Author Blog

Sell your speaking

2008-09-05T19:31:13Z

I'm sure many of you would agree that it would be great to have a full-time salesperson to help book speaking for you. But, that must be expensive, and you can't afford the salesperson until you get more speaking, right? Not so, says Bill Stainton and friends. This post is filled with tips on what kind of person to look for, how to pay them, and how to get the best opportunities that make both you and the salesperson a good amount of money. With the right fit, it can work to everyone's benefit. Of course, there's likely going to be some trial and error to find that person, but it'll pay off in the long run if you heed the advice of some of these tips.

Communication influencing content

2008-09-03T18:21:19Z

Everyday we communicate with people, and when we're not directly talking about our "big idea," it's still reflected in what we say (and often do). As we use sites like Twitter and Flickr, other people are getting a sense of what and how we think about things. This either leads them toward our content, or away from it. Business Week had a great article about how publishers could learn from this, and offers a few specifics to follow. The one that particularly jumped out at me is "Go electronic from the get-go." Yikes. Authors everywhere will read this and cringe at what might have happened (or will happen) to their manuscript. But it's another indicator that this isn't all about publishers, or authors, or someone else. It's about all of us. The more each of us do to help, the more we look at how communication effects and enhances content, the better.

Secrets

2008-08-08T21:36:44Z

We talk about these a lot. In fact, this very blog was created to discuss some of the "secrets" that exist in publishingville. We even host an annual author Pow Wow to get a bunch of folks together to set the record straight and get everyone on the right track. Mark Hurst lays out his take on them here. If experience is the best way to learn, learning from others is a very close second.

Write a book, scrap the suit

2008-08-04T17:33:28Z

Everyone's got their reasons for becoming a business author. John Grant posted some of his reasons (if you write a book, you might not need to wear a suit for credibility), and some insightful tips for other authors here. There's some admitted differences between his experience in the UK, and elsewhere. Anyone have any other experiences to share?

The way books were made

2008-08-04T17:28:14Z

Printing a Book, Old School from Armin Vit on Vimeo.

Bootstrapping

2008-07-21T17:13:26Z

As previously discussed, and as some of you know personally, working with a publisher has huge advantages over self-publishing. However, it's not necessarily easy to get published. One of the reasons self-publishing has taken off as an industry is the ease for anyone to produce their idea on a limited budget. As many find out though, the challenges arrive when it comes time to getting the book out there. Forbes wrote an interesting article about how one author dealt with this. Going the self published route initially, she found out how big of a platform she could get out of her idea. This 'evidence' led her to huge results. Check out the article here. Some people spend years trying to get published while they become frustrated with the industry and their ideas burn out in the process. Others go the self pub route and quickly discover the challenges of moving inventory. Elle Newmark, the author in the article, takes both sides on to make an impact and elevate her to a higher author status.

Good odds

2008-07-21T17:02:27Z

From Divine Caroline: "Odds of writing a New York Times best seller: 1 in 220 Odds of dating a millionaire: 1 in 215" Seems like penning a best seller isn't so far out of reach! For those of you who don't feel so confident, try hooking up with a millionaire and you might have a better chance at making the big time. But eventually, that money won't fill the aching hole in your soul to accomplish something, and, realizing that you sold out, will likely spend your remaining years dealing with emotional and addiction problems. But hey, the choice of which path to take is yours!

Audience

2008-07-09T15:46:47Z

As with most content, the creator should consider the audience - what they want, why they want it, and why they should get it from you. In the case of speaking, this is more relevant than ever. After all, who wants to be in front of a group of people who don't care about what you're saying? Not me! Nick Morgan has posted a 9 part series on how to write a great speech. His rule #1? Consider the audience. In fact, audience is considered in each of his 9 tips, making it clear that it's not just the content that is important, but the context of that content, and how to effectively make the bridge between an idea, and people that will absorb and use it. Check out the whole series and polish up your presentations.

Short term vs. long term

2008-07-08T20:34:43Z

As an author, many opportunities will present themselves, and within them, negotiations will occur. Speaking opportunities will be provided with trade-offs for fees: exposure, book sales, etc. Some will demand big payments right off the bat. Others will build resources and audience through relationship development. The point is to get your idea out there, so that it can grow to higher and higher levels, more opportunities, higher fees, and widespread credibility. Geno Church wrote today about the Spinal Tap clip where the guitarist shows off his amp that goes to a volume level of "11." Most amps, as you may or may not know, only go to "10." When asked about why he doesn't just turn his regular amp to "9" and when he needs the extra boost, then turn it to "10," he replies, "But this one goes to "11." The Spinal Tap guy wants something bigger right now. I think many authors feel the same way. Short term high cash vs. long term raving fans is an equation you'll have to solve on your own. Think about the consequences of both routes.

Espresso anyone?

2008-06-25T17:49:58Z

Print-on-demand book vending machines, called Espresso Book Machines, are now popping up around the world. Featuring up to 1 million titles, here's yet another channel where your content might show up. I'm curious to see how these develop and catch on.

Creative pairing

2008-06-25T15:43:15Z

An ongoing focus of content producers is offering the content via a variety of channels. As time goes on, the number of channels increases, so it's nice to see a book that sidesteps this rat race by pairing with something in a different format that contains entirely different content. Yes, it isn't a business book, but let's think creatively. When you click on the link above, look at the reader comments. In summary: They like what the publisher has done and they are excited to buy the book. Coming up with creative ways to include additional material does a number of things. For one, it creates the excitement mentioned in the link above, but it also introduces your idea to a whole new audience. In this case, a musician and author's audiences meld. In your case, perhaps your idea and a hip independent filmmaker join forces. The blog coverage instantly doubles. People start talking. Books get sold, and your name becomes that much more integrated into a broad range of people who can benefit from your idea. Cover as many channels as you can with your content, but don't be afraid to try something different once in awhile, too.

Positioning

2008-06-24T19:47:35Z

Authors (and anyone making anything) are going to be finding themselves looking more at the positioning of their ideas and products. As the market increases and changes, how will your book fit into it? But before all that, how will your idea fit into it? I can't even tell you how many things I read per day. It's a blur. But what I can tell you is that they come from specific places, many of which I have chosen. A perfect example is you reading this blog (thank you!). The great thing about media today is that we have many options to pick from, to find out things that really align with our interests. It's a great, and easy, thing for people on the receiving end to take part in. Trying to figure out how to tap into that from the producer side is going to be an ongoing challenge for all of us. Any big ideas to share?

communic8

2008-06-16T19:32:17Z

David Crystal has an interesting book coming out this fall called "TXTNG." It deals with the topic of this increasingly popular form of communicating: texting. Now, while I can't imagine anyone writing a business book in texting language (except maybe Dan Pink), I do think that communication is important for writers to understand - in terms of how people, especially young people, are receptive to information, and how they'll spread what they know. Here's a blurb from the publisher, Oxford University Press: "Do young people text as much as people think? Do adults? Does texting spell the end of literacy? Is there a panic in the media? David Crystal looks at the evidence. He investigates how texting began and who uses it, why and what for. He shows how to interpret its mix of pictograms, logograms, abbreviations, symbols, and wordplay, and how it works in different languages. He explores the ways similar devices have been used in different eras and discovers that the texting system of conveying sounds and meaning goes back a long way, all the way in fact to the origins of writing - and he concludes that far from hindering literacy, texting may turn out to help it."

The audience is in control

2008-06-13T22:04:42Z

Dave Balter posted a great article today at the HBP site. In summary: "Publishers seem resistant to the facts of today's economy. Consumers are in control: They decide what works and what doesn't; they're the harbingers of cool. They are the ultimate distribution channel." He goes on to bullet point specifics on how publishers can tap into this, and even suggests an entrepreneur's approach to a new business model (hey 8cr!). All in all, a great article in tune with much of what's discussed here.

Developing an audience

2008-06-13T19:36:38Z

We use the music/publishing analogy here often, so for this post, I'm going to talk about audience development in terms of something I know painfully well: being an independent musician. As a musician, it can be difficult to get a recording published, book a show, and basically anything else outside of creating the material itself (which has its own set of challenges). Same for authors, right? In many cases, publishers and promoters will want to have a clear understanding of how big your audience is. If you have to convince them of how big it is, things quickly become challenging. Being in this position can mean three things to publishers and promoters: 1. You're just starting out. 2. Your material has a niche market. 3. What you're doing isn't as interesting to others as it is to you. If point 1 or 2 apply to you, there's a great opportunity to advance. If you're just starting out, the world is your oyster, and you need to start looking at people and places that align with your topic - both physically and from an interest perspective. Barbara Cave Henricks has a great post on dealing with this from an author's perspective. If your material has a niche market, there are ways you can try to open it up a bit. Yours is a dedicated group, who also have a wide range of interests. Connect with them as much as possible to get a good understanding of their diversity. Then communicate with them with this information in the fold. Your audience will grow, and they will have done the work for you. This concept has been championed by folks like Seth Godin, Jack Mitchell, et al. If what you're doing isn't as interesting to others as it is to you, take one step back from your idea and consider why others might not be as excited. Do you have specific criticism? Good. Apply it and see how things change. If not, try coming up with different approaches to your work that still feels right to you. Sometimes the "first draft" isn't the best, and with more revision, even you will become more excited about it. If not, maybe it's time to find a new idea. Once you beef up the audience a bit, you'll find the publishers and promoters will become more receptive because they'll have something solid to work with. Then, each and every accomplishment you do make, becomes fuel for more. It takes A LOT of work. Whether you're a new author, or you've been around forever, the second you start coasting will allow the thousands of others to gain market share. Enjoy the ride.