got more avenues than ever before to promote your books, products or services. The real answer is you've got to cross traditional public relations with trending social media techniques, but one without the other isn't the working formula.   Here is how it should go:   Step 1: Create a traditional media campaign and promote to the online, print and broadcast media. Step 2: Set up interviews and promote book reviews. Step 3: Take the results in the form of links and use social media to blast the results to your respective social media audiences. Step 4: Use social media to promote to your respective audiences your own book promotions and excerpts. Step 5: Engage your social media audience.   Traditional media c...

I was feeling particularly down the other day. Business hasn’t been going easily or smoothly these last few months. Then I began editing the forthcoming book by Stephen Marinaro with the working title “Brand ‘You’” and felt inspired and validated. Stephen makes some wonderful points about being an entrepreneur and the struggles. It made me realize I am not alone.      I started to joke that I needed to write the book titled “Failure: what to do when you fall down in business.” The reason I wanted to be so blunt with the title was to help other entrepreneurs facing some of the major business issue I am facing. When I read Stephen’s book and the profiles included in our other book Habits and Attitudes , it made me feel better.      No one wants to admit they’ve failed somehow or are facing some kind of failure. When it comes to social media we’re all about boasting about our successes. Don’t get me wrong I think a positive outlook is imp...

Today we’re going to discuss keeping your writing fresh and flowing. I have edit thousands of documents and books over the years. I see common mistakes made by new writers and sometimes even seasoned experts, too. Here are some down-and-dirty tips to improve your writing whether it is for creative or business projects. Grammar and punctuation varies based on style usage. Did you know several different stylebooks exist? Yes, several choices are available, including AP Style, Chicago Style, Strunk and White, and Masters of English Arts . Here is the rub. Different styles make it seem like some usage is wrong. For example, if you’re an AP Style users then Chicago Style has conflicting rules. Here is a breakdown of how the stylebooks apply: AP Style – used by the mainstream media and press. AP Style came from the media outlet the Associated Press. You’ll find AP is used for newspaper and magazines articles as the basis of journalistic rules. Chicago Style...

So as you’re promoting your product or book, do you know what is your metric? Obviously the key is sales, right? So, it’s good to know when you do something like a radio show or you’ve received a book review, what were the sales figures produced? 3L Publishing is different when it comes to royalties. In traditional publishing you don’t get to hear the sales figures on a regular basis, which can make it difficult to know if your methods are working. When you work with me my royalties are distributed about two months behind and you receive the sales figures. Let me give you some examples. Douglas Stearns did a few radio show interviews. Not all of them “paid off” as well as the others. I was able to share his sales figures on the fly. So Doug knew what methods were working. The question (and it’s the super secret sauce to the burger) is how do you identify what “might” (meaning nothing is certain) pay off? Here are some important tips. Identify your niche ...