What’s the point of writing a book? Publishing it. In the end, that’s what we’re all after because writing is about sharing our ideas and knowledge. However, although publication is the ultimate goal, focusing too heavily on that—particularly when your book idea isn’t fully formed, let alone written—can prevent you from ever getting it done.

I was on the phone with someone this morning who had an idea for a book but wasn’t sure how to proceed. She had an idea, but hadn’t written a word. So what was her most pressing question? How do I get it published? Whoa, Nelly! If you haven’t written a book, getting published is a long way off.

When people ask me about things like the ins and outs of publishing, how much it costs to hire an editor, and how to find an agent, before they’ve written a word in many cases, they’re putting the cart before the horse. (And they often get frustrated when I tell them, “It depends. You need to write the book first.”)

How you publish, how much you spend on editing, how you find an agent, and a number of other publishing considerations all depend on the book you write. So you have to write it first. And you have to ask yourself: If the cost of hiring an editor seems outside your budget right now, it that going to stop you from writing your book? Are you going to stop wanting to write the book you have inside you because it costs a couple thousand dollars to self-publish? And if some aspect of finding an agent seems difficult or time consuming, are you going to forget about the book altogether? I don’t mean to be harsh, but if your answer is yes, then the book probably isn’t that important to you in the first place and, honestly, you’d probably never finish it anyway.

Really, what does it matter? If you’re meant to write this book, if this story is burning inside you, and if you can’t sleep at night thinking about getting it out, then don’t waste your time worrying about how to get it published—WRITE! Get the book out of you, and worry about publishing later.

Figuring out the writing part is more than enough to keep you busy for the next few months, and it’s the most important factor that will affect publishing. For example, if your book isn’t outstanding, agents aren’t going to be interested. And if it’s not well-written, editing will cost you a fortune.

If you want to write a book, the most important step you can take right now is writing. Write the absolute best book you can, and then start looking at your options. Don’t get me wrong, it’s never a bad idea to understand your options. But don’t let that keep you from doing the writing, because without a strong, compelling book manuscript, you won’t have to worry about it.

Have you been putting the cart before the horse? If you’ve been focusing too much mental energy on what you’re going to do with your book when it’s done, and you haven’t done much writing, my “Get Your Book Out Boot Camp” will help you get clear on your book idea, help you plan a powerful and compelling book, and get you writing. Contact me at melinda@writerssherpa.com for more information and to register for the next session.

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If self-publishing elevates your expert status, getting a New York publishing contract makes you an instant guru, right up there with Martha Beck, Tony Robbins, and Wayne Dyer. Every writer dreams of attracting a lucrative contract from a major publishing company. Although not all the preconceptions about this publishing avenue are correct, particularly when you’re writing to grow your business and attract clients, it can mean big, exciting things for you and your mission.

So how do you do it? Is it even possible? Yes, it is. But you have to rise above everyone else and prove you have what it takes to write and sell a profitable book. If you want to improve your chances of winning that big book contract, consider the following secrets to getting editors’ and agents’ attention.

1. Write Your Absolute BEST Book
Although this may seem obvious, you might be surprised at how many writers send off manuscripts that look just like every other self-help or business book. But when agents and editors are swamped with manuscripts, you may only have one shot to make a professional impression. If you want to be taken seriously, then you need to do everything you can to make sure your book is the best it can absolutely be. It must reflect your authentic voice; it must be compelling; and it must capture and hold the reader’s attention.

2. Build a Platform
You can’t come from out of nowhere if you want a publisher to risk thousands of dollars buying your book. You need to establish a record of experience and expertise. For self-help, business, and how-to authors, you must promote yourself and your ideas through speaking engagements, publishing articles, and publicity. Other ways to build a platform include selling 5,000 or more self-published books, building a big list of clients and qualified prospects, and writing a blog that gets thousands of visitors. A platform lets editors and agents know that people like you and you’ll probably be able to sell a lot of books.

3. Make Connections
If you don’t live in the city, then making connections in New York can seem impossible. It’s not; and knowing someone in the business (or with connections in the business) can be the break you need to stand out and sell your book to a major publisher. What can you do to make connections? Attend writing conferences and publishing events; network with other writers; and tell everyone you meet that you’re a writer. You never know when a friend of a friend will work in the publishing world.

Your Path to Commercial Publication
The New York publishing route isn’t advisable for everyone—it depends on your situation, your topic, and your goals. And it takes a lot of work to sell your book to a major publisher. For some, the odds are just too discouraging. But if that’s a goal on your horizon, start looking for opportunities that will help you improve your writing skills, create an outstanding book, build your platform, and establish connections to pave your path to publication. Remember, you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, you just have to be willing to do what it takes. And everyone starts somewhere!

Comments? Questions?

About the Author: Melinda Copp helps aspiring self-help, business, and nonfiction authors write compelling books that they’re proud to share with the world. Get a free copy of her Jumpstart Your Book E-course when you sign up for her weekly e-zine.

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Have you written a great book that isn’t selling? You may be missing the key success ingredient. In this week’s guest post, book marketing pro, Don McCauley, talks strategy.

We have all heard the story. The one about that really great book. You know the one. It’s a really great book that did not make it in today’s marketplace. It was a great book that failed.

Conversely, we are all very aware of those poorly written books that, for some strange reason, continue to break sales records year after year. What is perhaps surprising is the fact that, in both cases, a single concept could be said to be the cause of both situations, good or bad.

Strategy.

Fact 1: A poor book can become wildly successful if there is a good marketing strategy behind it.

Fact 2: An absolutely wonderful book can fail miserably if the marketing strategy is poor. A well designed strategy is more than just important — it is of the utmost importance. However a strategy is not WHAT you do. A strategy is WHY you do what you do. Allow me to explain.

The Tool Is NOT The Strategy

Unfortunately, most well meaning authors believe that the tool IS the strategy. In my work with authors I hear many of the same statements over and over again:

“I know there are buyers for my book out there. I just need to find a way to tell them about it.”

“I know I need to have a website. But I cannot afford to hire a professional as they are quite expensive, so I will do it myself. I will do the best I can to optimize it for the search engines.”

“I use a blog because everyone says this will work.”

“I am on Twitter and I post every day.”

“I send out press releases to journalists frequently.”

“I belong to a bunch of social networking sites.”

“I use discussion groups to get the word out to my buyers.”

“Book signing events are a good idea.”

So, naturally, my first question is: “How are sales?

“Not as good as I hoped.”

This is how 99 percent of people attempt to market their books. This is fine and certainly there is nothing wrong here. But there is a very important point that must be considered here. Effort does not guarantee sales. As a matter of fact, effort, without a well planned strategy, will most likely just cause more frustration than sales. Frankly effort can be wasted without that strategy. All of the above methods mentioned above are just TOOLS. These are not the STRATEGY.

The Reality Of Book Marketing

Depending on the source you believe, there are roughly 400,000 – 500,000 new titles hitting the marketplace every year.

Now certainly nearly every single author has a web site. Nearly all of them are blogging. Many are all twittering, using press releases, social networking, using discussion groups and doing book signings. So the question becomes:

How can YOU possibly get any real attention for your book in a competitive environment such as this?

The simple answer is that you must develop a marketing and publicity strategy that will set you apart from that very, very large crowd…

Marketing Strategy 101

(Please note: This is not a full blown marketing strategy. This is an extremely simplistic example used to illustrate a few simple points).

To develop a strategy, you start by defining your market. Defining your market means you simply must do the research. The research will allow you to determine:

a. IF there is a market for your book
b. if so, HOW MANY people comprise that market
c. WHO comprises that market.
d. HOW those potential buyers prefer to receive their information
e. WHAT tools should be used to deliver a well developed branded message

What Does This Mean?

1. IS there a market for your product/service? If so, what verifiable sources can you cite? List them. Don’t fool yourself here or you may be setting yourself up for failure. It is not enough to say, “I think there are interested buyers out there!” If there is no interest in your subject matter, you will not sell many books.

2. HOW MANY people comprise that potential market? Cite the studies, surveys, verifiable
information sources. Be completely honest here. If there are only a few hundred potential buyers for your book, you will most likely not sell many books.

3. WHO comprises this market? You simply must know your potential purchasers. To get to know your potential buyers, you must create a buyer profile. That profile is developed by knowing:

• Gender
• Income Level
• Age
• Occupation
• Education Level
• Geographic region
• Lifestyle characteristics
• Purchasing characteristics
• Benefits sought by this profile

Example: Let us create a fictitious author named Joe Smith. Joe has written a book entitled Becoming A Scratch Golfer — For Retirees. Let us also suppose that Joe has determined, through his valid and documented research, that there are 1.5 million retired golfers in the United States alone. He knows he has 1.5 million potential buyers for his book. He also knows that his profile is very targeted. He manages to put together the following assumptions:

• Gender = PRIMARILY MALE
• Income Level = 50K to 100K plus
• Age = OVER 55 to 65
• Occupation = EXECUTIVE
• Education Level = COLLEGE
• Geographic region = ALL
• Lifestyle characteristics = HIGH INCOME, ENJOY GOLF
• Purchasing characteristics = TRADITIONAL, SOME INTERNET
• Benefits sought by this profile = IMPROVED GOLFING SKILLS

This profile tells Joe that his potential buyer will most often be spending time on the course. They will be hanging out at the club, listening to radio, watching television or listening to radio — certainly reading the newspaper and golfing magazines.

Now, let’s look at back at which tools might work for Joe, based on his newly developed profile:

A web site – Yes, in all cases, a well optimized website is an absolute necessity. The verbiage on the website must ’speak the language’ of the profile and it must be optimized for the search engines.

A blog – perhaps not necessary, though some retired golfing enthusiasts may be reading blogs in their spare time.

A Twitter account – most likely not necessary, for obvious reasons.

A press release campaign to the journalists – Absolutely. Retired golfers will get their information from traditional sources such as newspaper and television.

Social networking sites – Not likely, though possible.

Social discussion groups – Not likely, though possible.

Book signing events – Absolutely.

Result: In this case, Joe would want to concentrate on driving traffic to his site, approaching journalists, and doing book signings. Though they may produce a few sales, blogging, twittering and posting to groups would most likely be a waste of precious time. These are just the basics. We have not yet touched on the targeted branding strategy employed to set Joe’s book apart from all the other books out there.

Clearly defining your profile and then using the tools that will deliver a sharply honed message to the profile in the manner in which they prefer to receive that message is the easy way to market books.

Not having a sharply defined strategy will most certainly lead to an unsatisfactory number of sales.

Do listen to what works well for others. However, do not adopt tools that have worked well for others unless these tools can be used within the profiles you have created. Others do not have the same buyer profile as yourself. Using a tool that works well for others would be like using a screwdriver to drive a nail. If your goal is to drive nails, this will not work, as the tool is not designed to accomplish that particular goal.

About the Author: Don McCauley is a marketing strategist with over thirty years of experience. He helps individuals, small businesses, and professionals create low cost publicity and marketing campaigns to increase sales. He demonstrates how anyone can develop a massive marketing and publicity campaign for little or no money by utilizing cutting edge strategic marketing and publicity resources. The goal is always to produce bottom line results.

Don serves as facilitator of the Free Publicity Focus Group. He is an author and currently writes for regional and national print and electronic publications. He serves as host of The Authors Show radio program, a production of eBroadcastMedia.com. He is an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional and is Web CEO University Certified. He is the co-founder of Book Marketing, a Ning site for all things related to marketing books.

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In this week’s guest post, Irene Watson, managing editor of Reader Views, offers creative promotion strategies any author can use.

All authors want to promote their books, but their readers are not always the best at building buzz for them. An excellent way authors can find people to share their vision for marketing their books is to ally with other authors, become each others fans, and cross-promote.

No one understands the need and desire to promote your book like another author. Rather than see other authors as competition, authors can leverage each other by cross-promoting each other’s books. Doing so creates a win-win situation for both authors as well as for readers who will discover even more books they would like to read.

The ways authors can help each other to promote their books is countless, but here are a few ideas for starters.

Book Reviews. Trade books with fellow authors and then write book reviews for each other. Post the reviews on your blog, Amazon, and anywhere else you can.

Link Web Sites. Provide a link on your website to other great authors, especially ones writing in your genre. Ask them to link back to you. Create cross traffic for each other.

Host Authors as Guests. Do you have a blog, an Internet radio show, or even a newspaper column? Feature other authors as guests. Help them build buzz about their books and ask them to reciprocate. No only will you get promoted to a new audience, but your own audience will think you’re a nice guy to be promoting other people’s books rather than your own (which in turn only helps to promote your own books.)

Share Book Signing Space. Book signings can be dull events if no one shows up, and nothing is worse than sitting in a bookstore by yourself waiting for someone to buy your book. The more authors at a book signing, the more people likely to attend. Ask the bookstore if you can sign with another author, especially if he or she has a new book out. Then if nothing else, you can visit with each other and share writing and marketing ideas while you wait for book buyers to come.

Split Show Costs. If you’re going to do book signings together, why not do book fairs and art and craft shows together? Split the cost of your booth, and then you’ll have someone to help set up and tear down and watch the booth when you need a break.

Cross Sell Each Others Books. Are there two book fairs on opposite sides of the state on the same day? You can’t go to both, or can you? You can go west and your author friend can go east;  you can bring her books with you and she can take yours east so you sell each other’s books.

Talk Each Other Up. Once you get your foot in the door at a few bookstores, tell them about your friend’s books and how great they are. Bookstores will appreciate your opinion in helping them to find other good books to stock.

Provide References for Each Other. Are you asked to give a talk at the library, but you have a conflicting engagement? Give your fellow author’s name as an alternative. Ask him to return the favor later.

Pass Out Each Others Promotional Materials. Get yourself a bumper sticker with your web site on it. Then give one to your author friends and put their bumper stickers on your car. When you sell one of your books, stick one of their bookmarkers in it to promote their books and have them do the same for you.

Share Knowledge and Build Friendships. The best part of allying yourself with other authors is the knowledge you will share and the friendships you will build. Two heads are better than one, and selling books is not easy. You can learn from each other’s mistakes and successes, have fun, and build buzz for your books at the same time.

Share Agents, Publishers, and PR. If you build a strong alliance with another author and he gets his book picked up by a major publisher or he finds a good literary agent, it can mean a foot in the door for you as well. Success is often connected to whom you know, and no alliance is a waste of time. Networking is really just about making friends. Help your friends and they’ll help you. And always be happy for them when they succeed.

I’m sure you can think of many more ways to help your fellow authors and to get them to help you. Have regular brainstorming sessions with your author friends. Start out by writing book reviews for each other to see who follows through—those authors who do are the ones with whom you want to build strong relationships. There are lots of authors out there willing to help each other promote their books, and you can never have too many friends in the publishing world.

About the Author: Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.

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Getting a cover designed is one of the funnest parts of publishing. But choosing the right designer can be tricky. In this week’s guest post, book designer extraordinaire Tamara Dever of TLC Graphics shares everything you need to ask a cover designer before hiring them for your book.

Finding the right designer for your next book is an important decision. Because the front cover is a book’s billboard (attracting attention), the back is its advertisement (giving basic information and calling for action), and its interior is the final force driving a buyer to the register, you should never skimp on a book’s cover or interior design. Following are a few tips to help you begin the design firm selection process.

Ask other publishers:

• Was your deadline ever in jeopardy because of the designer? Why? What was done to fix the problem?
• Did you ever feel uncomfortable working with them?
• Was your designer open to your ideas as well as providing their own?
• If you provided any initial cover design ideas, were they built upon or discarded completely? (A good firm will provide at least one layout using your idea and several more with her own.)
• If you asked for specific revisions, how did he or she react to your request?

Ask potential designers:

• How many years of experience do you have designing books?
• How many books have you designed? (You want to find someone with plenty of experience.)
• Do you work with a contract? Insist on this!
• Be sure to know the fixed and potential additional costs and payment schedule in advance.
• How many front cover ideas will I receive?
• Do you provide press-ready files to the specifications of my printer? (Don’t hesitate to ask to speak with printers that have worked with the designer you’re considering.)
• In what format are your design proofs delivered? (PDFs are standard.) What if I’d like to have hard copies?
• What types of elements are important to you when designing a book’s interior? (Good answers should include: typefaces, leading, kerning, margins, widows and orphans. Also avoiding common typing errors such as: using double spaces after sentences, using proper dashes, using curly or smart quotes instead of straight quotes, using proper ellipses, etc.)
• If your cover design firm will be different than your interior layout firm, be sure they’re willing to work together to ensure a cohesively-designed book.
• Can they also create electronic versions of your book?
• Do you have other service providers to recommend or handle for me? (Illustrators, printers, editors, etc.)
• Who retains the copyright to the design? If it’s the designer, don’t let this frighten you, as this is common. You should expect to have full usage of the cover image for your promotional usage at no charge. Under no circumstance should you turn over rights to your entire book or manuscript, however!
• Will I receive a production schedule? Mention any reasons why you might need your front cover design or finished books in-hand by a specific date.
• Will you be available to help design promotional materials once the book is finished? If not, be sure the designer is willing to provide at least cover files to another designer for this purpose.

Things to Remember:

• A good designer will want to know about your book as well as your company’s goals and will show interest in both.
• If you and a potential designer don’t “click” during your initial conversation, move on. There are plenty of good book design firms out there and at least one is right for you and your project.
• A good firm will recommend another design firm if their schedule is too full or if they feel your book does not fit with their style.
• Remember that you’re hiring this person not only for artistic talent, but for their industry expertise. Trust their instincts, but don’t completely ignore your own.

We think the book design process should be an enjoyable part of producing your book. If you choose the right firm to join your team, everyone will have a great time and produce a book that’s ready for today’s marketplace.

About the Author: Tamara Dever is the owner of TLC Graphics and Narrow Gate Books, offering book design, production, distribution, and PR for the serious small publisher. They are the recipients of more than sixty-five regional and national awards. “Together with our clients, we transform manuscripts into beautiful, marketable, and salable books and have fun along the way.”

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Passing your book cover concepts around to friends and family is a great way to gauge response and get constructive feedback. But if you want your book to jump off the shelf and into your readers’ hands, keep in mind that not all advice is sound. In this week’s guest post, book cover designer Michele DeFilippo offers four requirements of effective book covers and tips for preventing friendly feedback from ruining a solid cover concept.

Staying on track is important  when evaluating concepts presented by your cover designer. Chances are, when you show the concepts around to your circle of acquaintances, everyone will suggest changes—partly because they want to help, and partly because it’s just plain fun to participate.

To ensure that your cover design is not destroyed in the process, here are a few objective elements that every cover must have.

1. The title should generally be large and easily readable (with a few exceptions).
2. There should be good contrast between the title and the background. Simply put, this means a light title against a dark background, or a dark or colorful title against a light background.
3. The simpler the design, the better. Covers that are too “busy” or that contain overly ornate fonts or too many elements will confuse the buyer. The cover must tell the story in one quick glance.
4. The title should be readable when the cover is used in very small sizes and/or in black and white, as it may appear online or in catalogs. Print out the cover about an inch tall in both color and black and white to test it’s effectiveness.

While these four rules aren’t the only considerations to be kept in mind when creating a successful cover, they do form the basis upon which a solid cover design is built. So when your Aunt Matilda, who graduated from art school in 1940, insists that the background should be purple because it’s her favorite color, you’ll be able to explain why this isn’t a good idea.

About the Author: 1106 Design is an award-winning team offering book cover design and interior typesetting, manuscript editing, book title consulting, back cover copywriting, proofreading, printing coordination, and digital book printing. Our dedicated experts will hold your hand throughout the pre-press process and prepare your book to the highest industry standards. Our one-stop-shop offers the convenience of complete project management, saving you from the hassle and risk of choosing and managing multiple providers. Please visit http://www.1106design.com to view samples, read testimonials from happy clients, and download an Instant Quote, or contact Michele DeFilippo at office@1106design.com for more information.

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Everyone likes free stuff, and for authors, there’s nothing like complimentary book marketing resources! Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, has been kind enough to share these resources–all of which are excellent and information-packed!

Check them out!

Savvy Book Marketer Newsletter: www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com

Savvy Book Marketer Blog:  www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com

Savvy Book Marketer Guides: www.SavvyBookMarketer.com

Know of any additional free book marketing resources? Share them here…

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One of the best ways to get free publicity for your book and build expertise is to garner media attention. Although it takes time and work to get noticed by reporters, the foundation of a good publicity campaign is the press release. If you want build a relationship with media professionals, many times a press release is your way in.

However, not all press releases are created equal, and most of them wind up in the trash. If you want members of the media to call you about stories you pitch, or the stories they are already working on, you have to send the right message in your press releases. To make sure your media savvy is communicated effectively, consider the following five elements that every solid press release should contain.

1. The Foundation – Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How
Facts are the foundation of every news story, and when reporters need fundamental, factual information they often turn to press releases first. This is why who, what, when, where, why, and how is so important when you’re creating your press releases. So, before you start writing, take a few minutes to organize the facts about the news you hope to communicate in your release. This information will be the foundation for the entire document, and you will reiterate it in the opening paragraph of your release so reporters don’t have to read more than a few lines to get the gist of your message.

2. A Catchy, but Brief Headline
News headlines communicate to readers what the story is about, they capture attention, and they do it in ten words or less. If you want your news release to capture attention, then you need a title that works the same way the front page headlines sell papers – you have to entice your audience to read more.

In the case of a press release, your readers are reporters and editors, so your headline has to give them a reason to keep reading your release by presenting your news in a catchy and informative manner. For example, “New Book Reveals the Secrets to Weight Loss Success.” This example grabs attention, informs the reader, and does so in ten words or less, which is exactly what busy reporters and editors need to see.

3. A Hook
Once you’ve gotten your readers’ attention with a catchy and informative headline, you need to hook them with…well, a hook. In writing, a hook is something that excites your reader and compels them to keep reading, such as a startling fact or statistic, a compelling question, or a common problem.

Recall the examples presented above – if you’re writing your release to announce your new book on weight loss, then you might open your release with an interesting fact or statistic about weight. For example, “Over half of Americans will diet this year, and less than five percent of them will succeed at losing weight and keeping it off.” You will obviously have to be able to back that up with research, but this hook communicates a common problem and a startling statistic all in one.

4. A Usable Quote or Two
As you go into more detail about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of your news, providing as much detail as you can in as few words as possible, you will start to craft the body of your press release. In doing so, you should also provide quotes that the reporter can pull directly from your release to use in his or her story. Reporters love to get information directly from sources. By providing a quote or two in your release you make the reporter’s job that much easier, and better your chances of getting mentioned in the paper.

5. A Call to Action
Once you’ve wrapped up all your main points, you have to close your press release with a call to action. If you want reporters to call you for an interview, that should be your call to action. If you want them to cover your book signing, then you have to say so.

Press Release Success
Media mentions are like free advertising for your book, so everyone should issue press releases on a regular basis. Even if you don’t get written up in a feature-length story after your first few tries, media professionals will at least keep your contact information on file for the times when they do need your expertise. And by keeping your name in front of them will better your chances of getting noticed. When you use these tips for creating and improving your press releases, you better your chances of getting into the paper without buying expensive ad space.

Comments?

About the Author: Melinda Copp helps aspiring self-help, business, and nonfiction authors get their books done, so they establish expertise, achieve their goals, and share their message in a powerful way. Get a free copy of her Jumpstart Your Book E-course when you sign up for her weekly e-zine.

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Writing a book isn’t hard, but you have to make a commitment and put in the work to actually make your dream of becoming an author a reality. If you’ve been searching through web sites and books for a writing strategy that ensures success, then look no further. Use the following five tips to get your book done!

1. Develop an Outline
I know outlines aren’t for everyone. But think of your outline like your plan. You wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint, and you wouldn’t climb a mountain without a detailed plan. If you did, you’d likely end up frustrated and ready to give up. A book is a big project, so take time to make a plan that covers your content and everything you want to include.

2. Dedicate Time to Writing
If you want to write a book, then you have to WRITE! You have to make the project a priority, which means you’ll do whatever it takes to get it done. This is difficult for idea people and entrepreneurial types, who often have a million things going on at once and want to do everything. But to get your book done, sometimes you have to be willing to set other, lesser priority projects aside temporarily.

3. Get Motivated
The rewards for writing every day take time to pay off. You have to show up and do the work, but the most appealing benefits don’t start happening until after the book is published. To keep yourself plugging along, you have to find ways to keep yourself motivated. Try treating yourself to a new book or night at the movies for every fifty pages you finish. Small rewards can keep you going until the big-picture benefits come your way.

4. Be Accountable
When it’s just you keeping track of your work, slacking off is easier. So be accountable for your writing progress to at least one person. You could keep a running page tally with a colleague or spouse—just make sure the person is tough enough to keep you writing.

5. Overcome Challenges
As fun and rewarding as writing a book can be, every author faces challenges. The successful ones know how to overcome the obstacles that occur when writing a book-length manuscript. Be aware of the resources available to you—such as books on writing, writing communities, and classes—that can help you overcome and avoid the challenges that might otherwise stop your progress altogether.

Get Your Book Done
It doesn’t matter where you are in your writing life right now. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, you can write your book. When you use these five strategies, success is definitely within your reach!

Comments?

About the Author: Melinda Copp helps aspiring self-help, business, and nonfiction authors get their books done, so they establish expertise, achieve their goals, and share their message in a powerful way. Get a free copy of her Jumpstart Your Book Quick-Start Mini E-course when you sign up for her weekly e-zine.

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This week’s guest post comes from Dr. Cathy Goodwin, a copywriter and web site marketing consultant. She addresses an important book marketing strategy that most authors have no idea how to get and use–book reviews.

Are you an author who just finished writing a book? Congratulations: you can take pride in a major accomplishment. But after you mail your final chapters to your publisher, you now face an even bigger challenge: finding readers who will be eager to buy your book.

These days, every author needs to be a book marketing expert. Even if you are published by a big New York house, such as Random House or Harper Collins, you will most likely receive limited funds to help with your marketing. I once met an author who reported, slightly stunned, “Even though they gave me a 6-figure advance, they didn’t help with marketing the book. You would think they’d want to protect their investment.”

When you self-publish, you won’t have an advance to use for publicity and marketing. Your book will not be included in catalogs and may not be picked up by distributors. Therefore it will be even more critical to use your marketing resources for maximum effectiveness.

In any case, book tours today are exhausting. You have delays, long lines in security, and impersonal hotel rooms. Even when you reach your destination, you might find yourself talking to just a few people, especially if the weather just turned cold.

So what do you do next? Your marketing pro, publicist and/or publisher probably gave you the same advice: Get some book reviews on Amazon. They were right.

Your first question should be, “What do reviewers expect from books on this topic or in this genre?” Plan to look at several dozen reviews in your genre. Reviewers (perhaps unconsciously) evaluate your book based on consistency with genre.

Your genre is the category of a book. Mystery, self-help, romance, memoir, literary fiction, biography, science fiction and religion are examples of genres. Within each genre, you find authors specializing in sub-genres. For example, mystery sub-genres include the amateur sleuth, private detective, police procedural and cozy.

One of the biggest mistakes authors make is mixing genres. Often they think they can illustrate a self-help book with extended stories from their own lives. Alternatively they write a memoir with “lessons for readers” after each chapter. Reviewers, like any readers, tend to want one or the other.

Some topics tend to be associated with specific genres. For instance, one popular author interviewed a few dozen people about their careers. He specifically stated his book was not intended as self-help. Still, reviewers tended to be puzzled. They were programmed to view “career” as “self-help.”

Book reviews can promote your book but most authors don’t know how to get not just reviews, but reviews that lead to sales. Dr. Cathy Goodwin, a published author and prolific online book reviewer, gets requests from authors nearly every week. She shares secrets of getting reviews (and 5-star reviews) in a FREE e-book you can download immediately. Visit http://www.BookMarketingWeb.com for immediate access.

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