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Read to Succeed

1/30/2020

A new thing I'm adding this year and this month of Vision is sharing some good books and authors I've encountered. This first one is Ray Dalio and his book Principles. It was voted Business Book of the Year. You'll have to get it to fund out why. But enjoy this blog that encapsulates a bit of what Ray Dalio shares with people all the time. It was good for me. I think itll be good for you.

Wouldn’t you love to be able to achieve greatness without embarrassment, failure and fear? It would be wonderful to be able to tell you that you can achieve your dreams without suffering a little bit.

Unfortunately, that’s not how things work. Everyone needs to go on their hero’s journey, and that means, at some point, encountering an extreme low.

It would be lovely, of course, if we could just learn everything we need to know from other people’s experiences. And you can try to do that. In fact, we shouldreally try to do that way!

Here’s the thing though. The information you need is out there. The books are there for you to read, and the podcasts are there for you to listen to. And if you go out and consume all that information, you will learn. You’ll learn a lot.

You’ll even take some of the advice. Maybe you’ll take most of it.

But you won’t take all of it. And the only thing that’s going to show you how you’re wrong, how your worldview is limited, is your own failure. When you try to reach your dreams, fail, feel the pain, and decide to get back up and try again.

However, even that process won’t be enough without reflection.

You’ve really got to sit down and admit, “here’s where I screwed up. Here’s where I could have done better. Here’s where I went wrong.” And then figure out how you’re going to do things differently next time.

Ray Dalio’s famous math equation is right on the money:

Pain + Reflection = Progress.

The truth is that the drive to achieve something extraordinary is often rooted in harsh experiences. And the more crushing the extreme low you’ve reached, the more drive you will have to reach extraordinary heights.

So there is, of course, some good news here. Those of you who have hit rock bottom, who suffer greatly, or who have had those crushing failures can look forward to an incredible future. As long as you always take responsibility for your own errors.

Through reflection, your failures become the fuel that sustains you when times get rough, and when you want to wimp out. They will propel you when you want to quit out of boredom or jealousy.

So that means that pain is never wasted. Pain + Reflection = Progress. There is always something to be learned.

Aren't familiar with Ray Dalio? Look him up. This year from time to time I will share with you some really good books I've read and recommend by some amazing authors. Even outside of my own publishing house, there's great material out there.

To Your Success

MG

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Get Your Book Done by the End of the Year. Our Checklist Will Help.

1/23/2020

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Eating healthier, working out, making more time for friends… these are, even for us indie writers, common New Year’s resolutions. Which is to say, the resolutions that will soon go by the wayside.

But for writers, there’s one resolution of the utmost importance to us: finally finishing and publishing your book. This year — with the right preparation and planning — you can follow through on this goal.

I place emphasis here on “finishing and publishing” because if you’re just now typing “Chapter One,” it’s going to be hard for you to both finish and publish that book before the year’s over.

So, let’s assume you’ve already put in a lot of work — say, you’re halfway to your target length of 60,000 words. If you’ve made it that far, you can and will publish your book in 2019… IF you follow this checklist.

June: Finish and edit your first draft

The first step here is to finish writing your book. This will likely require some sacrifice. Cancel that Netflix subscription. Put a lock on your home office. Stay loyal to a writing schedule in which you write and make progress every single day.

Within a few months, you should be done with your first draft. But, that doesn’t mean you’re done writing. Next comes the rewriting. This is when you kill your darlings and shave down the story and the prose so only that which is essential and moves the story forward remains.

With focused effort, you can have this done in the next few months. The goal is to have a tight version of your manuscript which can serve as the foundation for what comes next.

July: Hand your manuscript to a professional editor

Are you done after you’ve finished your self-edit? Nope. Next, you should find a professional editor to edit your manuscript. Yes, this can be expensive. But it’s necessary and worth it to invest in a professional to take a second or third look at your every sentence, word, and syllable. At Purpose Publishing, my team and I tell all our writers the same thing: edit or regret it.

That’s one reason why we offer all our writers editing services. But keep in mind, a professional editor will need 2–3 weeks to do a thorough job, so make sure you’ve found an editor closer to the beginning of the month than later.

August: Editing is complete

Your next step is to read the edited manuscript to make sure you agree with the changes your editor has made. This is important, so take your time. Some authors accept all the changes and rush through this process blindly. Don’t do that! This is your book, and you get the final say on how it reads.

September: Prepare for publication

By September, you should have an edited manuscript ready to go. Next, you’ll need to take steps to make your book look and feel professional.

The best way to do that, outside of partnering with a traditional publisher — which for most people doesn’t make monetary or logical sense and isn’t really feasible to begin with — is to partner with a full-service self-publishing company (I recommend Purpose Publishing!). Your next steps include:

Cover design. The cover of your book is of the utmost importance. It will be the first thing new readers see when they come across your book. It must be both arresting and professional. It pays, then, to hire a professional cover designer. Your sister-in-law who knows a bit of graphic design won’t cut it. You want your book to look like the real deal.

Promotion plan. Next, you’ll need to start thinking about how you’re going to inform the world about the existence of your book. Savvy authors know that such promotion must start early — long before your book enters the marketplace. Will you hire a publicist? Solicit book reviews? Try social media ads? September is the month to make all these strategy decisions so when it comes time to implement them, you know exactly what to do.

Publishing plan. This is also the time to decide how, exactly, you’re going to deliver your book to the world. Are you going to use Print-On-Demand services? Will you create eBooks? There are many distribution options for eBooks, including Amazon. Another option is to partner with aggregators (Purpose Publishing provides such services) who can handle distribution for you.

October: Pre-sale

Once you hit October, it’s time to put things into motion. The first step? Pre-sale.

If you’re distributing your book online, that means you need to set up a pre-sale period for your book with the various online marketplaces and retail stores you’re utilizing. This is, arguably, the most important part of your book launch.

Mid-November: Time to hit the marketplace!

If you’ve followed all the steps above, your book should be available for pre-sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, etc. in time for the holiday and the end of the year.

If all this sounds like a lot of work — you’re right. It is. To get there will require discipline, patience, and grit. Here are some general rules to follow to help keep you on track.

Plan for good and bad days. You can expect to have some good days — when creativity flows and the words spill out without effort — and bad days. Life is full of distractions, after all. The important thing is to plan accordingly so you can get even a little bit of work done every day.

Turn off the TV. Television (and YouTube) is the biggest book killer known to man. So turn it off. There’ll be plenty of time for binge-watching this fall after the hard work is done.

Ask for help. Turn to your friends and family and tell them you’re living out the dream of writing your book. Ask for their forgiveness — and space — while you complete this mission.

Deadlines aren’t everything. Don’t beat yourself up if your manuscript isn’t done by June. A rushed book is never a good book. Publishing a book of quality takes time, just commit to the process and work until you’re done.

I look forward to reading your book this time next year!

To Your Success,

MG

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Make Your Vision Visible

1/16/2020

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There are two ways first-time authors can plan their book marketing activities. The first is discovery-driven planning, which evolves through trial and error. A second technique views planning as narrative, conducted as you would when writing a novel.

It’s now time to plan your marketing activities, but many authors avoid planning in general because they do not know how to do it. Those who do know typically use a conventional, platform-based marketing plan that builds upon previous experience, with goals described as an increase over last year’s achievements. Planners know what did and did not work in the past, so their lists of strategies and actions are based on that familiarity.

Of course, first-time authors have no history of marketing and selling their books, and this inexperience often leads to “winging it.” The results are usually underwhelming because the neophyte author does not sufficiently understand the publishing business.

There are two different ways for inexperienced authors to plan their future marketing actions. One solution is discovery-driven planning in which much is assumed, but the plan evolves over time through trial and error. A second technique views planning as narrative, conducted as you would when writing a novel.

Discovery-driven planning

In this case, the word plan is a verb. You’re doing something, but your actions are based upon proven marketing advice instead of historical data. Done well, you identify your target readers and buyers, take action, track the results of your efforts, and make adjustments as you go along.

Start at the end. Discovery-driven planning is not a blind approach to marketing, but traditional marketing done in a non-traditional way. Instead of estimating future revenues and then assuming profits will come, create a “reverse income statement.” Determine the profit required to make the venture worthwhile, then calculate the revenues needed to deliver that profit.

Learn effective marketing techniques. Find out what should be done to generate the revenue you need. Read books about marketing. Join the Association of Publishers for Special Sales and the Independent Book Publishers Association. Read both organizations’ newsletters and other sources of information such as Book Marketing Works’ Marketing Matters newsletter. Attend seminars and webinars. Learn all you can about how to profitably manipulate the four Ps of marketing: product, place, price, and promotion.

Calculate applicable costs. Decide which actions to take and estimate the cost to do everything required to produce, distribute, promote, and sell your books. If you deduct those costs from predicted revenues, will your plan deliver a sufficient return? If not, go back through it, making calculated changes.

Perform the relevant actions. Once you have a plan, implement a proven (by others) series of sustainable actions. Decide upon a price that will enable you to reach your profit objectives given your costs. Contact distribution partners for selling to retailers. Arrange for sales online and to non-bookstore buyers. Perform publicity, do media appearances, take action on social media, and tackle personal selling activities.

Test assumptions at milestones. New ventures often require redirection of action, and therein lies the key to successful discovery-driven planning. As you begin to experience results — either positive or negative — evaluate your relative success. Do more of what works, and make changes to — or eliminate — actions that do not work.

Planning as narrative
With this strategy, you approach your marketing activities as you would writing a book. This may be particularly effective for fiction writers.

Step one: Define the characters and their motivations

You, the author, are the primary character. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Another important character in this scenario is your target reader. Precisely define this person in terms of demographics, but particularly why he or she would want to purchase your book. Describe where they shop, for this is where your book should be available. Another character is your publisher. How will you find the right one? What should be in your proposal? Will an agent assist you?

If you choose independent publishing, there are more characters to describe. Buyers at retailers — both inline and online (bookstores, supermarkets, gift shops, Amazon.com, etc.) — take on products that will build store traffic, increase inventory turns, and improve profit per square foot. Distributors to brick-and-mortar retailers want quality books that are supported by the author’s promotion. Librarians want books that will help their patrons. Corporate buyers want to use your content to sell more of their product. Describe how these characters will perform.

One antagonist is your competition. You are competing for your target readers’ share of mind and wallet with a variety of titles and products, depending on which consumers, retailers and non-retail characters you select. Do a quick search for competitive titles in your category. Do this on Amazon.com and go to bookstores to evaluate the other titles on the shelves. Corporate buyers have a large variety of promotional products from which to choose. You vie with these for limited budgeted dollars.

Step two: Write your story

Describe the process of producing and marketing your book. What advice will your accountant, cover designers, and editors give you? What evil forces might prevent you from succeeding? Describe how you will get on and perform on television and radio shows. Tell about the trials and tribulations you experience when arranging distribution and shelf presence. What twists and turns could occur? What new characters might enter? Build to the climax of you reaching the number one position as a New York Times best seller (or whatever your objective is).

Step three: Create the ending and plan for a sequel

Close your story by pursuing the actions that will lead to a sequel or to your next book.
Of course, there is more to writing a book plan than described here, but you get the idea. Define and control the story as much as you do your actions in real life and carefully describe how you will move ahead toward your destination.

Both of these techniques acknowledge that at the start of a new venture, little is known and much is assumed. These approaches systematically convert assumptions into knowledge as your strategic venture unfolds. Proceed with your best-guess estimates, then test and question them as you proceed. When new information is uncovered, incorporate it as necessary into your evolving plan. The real potential of your efforts is discovered as it develops, and you’ll soon have the experience to write a platform-based plan for your next book-marketing endeavor.

It’s a bit of work involved on the front end, but it’ll pay greater dividends in the long term.

To Your Success,

MG

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Write Your Memoir in 20 Minutes A Day

1/9/2020

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Do you have the vision to write your memoir this year? As writer and critic Gore Vidal once said, “An autobiography tells the story of a life, while a memoir tells a story from a life.” You can write your memoir in 20 minutes a day.

Like many of you, I sometimes find myself wondering what legacy I’ll leave behind. I’m blessed to have experienced love, professional success, and the joy of having children and grandchildren in my life. But, of course, I’ve had trials, tragedy, and trauma that I’ve had to endure, like anyone else. It’s in some of these darker moments that I learned critical lessons about life and survival for which I’m forever grateful. And it’s those lessons that I hope to share one day — not only with friends and family — but with the world through a memoir.

Typically, a memoir is a story that covers a portion — weeks, months, years — of someone’s life. Memoirs are often written by everyday people like you and me and can start at any point along the author’s life story. If you’ve experienced great challenges and have learned valuable lessons along the way, you have a message inside you that can change lives, save lives, or transform society.

Your story deserves to be told. In fact, I believe it is your responsibility to tell it. But a lot of first-time authors get caught up in how to approach writing their story and are overwhelmed before they even begin. When you’re imagining the process of writing a book, you have to recognize that it’s a large project and it’s not something you’re going to accomplish overnight. So what’s the key to tackling large projects? You break them down into smaller steps. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And when you’re trying to write a book, fiction or nonfiction, that same concept applies — but you need to develop a step-by-step process.

Develop your step-by-step plan

When setting goals, it’s important to outline and create a plan. Without a plan to get to your goal accomplished, you will most likely look back a year from now and find that you haven’t achieved what you set out to do. How frustrating. The same is true when writing a book. When you create an outline, you develop a “book map,” which is a visual representation of your entire book. I contend that if you only have 20 minutes a day to write, you can finish a book in a year. You just need to develop a strategy for writing in 20-minute increments and assembling what you’ve written into a cohesive manuscript.

Develop a concept

A memoir is set in a period of time or covers a set of events in your life, rather than cataloging your experience from cradle to grave. In order for your memoir to have an audience beyond your friends and family, you need to develop a solid concept that bridges the space between your life and the life of your reader. As a publisher, I say your memoir needs a solid concept that invites the reader’s concerns into the experience of reading it, instead of just saying, ‘Let me tell you all about wonderful me.’ Consider the elements of your story that are universal and find ways to write them that will invite your readers to imagine and consider their own lives through the lens of your circumstances.

Make it captivating

Nonfiction books can be as captivating as their fictional counterparts through the use of sensory language that conveys what you saw, heard, smelled, and tasted during the pivotal moments you present. I tell my writers to close their eyes as they begin to write a pivotal scene in their memoir – to really take themselves back to the place, time, and emotion of the moment. Once you’ve transported yourself back to that moment, open your eyes and write your first draft. Once you’ve gotten it onto the page, take another pass and look for ways to vary your language to make it richer and more interesting.

The memoir market

Memoirs continue to be a steady seller, enjoying a 20 percent increase in sales from 2013 to 2020, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Memoirs that align with a universal theme, something of timely interest, or an organization, cause, or event tend to sell best.

What are you waiting for? What better time is there than now? Tomorrow is not promised, and someone needs your memoir today. When you share what you know and what you’ve learned, you become the solution. The answers are inside of you!

To Your Success,

MG

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Write YOUR Author Vision & Make it Plain

1/2/2020

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You might not be familiar with the process of writing a business plan, but you can tell a story. Why not put that talent to use for your vision statement for 2020?

As we approach the end of the year, it is a good time to begin mapping your vision for 2020. Most authors understand the importance of doing this, but without an existing business plan upon which to build, it’s not obvious how to go about writing a plan. But authors know how to craft a good story, so why not use that expertise to write your plan?

The fiction of prediction
Writing your business plan as a fiction manuscript can be a fun way to do the necessary work of planning. It can also help you identify and deal with the people (characters) who impact your business. Your subplots help you recognize the value of previously unsought opportunities, perhaps in non-bookstore markets. And your narrative can point of the interdependencies of market segments rather than dealing with them as isolated groups. Here are a few novel ideas to help you write your first plan — or sequel.

Start by asking yourself a few questions. Your answers will create the outline for your story (aka your plot).
- How many titles will you publish?
- Why and for whom?
- At what price will they be sold?
- How will they be distributed in traditional and non-bookstore (special sales) markets?
- How can you use publicity, advertising, sales promotion, and personal selling techniques to promote them (online or inline)?
- What will all this cost and how much can you expect to make at the end of the year?
- How will all this position your business for future growth?

Next, identify the characters for your story.
- Who will be the protagonists (distributors, retailers, readers and buyers)?
- What roles do they play?
- What are their motivations for buying?
- How will they benefit from reading your content?

Next define your antagonists — perhaps in the form of competitors or hidden obstacles (subplots) — and ask the corresponding questions.

Next ask, “Where does your story take place?” If potential buyers seek your book in libraries, then make it available there. If they buy in bookstores, whether brick-and-mortar or online, that is where your books must be. If your readers purchase via direct mail, through catalogs, in airport stores, supermarkets, discount stores, gift shops, book clubs, or at craft fairs, then that is where your books must be accessible. Or, will you venture into new territory and sell to non-retail buyers in corporations, associations, the military, and schools (another subplot)?

When does your story take place? Have your plan completed by January 1 of each year so you begin with a running start. Then revise it by performing quarterly updates to make your actions more applicable to changing conditions.

Finally, run the numbers. Place a cost on each of the actions you plan to take and how many books you expect to sell if you do everything you’ve planned. Can you be profitable?

Just as with writing a book, action is not the same as accomplishment. A manuscript that is not released will never lead to success. Similarly, a plan that is not acted upon will never be profitable. The difference between a novel and a plan is that a plan does not have an ending. It is a work-in-progress that you regularly evaluate and rewrite to update and make changes as necessary.

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Read to Succeed

Get Your Book Done by the End of the Year. Our Checklist Will Help.

Make Your Vision Visible

Write Your Memoir in 20 Minutes A Day

Write YOUR Author Vision & Make it Plain

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