I’m looking for real-life success stories for a book that will be published this summer entitled -“Laid-Off To Launch: Going Ballistic After Being Laid-Off.”

Starting a small business is risky enough, but during these challenging economic times most people would shy away. But I’m looking for spirited entrepreneurs who realized that being laid-off was a blessing in disguise.

Your story is one of courage, faith and perseverance. You faced tremendous obstacles and overcame. You made sacrifices but it was worth it.  I want to hear from you if you match these criteria:

1) You were laid-off between 2008 and 2010

2) You founded a small business instead of getting a job (or while you were looking)

3) Your business is now successful.

4) You can write your story in 2500-3500 words.

5) You can meet the 3/31/12 deadline.

Every entrepreneur has a story. And your story is worth writing, preserving and sharing. Writing is a wonderful way to pass on your unique and valuable life lessons.

If you were laid-off from your job and went ahead and started your own business during the extremely volatile economic times we have been passing through during the past few years and you have not only survived, but thrived then you truly have a message that should be shared!

If you have not written before, here are some questions to get your thoughts going. We want to know who you are, where you are from, where have you been, where you are now, and how did you get there? What was your job? We want to know how you did it. What matters most to you? What did you go through and what kept you going? What obstacles did you face, and how did you overcome them? What have your experiences taught you? What mistakes did you make? If you had it to do over again…would you?

Are you ready to be that honest? If you are, then we would love to hear your story of triumph and success.

Click here to get the details on how to submit your story! The deadline for stories is March 31, 2012.

Did you know that one of the most wonderful benefits of writing your story is that you learn more about yourself? This is a part of your life that when shared, could inspire others to follow in your footsteps.

When I look back on the last two to three years of my life since I was laid-off, I cannot believe it sometimes. I cannot believe that I have lived through some of it. But that tells me a lot about who I am and what I am made of. Now it’s your turn.

If selected for publication in the book Laid Off To Launch: Going Ballistic After Being Laid-Off, your story will be preserved for you, your family, your children and your loved ones. Tell us your entrepreneurial story in 2500 – 3500 maximum words and submit it. It’s easy to get started, and it could be the beginning of another great chapter on your incredible journey!

Nevertheless, no matter how good your book idea is, your task remains. You have to figure out ways to make a name for yourself through branding, establish yourself as an expert in your field, and start to create some BUZZ so people will take notice and want to buy your book. I’m talking a lot of people want to buy your books. Yes, yes, you’re using social media, you have lots of friends on Facebook, you even have an established fan page, you tweet and you blog. OK, that’s a good start and a necessary part of the equation, but social media and blogging is not the entire picture. I’ve had new authors tell me they have a blog with lots of followers and when I check it out, they have 56 followers. That’s nice, but it won’t cut it. We are talking big numbers here, at least 5,000 or 10,000. That takes some real work. When I ask them about their email list, they don’t have one, or they have 100 people on it and they have not been in contact with them. Once again, this won’t cut it. We need numbers, big numbers.

If you’re writing a book, you’ll need to write a marketing plan and a book proposal. Ideally, this should be done before or during the book writing process. If it’s too much, hire an experienced writing coach or consultant to help you with that portion of the work while you continue writing your book. Even if you’re planning on self-publishing, you need to create a proposal because it is such a strong tool and will really help you plan your book and its launch. The marketing plan is part of the book proposal. But let’s stick with the marketing portion for this discussion.

A huge player in your marketing plan is who you know. Do you know or have connections to people who know important or famous people? If you do, you need to start writing these names down, contact them and write them into your plan. Here’s the thing, you may not be famous yourself—yet, but you may know some people who are.

Do you have connections to people who work in TV or radio? Even local TV news personalities can be of great help when you are starting out. I once ran into a local TV news personality at a sushi restaurant. I spotted her sitting at the counter by herself. Fearlessly, I went over to her and introduced myself. She was the health reporter so I immediately began telling her about the horse rescue facility my company was supporting and how they had an excellent program that helped handicapped children through equine activities. I gave her a scoop, I gave her my card, she gave me hers and guess what…we became friends.

Back at my office, I emailed her telling her what a pleasure it was to meet her that day. Then I mentioned my book to her. She came back at me with a hookup and asked me to send her my book. She passed my book to the woman that did the cooking segments. That association led me to do a TV segment with the cooking show host on that channel. I got to talk about my cookbook, The Rose Cookbook, and cook 3 different recipes while plugging my book. This never would have happened if I hadn’t taken it upon myself to introduce myself to that woman in the restaurant. I didn’t have that association until that day when I decided to go out and take it.

How about athletes or public figures? Do you know any? You have to start digging here. Go down to the next level. Who do you know that knows someone who has a radio or TV show? Do you know someone who has published a successful book? Start asking around. Are you friends with someone who is a top leader in an association that would be interested in your book? Make the connections. Do you get the idea? Yes, it takes some work, but it has to be done if you’re going to succeed with your branding and book marketing campaigns.

The key for you is—how can you associate yourself with people who are more famous than you in order to become recognized and begin to build your own brand? Dan Schawbel terms it as branding by association. And just one ‘good association’ can be pivotal for your success if you leverage it. Here is Dan’s definition:

Branding by association – Creating a linkage between two brands of unequal brand equity, to build upon the brand of lesser equity through association.

This part of branding or branding by association is what you’ll need to do continuously while you are building your own brand. There is nothing wrong with this and even people that you recognize as famous now, started out using this technique. Very successful people still use it in the form of testimonials or acknowledgements. Who wouldn’t want an acknowledgement from Jack Canfield, Tony Robbins or Jacques Pepin on their website or book cover?

Until you become a brand name yourself, you’ll need to use this technique as part of your branding arsenal. As an author who wants to be successful, you’d probably like to imagine yourself on Oprah. For the run of her incredibly successful show, that was everyone’s dream. It was like gold or the ultimate association. Rachel Ray and Dr. Phil are just two people who owe a lot of their initial success to their early associations with Oprah. Yes, her network show has ended, but she’s started her own network- OWN now, and she’s still a huge star-maker. Nothing is impossible!

If you want to be a successful author you have to continue to associate yourself with people who are more successful than you are. The same thing goes for companies. Have you worked for large companies in the past? If you have, that is a good thing. Take a look at your resume. What well-known trusted company names are on there? If you have some, they can help you build trust with your new audience because people make associations. If a large company trusted you in the past, you are probably trustworthy, so people who don’t know you feel more at ease. It’s just one of the ways they can begin to know, like and trust you.

During my corporate writing career which began in 1993, I was privileged to work at some stellar companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley. One day I was looking back on the list and I realized how awesome it was. I decided to gather all the logos of the companies I had worked, for either as an employee or a consultant, and create an image. I was amazed at what I created! As early as 1998, the momentum began to build as one company would hire or contract me because of my previous associations. At one point, I simply needed to fax or email my resume and the associations I had, spoke for themselves. Do not underestimate the power of association. It is very powerful! In a way, this illustrates how I began to build strong associations, and then leveraged those associations to build more. I improved my career. The benefits were my increased earnings and the ability to get more work easily.

Is there any existing press on you? How about video? Can you get an article written about you in a local newspaper, even the neighborhood kind? Those articles can often lead to articles in more regional papers, or even national ones. And those can lead to TV or radio interviews. Don’t edit yourself out of the picture. The point is to get exposure, whether its NPR or FOX News you need to reach large audiences if you want your book to be a success. To get to that level, you have to start building to gain momentum. How about press releases, are you utilizing that tool to build your brand? Press releases are another method of getting the word out and they are read by people in the press and media who are always looking for the latest news.

Now is not the time to be shy. If you want endorsements and recommendations, you are going to have to ask for them. That’s why you need to make a list of people you know, and people you know who know people, and start drilling down and making contact. And always remember to give back. Ask yourself, what can I give to the person who helps me? Donate some books to their next event, tell them you can speak on your topic, volunteer some time for their cause, show them what you have to offer and just get into the mix!

Many authors I coach have problems with their immediate circle of family and friends. They are not supportive and are very negative. This can be very detrimental to successful writing and can actually deter your career. Remember, your success is defined by the five people who are closest to you. When you venture out into the market place to be a successful author, it is very important to spend time with people who are more successful than you, and these people should be people you can learn from. If people in your immediate circle are not supportive, you either need to lose them, or find ways to continuously counteract their negativity. This can be a daunting task because often times the negativity stems from family members.

Start thinking of ways you can surround yourself with more like-mined people to keep your energy up. Go to seminars and workshop that are of interest. Join groups in your area. Join a chamber or any type of group where people are striving to be successful. You need to go where you get energy boosts. These higher level associations will make your branding campaign easier—you may even meet some new people who can help you! I can’t tell you how many times I have attended an event and ended up meeting exactly the person I needed to meet for my particular needs at the very time.

Trust me— good things will begin to happen when you associate yourself with strong brands. Start thinking about your list of associations and ways you can bring new associations into your life. I hope you enjoyed this article. Next time I’ll be discussing the Top 10 things you can do right now to begin building associations while you write your book. The time to start is now.

City Center - Las Vegas Nevada

Thank you for visiting Balanced Rock Press.

We are a growing independent publishing company located in the vibrant and energetic city of Las Vegas, Nevada. We recently re-located to Las Vegas from northern California. We look forward to being a part of an exciting and hospitable  city that prides itself as a “worldwide” destination.

Our business roots are deeply embedded in California and we enjoy strong business contacts in both northern California in the San Francisco and capitol city region of Sacramento but also in  southern California in the Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego areas. We maintain strong business contacts with the east coast in both New York and  and Miami.

Balanced Rock Press publishes traditional books, eBooks and audio books. And although we are presently a small company, we are thinking globally. We plan to attend several of the large foreign book fairs each year including Frankfurt and London. A select number of our cookbook projects will be taken to the annual Paris Cookbook Fair for possible foreign rights sales.

If you are an author, or working on your first project, we hope you will review our proposal guidelines and submit your work for consideration. You will be pleasantly surprised with our expertise and our commitment to you, your work, and your success!

BOOK PROPOSALS

A well-written book proposal is the ultimate sales and marketing tool for your book! Period.

You don’t know how many times I hear clients say, “Do I really have to write a book proposal?”

Yes, you really do have to write a book proposal!

It doesn’t matter whether you intend to self-publish your book, or you seek a a traditional publishing deal, either way you MUST write a book proposal or have an experienced person write the proposal for you. The book proposal is your business plan for your book.

If you want to enter the freeway of book publishing success, you must exit onto the on-ramp marked “Book Proposal.” There is no getting around this, and I will gladly tell you why.

I know this because when I wrote my first book proposal, it was a revelation!

rev·e·la·tion

1. the act of revealing or disclosing; disclosure.
2. something revealed or disclosed, esp. a striking disclosure, as of something not before realized.

It was so powerful, that now I require all my clients to have a completed book proposal, even for clients who intend to self-publish.

WHY?

Because… the book proposal is where the power lies.

When you go through the process of writing the proposal you are creating the business plan for your book.

As an author, you have to know all about your book, inside and out.

WHY?

So you can pitch it!

You have to know what you are talking about….

You are the expert of your book.

If you want to talk to publishers, you have to realize that they are going to expect you to answer a lot of questions about your book.

And, you can’t blame them because they are going to be taking a chance on your book, so you better know how to explain everything about it.

That includes MARKETING.

Marketing is the most important thing. Many new authors miss the boat on the marketing.

That’s why the book proposal is so important. It forces you to create a marketing plan for your book.

You’ll know exactly who your customer is.

You have to know this so you can convince the publisher to work with you.

Or, so you know what to do with your book once it is completed!

Doing a book proposal is really not so bad, and with the right attitude, it can be fun!

How cool is it to really know everything about your book project, and be able to clearly communicate everything great about your book to other people when you talk about it?

It’s very cool, and it makes you look really good.

So get with the proposal.

All you need is title, complete description, the primary benefit of the book, explanation of what the book is about, the specifications, your target market, marketing plan, competition survey, chapter outline (TOC) and sample chapter.

Not the whole book! Non-fiction and cookbooks can be pitched with a proposal. But memoirs require a completed manuscript.

You may or may not get a publisher interested in your book, but you will have your proposal and you’ll be able to make an educated decision about your next steps.

You’ll also have your marketing plan, so you’ll know exactly what to do to market your book should you decide to publish yourself.

Book proposals ROCK!

So get busy. There is still time to write your proposal this year and get it out there!

Contact me if I can be of service to you. I love working on a good book proposal!

A book proposal coaching partnership with me will provide you with an amazing opportunity!

PERSONAL BRANDING for AUTHORS

I am excited to help authors develop their personal brand while developing their author’s platform as their book project progresses.

An incredible opportunity exists for authors at this time. The publishing industry is changing rapidly. New methods must be employed if an author is to be successful. Part of the newness is the advent of the creation of a person’s “Personal Brand.”

The most important thing to consider when creating a brand for yourself is that “you” are the most important product.

The way you position yourself in the marketplace will determine how hard you have to work in the future to get the results you desire.

You want to work smart, not hard. You want to attract the right customers and clients that want what you have.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you want to be able to have the freedom to work when you want, and have the freedom to choose the clients you want to work with.

If you’re a business owner, you need to realize that your brand and your business are connected. Neither one can truly succeed without the other.

So, the success of your brand will depend on how true it comes to the real you and, how well you manage and communicate that image to the marketplace.

Either way, you’ll need to know who you are, what you stand for, and what qualities make you unique.

A personal brand is exciting because it tells the world about you, your values, and your beliefs. When properly crafted, your brand will allow your customers to know, like, and trust you.

This feeling will build into a relationship between you and your customer, giving them the confidence to expect the same quality experience with you every time.

Once you’re clear on your brand, you’ll have so many choices about the ways you can communicate that out to the world. The middlemen are gone.

By embracing social media as the incredible tool that it is, you’ll be able to maintain and expand your brand and reach millions of people with a few keystrokes a day!

EDITING

My goal as your editor is to work with you to preserve and maintain your unique “voice,” while clarifying your meaning without changing the meaning of your content.

Because your personal goals are important to me, I’ll work with you to first understand what you envision as your highest outcome for your manuscript.

I can offer you the type of editing you need, based on an analysis, your goals, and the amount of involvement you want to commit to. This process will ensure the results you expect for your project.

Please contact me for a consultation and estimate.

publisher@balancedrockpress.com

But writing a good book proposal is not without challenges. There are a lot of details that must be addressed. You must know your book inside and out and be ready to explain how YOU are going to market the heck out of it!

So how can you make your book proposal get noticed? That seems to be a difficult question to answer at best because each book proposal is unique, just as each book is unique. It’s time to do some homework!

The point that new authors seem to miss is that writing a book proposal is not as much about the book as it is about the “marketing” of the book. Simply put—a book proposal is a business plan for a book. A publisher or an agent wants to know that your book is going to sell—it has the potential to make money! And it’s your task to convince them of that probability.

But your saying, “I know my book is going to sell, it’s a great idea, I just know it!” And you know what the publisher or agent wants you to do? They want you to PROVE IT! Let me say this again….It’s your task to convince an agent or publisher that your book will sell, and you have to show them WHY you believe that to be true. How do you do that? With facts!

An industry standard book proposal contains many components. We’ll look at each one of them here and give you some pointers to make each section strong. So let’s dig into this subject and hopefully you’ll come away with some solid ideas about how you can write a winning book proposal. Let’s see what it takes!

Overview:

Here is where you’ll introduce the book. What is your book about? This section should be concise, to ensure the reader that you can explain the book clearly, without rambling on. It should be no more than one or two pages. A key point to remember is that you are writing an “advertisement” for the book. You want to give as much powerful information as possible in a brief format that will keep the person reading. You really have to come out punching! You must intrigue the reader to continue reading—and arouse curiosity.

Also in this section you must include information about yourself—why are you qualified to write this book? What is your platform? Why are you an expert? What are your credentials? What work do you do in relation to your book’s topic? What is the market for the book? Can you put an exact number on that? What makes your book stand out from others in the same field? What are you going to tell us that is new information? Is the topic timely, or timeless? What is your approach?

Author Biography

The harsh reality of this section is the most difficult to overcome as a new author. Here is where your author’s platform will either make or break the book proposal. More editors reject proposals for nonfiction works for an under-developed author’s platform, or the lack of any platform than for any other reason.

In this section, you must do your very best to show that you are an absolute “expert” in your field. With the turmoil that the publishing industry has been going through, it is difficult at best to get anywhere in the business if you are not a “known commodity.” This is not to say that you cannot make it as a new author, you can, but your work is cut out for you and you will generally be swimming upstream until you break through. This is exactly why you see publisher’s jumping to publish books by celebrities. They are already established, have a following, have tons of people that know and love them, and they are bankable.

But this is not an impossible task. You just have to put your “salesperson” hat on and really start tooting your own horn. I have found that this is sometimes difficult for new authors I work with. I have to coax them into realizing how much they have done and how much they have to offer by going over their resume and history, and then creating a very detailed long and short bio piece for them.

Some questions to consider here are…What is your national platform? Do you do workshops or give speeches? Where will you be doing this? Who do you know who is famous? You’ll include that information in the marketing plan, but you must speak to it here as well. Have you written for magazines or been featured on a news show or radio show? Local is good, but national is better. This type of information gives you national recognition, which once again sells books. Pull out all the stops and include as much information as you can think of. It can always be edited out if it does not really pertain.

Marketing

I don’t even like to say that any of these three section is more important than the other. They are all important, and the Marketing Plan is crucial. You have to tell the editor or publisher or agent how YOU are going to sell your book. That’s right. Here is another thing many new authors don’t understand. YOU have to get out there and market and sell your book—period!

So now that you’ve convinced the publisher that your book idea is marketable, and you are marketable, you have to show them HOW you are going to do it. So for instance, we mentioned in the Author’s Biography section that you were a speaker, right? In this section we are going to tell more about that. WHERE and WHEN you will be speaking?

Do you have a schedule that is in place with dates, times and locations? Great, include it in this section. Here we want as much detail as possible. Do you write regularly for a magazine or newspaper? Include it! Do you have strong ties to associations, groups, or corporations where you will be able to speak? Who are your contacts in those places? Can you get a letter saying you are going to speak in those locations? Include it! Remember, continue to focus on what makes you special.

Here we are talking about what you are already doing, and what you have scheduled to do in the next year. How many people do you plan on speaking to? What are the topics of your speeches, seminars, or workshops?

Do you have an established website or blog with lots of follower? How is your email list doing? Do you have lots of dedicated subscribers? What are the demographics? Are people in the media seeking you out? Can you pick up the phone and call someone from the NY Times? Who is in your rolodex? Who do you have on speed dial that is important in the media? Include it! Is it a known fact that the market for your book is growing? Prove it! Also, do you know someone in your field that is famous and also a published author or a recognized authority that would be so gracious as to write a foreword for your book? Are there any organizations you are a member of that you can contact that would buy your book in bulk? Publisher’s love to hear that you already have a market for 50,000 books!

Competition

In this section you want to select some books that are similar to yours, but you must show that yours has something that the others don’t have. Competition is another reason books are rejected. Or it can be the lack of competition, which means there may not be any interest on the subject. Once again, going into sales mode, you have to prove that your book is a stand out in its category. Put yourself in the publisher’s shoes for a minute, and do your best to convince them.

A good exercise to do is to go to a large bookstore and go to section where your book would be located if it was published. Look at all the books you are competing with. Find the best ones, and then proceed to honestly ask yourself what does yours have that the others don’t have? Choose about three examples and then use them in your comparison—yes, a “comparative market analysis,” in this section. If you can convey this and make it convincing in your proposal, a huge part of the battle will be won! Reviewing the books also shows that you are an expert in your field. You must show that you are aware of who your competition is in your genre. Never assume that publishers and editors don’t know the competing books—they do!

Table of Contents (TOC) and Chapter Summaries

You probably skim through the TOC of a book when you’re browsing the book shelves at your favorite book store right? Right! And that’s exactly why you need to include this section in your proposal. The TOC gives another overview of the book, its contents. What are you going to talk about? Titles should be attention grabbing, but stay on subject. The titles of each chapter should deliver the goods. In other words, they reflect what the reader will be getting in the chapter. It’s also important to include any supplementary information that may be in the book here. This could include forms, charts diagrams, etc. You get the idea.

The Chapter Summaries will be your shining opportunity to show your writing style. Remember, you are being given a great opportunity to submit a proposal without submitting an entire completed manuscript as you would need to do if you were writing a memoir or a novel. So use this opportunity to write your summaries and once again make them intriguing and show your style! The summaries should be exciting and fun to read, provoking interest in your book. Use your writer’s voice! Here is your golden opportunity to make the editor want to read the full chapters you have included in the next section of your book proposal. As with everything in the book proposal, the point here is the stir up interest in your book, and keep the editor, publisher, or agent reading!

Chapters (Select two or three you want to include in their entirety)

We call them Sample Chapters because that’s exactly what they are, but they are the full chapters. You are giving the editor a chance to sample your writing. They will give a feel for your voice and style, but they should be your best work. Take time on these chapters to really make them shine. You must feel that they would be ready to publish exactly as they are. This is not the place to submit “draft” type work. Editing is of the utmost importance here. The chapters must be free of typos, using perfect punctuation and consistent style.

And remember, you don’t have to submit the first chapter of the book here. It can be any one you want. Remember, we are basing this on the fact that your book might not even be completed, so whatever chapters you have done already are the ones you can submit. Just make sure that the quality is there. Use your most interesting information here. You also want to reflect that you are ready to do the work, so the work you submit should reflect your professionalism and your ability to get the job done. Hasty does not fly here. Keep remembering, you are grabbing attention here, so make it your best work. Don’t be afraid to go all out!

Publicity

Here you will supply every bit of publicity including magazine and newspaper article, radio interviews, TV appearances, copies of articles you have written that have been published.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the contents of a solid book proposal. There are many more details involved here that I did not cover in this article, but this should have given you a good idea and what is needed as far as the bulk of information you need to gather and share.

If you have more questions about the format, pages, your author’s platform , how to come up with a good title for your book, or any other questions you may have, please feel free to contact me at publisher@balancedrockpress.com

I would be happy to arrange a free 30-minute telephone consultation.

It’s hard enough to write the book, but now there is this added burden of writing a proposal that includes the all important marketing plan. When I mention this to authors I’m interviewing, many of them balk. Hairball! “That’s a lot of work,” they say. My answer is, “Well—yes, it is. But without a plan, you’ll be getting nowhere fast.”

Let’s remember the old proverbial saying: “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.” When it comes to books and book marketing, all I can say about that is, “You’ve got that right buddy!”

Here’s the deal, if you’re writing a book, or even thinking about writing a book—let’s say you’re planning it, you’ve got an outline going, or a list of chapters you want to include. That’s great! But guess what? Before you go much further into the writing, you need to take a deep breath, STOP, and begin considering how you are going to market your book.

Trust me. There are no agents or publishers out there worth their weight that will entertain your book without a book proposal that has a “full-blown” marketing plan in it. What do I mean by full-blown? Keep reading and I’ll gladly show you. But before I do that, let’s get several key points very straight:

1. Your book will not sell itself
2. A publisher is not going to do all the work
3. A publisher or literary agent will not speak with you about your book if you don’t have a marketing plan
4. Your book doesn’t know your “goals and objectives”
5. Books are inanimate objects—they don’t jump off of shelves
6. Everyone does not want to buy your book
7. Selling books requires a strategic effort—that means from you

Is that enough to convince you? OK, I’m going to go over items 1, 4, and 7 in this article. We can talk about how to work with book publishers and literary agents at another time. All you need to know right now is that they will not give you the time of day without the plan, and the information I’m going to share with you now will help to point you in the right direction to deal with the powers that be later. So let’s get started!

Your Book Will Not Sell Itself

No matter how wonderful you think your book is going to be, it will not sell itself. Especially, and I emphasize this, especially if you are a new author. Books need help to make it off the shelves in the book store. Even seasoned authors need a plan. Remember, celebrities who write books have probably had years of press and media hype to help them along. The buying public already knows and loves them, so it is much easier for them to sell books.

This is a sad but true situation that we find ourselves in. Yes, we get information at the speed of light because of the internet, but when it comes to book sales, the internet really only helps those who are established, have a platform, and have a following and an online presence. As a new author without an established reputation, you must have a plan. That’s why it is crucial for the “newbie” to have a detailed book marketing plan, which is equally as important as the writing of the book, your design, the actual publication, and the distribution.

Just as each author is unique, each book proposal and marketing plan will be unique. There are specific items the book proposal and marketing plan must contain, but they will be completely tailored to the book, author, author’s goals, the book’s market and the budget. So take into consideration what you want to achieve with your book. Do you want a best seller? Are you an expert in your field? Do you have a personal experience you know could help others? Are you writing a family history? You see what I’m getting at, right? Each author and story is different, and each plan will be different. That’s why it requires your special thought and attention to detail.

Your Book Doesn’t Know Your Goals and Objectives

If you want to make money with your book, and I’m going to assume that you do, you must identify where that money is going to come from. First you must decide—WHY you are writing the book, and WHO will it help? Is there a NEED? If there is a need, you need to prove it! Once you determine that, you will have identified your target market and you’ve given yourself a reason to write the book. You now have a GOAL.

Be very specific with your targets. Your target or targets should be laser-focused. It is more powerful, and you’ll be more successful if you target a niche market, than try to be everything to everyone. So give this some serious thought. And remember—it’s your job to figure out HOW you’ll reach your readers.

Now—you may have more than one target market, and that is fine. But they must be identified so you can figure out HOW you will market the book to them. Generalizations won’t work here. I’ll say it again—be specific. Try to target each market in great detail. More than likely, each target market will require a different strategy, which means you will have a different list of tasks to get the job done.

WHAT are your sales goals? Do you know? Just saying “I want to sell a lot of books” is not going to cut it. So to get your sales goals defined, you’ll need to identify the specific markets and revenue streams you intend to target. Once you’ve done that you can determine “HOW” this will be done.

Whether you want to write a best-seller or you just want to raise funds to buy a new building for your church, club or organization, each book needs some sort of marketing plan. Your plan will capture in writing what the expectations are. This gives you something on which to create the goals for your project. Once that is done, you can create that task list to get the job done.

WHAT defines success for you? WHAT does it look like? You need to be able to answer these questions so you can write a marketing plan that matches your goals.

Yes—this is a lot of work….Are you still with me? I hope so because once you’ve done all that work, you’ll be able to determine your OBJECTIVES. And this is where it gets powerful!

For the sake of example, let’s say your objective is to sell 10,000 books in the next year. You’ve now given this a ‘number” so you’ve taken the important step of making your goal MEASURABLE! That’s a good thing, because now you have a way to measure your success. But be sure that the 10,000 is a reasonable goal for you. You’ll get a feel for this once you start to try to figure out how you are going to sell 10,000. If it seems impossible based on what you plan, then you may want to rethink the number.

Make sure you can achieve the objective. If you’re good with the number, plan away. And if at the end of the year you miss your goal, you can go back and look at your plan and make some corrections to make improvement. But you have to start somewhere. And remember, plans can be revised, and should be if something is not functioning. That’s why you should constantly be reviewing your progress. Don’t hold onto something if it’s not working! Change it!

Selling Books Requires a Strategic Effort—That Means From You!

Now that you have determined your objectives you’ll need to create PLANS that support the OBJECTIVES, and ACTIONS that support the PLANS. Believe me, it’s not that hard, you just have to give it some thought and be organized. Approach this very strategically. It’s just a matter of continuing to break things down, so they can get done. Break it down into bite-sized chunks and be prepared to take little steps to reach the big picture.

What’s important to remember is that all of your efforts need to broken down so you can understand them, achieve them, and be able to measure your success. The key is to not give up. Also, breaking things down into small pieces give you the ability to really “see” what you are doing as you make progress. You’ll get a great sense of satisfaction as you work on your plan, and little by little you can check items off the list!

Let’s take a look at how this plays out for one item of the PLAN using the objective, plan, and action format. We’ll use the example of ‘personal appearances” because that is one that seems to be the most important to all authors, and makes the biggest impact. Being face to face is the best way to reach an audience! So let’s break down “personal appearances” and see a little bit of what it’s made of.

Personal Appearances:

• Book signings
• Seminars/workshops
• Media/TV interviews
• Newspapers
• Radio interviews
• Classes
• Speeches
• Organizations
• Trade shows
• Book fairs
• Schools
• Clubs
• Special events

These are just some of the possibilities for one item in the PLAN, and I just came up with those off the top of my head. The next thing would be to take each one of those items on your list and drill down into it. Start to make another list of what you can do to make each one happen. Those items are your ACTIONS. Who do you know? Who can you call? What clubs are you a member of? What events are taking place in your area?

Do you get the picture? You have to constantly be thinking about where and when you can market your book.

Here’s what you need to remember…marketing, publicity, and the success that can comes with it is due to a long-term, strategically planned effort that is continuous, consistent and concentrated—period. Very few people are truly “over-night successes.” It may seem that way, but usually it is not. We have all heard of the overnight success that was 10 years in the making—right? I don’t say this to discourage you, but the encourage you to create a very powerful plan that can shave years off your trajectory when properly executed.

Conclusion

So I think I have made my point, and I’m sure you’re convinced that books do not sell themselves! This has been a brief overview about book marketing plans, why you need them, and how they can help you. If I can be of service to you, please contact me with your book marketing and book proposal or marketing plan questions. I create marketing plans and book proposals for books in many non-fiction genres including culinary and chef’s memoirs, cookbooks, gardening, pets, animals, gardening, self-help, and inspirational topics.

Who doesn’t love cherries? They are one of the fleeting treats of summer that must be enjoyed fresh as many opportunities as possible. Cherries are good for you and good for your heart. They bring gladness to the soul.

Cherries are not only good for you, but they’re also on trend as a homegrown “Super Fruit.” According to recent data, more than 9 out of 10 Americans want to know where their food comes from, nearly 80 percent say they’re purchasing “locally produced” products, and the majority is defining “local” as grown in America. Cherries deliver!

A growing body of science reveals tart cherries, enjoyed as either dried, frozen cherries or cherry juice, have among the highest levels of disease-fighting antioxidants, when compared to other fruits. They also contain other important nutrients such as beta carotene (19 times more than blueberries or strawberries) vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, iron, fiber and folate.

Emerging evidence links cherries to many important health benefits – from helping to ease the pain of arthritis and gout, to reducing risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. Cherries also contain melatonin, which has been found to help regulate the body’s natural sleep patterns, aid with jet lag, prevent memory loss and delay the aging process.

A recent study from the University of Michigan reveals new evidence linking cherries to heart health benefits. The study found that a cherry-enriched diet lowered total weight, body fat (especially the important “belly” fat), inflammation and cholesterol-all risk factors associated with heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, being overweight or obese, in particular when the weight is concentrated in the middle, is a major risk factor for heart disease. As nearly two out of three Americans are overweight, emerging studies like this are important in examining the role diet may play in disease management and prevention.

“For the Love of Cherries” will leave no stone unturned. The recipes will be creative and you’ll find cherries turning up everywhere and in the most unexpected places! Cherries have long been used in recipes all over the world and are known for their nourishment, meaty texture, and sweet and tart flavor. Learn to cook both  savory and sweet dishes with one of the all-time favorite fruits!

Available in the Summer of 2011.

Denktash had been researching for several years on what she called her “mythological cookbook”, but she didn’t have all the recipes she wanted to finish the book. So…she put the project on the “back burner.” Chef  Franco, with a Grand Diploma from Le Cordon Bleu London and a Master Chef Certification from Castigliole d’ Asti, Italy appeared, and a match was made! “The Mediterranean Goddess Cookbook: A Mythological Journey of Food and Fortune in the Ancient Lands” will follow the release of Chef Franco’ s first book, which will be a chef’s memoir covering the past 20 years of his adventurous chef’s career.

The Mediterranean Goddess Cookbook will take you on a journey back in time, to the days of the mythological goddesses of the beautiful Mediterranean region. You’ll explore the ancient and symbolic foods that represent the various goddesses. This book promises to be full of delicious recipes that are healthful and simple to prepare.

You’ll travel  Italy from the perspective of the goddess Athena. Travel to Cyprus, to Aphrodite’s rock , the legendary place where Aphrodite is said to have set foot onto the shores of the beach. Discover Egypt through the eyes of Isis. Sail the beautiful turquoise seas to Crete and Rhodes. Discover some lesser known mythological goddesses in Greece and Turkey.

Cooking with the foods of the region, you will explore simple but ancient recipes that remain timeless. We will ask, what would Athena eat? What would Aphrodite eat? We will also explore how to set the table for each of the goddesses using color and symbology.

If you love Mediterranean food, this book will present it to you with a new and exciting twist. Look for The Mediterranean Goddess Cookbook from Balanced Rock Press in the Spring of 2013!