Cairn - October 2008 - Getting Published
Published: Wed, 10/08/08
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Cairn One Hour At A Time |
October 2008
Issue 54 clare evans |
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personal & business coach | ||
Welcome to all new subscribers since last month.
Last month's book launch went well. Some familiar faces - old and new turned up and although it wasn't a packed event, almost everyone who was there bought a copy of the book, which pleased Borders, who said even John Gresham doesn't sell that many in a day! Well, he might if he did a book launch in Brighton but it's good to be able to say I've been a bestseller in Borders, in Brighton at least for one day. That same week I was also asked to do a talk to the local Chamber of Commerce about the process of writing the book and as so many people have asked, I thought it was a good topic for this month's newsletter.
I made it onto Page 3 of the Business supplement of the local paper and I'm expecting an article in the October issue of the BT Upload magazine and in the December issue of Red Magazine - hopefully both articles will include a mention of the book.
In the first three weeks, I've sold over a thousand copies, so there must be a few people out there who need their time managing and today it made it to #100 on the Amazon Best seller list for Self Help books.
You can order the book through http://www.timemanagementfordummies.co.uk and not only get 30% off the cover price but also support Cancer Research.
You can catch up with what I've been up to in my blog - http://www.clareevans.blogspot.com or Follow Me on Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/clareevans and keep up-to-date automatically.
Enjoy the rest of this month's newsletter.
Getting Published
Several people have asked me about the process of writing the Dummies book, presumably with a view to getting their own book published either for business or personal satisfaction. Now if you're thinking it's going to make you a lot of money and you'll be able to retire on the proceeds to your own island in the Caribbean, think again. Unless you happen to write a best seller, which sells millions of copies around the world, you won't, just creating some reality. If you're lucky, you'll get an advance for writing the book and perhaps royalties from the sales. However, what you will get is a load of credibility and something that is a great example of the work that you do and a mechanism that your clients and the public can use.
You can go down one of two routes - either approach a publisher or self-publish.
Now, in my case, the publishers approached me having found my website and articles through Google. If you want to write a book, start writing. Anything will do, newsletters, articles and your blog. You're creating content that shows your expertise and can form the basis of a book. Articles are great for being published on other sites as well as your own and there are a whole host of websites looking for content who will readily accept your articles.
The easiest away to do this is to use article submission sites like Article Marketer, who will automatically publish your articles out to 1000s of sites at a time. You just post the article up once. Some of these sites are well known and get thousands of visitors, others may only get a few hundred but it's all potential traffic to your website - as long as your article is well written and draws the reader to your site to find out more. There's probably a whole topic for a newsletter on article writing - perhaps at a later date.
Now two things I learned from a PR and Media course I went on when I first started up in business is one - journalists are basically lazy and will use Google to find information and two - be available. If a journalist contacts you - respond straight away or they may have already get what they need from someone else. So, as soon as the email arrived in my inbox I phoned them back.
Initially, after sending me their book proposal and author guidelines, they requested a Table of Contents and having approved that I sent in a sample Chapter. From then on in - having signed the contract, it was a matter of 'get writing'. Now this wasn't quite as easy as I thought. Yes, I've been writing my newsletter for over four years, I have hundreds of articles and I've been blogging for a couple of years, so I had plenty of content but expanding it out into different chapters and applying the Dummies 'style', took more work than I expected.
I had a pretty tough timetable to work to, writing one chapter a week from the start of January to the beginning of May. It took me about four months to write, not always a chapter a week, picking off the easy ones first, occasionally completing two at once and of course leaving the worst to last. Each chapter took longer to write than I expected, especially when I was up against writer's block, wondering what on earth I was thinking when I put 'that' into the Table of Contents. It made sense at the time but now I had to write a whole Chapter on it.
Allow time for writing - it does take longer than you think but don't let that put you off. The publisher will have their own timetable to work to. I think mine was pretty quick and some publishers will expect the finished manuscript within a matter of months or a year from signing the contract which will include the dates and payment schedule. As well as the actual writing, there's a lot of research and thinking time that goes into the creative process. Writing little and often will allow you to build up each chapter bit by bit. Write out an outline which you can develop from the Table of Contents - add in key ideas as you think of them. While you're writing or thinking about getting started, carry a notebook with you so you can write things down as and when you think of them, not just when you sit down in front of the computer or your writing pad.
Most publisher sites will have Author guidelines, which will tell you what they need to see from you and how to approach them. Follow them, exactly and you stand a better chance of getting to the next stage. Find a publisher who publishes the type and style of book you want to produce - Prentice Hall, Blackwell, Kogan Page, Pearsons, How To Books all publish business related book titles. They also like to know it's on a topic that is already published and that there's a market for and if you've got a different twist to apply.
If you use a publisher, they will handle all the editing, formatting, artwork, copywriting, printing and distribution but you can some support from a professional to help you put the initial proposal together.
If you self-publish, you will need to organise all this yourself, although it's getting easier to do and many people can help you through the process. You obviously need to pay for all this upfront before you even sell the first copy and then find places to sell your book - either through your website, on Amazon or through book shops.
You'll also need to handle all the promotion and publicity but even if it's published for you you'll still need to do a certain amount of this. A publisher will go so far but they may not issue press releases or arrange any promotion for your book, so think about getting reviewers, places to promote your book and arranging a book launch. Mine was fairly low key but a way for me to mark the occasion.
The feeling of seeing your name in print and your book on a bookshelf is pretty hard to beat and well worth the effort.
If you're thinking of writing a book and would like some additional resources and contacts, drop me an email. If you have any other time related challenges that are causing you stress or sleepless nights, why not give me a call and sign-up for one of my Free Friday Focus sessions.
What's On, What's New
Up-coming teleclasses, workshops:
Friday Focus - A free 30 minute focused session to discuss your specific challenges, objectives and goals for 2008, get a sounding board for your ideas, increase your motivation and create accountability. Call or email to arrange a date and time.
Teleclass: Get Control of Your Time - Saying No. A series of teleclasses on the more common challenges facing busy people today. Join me for a one-hour call, once a month on Tuesday lunchtime. Next call on Tuesday 28th October. Don't have time to attend? You can still register for the call and you'll receive the notes and free Weekly Time Tips - http://www.clareevans.co.uk/services/GroupCoaching.htm
Teleclass: Get Control of your Money. Discover key tips and strategies to help you to manage your money more wisely. Avoid things getting out of control and start saving for the things you really want out of life. Next call on Tuesday 21st November. http://www.clareevans.co.uk/services/GroupCoaching.htm
More Month Than Money - a full e-course complete with e-book, worksheets and checklists to enable you to get control of your finances, start a savings plan, reduce your debt and start using your money wisely. http://www.clareevans.co.uk/moremoney.htm
Mums In Biz. Business start up seminars focusing directly on issues affecting busy mums. Providing answers to planning, marketing, time management, fun and inspiration with the ultimate aim of helping them to establish and grow a business in tandem with motherhood! The next one is being held in Brighton on Tuesday 4th November. http://www.mumsinbiz.co.uk
If you know anyone who would find this information useful, please forward this newsletter on to them.
If you were forwarded this issue of the newsletter you can register to receive your own copy each month by sending a blank email to claresnews@aweber.com.
If you no longer want to receive this newsletter each month, just click the link at the bottom of this email to automatically unsubscribe.
Until next month,
Clare
Last month's book launch went well. Some familiar faces - old and new turned up and although it wasn't a packed event, almost everyone who was there bought a copy of the book, which pleased Borders, who said even John Gresham doesn't sell that many in a day! Well, he might if he did a book launch in Brighton but it's good to be able to say I've been a bestseller in Borders, in Brighton at least for one day. That same week I was also asked to do a talk to the local Chamber of Commerce about the process of writing the book and as so many people have asked, I thought it was a good topic for this month's newsletter.
I made it onto Page 3 of the Business supplement of the local paper and I'm expecting an article in the October issue of the BT Upload magazine and in the December issue of Red Magazine - hopefully both articles will include a mention of the book.
In the first three weeks, I've sold over a thousand copies, so there must be a few people out there who need their time managing and today it made it to #100 on the Amazon Best seller list for Self Help books.
You can order the book through http://www.timemanagementfordummies.co.uk and not only get 30% off the cover price but also support Cancer Research.
You can catch up with what I've been up to in my blog - http://www.clareevans.blogspot.com or Follow Me on Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/clareevans and keep up-to-date automatically.
Enjoy the rest of this month's newsletter.
Getting Published
Several people have asked me about the process of writing the Dummies book, presumably with a view to getting their own book published either for business or personal satisfaction. Now if you're thinking it's going to make you a lot of money and you'll be able to retire on the proceeds to your own island in the Caribbean, think again. Unless you happen to write a best seller, which sells millions of copies around the world, you won't, just creating some reality. If you're lucky, you'll get an advance for writing the book and perhaps royalties from the sales. However, what you will get is a load of credibility and something that is a great example of the work that you do and a mechanism that your clients and the public can use.
You can go down one of two routes - either approach a publisher or self-publish.
Now, in my case, the publishers approached me having found my website and articles through Google. If you want to write a book, start writing. Anything will do, newsletters, articles and your blog. You're creating content that shows your expertise and can form the basis of a book. Articles are great for being published on other sites as well as your own and there are a whole host of websites looking for content who will readily accept your articles.
The easiest away to do this is to use article submission sites like Article Marketer, who will automatically publish your articles out to 1000s of sites at a time. You just post the article up once. Some of these sites are well known and get thousands of visitors, others may only get a few hundred but it's all potential traffic to your website - as long as your article is well written and draws the reader to your site to find out more. There's probably a whole topic for a newsletter on article writing - perhaps at a later date.
Now two things I learned from a PR and Media course I went on when I first started up in business is one - journalists are basically lazy and will use Google to find information and two - be available. If a journalist contacts you - respond straight away or they may have already get what they need from someone else. So, as soon as the email arrived in my inbox I phoned them back.
Initially, after sending me their book proposal and author guidelines, they requested a Table of Contents and having approved that I sent in a sample Chapter. From then on in - having signed the contract, it was a matter of 'get writing'. Now this wasn't quite as easy as I thought. Yes, I've been writing my newsletter for over four years, I have hundreds of articles and I've been blogging for a couple of years, so I had plenty of content but expanding it out into different chapters and applying the Dummies 'style', took more work than I expected.
I had a pretty tough timetable to work to, writing one chapter a week from the start of January to the beginning of May. It took me about four months to write, not always a chapter a week, picking off the easy ones first, occasionally completing two at once and of course leaving the worst to last. Each chapter took longer to write than I expected, especially when I was up against writer's block, wondering what on earth I was thinking when I put 'that' into the Table of Contents. It made sense at the time but now I had to write a whole Chapter on it.
Allow time for writing - it does take longer than you think but don't let that put you off. The publisher will have their own timetable to work to. I think mine was pretty quick and some publishers will expect the finished manuscript within a matter of months or a year from signing the contract which will include the dates and payment schedule. As well as the actual writing, there's a lot of research and thinking time that goes into the creative process. Writing little and often will allow you to build up each chapter bit by bit. Write out an outline which you can develop from the Table of Contents - add in key ideas as you think of them. While you're writing or thinking about getting started, carry a notebook with you so you can write things down as and when you think of them, not just when you sit down in front of the computer or your writing pad.
Most publisher sites will have Author guidelines, which will tell you what they need to see from you and how to approach them. Follow them, exactly and you stand a better chance of getting to the next stage. Find a publisher who publishes the type and style of book you want to produce - Prentice Hall, Blackwell, Kogan Page, Pearsons, How To Books all publish business related book titles. They also like to know it's on a topic that is already published and that there's a market for and if you've got a different twist to apply.
If you use a publisher, they will handle all the editing, formatting, artwork, copywriting, printing and distribution but you can some support from a professional to help you put the initial proposal together.
If you self-publish, you will need to organise all this yourself, although it's getting easier to do and many people can help you through the process. You obviously need to pay for all this upfront before you even sell the first copy and then find places to sell your book - either through your website, on Amazon or through book shops.
You'll also need to handle all the promotion and publicity but even if it's published for you you'll still need to do a certain amount of this. A publisher will go so far but they may not issue press releases or arrange any promotion for your book, so think about getting reviewers, places to promote your book and arranging a book launch. Mine was fairly low key but a way for me to mark the occasion.
The feeling of seeing your name in print and your book on a bookshelf is pretty hard to beat and well worth the effort.
If you're thinking of writing a book and would like some additional resources and contacts, drop me an email. If you have any other time related challenges that are causing you stress or sleepless nights, why not give me a call and sign-up for one of my Free Friday Focus sessions.
What's On, What's New
Up-coming teleclasses, workshops:
Friday Focus - A free 30 minute focused session to discuss your specific challenges, objectives and goals for 2008, get a sounding board for your ideas, increase your motivation and create accountability. Call or email to arrange a date and time.
Teleclass: Get Control of Your Time - Saying No. A series of teleclasses on the more common challenges facing busy people today. Join me for a one-hour call, once a month on Tuesday lunchtime. Next call on Tuesday 28th October. Don't have time to attend? You can still register for the call and you'll receive the notes and free Weekly Time Tips - http://www.clareevans.co.uk/services/GroupCoaching.htm
Teleclass: Get Control of your Money. Discover key tips and strategies to help you to manage your money more wisely. Avoid things getting out of control and start saving for the things you really want out of life. Next call on Tuesday 21st November. http://www.clareevans.co.uk/services/GroupCoaching.htm
More Month Than Money - a full e-course complete with e-book, worksheets and checklists to enable you to get control of your finances, start a savings plan, reduce your debt and start using your money wisely. http://www.clareevans.co.uk/moremoney.htm
Mums In Biz. Business start up seminars focusing directly on issues affecting busy mums. Providing answers to planning, marketing, time management, fun and inspiration with the ultimate aim of helping them to establish and grow a business in tandem with motherhood! The next one is being held in Brighton on Tuesday 4th November. http://www.mumsinbiz.co.uk
If you know anyone who would find this information useful, please forward this newsletter on to them.
If you were forwarded this issue of the newsletter you can register to receive your own copy each month by sending a blank email to claresnews@aweber.com.
If you no longer want to receive this newsletter each month, just click the link at the bottom of this email to automatically unsubscribe.
Until next month,
Clare
Clare Evans - Personal and Business Time Management Coach
Phone: +44 (0)1273 588297
Email: info@clareevans.co.uk
Website: www.clareevans.co.uk
Reference Sources
Phone: +44 (0)1273 588297
Email: info@clareevans.co.uk
Website: www.clareevans.co.uk
Reference Sources
Article Marketer - automatic article submission - http://www.articlemarketer.com/?a_aid=b9870649
Aweber - Create your own automated newsletters with Aweber. E-mail follow up, ad tracking, & real-time stats for your emails. http://www.aweber.com/features.htm?207782
Copyright: Clare Evans Personal & Business Coaching © 2008
Aweber - Create your own automated newsletters with Aweber. E-mail follow up, ad tracking, & real-time stats for your emails. http://www.aweber.com/features.htm?207782
Copyright: Clare Evans Personal & Business Coaching © 2008