Wise Authors Write for Dollars

Suszanne Lieurance’s 21-Day article challenge has been just the nudge I needed to get busy writing. Many writers may be able to go it alone, but if there is anything I am learning about network marketing and internet marketing, it’s that none of us can do it all alone. It takes a team. In this case, it’s a team of writers encouraging each other and sharing resources.

The writers in this month’s challenge set high standards both of writing and of working their writing busniesses. Lynne Lee has lots of infomration on article marketing and links to seo resources. Wanza Leftwich has a new book out, Faith and Fertililty, an inspirational book for women who want to be mothers. Judi Ferril tells all about how to eat organic and healthy with Local Food Connections. Deb Gallardo has a new ebook out called Story Ideas — Inside Your Newspaper, but you will want to subscribe to her blog first for a substantial discount. Carma Dutra shares her creative writing and editing resources. I’m not an affiliate of any of these wonderful women, only impressed by their work.

I have a new gold star over there under my signup link–I’m now officially an expert! I have known about using article directories for sometime now, but it helps to have a group of women to report to about my successes and to share theirs. Give each of them a few minutes of your time today.

I took Philipa Burgess’s Media Branding course back in the fall, and I can recommend her highly. She has well organized teleconferences, good handouts and excellent followup support. Here’s what some other folks have to say about her:

“Philippa Burgess’ class is a must for anyone wanting to work in any capacity in Hollywood. She is generous with her knowledge and truly wants people to succeed. What she shares is invaluable.” — Marilyn McGarry, Screenwriter

“I started Philippa’s course believing that marketing was a necessary slog I had to master, but Philippa shifted my thinking. Her passion for the marketing process is so contagious that by the end of the 8 sessions I was completely jazzed. I realized for the first time how creative and fun marketing could be. Thanks to Philippa’s enthusiasm and generosity as a teacher and the pages and pages of information and resources she shared with us, I now feel well-positioned to take control of my destiny and confident that I can learn whatever I need to shape my career.” –Alexis Niki, screenwriter and Author of 101 Screenwriting Tips

“Hi Phillipa,
Just a quick note to share a success! If you have an opportunity to check out the current People Magazine issue (Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon on the cover)…inside you’ll find a story about the search for my sister Ashley and the inspiration behind the mission of Outpost for Hope . There have been a few other media inquiries including some national tv possibilities - I am thinking carefully about the points/short soundbytes I’d like to make and my goals for the future. It’s a little busier than I’d like at the moment but I suppose these are good problems to have. I hope that everyone is doing well and moving steps closer to the life of your dreams. Many blessings, Libba” - Libba Philipps, OutpostforHope.org

Now you can see what the buzz is about

Upcoming Million Dollar Screenwriting & Content Career course — 6 Session Teleseminar Intensive starts July 14th. This course is all about selling to Hollywood or taking your screenwriting career to another level. Learn more about it at http://www.screenplaybyphone.com/career. Register Here

Invitation to connect with Publishing Industry Veteran - Alan Rinzler on a Teleseminar July 16th at 5:30PM Pacific / 7:30PM Central / 8:30PM Pacific presented in association with our friends at the Pomada Larsen Literary Agency who are producing the upcoming San Francisco Writing for Change Conference. There is no cost to be on this call outside of long-distance or cell phone minute charges. Register at for this call at http://www.creativecvg.com/ask . He’s an amazing resource that we are thrilled to be able to bring into our community. Feel free to spread the word.

If you or someone you know is looking to green their current position or transition to a greener career, we invite you to learn more about our client Dr. Sarah’s Green Career Circle. Her three month program begins July 16th. You can learn more about her mission as a pychologist and Ambassador for Green at www.ecoactionplan.org and more about her upcoming career coaching program at www.ecoaction.ecoactionplan.org/ask/greencareercicle.php. If you know anyone who can use her assistance your help getting the word out is much appreciated.

Go to http://www.automaticbestseller.com/frank/ and listen to the story of one author who self-published his first book and made it a best-seller.  It’s inspiring, and a clear idea of how we have wrong ideas about how publishing works. If you sign up, you can listen in as Linda Geyer interviews rich author Christopher and extracts from him powerful book writing and marketing tactics–eight audio files of about six minutes each. There is also a $1 for 14 days trial of his Best Seller Inner Circle group.  I’m not an affiliate, but I’m  willing to bet a buck that he knows something I don’t. See you there.

A major component of becoming a wise author is excellent marketing. For a perfect example, check out http://www.hochstadt.com/. This post is an entry, but I really see this as being a perfect way to joint venture and get folks to promote you and your friends products. 

What’s my payback in this win/win/win? It’s simple. I’d like to win Gary Evans’ Manifest a Miracle system.

The prizes of the contest are below. click on the Banner to see how to enter. The deadline is April 30, th with Draw Day on May 1st. Check it out now.

 

Consultations, Products & Services

• Max from SiteHoppin gives 10 Beer Stock Pages worth $20-$100 each = $200-$1,000 PLUS 50 One Buck Wiki pages worth $20 each = $1,000, altogether making it to a whopping $2,000!
• Martin Russell from Word of Mouth Marketing gives 50 (!) accounts of 10 cards each at SendOutCards.com worth $25 each = $1,250!
• Gary Evans from Law of Attraction Secrets gives 10 (!) of his Manifest A Miracle systems worth $97 each = $970!
• Marcus Hochstadt from Internet Business Guide For First Class Progress gives respectively 1 of each of his 4 DVD products worth $100 each = $400 PLUS one 2-hour Multimedia Coaching Session worth $300, altogether making it to a $700!
• Debbie Lane from Wisdom Hypnosis gives 7 of her Living The Lucky Life! audio CDs worth $23.77 each = $166.39 PLUS a personal 1.5 hour Hypnosis Session by phone worth $250, making it a total of $416.39!
• Pat King from FitnessLifeClub gives 1 month of his Premier Health Coaching Package worth $357.98!
• Keith Goodrum from On Becoming a 2%er gives 2 of his DVDs 10 Minute Blog Post worth $100 each = $200!
• Andreas from XavierMedia.com gives 5 one-year VIP memberships to CreateBanner.com worth $35 each = $175!
• Larry Brauner from Online Social Networking gives a personal 1 hour consultation worth $150!
• Jason from The University Kid gives two 60 minute Blogging Consultations worth $60 each = $120!
• Leisa Watkins from Dream Act Plan Believe gives 3 Robert G. Allan books that are personally signed by Robert (!), as well as 3 Richard Paul Evans books, also personally signed by Richard himself!
• Karl Gechlik from Ask The Admin gives a professional technical e-mail support session worth $50!
• Wayne from Ez DIY Electricity gives $50 in hard earned PayPal cash!
• Borzack from Making Myself Extra Money gives 5 of his Page Peel Ads scripts worth $8 each = $40!
• Stephan Miller from Stephan Miller gives one copy of Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate worth $29.95 PLUS a Special Report he wrote specifically for the person who wins this e-book!
• Crystal from Ubiquitous gives a Site Review worth $20 PLUS a link on her Blogroll for one month worth $10, making it a total of $30!
• Sam Freedom from Internet Marketing Controversy Blog gives a 2-month membership to a large Private Label Rights (”PLR”) membership site worth $30!
• Kelly Naylor from Aerten Art gives one of her unique art work Acid Rain, an original water color painting worth $25!
• Dwayne from Pro Blog Reviews gives a Blog Review worth $25!
• Frank from Technology Blog and more gives a StumbleUpon advertisement campaign worth $20 (400 targeted visitors)!
• Kacie from Sense to Save gives a StumbleUpon advertisement campaign worth $10 (200 targeted visitors)!
• The Fool from Foolsville 2.0 gives $10 in hard earned PayPal cash!
• Lightening from Lightening’s Blogworld gives 2 Blog Reviews worth $5 each = $10!
• Constantin Codreanu from INconstantIN gives a one year .com domain registration worth $10!
• Iris from thebuzz gives a link on her Blogroll for one month worth $10!
• Layne from Reward Rebel gives 1 copy of Reward Rebel LOOT worth $7!
• Fitz Villafuerte from Ready To Be Rich gives 2 stumbles & diggs per week for one month!
• Theda K. Rogers from Crayon Writer gives a full-blown site review on her blog which will certainly increase the buzz for her winner’s blog!
• Mert Erkal from Search For Blogging gives an Invitation to the May issue of www.bloghology.org, which has more than 3,000+ subscribers!
• Alexys Fairfield from Soul Meets World offers to interview her winner (about his/her product, service, Web site, life, etc) PLUS providing a link from her site to his’/hers! (She used to interview celebrities, so this one is PRICELESS!)

Ad Space

• KiwiPulse from KiwiPulse gives 3 x 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $15 each = $45
• Deimos Tel´Arin from ahkong.net gives a 468×60 top ad banner box for one month worth $36
• Anna from My Cornerstone Trio gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $35
• Turnip from Turnip of Power gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $35
• Wayne from Ez DIY Electricity gives a top ad space (125×125 or 468×60) for one month worth up to $30
• Caleb Hartley from environmentastic! gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $25
• Kathleen from Entrepreneurs Only gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $25
• Marty from Money Maker Times gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $25
• Constantin Codreanu from INconstantIN gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $15
• Mirjam from Me Myself and I gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $10
• Lee Doyle from Lee Doyle - Contains Nuts gives a 125×125 top ad space for one month worth $10

Entrecard Credits

• Marcus Hochstadt from Internet Business Guide For First Class Progress gives 12,966ec
• Layne from Reward Rebel gives 5,000ec
• Caleb Hartley from environmentastic! gives 3,000ec
• Constantine Balbozar from Ideas and Money gives 3,000ec
• Kacie from Sense to Save gives 3,000ec
• Larry Brauner from Online Social Networking gives 2,500ec
• Joan Joyce from Joan Joyce Dot Com gives 2,000ec
• Tim from Yimto Affiliate Marketing Blog gives 2,000ec
• Crystal from Ubiquitous gives 2,000ec
• Lee Doyle from Lee Doyle - Contains Nuts gives 2,000ec
• Art from Article Specialist gives 2,000ec
• Jonathan from Archon Digital gives 2,000ec
• Jonathon from Tech News Source gives 1,500ec
• Gary Evans from Law of Attraction Secrets gives 1,000ec
• Suzanne from Dot Com Mogul gives 1,000ec
• Dwayne from Pro Blog Reviews gives 1,000ec
• Michael Aulia from Michael Aulia’s Tech Blog gives 1,000ec
• Stephan Miller from Stephan Miller gives 1,000ec
• Dave from Is A Man’s World gives 1,000ec
• Scott Main from Scott’s Space gives 1,000ec
• Kumo from Toast & Egg & Me… gives 1,000ec
• Mirjam from Me Myself and I gives 1,000ec
• Jasmine from Pixelated Thoughts gives 1,000ec
• Lincoln from Canucklehead gives 1,000ec
• KiwiPulse from KiwiPulse gives 1,000ec
• Lightening from Lightening gives 1,000ec
• Wangbu from Hulag gives 1,000ec
• Juliana from Juliana’s World gives 1,000ec
• Juliana from Juliana’s Lair gives 1,000ec
• Juliana from My Library gives 1,000ec
• Iris from thebuzz gives 1,000ec
• Anna from My Cornerstone Trio gives 1,000ec
• Wayne from Ez DIY Electricity gives 1,000ec
• Collin LaHay from Mixed Market Arts gives 600ec
• Shelia from Black Tennis Pros gives 500ec
• David Thorne from Media Morgue gives 500ec
• Stan from Fantasy Baseball gives 500ec
• Borzack from Making Myself Extra Money gives 500ec
• The Fool from Foolsville 2.0 gives 500ec
• Marty from Money Maker Times gives 300ec
• Fitz Villafuerte from Ready To Be Rich gives 300ec

Phew! Wanna count? OK, I made it easy for you…

These are contributions for 200+ winners (!) with a monetary value of more than $7,000+ (!!) and exactly 66,666ec (”ec” = Entrecard Credits)!!! This is by far the BIGGEST Party Contest in Entrecard’s History!

What? How you can win? I’m glad you asked…

Here is how to enter the party contest and belong to the lucky winners…

Ebooks. Digital literature. Electronic publishing.

Call it what you will—I like the sound of digilit myself—but epublishing is here, and it’s here to stay. Even the Big Publishers are dabbling in it; check out the free ebook library offered by Baen Books.

Yet still, some people pooh pooh it; and if there’s anything I hate, it’s a big old bunch of poohers. I sold my first short story in 1999, to a small print publisher in Canada, and almost at once sold two novels to an electronic publisher. Since then, I’ve dealt with a variety of epubbers, the good, the bad and the, in many cases, very ugly.

Do they differ, in this respect, from Big Name Publishers?

I sincerely doubt it. Sure, sometimes an epress will crash’n’burn; small businesses are prone to that. But others go on and on and, did I mention, on? Some, in fact, are well into their second decade.

My most recently released book is a fantasy anthology from a small epubber called Wild Cat Books. The electronic version of BEWITCHED BY DARKNESS is now at Fictionwise, the Amazon of ebooks, where you can find literally gazillions of short stories, ebooks that never saw paper, ezines ditto, and older, out of print books and shorts available in electronic formats for the first time. They’ve got genres of fiction, non-fiction, free books’n’storie, sales, all sorts of glorious stuff.

But the main question is: are the authors making money at Fictionwise?

Well, Mike Resnick says he’s making more from their e-versions of his 70s and 80s books than he did when the books were in print back in the day. Not too shoddy.

So anyone who is wondering if epublishing is a viable avenue for his/her work, wonder no longer. Give it a try. Do some research and submit.

But don’t confuse any of these publishers with a vanity press, please! Some epublishers accept less than 5% of submissions, and some have quite a backlog; you might have to wait literally years before your book sees–uh–print.

And don’t expect bags of riches until you build your name and, even then, unless you learn to market. But that’s a subject for another day…

---

K.G. McAbee writes fantasy, science fiction, pulp, mystery, horror and suspense. Check out her website: http://www.kgmcabee.net  Artist in Residence, SC Arts Commission

• Now available at Calderwood Books: THE DARK LEGACY.
• Now at Fictionwise: BEWITCHED BY DARKNESS
• Now at Awestruck Books: A WILL OF HER OWN
• Now available from Amazon: K. G. McAbee
• Coming soon from Wild Cat Books: THE ISLAND PRISON,  CABBAGES AND KINGS STARTLING STORIES 1&2&3 
• Coming soon: A DOLEFUL KIND OF SINGING
• Coming soon from Moonstone Books: THE DOMINO LADY
• Coming soon from Double Dragon: ESCAPE THE PAST and FLIGHT TO MALMILLARD

Randy Ingermanson is running a new guest series with Cindy Martinusen Coloma, who will be teaching her “Puzzle Method” of writing novels.  This is the only place to find this method at least according to Google.

Coloma says that as wonderful as Randy’s free snowflake method is for plotting characters and novels before writing, a proven technique for writng faster, she doesn’t outline or write to outlines. I’m excited to learn about a way to release the story  in the way, as Cindy says, Michaelangelo released the sculpture from the block of marble.

I really like using mind maps, such as  Map Your Mind, which lets you brainstorm in a very organic way and then pull the ideas together into an outline. But for a large project like a novel, I get bogged down in the linearity of it all. So, I’ll be in the front row as Cindy Coloma shares her puzzle method. 

Thanks to Randy Ingermanson for the link to Chip MacGregor’s Publishing blog. Chip explains the deep, dark secrets of how publishers manage to stay in business when most books don’t earn out the author advance.

From the advance to the sell through to remainders, Chip explains clearly how publishers make money even though they must sell to bookstores at 50% discount. Here’s an excerpt:

Most trade publishers in ABA (that would include Random House, HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, HBGUSA, etc.) pay a standard royalty on hardcover books: 10% of the book’s retail price on the first 5000 copies sold, 12.5% on the next 5000 copies sold, and 15% thereafter. Royalties for most trade-paper books are 7.5% of the retail price, and mass market books pay a bit less than that…
…If your book is a $25 hardcover, you’d be making $2.50 for each of the first 5000 books sold. (Did you see how I got that figure? $25 x 10%.) What happens is that the publishing house keeps track of that figure, and applies that as a credit to your account.

 Check him out.

Check out Tiffany Coulter’s blogs The Writing Career Coach and The Writing Mentor. She shares not only her expertise as a writer, but her challenges as a mom of four children. Her mentoring site has a lot of resources to help you today.This article about how to make money as a writer shows a different way to think about where to put your words to work, and how to use your own experiences to bring in some cash while you are waiting for the world to discover your great (insert genre here) novel.

Peter Miller was agent-in-residence at the Southeastern Writers Association Conference in June 2007.  He is known as the Literary Lion for his work in connecting authors and screenwriters with publishers and moviemakers. He actually said I had an interesting concept in Maven.  Wouldn’t it be great if he decided to take her on!

In the meantime, while I am waiting to hear back from his assistant, I’m working on getting Maven’s name out there and letting people know that teh book exists. 

Here’s a link to see a trailer for his video made to inspire writers to become authors. He talks about the various big name, New York publishing houses and how few new places there are for writers to be published. But his video is not about gloom and doom, but about what he does to help writers to be successful.  He tells a story, one you may have heard before, about King Arthur and Merlin.  It’s good for an uplifting moment. Check it out.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj_gfpQxZTc.

There’s only a few weeks to left to register for the Southeastern Writers Conference, where you get up to three manuscript evaluations with attendance. The deadline for submission of manuscripts id April 1st. Go there today to register for four days of meeting with writerrs, honing the craft, and entering contests for cash prizes.

If you were not signed up for James Brausch’s blog email list announcements, you did not have the chance to read the posts that became his book, The Voice Said “Obey.” [ISBN 978-0-9795309-2-0] I recommend signing up for the Friday secret posts because James is a generous man who likes to share what he knows.  One thing he shares is his way of writing his books, which is by doing a blog, and then compiling and printing it. 

What a concept! 

He also knows the power of story to get the reader’s attention, that we all listen to a story much longer than we will listen to a sermon (which he also delivers on occasion, being formerly a Baptist preacher and now a Mormon ).If you go quickly to his old blog, you can still read the original posts about his former life that were fictionalized for this new book. I suspect he will shut down the old blog because he has cranked up a new one, and he has already mined this blog for two other books, The Internet Business Book Vol. 1 and 2 ([ISBN 978-0-9795309-1-3]

He sent out a reminder this morning for those of us who did proofreading to send our corrections.  At the end of The Voice Said “Obey,” Brausch suggests that the reader write a review as a lesson in self-exploration. He knows that no two
readers have ever read the same book, and he includes comments from readers on the back cover which range from “You’re going to hell” to “This one is spectacular.”  Hence the review. 

 What shall I learn about myself?

The premise of  The Voice Said “Obey” is that anyone can go from any situation, even being homeless to living a life of freedom in a few weeks if he or she will take action. He describes coming to awareness out of a methamphetamine blackout through grace and revelation, and then following the command of the small inner  voice to obey the rules and suggestions of the Salvation Army, the Catholics, and others that  were what he came to understand as God’s servants. 

If you don’t like to read about a spiritual journey, pass this one by. It is a case of Divine Intervention, which is the only reliable way for a person to get clean, sober or unaddicted to whatever drug of choice…TV, sugar, mediocrity. Much of the story is graphic and raw, which stands in contrast to his healing. He makes clear the changes in his perception and how he was able to be happy in what many of us would call dire circumstances.  

In the meantime, James describes using the generous resources of the Sacramento Friendship Park to create several internet products, advertise them on forums and a blog, and fatten the Paypal account he had before his meth binge.  He used the money to finance a three-month vacation in Costa Rica. It is a miraculous story.  

The miracle of action and obedience is  the major theme of his blogs as well, but told here as a parable, reframing his life events and re-arranging them into a narrative, as all fiction authors do at some level. The events are compressed in time, which makes his spiritual awakening and discovery of the Mormon path seem all the more supernatually inspired. 

In the non-fiction version, it took Brausch about six months to get his obedience working in such a way to go back to the mundane work world, and then several years more to his current freedom–not two weeks.  But the premise is that he could certainly do it again, and that we can too, wherever we are now.

I know about changing religious paths, having dropped out of Christianity to study witchcraft (maybe I’m going to hell, too, but I doubt it, and I do know of at least one Mormon who dropped out of the fold, though she didn’t become a Baptist). Then I came to a deeper understanding of the connection we all share.  Perhaps my Inner Being will chat up his Inner Voice, and I will listen enough to trust that I know a few things, in my sixth decade, that some other folks would pay to know.

 Maybe a video guide to comma use or how to brainstorm for a college essay.  There is certainly a need if not a market. It is hard to say “I can’t” after reading this book.

I want to be in the 2% who DO.

Apparently The Voice Said “Obey” has not been released on Amazon or Lulu. Other Books by James Brausch:

 

Technorati Profile