How to Make a Book Series - Writing the Book
July 29, 2008 06:05
| writing a book, creativity, Julia Cameron, Print Publishing, writers block, book publishing, The Artists Way, printing, publishing, How-To, writing
As the famous French writer and Nobel Prize winner, Anatole France once said, "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." Writing a book is by no means an easy task, but with your dedication and belief in your ideas, you can accomplish not only good things, but great things.
Believe it or not, some of your biggest obstacles in actually writing, or drafting, your book is yourself. You have probably heard the expression, "A relationship is only as strong as the weakest person in it." This can also be true with your creativity. Your book and ideas can take on their own identity and you enter into a relationship with your creativity. This "relationship" can have it's ups and downs and its important to identify this so that (1) you can learn to adjust to these times and (2) help ease your frustration levels along the way.
Julia Cameron, author of The Artists Way, is an expert on the foundations of creativity and explores some common beliefs about how we have been conditioned to allow ourselves the freedom to be creative. She states that many of the greatest artists are looked upon as having no self doubt. She goes deeper and says that we need to learn to move through self doubt, not avoid it. The Artists Way has a great way of explaining the concept of self doubt and provides excellent resources to improve your overall creative freedom. If you haven't read the book already, stop reading this blog post and go out and get it!
Another common frustration creative individuals experience is the weight of their vision. You probably have many great ideas but you may feel so overwhelmed with the weight of the process that you have a hard time getting started. This is very common and you should remind yourself that great things have never been accomplished overnight. There are a couple of ways to get around "writer's block." One way is to refuel your creative muscle. Julia Cameron calls this "taking yourself on an Artist Date." This will help refill your bucket of creativity and encourage you to be more productive. Another way is to schedule your writing time in your weekly calendar. You could schedule 15min in the morning or 1 hour, 3 times a week. It's up to you. The point is that if you plan your creative time, it is more likely you will stay focused, and you will feel more accomplished then if you just "wait" for your creativity to strike.
Lastly, be careful of getting into the habit of constantly editing your work before it needs to be edited. Many creative individuals are perfectionists and while perfectionism can assist your dedication, it can also inhibit your creative flow and keep you stuck in the process. Learn to resist the urge to "edit" your work at the beginning stages to allow your ideas to breath and capture the entire world around them. If you can turn off your "internal editor" at the beginning, you will begin to experience the freedom your creativity needs to better communicate your ideas later.
I hope this helps you during your creative process and remember, "In order to live an extraordinary life, one must be able to overcome extra-ordinary challenges." So when you find yourself getting stuck while writing your book, just say to yourself, "I'm just living to be extraordinary," and allow yourself the freedom to refill your creativity and pick up your pencil and start again.
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Believe it or not, some of your biggest obstacles in actually writing, or drafting, your book is yourself. You have probably heard the expression, "A relationship is only as strong as the weakest person in it." This can also be true with your creativity. Your book and ideas can take on their own identity and you enter into a relationship with your creativity. This "relationship" can have it's ups and downs and its important to identify this so that (1) you can learn to adjust to these times and (2) help ease your frustration levels along the way.
Julia Cameron, author of The Artists Way, is an expert on the foundations of creativity and explores some common beliefs about how we have been conditioned to allow ourselves the freedom to be creative. She states that many of the greatest artists are looked upon as having no self doubt. She goes deeper and says that we need to learn to move through self doubt, not avoid it. The Artists Way has a great way of explaining the concept of self doubt and provides excellent resources to improve your overall creative freedom. If you haven't read the book already, stop reading this blog post and go out and get it!
Another common frustration creative individuals experience is the weight of their vision. You probably have many great ideas but you may feel so overwhelmed with the weight of the process that you have a hard time getting started. This is very common and you should remind yourself that great things have never been accomplished overnight. There are a couple of ways to get around "writer's block." One way is to refuel your creative muscle. Julia Cameron calls this "taking yourself on an Artist Date." This will help refill your bucket of creativity and encourage you to be more productive. Another way is to schedule your writing time in your weekly calendar. You could schedule 15min in the morning or 1 hour, 3 times a week. It's up to you. The point is that if you plan your creative time, it is more likely you will stay focused, and you will feel more accomplished then if you just "wait" for your creativity to strike.
Lastly, be careful of getting into the habit of constantly editing your work before it needs to be edited. Many creative individuals are perfectionists and while perfectionism can assist your dedication, it can also inhibit your creative flow and keep you stuck in the process. Learn to resist the urge to "edit" your work at the beginning stages to allow your ideas to breath and capture the entire world around them. If you can turn off your "internal editor" at the beginning, you will begin to experience the freedom your creativity needs to better communicate your ideas later.
I hope this helps you during your creative process and remember, "In order to live an extraordinary life, one must be able to overcome extra-ordinary challenges." So when you find yourself getting stuck while writing your book, just say to yourself, "I'm just living to be extraordinary," and allow yourself the freedom to refill your creativity and pick up your pencil and start again.
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How to Make a Book Series - Conceptualizing the Layout
July 21, 2008 06:00
Why would anybody go shopping for furniture without first knowing how big the room is? You have to know how large your fence is before you can start filling your corral and this is exactly what we will explore together in this post.
Conceptualizing the layout of your book BEFORE writing the content may seem like a step backwards to some, but it actually acts in the opposite direction. Drawing your fence line, so to speak, can help shape the content of your book and even inspire further creative elements. The reason is because planning helps to capture the future and bring it into the present so your ideas can become tangible.
Let's look at planning a layout for a book directed towards parenting.
First, you probably already have the content, or the text, written or at least a good idea of what you would like to communicate to your readers. Upon utilizing the Targeting Your Audience exercise, you have established that although this book is for children, it is the parents that will eventually buy your book. As such, you may want to put some 'tips' about parenting in the margins of your book, or you might start your chapters with a quote or two, or you might have pictures you want to include. These are all parts of your layout that you will need to account for when writing the book.
Other layout concerns include the size of your book, graphics, text flow, inserts, companion media product, marketing material, and much more. The sky is endless when it comes to "value ads" or elements of your book that give additional value to your consumer.
Try making a wish list of elements you would like to include in your book. Write them down and start to visualize how they would look in your book. Then, make a rough outline of how you would like to include them in each chapter. By doing this exercise you will have a foundation for your ideas to breath within.
As Winston Churchill said, "Let our advance worrying be our advance thinking and planning," and you will have far less emergencies to resolve down the line. They say 1 minute planned saves 10 minutes of wasted time, so you can be sure your planning efforts will not go to waste. Have fun while making your wish list and remember just because you wrote your outline down doesn't mean it is set in stone. It is okay to revise and adjust your outline because in the end, you are only building a stronger foundation for your creativity to come to life.
► TIP: You may consider taking a trip to your local bookstore and flipping through the pages of books similar to yours to see how other authors have creatively structured their work. This is very valuable research when it comes to creatively thinking about your own book!
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by RSS
Conceptualizing the layout of your book BEFORE writing the content may seem like a step backwards to some, but it actually acts in the opposite direction. Drawing your fence line, so to speak, can help shape the content of your book and even inspire further creative elements. The reason is because planning helps to capture the future and bring it into the present so your ideas can become tangible.
Let's look at planning a layout for a book directed towards parenting.
First, you probably already have the content, or the text, written or at least a good idea of what you would like to communicate to your readers. Upon utilizing the Targeting Your Audience exercise, you have established that although this book is for children, it is the parents that will eventually buy your book. As such, you may want to put some 'tips' about parenting in the margins of your book, or you might start your chapters with a quote or two, or you might have pictures you want to include. These are all parts of your layout that you will need to account for when writing the book.
Other layout concerns include the size of your book, graphics, text flow, inserts, companion media product, marketing material, and much more. The sky is endless when it comes to "value ads" or elements of your book that give additional value to your consumer.
Try making a wish list of elements you would like to include in your book. Write them down and start to visualize how they would look in your book. Then, make a rough outline of how you would like to include them in each chapter. By doing this exercise you will have a foundation for your ideas to breath within.
As Winston Churchill said, "Let our advance worrying be our advance thinking and planning," and you will have far less emergencies to resolve down the line. They say 1 minute planned saves 10 minutes of wasted time, so you can be sure your planning efforts will not go to waste. Have fun while making your wish list and remember just because you wrote your outline down doesn't mean it is set in stone. It is okay to revise and adjust your outline because in the end, you are only building a stronger foundation for your creativity to come to life.
► TIP: You may consider taking a trip to your local bookstore and flipping through the pages of books similar to yours to see how other authors have creatively structured their work. This is very valuable research when it comes to creatively thinking about your own book!
If you enjoyed this post,
get free updates by RSSHow to Make a Book Series - Setting Realistic Goals
July 14, 2008 04:32
| goals, book publishing, printing, Tom Sabella, How-To, goal setting, book
Goal setting is a powerful tool that, when used effectively, becomes an extraordinary way to increase your self confidence and help turn your ideas into reality. Setting realistic goals gives you a sense of accomplishment of which, in turn, motivates you to achieve more goals. Carelessly creating unrealistic goals is like saying, "My goal is to travel to the moon for dinner tonight." Although a beautiful thought, it may serve you well to set a goal to first, research which airline has flights departing to the moon. Tip: make sure you have an extra $25 to pay for your checked baggage!
Let's look at a few key things to get you started.
"Realistic" Goal Setting
It is good to be ambitious, but keep your goals realistic. Being realistic means to find a way to practically measure your progress. Think of something you would like to accomplish. Then apply a practical way or unit of measure to gauge your success. Ex: "Complete the Targeting Your Audience exercise by this Friday." Now you have an actual DAY to keep yourself accountable to. Including these practical elements are an effective way to not only see your progress but also lower your frustration levels along the way.
Learn to Love Revision
I know "change" might be a scary word, but in this context, changing or revising your goals can be an asset and work to your own advantage. Talk to any hit songwriter and they'll say, "You have to learn to love to rewrite." That is because when you initially start down the path of achieving a goal, you may find other things you may need to do before you can check it off. Additionally, if you think your goals are set in stone, they are not. Just because you wrote them down once doesn't mean you have to stick to your initial way of achieving them. Keep the long term goal in mind and don't worry about how you initially thought you would get there. Be patient with yourself and keep on revising until you hit your goal. Your sense of accomplishment will be well worth your time!
The next two things I will discuss are the hidden secrets behind creating powerful goals.
Accountability
Accountability simply means being willing to accept the responsibility for your actions. In regard to goal setting, you could tell a trusted friend about your goals and ask them to hold you accountable to accomplish them. They in turn could call or email you about how your progress is coming along. This does two things: (1) having a friend keep you accountable informs them of your idea/direction and demonstrates your commitment to them and (2) promotes the motivation within you to achieve more goals. There is a reason why health/fitness personal training is a multi-million dollar industry. People want to be held accountable to help keep themselves on target.
WRITE OUT YOUR GOALS
Did you get that...in all CAPITAL letters? If you don't get anything else from this posting, get this...WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS. It may seem silly at first, but once you start seeing your progress you will soon realize the hidden gems within this exercise. Write down your goals anywhere, on a notepad, a napkin, a post-it note and...here's the second piece of this powerful technique...place it somewhere you will look everyday (preferably multiple times a day). Places you could post these notes are on your bathroom mirror, on the refrigerator door, on the dash of your car, or my favorite-type your goals into your computer's screensaver. By doing this, you will be subliminally saying to your brain "accomplish this task" and it will start directing your thoughts and your actions towards accomplishing your goals. This is a powerful technique and I guarantee you will see results.
Keep the goal setting process in mind throughout your entire project. Again, goals are not set in stone and if you should start out too ambitious, don't worry, learn to love to revise and adjust accordingly. Soon you will experience the joy of accomplishing your goals and you will have a created a strong foundation for your book to become a reality!
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by RSS
Let's look at a few key things to get you started.
"Realistic" Goal Setting
It is good to be ambitious, but keep your goals realistic. Being realistic means to find a way to practically measure your progress. Think of something you would like to accomplish. Then apply a practical way or unit of measure to gauge your success. Ex: "Complete the Targeting Your Audience exercise by this Friday." Now you have an actual DAY to keep yourself accountable to. Including these practical elements are an effective way to not only see your progress but also lower your frustration levels along the way.
Learn to Love Revision
I know "change" might be a scary word, but in this context, changing or revising your goals can be an asset and work to your own advantage. Talk to any hit songwriter and they'll say, "You have to learn to love to rewrite." That is because when you initially start down the path of achieving a goal, you may find other things you may need to do before you can check it off. Additionally, if you think your goals are set in stone, they are not. Just because you wrote them down once doesn't mean you have to stick to your initial way of achieving them. Keep the long term goal in mind and don't worry about how you initially thought you would get there. Be patient with yourself and keep on revising until you hit your goal. Your sense of accomplishment will be well worth your time!
The next two things I will discuss are the hidden secrets behind creating powerful goals.
Accountability
Accountability simply means being willing to accept the responsibility for your actions. In regard to goal setting, you could tell a trusted friend about your goals and ask them to hold you accountable to accomplish them. They in turn could call or email you about how your progress is coming along. This does two things: (1) having a friend keep you accountable informs them of your idea/direction and demonstrates your commitment to them and (2) promotes the motivation within you to achieve more goals. There is a reason why health/fitness personal training is a multi-million dollar industry. People want to be held accountable to help keep themselves on target.
WRITE OUT YOUR GOALS
Did you get that...in all CAPITAL letters? If you don't get anything else from this posting, get this...WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS. It may seem silly at first, but once you start seeing your progress you will soon realize the hidden gems within this exercise. Write down your goals anywhere, on a notepad, a napkin, a post-it note and...here's the second piece of this powerful technique...place it somewhere you will look everyday (preferably multiple times a day). Places you could post these notes are on your bathroom mirror, on the refrigerator door, on the dash of your car, or my favorite-type your goals into your computer's screensaver. By doing this, you will be subliminally saying to your brain "accomplish this task" and it will start directing your thoughts and your actions towards accomplishing your goals. This is a powerful technique and I guarantee you will see results.
Keep the goal setting process in mind throughout your entire project. Again, goals are not set in stone and if you should start out too ambitious, don't worry, learn to love to revise and adjust accordingly. Soon you will experience the joy of accomplishing your goals and you will have a created a strong foundation for your book to become a reality!
If you enjoyed this post,
get free updates by RSSTom Sabella has graciously contributed many of the ideas found in this post. For information on speaking engagements, consultations, podcasts, and/or other media inquiries, visit www.page2radio.com or contact Tom at: tom@page2management.com.
Tom Sabella has been a performer, agent, manager, and recording studio owner. In fact, his vocal group, the Acts, was together for over 20 years - they performed around the country and recorded six albums. Tom designed and taught an Entertainment Marketing/Internship Program and is currently working with Dove and Grammy award winning artists like Phil Keaggy, Terry Blackwood, and other music professionals inNashville , TN.
Tom Sabella has been a performer, agent, manager, and recording studio owner. In fact, his vocal group, the Acts, was together for over 20 years - they performed around the country and recorded six albums. Tom designed and taught an Entertainment Marketing/Internship Program and is currently working with Dove and Grammy award winning artists like Phil Keaggy, Terry Blackwood, and other music professionals in
How to Make a Book Series - Targeting Your Audience
July 1, 2008 03:40
| targeting your audience, marketing, book publishing, book
If you have ever purchased a house or wanted to start a restaurant, undoubtedly you have heard the timeless wisdom of "Location, location, location." Although this adage may be cliche, it still has a lot of weight when it comes to convenience and marketing to your customer.
James Montgomery Bailey jokes, "A blunderer is a man who starts a meat market during Lent." This rings true for the countless ideas that maintain their place on their dusty shelves due to poor marketing. Bailey hints to a similar philosophy which states, "You can't hit a target that you can't see." Although cliche, it is good to keep this in mind to avoid aimlessly casting your nets and waiting to see what you catch.
Targeting your audience is vitally important in enjoying the success of your idea or product. I'm not speaking of targeting your audience in terms of finding potential victims of pushy high-dollar sales campaigns. Instead, I'm talking about tried-and-true effective marketing efforts where you can create the best possible product for your readers, or simply stated, "Get the most bang for your buck!" How's that for cliche!
So what is marketing and what does it entail? Marketing, simply put, is the technique of promoting and distributing your idea or work. It is important to know who you are targeting your product to during the beginning of the process so that, by the completion of your product, you are not basing your success on luck. Let's run through a general list of things to think about when exploring the characteristics of your audience/readers and how to market to them.
First off, identify the Who, What, When, Where, How and Action points. (Action points are the "actions" that encourage the buyer to buy).
Below is a list of other questions to think about:
Identify the Content
-What is your idea or product about?
Identify the Buyer
-Who would buy this product? What age group? What gender?
What activities does the Buyer participate in?
-Does the Buyer enjoy the outdoors? Does the Buyer play indoor/outdoor sports? An activity could also be cooking, handywork, taking care of the home, health/fitness, etc.
Does the Buyer shop at retail or online stores?
-Does the Buyer shop at specialty stores or all-in-one stores?
What purchasing habits do they have?
-Does the Buyer purchase based on convenience, service, brand name, quality, etc.?
What other books does the Buyer read?
-If there are similar books to yours on the market, go out and do some in-store market research. Take note of their use of artwork on the cover, fonts, words on the back cover, etc. If you can't find a product that exists like yours...congratulations, you may have stumbled upon a goldmine. (and if you do, call me...ha!)
The more you zero in on your audience the better you can tailor your product to meet their needs. Take a moment to write down your own list of questions and answers. The more creative your questions are, the better chances you have at successfully launching your efforts in the right direction.
Remember that although you are trying to reach as many people as you can, you do not want to target your audience so specifically that the only person you end up developing your product for is your neighbor Joe. Have fun with this exercise and find someone you can show your list to that believes in your idea as much as you do. Often times, the saying, "Two heads are better than one," is a cliche you can count on benefiting from!
James Montgomery Bailey jokes, "A blunderer is a man who starts a meat market during Lent." This rings true for the countless ideas that maintain their place on their dusty shelves due to poor marketing. Bailey hints to a similar philosophy which states, "You can't hit a target that you can't see." Although cliche, it is good to keep this in mind to avoid aimlessly casting your nets and waiting to see what you catch.
Targeting your audience is vitally important in enjoying the success of your idea or product. I'm not speaking of targeting your audience in terms of finding potential victims of pushy high-dollar sales campaigns. Instead, I'm talking about tried-and-true effective marketing efforts where you can create the best possible product for your readers, or simply stated, "Get the most bang for your buck!" How's that for cliche!
So what is marketing and what does it entail? Marketing, simply put, is the technique of promoting and distributing your idea or work. It is important to know who you are targeting your product to during the beginning of the process so that, by the completion of your product, you are not basing your success on luck. Let's run through a general list of things to think about when exploring the characteristics of your audience/readers and how to market to them.
First off, identify the Who, What, When, Where, How and Action points. (Action points are the "actions" that encourage the buyer to buy).
Below is a list of other questions to think about:
Identify the Content
-What is your idea or product about?
Identify the Buyer
-Who would buy this product? What age group? What gender?
What activities does the Buyer participate in?
-Does the Buyer enjoy the outdoors? Does the Buyer play indoor/outdoor sports? An activity could also be cooking, handywork, taking care of the home, health/fitness, etc.
Does the Buyer shop at retail or online stores?
-Does the Buyer shop at specialty stores or all-in-one stores?
What purchasing habits do they have?
-Does the Buyer purchase based on convenience, service, brand name, quality, etc.?
What other books does the Buyer read?
-If there are similar books to yours on the market, go out and do some in-store market research. Take note of their use of artwork on the cover, fonts, words on the back cover, etc. If you can't find a product that exists like yours...congratulations, you may have stumbled upon a goldmine. (and if you do, call me...ha!)
The more you zero in on your audience the better you can tailor your product to meet their needs. Take a moment to write down your own list of questions and answers. The more creative your questions are, the better chances you have at successfully launching your efforts in the right direction.
Remember that although you are trying to reach as many people as you can, you do not want to target your audience so specifically that the only person you end up developing your product for is your neighbor Joe. Have fun with this exercise and find someone you can show your list to that believes in your idea as much as you do. Often times, the saying, "Two heads are better than one," is a cliche you can count on benefiting from!
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by RSS