For the Love of Bringing Books to Life: Write, Publish, and Be Known
No Book Clarity? No Audience? No Platform? Do Not Overlook Your Gifts!
A strong theme this week has been clients bemoaning their lack of… * Platform * A catchy title * Clarity on tone or direction …only to realize the incredible potential that lay beneath the surface—and in each case, the amazing foundation they had in place to build upon: * The client who bemoaned she had no platform and sent me a mock up for a website unlikely to draw many fans due to a lack of focus: I discovered that she had a 20,000 person mailing list for her “other business” and pointed out a way to merge an event[...]
Happy Spilled Milk Day?
There’s Earth Day, Grandparents Day, National Pancake Day—but did you know that today happens to be National Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day? What does this have to do with writing a book? Spilled milk: accidents happen—no need to stress. And as a writer, I’m sure you have your share of days where you feel you’ve made writing mistakes: My editor told me I have the wrong target audience…” My outline is too short… My book has already been written… I wrote the wrong book… After all that polishing, this chapter doesn’t fit in the book anymore… The good news[...]
“Take out the Affirmations,” said the Editor…
I recently read an article by my colleague Chellie Campbell on the Wealthy Spirit Blog. I just loved her story and had to share it, so here’s my interview of Chellie about that defining moment when a publisher told her she liked her book but, “Take out the affirmations.” Lisa: So, Chellie, can you give us a little background? Chellie: Lisa Hagen, my agent, and I had been working together to find a publisher for my book, The Wealthy Spirit, for over a year, through endless rounds of interest, rejections, almost-deals, and deals that fell through. So when an editor wanted[...]
How to Write a Book: Conquering Your Fears: an Interview with Kate Beeders
My colleague, Success Coach Kate Beeders is a genius at helping people break through blocks—something that can plague aspiring authors. If you’ve read my posts from last year, you may have seen my interview with her on making money as an author. Here, I interview Kate about the main fears that stop aspiring authors in their tracks—even those who have already published. Lisa: Many people are stopped by fear of failure. How might you work with someone like that? Kate: I’d like to break that down into 3 steps: First, it’s important for a person to get clarity and understand[...]
How to Write a First Sentence that Draws Readers In
Here’s a great short book writing tip I had to share. After a bit of a false start with her first chapter, Bonnie Leonard returned to book writing class the next week having begun again. She shared a brilliant strategy I plan to try myself: she asked herself how she could start her book–and each chapter–with a line that immediately drew in her readers. Bonnie’s solution was to write down the first line of 15 books she had around the house and see which ones worked and why. The result? When she shared her first sentences in class, we all[...]
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