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...