THE ELEMENTS OF A BOOK PROPOSAL

The elements of a book proposal all have to be included in what is a marketing piece that will convince the recipient that your book is marketable. You will need a book proposal even if you have the entire book written. To write a book proposal, start with an overview describing the book, why it fills a…

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SIX SECRETS TO GETTING SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

secrets to getting speaking engagements

Many authors want to use their book to launch a career as a speaker but have only done a few presentations. What are the secrets to getting speaking engagements? By showing off why you would be an engaging, informative speaker. Have a section on your website that sells you as a speaker. Add a demonstration…

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CHOOSING YOUR AUTHOR NAME

choosing your author name

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, Shakespeare wrote, but what author name do you want to use for your books? You may not have chosen your birth name, but you do have a choice when it comes to choosing your author name.

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BUILDING AN AUTHOR PLATFORM

images of faces to illustrate building an author platform

If you have no author platform whatsoever but want to write a book, you face two big challenges. The first is that you will have no feedback from actual fans of your work and ideas as you start to create a book to serve their needs. A book is as much about your audience as you. Get to know who they are by beginning to build an author platform from scratch. And your second challenge? Gathering email addresses of people who are interested in what you have to say and who are likely to buy your book, and even likely to promote it to others online using social media, email, and other means, without you having to pay them. Yes, your fans can help you sell your book. So meet challenge number one and challenge number two and start building an author platform and following now.

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FIVE KEYS TO MAKING YOUR SELF-HELP BOOK A HUGE SUCCESS

word self-help to illustrate concept of self-help booksbooks

Wrapping up a book project is always bittersweet for me. As a developmental editor, I’m like a book’s “midwife”: I’m happy to see the baby born into the world, but sad that my role in helping the author go from a book idea to a book is over. After a book is completed, I try to take some time to revel in the pleasure of having helped yet another author get that book written and ready for publication. Then, I take some time to ponder what I learned from the experience. One of my most recent projects yielded the following testimonial, which hints at five keys to making your self-help book a huge success:

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