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Posted on June 2, 2009 - By Sharon Lindenburger
“Poynters” from Dan Poynter
Publishing Industry

I recently attended a day-long workshop with publishing guru Dan Poynter. Dan has been in this business for a long time. He knows the book industry well and is a stalwart source of guidance, particularly to authors who choose to self-publish. He now has two versions of The Self-Publishing Manual–Volume 1 and Volume 2. Both volumes are invaluable sources of information for authors.

As well, Dan’s site, www.parapublishing.com is a resource every author should have in his/her internet address book.

During the workshop, there were several “Poynters” that I felt were really important. The first is Dan’s insistence that a non-fiction author have a well-honed understanding of exactly who his/her audience is. This kind of targeted understanding enables the author to segment the audience and also, in terms of money, find the right sources of special sales, i.e., groups, businesses, and organizations that might be natural markets for buying multiple copies of your book—-and what author doesn’t love to make a bulk sale!?

Another “Poynter” I particularly like is Dan’s concept of simultaneous publishing. This is an ideal strategy for an author who wants to begin with self-publishing but then to create the possibility of getting the interest of a trade publisher. Poynter recommends an initial print-run of 500 books–well-written, well-edited, and well-designed. You would send the first few copies out to agents or publishers.

“When you send a manuscript to an agent, he/she will treat you like a writer among other writers. When you send him/her a well-written book that you’ve run the first 500 copies, he/she will treat you like an author. It’s a different level of perception and can work in your favor,” Poynter said.

You would then use the rest of your 500 print run to send the book out for reviews, to seek distribution, special sales, and other markets that could help establish you as a credible expert in your field, thus creating the demand for your book which you would then market in a variety of ways–literally selling greater numbers of the book before your second print run is even off the press. This is an infinitely better strategy than having thousands of books sitting in your garage.

I am in the process of creating a Resources page on my site. I will include the link to Dan’s site from there. His advice is well worth heeding, especially if you choose to self-publish and you want your book to do well.

I felt particularly gratified when Dan emphasized the importance of getting professional editing help with books, as ALL books need to match and even exceed the standard of the name-brand publishers. That’s what I do as a book coach (Dan calls individuals like me “book shepherds”)! I help you create a professional, well-written, well-presented book–a book that will grow your expertise and bring more money and opportunities into your life.

Posted on May 23, 2009 - By Sharon Lindenburger
Benefit from “Socrates”
Create Wisdom in Your Book

Very often, getting to the heart of the wisdom in your book can’t be done totally alone.  One of the main reasons people have trouble getting their best material onto the page is that they don’t have Socrates looking over their shoulder. The great Greek philosopher awakened wisdom in others by asking them thought-provoking questions. If I could choose any character from history to be my own book mentor, it would be Socrates.

Why? Because it’s very hard for us to ask ourselves the questions that will uncover our wisdom.  Yet if you’re a coach or speaker, when people come to your keynotes or coaching sessions, they looking for something from you. They want to know something that only you can tell them. It’s the same with your book.  To share your knowledge, you have to know your reader’s often unspoken questions.

Think of a book coach/mentor like me as your own personal Socrates, asking you the questions, exploring the answers that reveal the core of your expertise, and helping the pages of your book come alive.

Posted on May 22, 2009 - by Sharon Lindenburger
It doesn’t take longer!
Create Wisdom in Your Book

Many speakers and coaches tell me they really want to write a book. And not infrequently, they feel the market pressure to “get something out there”. This urgency, this need to get into the book market as quickly as possible, often compromises the content of the book as the author cuts corners or just skims the surface of what his or her expertise really can offer.

“I’d like to go deeper and write something that’s much truer to me and what I most care about in my field,” said a coach to me recently. “But if I do that, isn’t it going to take me a lot longer than those people who are just cranking out their books?”

Actually no. It will not take you longer. It’s all a matter of focus and intent. Writing 30,000 words is writing 30,000 words. Whether those words are shallow or wise, it’s still going to occupy the same amount of time to actually write them (or have them written).

If you set your intent that you want your book to be memorable to people, that you want it to reflect the best you have to offer, and you want your book to change your readers’ lives, then your subconscious mind is going to bring the deeper more authentic expertise in you to the surface.

And, if you work with a good book mentor, the process is even easier–and faster.

Whenever you are tempted to cut corners, either in your own writing or in the type of writing services you seek, remember that your book needs to be worthy of your readers, and it needs to be worthy of you.  If you team up with a book mentor/coach who really cares about good books and who is committed to bringing the best out of you–the result will be a wise book that not only sells, it lasts.

Posted on March 4, 2009 By Sharon Lindenburger
The need for wise books
Create Wisdom in Your Book

With the current world situation today, there is a desperate need for wisdom.  As a society and as individuals, we have reaped the results of “over-reach” (often with tragic consequences such as the huge numbers of families losing their homes and jobs). Our lives and our world markets have fallen prey to hype, greed, and counterfeit philosophies. We are in the midst of a world-wide recession accompanied by all the insecurities this causes for millions of people.

But the good thing about the current situation is that many of us are now taking a long hard look at ourselves and our world and asking the question, “What really matters?” We are thirsting for wisdom.  There is a shift in energy going on all over the planet, perhaps most dramatically symbolized by the history-making election of Barack Obama as US President. Not only is Obama the first African-American president, he is a man who came to office speaking of hope and calling upon the world to “turn the ship around”.

Suddenly it’s cool again to be asking big questions and dreaming big visions. We see that surface answers are not enough. I work with authors to help them create good books.  I want those books to be not only well-written but also to be wise. Many of my clients are coaches–people dedicated to helping others find the joy, the passion, the meaning, and the pathway for living with vitality and purpose in the 21st century. And there are many other fields where wisdom is making its way back into modern consciousness–in teaching, in healing, in business, in creativity and the arts, in leadership.  If your work involves helping or empowering other people, chances are you have wisdom to share. The ease of getting published today–so many opportunities and methods for publishing–gives you a golden opportunity to extend your wisdom out into the world.

For thousands of years, books have offered wise counsel to people. I believe it’s crucial to reclaim the wisdom role of books, to look for those books in today’s book marketplace that have something real to say, transformational books that can really make a difference in readers’ lives.  And to help new wisdom voices to bring their words to the world.

If you want to write a book that really matters, both to yourself and your clients (and the thousands of potential readers out there who will welcome your book with open arms), we should talk.

Posted on January 12, 2009 - By Sharon Lindenburger
Digital or not, your book content still has to be good
Publishing Industry

Publishing experts, book coaches, and editors are frantically trying to “read the market”. We all want to figure out where the industry is going and what’s going to happen to books.

One trend that’s being flagged are the indicators coming from various publishers that they will be getting more and more involved with producing books in “digital” format. Digital reading tools such as Kindle are becoming quite popular and enable book lovers to acquire almost all genres of books at considerably lower prices than the traditional bookstore price.

Some people are also predicting that E-books sold by authors directly off websites will be making a comeback. E-books were popular for a while, then seemed to peak and lose some steam, largely because of their sheer numbers. Many of them were of poor quality, often with glaring spelling and grammar errors (which looks unprofessional).  As a result of the increase in e-books and the quality issues, e-books lost ground in credibility for awhile and many authors who wanted to create a quality book reverted to the traditional physical book.
Now it seems that e-books are rebounding, because authors realize that trade publishers are reducing the number of books they will acquire.  So for an author with a great book idea and a limited budget, the e-book option looks attractive again.

But no matter in what format your book is published, one thing remains crystal clear. Your content has to be good. It doesn’t matter if your book is a Kindle book, a digital download from a publisher’s site, an e-book you sell off your own site, a self-published physical book, or a POD book–the standard of your writing needs to match the publishable standard of trade publishers.

If the digital world is going to explode in book publishing, as is predicted, the lower costs of producing such books is going to lead to thousands of more books all vying for readers’ attention. The only way to stand out from such a crowded field is to have great content and to write it well.

If you’re a prospective author with a book in mind, focus first on your content, on what it is you have to say that will be valuable to your readers. Make that content as strong and interesting as possible. Make it uniquely your voice. Convince your readers that your book deserves to be read.

Digital or not, it has to be good.

And as a post-script to this posting, I have to say that in my view no matter how “digital” the book industry becomes, there is always going to be room in readers’ hearts for physical books, and publishers are going to continue to publish physical books. Indeed, the ability to get a publisher to publish your book will become even more of a gold standard than it is right now. If you can get a trade publisher to publish your book in an economy where publishers are reluctant to take a risk on new authors, then you have distinguished yourself from your competition by that fact alone.

Posted on January 5, 2009 - By Sharon Lindenburger
Loving what you write
The love of writing

I want to talk a bit about why you are writing a book.  In the non-fiction industry, particularly the part of the industry that deals with empowerment, success, self-improvement, and motivation, I hear too many prospective authors saying that the major reason they’re writing a book is that it will help their business, help them recruit new clients, position them as an expert, etc.

All these are valid reasons for writing a non-fiction book. But if the love the author has for his or her subject matter doesn’t come through in the book, the book will be dry and uninspiring. Do you love the topic you’re communicating about? Are you committed to it? Are you passionate about it? Are you full of enthusiasm about sharing it with others?

Writing a really good book is always an act of love. If your motivation is cynical or if your passion for your topic is not readily evident, your readers will in turn greet your book with cynicism. Readers are intelligent and can tell when a book is merely lukewarm. Your book is part of your service to the world.  Your readers want to be inspired, informed, enthralled. They want to feel that you’ve been where they are, that you understand their mind and heart. They want to feel that you love what you do and that you love what you write about.

Your book and your life purpose are connected.  Don’t separate the two. If you love what you write, and you write it well, you will have a successful book.

Posted on November 11, 2008 - By Sharon Lindenburger
What is the core purpose of your book?
Create Wisdom in Your Book

One of the challenges of creating great content is honing down the focus of the content. Getting an idea for a book can be an inspirational process, with your head full of marvelous ideas you would like to put into your book. And often all those ideas are great!

But if you try to include absolutely everything you’ve ever learned about a certain subject in one book, you’re going to end up with fuzzy content. You’ll have several different focuses (I don’t want to use the pedantic word “foci”), and as a result your book will come across as scattered.

When you have chosen a topic for your book, before you put pen to paper (or fingers to screen)–even before you do an outline or start free-writing–spend some quality introspective time with yourself. Ask yourself, “What is the purpose of my book?” Or more specifically, “What is the purpose of the content of my book?”

Don’t just answer “to promote my business” or “to make me a famous author”. Those are just surface answers. A book can definitely help promote your business, but if that’s the only reason you’re writing it, it’s likely that your book will lack energy or seem self-serving. Instead focus on what the purpose of the content will be for your readers. What will your readers glean from reading your book? What value will they see in absorbing the message of your book?”

Chances are you will come up with several great aspects of purpose, all of which will be valid for both you and your readers. Now here’s the hard part. Drill the question down to “What is the core purpose of my book?” “What is the single most compelling core value and message in this book that makes me truly want to write it and will make people want to read it?” “What is the center around which this book revolves?”

Identifying that central core purpose will tie all the threads in your book into a whole.  It will help make your book not only a good read but an inspiration to your readers. And if you can inspire your readers, you’ll enjoy the wonderful side effect of seeing the book promote your business and your expertise on its own merit.

The most powerful aspect of all content is integrity. Identifying the book’s core purpose links to your integrity as an author, and your readers will pick up on that and be drawn to read your book.

Posted on November 11, 2008 - By Sharon Lindenburger
Is a tight economy a good time to write and publish a book? Yes!
Publishing Industry

I’ve been getting emails and phone calls from prospective authors wondering if this is a good time to write a book. They are worried about the economy being in a recession. They’re concerned that if they do publish, people will be less likely to buy books. They’re worried about not having the resources to market the book.

While it’s true that bookstores are likely to see some downturn in overall sales as anxious consumers look for ways to cut back, it’s still the case that bookstores continue to operate and people still do love to buy and read books. Reading is something that goes on no matter what the economy is doing.

It may be that publishers in a tight economy will be more wary about whom they choose to publish and advances for new authors may be even more modest than they already are, but publishers are still going to be looking for good books.

If you decide not to pursue a trade publisher and instead choose one of the many ways of self-publishing your book, you may be concerned about expending the costs of that when times are tight. And yes, to do a quality book and to market it well will cost you several thousand dollars. But let’s put this into perspective. It can equally cost you thousands of dollars to run a full-page or half-page ad in a newspaper or magazine or to buy some radio spots.

Magazine ads and radio spots are short-lived.  A magazine could give your ad a shelf life of a month or so, a couple of months at the most. The radio stations might give you a few plays over a couple of weeks. With a newspaper, it’s usually a one-shot thing on one specific day and that’s it (unless you pay even more to buy a series of ads.) But a book has a much longer shelf life. It can be the calling card for your business or your expertise for a lot longer time than any kind of advertising. So if your resources are tight and you’re wondering what strategy can help promote your expertise the best, consider sharing your words with the world in the form of a book, rather than spending your resources on a bunch of “sell copy”.

One of the things you need during a recession is staying power, the ability to hang in there in a tough economy. A book can help you do that. Not only does a book have a longer period of effectiveness, it also positions you as an expert/authority of your content. Authoring and publishing a book definitely gives you an edge over competitors who do not have books published.

Posted on September 17, 2008 - By Sharon Lindenburger
A glut of books? Is there any hope for YOUR book?
Publishing Industry

Last night I listened to a teleseminar delivered by Mark Tauber, Senior Vice President and Publisher at HarperOne. Mr. Tauber had lots of interesting things to say, as he provided tips to prospective authors who hope to publish with HarperOne (or with any other publisher!)
He talked a lot about the need to make your book stand out from others and how difficult that is to do.  He pointed to the huge changes in the publishing industry–leading to trends such as the growing need for an author to have a “platform” (i.e., a media presence, a speaking career, some area in which they are well known), the 90-day window to make a book sell well (i.e., you only have three months to get decent sales before you are overtaken by other books), and the huge increase in books in the self-help empowerment area. Tauber mentioned that over 176,000 books were published in the US alone last year. I’m not sure if he meant non-fiction books or all books, but I think he meant non-fiction.

I could just imagine the thoughts going through the heads of many of the prospective authors on the call. “If the competition is that high and so many other authors (such as Arielle Ford who hosted the call) have such great contacts with famous people who will help market their book, what chance do I have?”

I have a firm and unshakable belief that every good book can find its readers IF certain conditions are met:

• If the author has a passion for the topic and deep knowledge of the topic

• If the author has the courage to write the book with a strong voice that reflects the author’s passion

• If the author seeks out good advice about the creation and organizing of the content, and then learns how to prepare an equally passionate proposal

Tauber said one particularly wonderful thing last night. He said that there are always going to be people who have original things to say, an interesting perspective to present, a way of imparting wisdom in a fresh way that can capture the attention of publishers and readers.
So, instead of worrying about the “book glut” out there, focus on your own content, what you love about it, what you are passionate about, what words of yours do you want to meet the world, and then tell that story with all the passion, love and commitment inside you.

The pathway to a successful published book is, as Tauber says, not a walk in the park. But it IS do-able. Don’t be one of the discouraged. Instead be one of the encouraged….and go for it.

And know that you don’t have to do it alone. There are people like myself, and other book coaches out there, who can help you uncover your greatest publishing asset–your own passionate writer’s voice that speaks your own wisdom.

Posted on September 11, 2008 - By Sharon Lindenburger
There’s nothing passive about good content
The love of writing

A big part of your “story-sense” and narrative flow is the feeling of forward-moving energy in your writing. When the flow of your content keeps pulling your reader forward (even if you write about the past), your readers go with you where you want to take them.

However, nothing wrecks the sense of momentum more than the use of passive verbs. No, I don’t intend this as a grammar lesson, but please bear with me a couple of minutes while I rant about passive verbs. Passive verbs are “energy suckers” that can drain the liveliness out of your writing.

Passive verbs occur a lot in reports such as the minutes of committee meetings, briefing documents, executive summaries, etc. No wonder so many of these kinds of reports come across as dull and the members of your organization just don’t want to read them.

• “The meeting was held at 3 p.m. Wednesday, September 10″

• “A decision was made to increase the marketing budget by 15%.”

• “Several dissenting viewpoints were heard by the task force before the vote was taken.”

Sentences like that “dull down” your writing, even if it is just a business-oriented report.  Passive verbs slow down the pace of writing, often to a snail’s crawl.  The passive voice does not convey power or authority; rather it conveys the sense of some outside force acting upon people–hardly the kind of voice you need if you want to communicate with energy.

• “The task force held its meeting at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, September 10.”

• “The task force decided to increase its planning budget by 15%.”

• “Several members disagreed with the budget increase and expressed their views to the task force before all members voted.”

Now the above sentences are not brilliant sentences you would kill to read (since they’re from a business report!) but I have converted them into active verb forms. Even in such bland “task force meeting minutes” sentences, the mere use of an active verb gives the sentences more energy, more sense of authority, more “voice”.

Since passive verbs are so common in business writing (and in my opinion shouldn’t be), many writers of books, newsletters, and other written content make the mistake of thinking that resorting to the passive makes them sound more “official” or more authoritative in presenting their material. They think it’s a way of getting their own voice out of the way so that the “material” stands on its own.  If you want good content, this is a fatal error. Don’t go there!

You don’t want to get rid of your own voice. You don’t want to come across as a passive person with a tepid writer’s voice.  Just because a piece of writing is factual (as in “non-fiction”) doesn’t mean it’s voice-less. You want energy in your writing. If you write a book, article, press release, or newsletter about your area of expertise, don’t hoodwink yourself into believing that passive verbs make you sound good. They don’t–they just make you sound boring.

Eliminate the passive. Replace it with the active. This is one very easy way to immediately enhance the authenticity and energy of your writer’s voice.  Whenever you write anything, read it over and root out any passive verbs. Find a way to replace them with the active form of the verb.

It’s amazing how much this improves the entire energy and voice of your content.

Posted on September 2, 2008 - By Sharon Lindenburger
Content rules! Content rocks!
Create Wisdom in Your Book

In the publishing game, content rules! And if you want people to pay attention to your content, it has to rock! This is another way of saying “Content is king.”

Many people, when they desire to publish something–be it a book, an article, a press release, a newsletter, or even blog–get all concerned about the publishing process itself.  They start asking, “What publisher should I pitch?” “Should I self-publish?” “Can I get an agent?” “What should my layout look like?” “I should get a good designer for my logo or webpage or book cover.” “How do I find a distributor?” “How can I make back-of-room sales of my book or info product?”

All of these are valid questions.  If you want to publish your words to the world, you definitely should ask yourself those questions. The only problem is that these are not the first questions you should be asking. By focusing first on the publishing process, you are putting the cart before the horse, or as an editor colleague of mine likes to say “you’re roasting the chicken before the egg has hatched.”

Before you consider how you want to publish, you need to ask yourself “What do I want to publish?” What do I want to say? What’s my message? What’s my content?” This may seem self-evident. You may say, “Of course I know what my content is. It relates to my expertise and my experiences.” And that’s great. But there’s a huge difference between knowing what your content is and exploring the most compelling way to tell it.  It’s amazing to me how many prospective authors spend far more time exploring all the design possibilities for their book cover but haven’t deeply mined the content that’s between the covers.

The actual process of publishing today offers you myriad ways of seeing your words in print (or on the screen). These days it seems that virtually “everyone and their dog” is writing a book, or starting a blog, or creating a newsletter or ezine. This is especially true of the self-help, empowerment, and motivational fields, which in North America alone represent an industry generating more than $100 billion dollars. No wonder so many people want to get in on a financial pot that huge!

The good news is that there are more and more opportunities to do so. The bad news is that the competition to get noticed and to have a recognizable marketable result from your writing is fiercer than ever. It’s no longer enough to have a wonderful book design or a great marketing plan. You need to have content that’s more compelling, more interesting, more genuine-sounding than your competition.
 

his doesn’t mean that you can’t write about something someone else has written about. After all, there really are no new ideas under the sun (and indeed some of the most powerful empowerment books and writings are coming from the ideas of authors more than a hundred years ago, even thousands of years ago. Just check out the types of books about how Shakespeare’s wisdom can apply to your business, or how the Buddha’s teachings help you deal with stress.)

So it’s not necessarily “newness” you’re looking for, but rather the unique way you tell your own story, your own take on the subject. It is by developing your own writer’s voice that you will make your content sound magnetic, rich, and original. What is the “writer’s voice”? It’s your ability to make your words sound like you, the way you make your words be you.

In the past, the term “writer’s voice” applied a lot to fiction. But it applies equally to non-fiction. Just because your book is factual or motivational or educational doesn’t mean there is no story structure or a voice. There most certainly is! Every piece of published material, whether short or long, whether print, broadcast, or online, tells a story. Your presence is within absolutely everything you will ever write.

There are ways to uncover your writer’s voice.  I’ll be talking about a lot of these in this blog. My purpose and my passion is to help you find your story–the wisdom within the words you seek to bring to the world, the words that will strengthen your success and draw your audience (and clients) to you.