Once you have diligently followed the suggestions for publishing your book and your book is published, it’s time to enjoy being a “famous author” and start promoting your book.
Two ways to do that that come readily to mind are doing a book launch party and securing as many readings of your memoir as possible in a public setting. (more…)
May I present a surprise blocking solution to complete your book manuscript: don’t write just now.
Learn how to continue writing to the end.
Here is an example of what I mean: one summer when I was serious about gardening, I went away on a late June trip. It was a fun vacation with my family, but the trip fell at a time when the garden seriously needed daily weeding, hoeing, and watering. As you can imagine, when I returned home, I found my garden overrun with weeds. The vegetables that I had so carefully planted were just about choked out, so I was, to say the least, challenged seeing the overgrown mess of weeds.
Rather than tackle the job immediately, however, which would certainly have been reasonable, I made a counter-intuitive decision: I spent time across several days just sitting on the edge of the garden, envisioning how I wanted the various parts to look once my work of cleaning up was done, imagining the lovely vegetables I would have.
After three days of on-again, off-again scrutinizing and visualizing, my time for action had come.
As in most endeavors in life, when you write a memoir as an open-ended task without any end in sight, you are likely to procrastinate and extend the project. What happens when you do not set a memoir writing deadline is, next year or the year after that, you are still writing, revising, and polishing your lifestory. You know how it is: you want to get it right. (more…)
If you’re in business, you need to market yourself. There’s no two ways about it.
If people don’t know you exist, they don’t know what products and services you offer.
Regardless of whether you sell books, coaching and/or consulting services, widgets or done for you programs, people have to hear about you.
Another reality is this; the more of an expert people see you as, the more you stand apart from the competition.
One of the best ways to do this is by being featured on podcast and radio shows.
In the years I’ve shown experts how to get on shows, the #1 challenge for most people is the amount of time it takes to find outstanding shows to be featured on.
Three simple ways to find shows are: (more…)
For most emerging writers, enrolling in a distance learning program is an exciting experience. At long last, for a period of time that is long enough to make a difference, you give yourself the opportunity to immerse yourself in learning the “best practices” of the writing craft that you have been so wanting to learn.
An adult-learning program which will help you to master writing might be a university course, a local workshop, a one-on-one relationship with a mentor, or a tele-course over internet video-conferencing.
Like many, perhaps most, adult learners, with responsibilities that often include a family, a job, a home, you are unable as might your adolescent counterpart to take time out—months, even years—to leave your life to devote yourself to mastering the craft of writing.
Note from the Editor: This third installment of Before Sending a Manuscript to an Editor series offers basic editing tips around time sequencing and flashbacks. For Part 1: Self-Editing Techniques Click here. For Part 2: Use of Time Click here.
A writer can effect these tips to bring a manuscript to a higher level of finish before sending the piece off to a professional editor. In this section, I write about use of time: specifically, cause and effect time sequencing and flashbacks.
In the previous post on the use of time, I wrote about the cause-and-effect sequence as a sub-aspect of proper chronology.
Before I get to the cause-and-effect sequence which is an absolutely necessary styling element to understand, I need to review an essential element of memoir writing (as of fiction): the suspension of disbelief.
A writer can effect these tips to bring a manuscript to a higher level of finish before sending the piece off to a professional editor. In this section, I write about time sequencing: specifically, cause and effect sequencing and the flashback. (more…)
Imagine being able to build your audience and get your message out to hundreds, even thousands, of potential clients in one fell swoop. Now imagine, because of the platform you use, being viewed as the go-to expert. Now imagine being able to do this without leaving the comfort of your home.
How is this possible? With podcast appearances. Hands down, podcast shows offer one of the best opportunities to get in front of your target market in the easiest way possible.
In as little as an hour, you can get your message out around the globe and build your audience.
There are definitely lots of great benefits to podcast appearances. Three of my favorite are… (more…)
Once you have diligently followed the suggestions for publishing your book and your book is published, it’s time to enjoy being a “famous author” and start promoting your book. (more…)
Here is a surprise blocking solution to complete your book manuscript: don’t write just now. What exactly do I mean when I write this? Here’s an example… (more…)
You’ve been writing for a long while. Your book has been edited professionally. You are ready to get your independently-published book into your readers’ hands. Let’s explore and execute options for packaging and printing your memoir. (more…)
Interviewing family members and friends is clearly a form of research, but interviews alone are usually not enough to give your stories the depth they require. For that, you need formal research. (more…)
When you write as an open-ended task without setting a memoir writing deadline, you are likely to procrastinate and extend the project. What happens when you do not set an end date is, next year or the year after that, you are still writing, revising, and polishing your lifestory. You know how it is: you […]
If you’re in business, you need to market yourself. There’s no two ways about it. If people don’t know you exist, they don’t know what products and services you offer. Regardless of whether you sell books, coaching and/or consulting services, widgets or done for you programs, people have to hear about you. Another reality is […]
For most emerging writers, enrolling in an adult-learning program is an exciting experience. At long last, for a period of time that is long enough to make a difference, you have the opportunity to immerse yourself in learning the “best practices” of the writing craft that you has been so wanting to learn for a […]
A writer can tweak the use of time in a memoir to bring a manuscript to a higher level of finish before sending the piece off to a professional editor. In this section, I write about time sequencing: specifically, cause and effect sequencing and flashbacks. (more…)
Imagine being able to get your message out to hundreds, even thousands, of potential clients in one fell swoop. Now imagine, because of the platform you use, being viewed as the go-to expert. (more…)