The Good Stuff: Why Patience is A Good Thing, Plus a Free Jack Kerouac Art Print

August 25, 2015 by Maria

As I wrote about here, August is the month of The Good Stuff around these parts. Every week I’m going to be focusing on something worth celebrating in the publishing journey, whether it’s stories about new deals and successes, or writing inspiration, or platform-building encouragement…

Now, last week we talked about the 6 moments along the publishing journey where you should stop to celebrate. But what if you haven’t started that official journey to publication? How can you savor a journey you haven’t even started yet?

Well, here’s a newsflash: no matter where you are, you’re on your way. The real publication journey starts far before signing a book contract—it starts with years of building skills. And the most important skill to build in order to succeed in publishing? Patience.

I know that sounds groan-worthy, but it’s the truth. You’ll need patience with yourself when you sit down at your computer and all the words come out wrong. You’ll need patience when you try to build your online presence and can’t figure out why people aren’t flocking to you. You’ll need patience when you want results now, but all that’s in front of you are new, confounding challenges.

And all that patience you’ll be building? That’s A Good Thing.

I know it doesn’t seem like it—it never does. But as Wayne Stiles wrote this week over on Michael Hyatt’s blog:

“This season of waiting is a present—a gift that allows us to deepen our commitment to why we do what we do. Whatever our why is, it alone helps us to keep writing, keep speaking, and continue building while we wait.”

The person who has seemingly instant success with anything in life probably spent years building the foundational skills—both the tangible skills and the character strengths—necessary to execute on that creative vision. Those years were also the incubation period for a deep connection to the why that fuels us in our most challenging moments.

When we accept the reality that it takes time, we can start enjoying that time. We can also stop yearning for that mythical “one day…” when everything is finally easy and perfect and comfortable. When everything will suddenly be changed. That “one day…” will never arrive.

As a reminder of that (because it’s the easiest thing to forget in this industry!), you can download a free printable art print with Jack Kerouac’s famous quote:

“One day I will find the right words and they will be simple.”

The Good Stuff: A Book Deal with a Side of Cheesecake

August 11, 2015 by Maria

how to publish a book

As I mentioned last week, August is the month of The Good Stuff around these parts. My main post each week will be focusing on all the moments that are worth celebrating in the publishing world: everything from stories about successful book deals, to writing inspiration, to the 6 moments you should celebrate on your publishing journey (coming next week!)…

So let’s talk book deals, and let’s talk cheesecake. (Mmmhmmm!) I’m excited to officially announce a new deal that’s been in the works—Cheesecake Love by Jocelyn Brubaker, the wonderfully talented blogger behind Inside BruCrew Life.

Here’s the official deal listing:

Screen Shot 2015-08-03 at 1.47.36 PM

It’s so much fun to hit this stage in the publishing journey, because it’s the culmination of lots of hard work on the part of the author, editor, and agent. Jocelyn worked hard for years to build such a dedicated and loyal readership around her blog, and she’s such a pro at both sharing recipes and sharing stories with her readers.

One of the first things I always want to know when I’m considering signing a new author is their creation story. How did they get where they are? What got them started on blogging, or whatever other channel they use to build a platform?

Here’s a snippet of Jocelyn’s story, in her own words:

Read, Eat, Drink: Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling and a Sumac Gin and Tonic Recipe

August 6, 2015 by Maria

Read:

How to get published

Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling (Paul J. Zak for Harvard Business Review): “I advise business people to begin every presentation with a compelling, human-scale story. Why should customers or a person on the street care about the project you are proposing? How does it change the world or improve lives? How will people feel when it is complete? These are the components that make information persuasive and memorable.” This article is fascinating, and it explains the science behind a lot of what editors and agents know intuitively–that stories and a promise of transformation pull people in. And that’s exactly why I always tell authors to begin their blog posts, book proposals, and book introductions with a story. It’s the surest way to make people care.

Video: Michael Pollan on Cooking (The RSA): This little short is the most fun you’ll have in 2 minutes and 28 seconds all week! In it, Michael Pollan explains how corporations cook (hint: badly) and why there’s just one simple rule to eating healthy, without relying on fad diets or any deprivation at all (hint: a cookbook would help you with it!). I love this rule, and think it’s so true: no matter what you order at a restaurant, it will never be as healthy as the same thing cooked at home. That’s why cookbooks matter–they’re powerful tools to help people get in the kitchen and start living healthier lives.

20 Must-Read Books for Bloggers (Krystal from Bloggers Get Social): You can learn so much from books, and this list is a great start for bloggers who want to learn how to do everything better. Too many of the bloggers I see who are struggling are mostly just suffering from a lack of information–they’ve got their heads down, creating content day in and day out, and they’re not investing enough time in training and experimentation. So, even if it means you take a blog vacation for a week, set aside some time to do deep research. In the end, it’s much easier than trying to figure it all out yourself!

Worried About What You’re Not Doing (Leo Babuata of Zen Habits): “In any given moment, many of us are thinking about what we’re not doing. We feel guilty that we’re not doing more. Worried that we’re not as productive as we could be. Guilty that we procrastinate. We feel guilty that we don’t exercise more, eat right, have better bodies. We worry that we should be doing something better, something more amazing, doing what the amazing people we see online are doing. We worry about what we have to do later, what’s next, where we’re going.” A great contemplative practice to help creatives (and anyone!) combat comparison and anxiety.

Eat & Drink:

Over to Jarrett for a new spin on the classic gin and tonic:

Sumac gin and tonic recipe

Stage Four of Publishing a Book: Preorders, Promotion, and The Year After Publication

July 27, 2015 by Maria

This month I’m running a series on how the publishing process works and how to successfully navigate each stage of the journey, with zero bewilderment and maximum fun.

You can catch up here if you want to learn more:

This last and final stage of the process is the longest (after building a platform, that is), and it typically starts about 6 months before publication of your book. This is when the marketing and publicity teams at publishers typically kick into gear and begin planning the promotional campaigns for the next season. This is also when you should begin acting on the promotional plan you brainstormed over the last 6 months. (You did take that time after manuscript delivery to brainstorm your promo plan, right? Right.)

There are a lot of moving pieces to any good promotional campaign, and since you’ll be working both with your own team and your publisher’s team, you’ll want to get organized. Organization = optimal results. So go ahead: calendars out, everyone! Now assign every single appearance, interview, or to-do to a date on the calendar. This will help you not only see the big picture, but it will also help you divvy up your work over the weeks and weeks, so you don’t get completely overwhelmed. (After all, you’ll want to keep up your usual platform-building activities during this time, too.)

Next, hone in on the preorder phase, which is typically 1-3 months prior to publication. Preorders have become a huge deal in the publishing world in recent years, and it’s the best place to create snowballing momentum for your book. Here’s how it works:

An existing fan preorders your book because they know it will be awesome (because you’ve been giving them previews over the past year, of course)
—->
Your Amazon ranking spikes, then other retailers see that your book is popular and order more copies
—->
Your publisher sees that your book is popular with retailers and diverts more resources to your book, the title that’s taking off
—>
You use that help to reach an even broader segment of potential readers
—>
More people hear about your book, are enthralled (because your concept is so great, right?) then buy the book
—>
Your Amazon ranking stays strong and retailers reorder to stay stocked on your book
—>
And so on until you’ve conquered the world and can buy a new cat to replace that old one who didn’t appreciate you before you were a bestselling author.

The 4 Questions You Should Be Able to Answer at This Stage:

Category: Blogging