First Word

Self-publishing has its place so please don't take this blog as a critique of the self-publishing method. I'm going to review three HUGE errors with what is actually a great book. The green book California Girl Chronicles is my book published by 3L Publishing (www.3LPublishing.com). I'm not going to say whose book is the other one out of respect for (again) what I think is actually a great book (outside of these mistakes). MISTAKE #1 - FAILURE TO USE VALUABLE MARKETING REAL ESTATE (THE BACK COVER) Your back cover (aside from the cover) is the prime marketing "real estate" on your book. A blank back cover is a tremendous misuse of an important marketing and sales opportunity. The back cover is the second area readers review when they pick up a book, and it often triggers the sale. MISTAKE #2 - FAILURE TO UTILIZE THE SPINE WITH THE PROPER TITLE How is anyone going to find this book on the shelf? The spine helps bookstore readers identify your name and ...

I preach to clients about building their marketing platforms. I say this all the time, "I walk my own talk." Nothing annoys anyone more than "do as I say not as I do." How am I supposed to convince a client (especially as a business owner) to market and promote their companies or books by building a strong marketing platform when I didn't bother to do it myself. It's like trying to sell food that tastes bad. You don't eat it so why should your prospective clients? An investment in your marketing platform (and my platform consists of this blog, First Word newsletter, First Word radio, social media and website) costs a lot of money to get it done right. So my no. #1 advice: build it and build it right ... just like I did. Nothing yanks my proverbial chain more than professionals who don't do it professionally . If you're going to build your platform, rule #1: create a brand identity (use a professional marketing service) and then apply the bran...

When writers go to self-publish and they don't have experience with actual publishing, I see so many common mistakes. I always encourage writers to use professional services vs. do-it-yourself attempts that visibly fail and make their products -- whether books or brochures -- look unprofessional. The following are some common mistakes I see with self-published books, brochures or anything that requires professional service to get it right. Poorly Trimmed Children's Books or Graphics --while an author may not be overly bothered about his or her illustration being cut off because of misaligned template specifications, this mistake jumps out every time. I will casually thumb through one of these children's books or graphic-intensive flyers, brochures, business cards, etc. and notice the graphics are cutoff. I've seen many children's books with these problems. Illustrations cutoff right along the edges. Print alignment is math. You need a graphic artist who knows prod...

I don't watch much television, but every now and then I catch a show. Well, the other day I was mindlessly sitting on the sofa when a commercial came on. It was an "Author's Kit": everything you need to be an author. Wow! My mouth dropped, and I wondered since when did my chosen profession become a Tinker Toy set? We ALL can be authors, and here' the kit. I imagined an engineering set: here is your Build a High Rise kit complete with concrete and hammer. You too can build a downtown high rise just use our handy kit. Dear friends and prospective authors if publishing has now come down to a KIT we're all in for a lot of really bad books. Do-it-yourself publishing kits do not replace professionals. Each part of publishing is a profession. Editing is a skill. Writing is a talent. Graphic art another profession. People go to college and attain degrees to perfect these skills. What I think happened is the eBook revolution has created a slippery slope. An area that...

Build Your Business Book in a Day --  Workshop Price: $99.95 Date: October, 5, 2013 Time: 12:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Location: 200 South Lexington Dr., Main Office/Club House Sign Up: Click here , (if you're not on Meetup.com, just join (it's easy) and then hit "Yes" and it takes you to PayPal. You can also have us process your credit card, cash or check by sending an email to info@3LPublishing.com or calling 916-300-8012. Michelle Gamble-Risley, CEO of 3L Publishing ( www.3LPublishing.com ) and author of two business books and publisher of a half-dozen others, is teaching a  workshop  titled  "Build Your Business Book."  This three-hour  workshop  will help business people and entrepreneurs interested in gaining valuable opportunities by writing a book to support their businesses. Nothing sells your business better than a book. Here are the benefits of having a book to support your business: Gain credibility as a subject m...

I have had what can only be described as the toughest week of my life. My boyfriend came close to dying on Monday! Not exaggerating, and I've never had anybody that close to me come so close to death -- and RIGHT in front of me. I am going to say one word: STRESS ! I have spent the entire week at his hospital bedside, and yesterday he turned back toward the positive. He was sitting up again, and he had some color in his face. I brought him a drawing from my 9-year-old daughter and that cheered him up immensely. I know that post-traumatic stress will set in soon, as it typically does with me. I'm one of these people who react appropriately during trials and then tend to lose it afterward ... the aftermath is coming soon, but that's okay as long as he's recovering and doing better. Next week I should return to my normal work hours. If you're a 3L client, please know it has been really challenging, but everything will be moving forward upon my return to full-time work....

If you're an author, I have a HUGE, worthwhile piece of information to share with you this morning. Are you just eager to know what it is? Here we go ... did you know that your book cover can make or break your book sales? Yes, it's true. Does it dishearten you because your prose seem so much more worthwhile -- and isn't that really what the point of a book is? Well, yes of course; but truth in "storytelling," we live in a visual society. Why do you think the TV draws people in or movies are so popular. People buy books based on the cover. As disappointing to the writer as that truth may be, it's just reality. I once heard a rep from Smashwords say that a simple switch of a cover can take a poorly selling book and make it a top seller. True!  So if you're self-publishing or working with a hybrid publisher like my company 3L Publishing (www.3LPublishing.com), you better make that all important investment in a cover and work with a talented ...

A website today is your most important marketing collateral. Yet even in this day and age when everyone generally knows the importance of a website, business owners continue to try and design their own, which is a colossal mistake. If we know your website is an essential marketing centerpiece for your business, why are you attempting to create it yourself? You're not alone. Many small business owners try to build their own websites? They literally waste hundreds of hours trying to "figure" out HTML. They mistakenly believe their abilities to push around a few graphics qualifies them as a graphic designer. They think that English class they took in college and got an A on a paper qualifies them as a professional writer. First, let me debunk why all three of these beliefs are fallacious. 1. Web development is an entire profession . Professionals go to college to learn how to do it. It's not something you can learn overnight. And while you might master the basics, you ...