AuthorU

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Attend the Colorado Country Christmas Gift Show Nov. 6-8

Where will you be on the dates of November 6^th thru the 8^th?

The largest Christmas Gift Show is coming to Denver November 6th thru 8th! AuthorU will be there—will you? Plan now to get all your shopping done in one place for the Holidays (and for events the coming year) ... ahead of the crowds! Enjoy the lights as the Holiday season unrolls, knowing that you don’t have to fight crowds in stores.

The Colorado Country Christmas has over 400 booths to entice you and your shopping needs. The AuthorU Booth is #444-445 – In Expo Hall II … we are along the back wall at a corner site.

On Friday and Saturday, Jake Williams will have pen out, ready to draw caricatures for booth visitors. We will have over 60 titles displayed for shoppers plus authors will be signing their books throughout the three days. There will be something for everyone and all ages.

You will find yourself in a spectacular Holiday Wonderland with booths to entice shoppers and select from. Wander from booth to booth viewing arts & crafts, gifts, beautiful season decorations and gourmet foods!

There will be artists demonstrating skills and creating gifts with wood carvings, fold art, stained glass and pottery.

There will be handmade clothing, dolls, ornaments, blown glass, jewelry, woodwork, leather goods, toys and dolls, garden art, bird houses, painting and much more!

There will be yummy foods and a stage dedicated to cooking demos.

There will even be a section devoted to model trains!

And of course, books.

There will be gourmet foods (think truffles, cookies, candy, nuts, jams and jellies to tasty soups, dips, oils, vinegars, nuts, cookies and cakes, seasonings, homemade spices and sauces), wonderful accessories, jewelry, clothing, toys, gizmos and gadgets galore. There will be featured national and local chefs, culinary schools, authors and restaurants. Favorite holiday recipes will be shared, and live cooking demonstrations will be presented throughout the three days. Santa promises to be there as well. If you want to attend the cooking demonstrations, here’s a link to what’s happening:http://coloradochristmasgiftshow.com/cooking-program/

Don’t plan on coming for an hour … because it’s not going to happen—you will marvel and be delighted at all that is displayed, demonstrated and offered.

What you get is 400 plus mini stories –AuthorU Founder Judith Briles loved the note cards she picked up last year that were so unusual and fun to send out, the unique one of a kind earrings and the bread pudding in the food section was to die for—something she bought several of, froze and served throughout the following year. There is bound to be many vendors you won't want to miss!

SHOW TIMES & DATES

Friday November 6^th 10 am to 9 p.m.

Saturday November 7^th 9 am to 8 p.m.

Sunday November 8^th 10 am to 5 p.m.

Where: Denver Merchandise Mart - 58th & I-25 (Denver)

Admission Tickets are only $14.50 --- AND with a hand stamp, you can attend ALL THREE days for this single price! Bring this discount coupon worth $2 off:

There is plenty of FREE PARKING at the Denver Merchandise Mart. See you there!

Directions to the Mart: http://coloradochristmasgiftshow.com/faq/

Booth layouts are here: http://coloradochristmasgiftshow.com/floorplan/

Judith Briles is a book publishing expert and coach. She empowers authors and is the Founder of Author U, a membership organization created for the serious author who wants to be seriously successful. She’s been writing about and conducting workshops on publishing since the 80s. Judith is the author of 34 books including Author YOU: Creating and Building Your Author and Book Platforms (ForeWord IndieFab Book of the Year), Snappy Sassy Salty: Wise Words for Authors and Writers and a speaker at publishing conferences. Book #34 was published this summer: The CrowdFunding Guide for Authors & Writers. Get your copy.

Become part of her inner circle by joining the Author’s Ark and exclusive monthly webinar and coaching event. Each summer, she holds Judith Briles Book Publishing Unplugged, a three day intensive limited to a small group of authors who want to be seriously successful. In 2015, the dates are August 27-29th. Her audio and workbook series, Creating Your Book and Author Platform is now available. Join Judith live on Thursdays at 6 p.m. EST for Author U – Your Guide to Book Publishing on the Toginet Network at bit.ly/PublishingShow .

Follow @AuthorU and @MyBookShepherd on Twitter and do a “Like” at AuthorU and Judith Briles – TheBookShepherd on Facebook. If you want to create a book that has no regrets, contact Judith at Judith@Briles.com.

If you are looking for FREE author and book coaching ... call in to Judith's Author Monday Mornings at NOON Eastern each Monday. The number is 218-632-9854; Access Code 1239874444 ... have your questions ready--there's a full hour to ask and listen.

Get Ready to Create a Writing Marathon Authors: Get ....

November is all about FAST Writing. Whether you are on the Novel side or Non-fiction, YES, you too can write a book in 30 days. Now with that said, it doesn’t meant that it’s going to be polished, ready for the editor. What it means is that you have a first draft—and it means that you should be doing the Happy Author Dance. You did it. Here are 6 steps to surround yourself with if you are ready to take the mighty Write a Novel in 30 Days or Write a Non-fiction Book in 30 Days.

1. Get FOCUSED pronto … do one final swoop via Google of any last minute info on your topic that has been posted in the past few months. Then stop—leave the Internet alone … you have hunted and gathered.. now you are going to sort and identify key topics that will become your chapters. Only at the end of the 30 days will you come back to do a final check for any late breaking news/studies, etc.

Outside noise—from doing your love of the Garage Sale Saturday adventure to playing hooky for a weekend to diving to a thriller you have been dying to chew over is allowed. Think of an almost isolation—your loved ones can bring you food and drink—but stay out. You are the Author at Work … DO Not Cross into My Space!

2. Create a STORYBOARD that includes Who your readers is; what Value your book will bring; identifies what the Pain is that the reader feels; identifies the scope of the Problem; identifies/reveals what the Causes and Effects are to the reader; and of course delivers the secret sauce—the Solution(s). Include what the key Activities you will include—quizzes, tips, etc.—what? Add your working title to the mix; what your own muse is that will keep you motivated and last, but never least—what your Dump Zone factors are. What are the no-nos that you need to stay away form so that you can stay focused?

When I teach my How to Write a Book in 4 Weeks, this is a critical element of the first week where all participants get their Story Boards and start working on them. The visual they get is ideal to quickly see where the holes are.

3. Start sorting into PILES all those articles that you’ve been saving/storing/ripping out of magazines—do this by printing them out. YES, print … them … out. I’m a huge fan of getting the visual going here.

I don’t care where you spread it—a huge table, a floor—just spread out. Build your piles—the larger ones will most likely be chapters. Get your highlighter out. If some of the articles can cross over to another pile—copy it and drop in. This could take a few hours—a few days. But it’s the essential element in getting you off and running. Do you see any patterns?

4. Find a spot that you can get to your Piles quickly. One that others don’t get their hands on. It’s do not cross into my space “people”.

5. START writing. Pick up of your Piles, get them organized and start writing—either dictating, keyboard or by hand. But START and save into individual files on your computer. Don’t mix it up as one document. Don’t worry that you may not be writing “in order”—you are developing a puzzle and all the pieces will come together—you just need to create them. Your Contents page will be one of the last things you finalized as you complete the chapters. Don’t feel that you need to start writing with a completed outline … just start writing.

6. Remember—participating in a 30 Day Write a Book marathon creates your first DRAFT. Now … you start fine tuning … Does it flow? Does it address the Pain—offer Solutions? You are now ready for the next step … that’s all the tweaking; the adds for call-outs, illustrations, quotes, tips, etc. Then, of course, editing—ruthless editing.

Join me for my next series of How to Write a Book in 30 Days this Winter … either IN PERSON in Denver in February or in the REMOTE sessions in March. Several of the participants in the July and August classes will have there completed, edited, layed out, printed books in hand by November 1^st.

Loving it!

Friday, October 30, 2015

Author Writing, Book Marketing, Publishing Tips October 30

There are always grumbles about Amazon … it takes too much … it controls everything … I don’t like Amazon. My response: get over it. When it comes to eBooks, Amazon is the eBook God for sales in North America. Stats always flow about eBook sales. Don’t forget to do the MatchBook combo for both print and “e” sales. Here’s what’s popping for you to noodle on this week:

Amazon makes up a higher percentage of the total US ebook market than the oft-cited 65% figure: when indie books without ISBNs are included in the statistics, Amazon accounts for 74% of all US ebook purchases and 71% of all US consumer dollars spent on ebooks.
Outside of Amazon.com, 4 other major online retailers comprise nearly the entirety of the remaing 26% of the US ebook market: the Apple iBookstore, the Barnes & Noble Nook store, the Kobo US bookstore, and GooglePlay Books.
At those 4 other stores, self-published indie ebooks make up 22% of all ebooks purchases and take in 32% of all author income generated by ebook sales.
Between 14% and 25% of all ebooks sold at Apple, Nook, and Kobo store lack Bowker-issued International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs).
In total, more than 33% of all ebooks sold in the US each year have no ISBN.
Across the entire US ebook market, ebooks without ISBNs now command a greater share of consumer ebook purchases, reading time, and author earnings than all of the AAP’s 1,200 publishers put together, including the Big Five Publishers.
The true US ebook market, which includes non-ISBN sales, is at least 50% larger than ISBN-limited market statistics from Nielsen and Bowker are estimating.

Source: AuthorEarnings.com

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Inspiration and Ideals for Authors

What author doesn't need a goose every once in a while? And what author | writer wouldn't love to NOT have to start from scratch for every piece of work that gets published? And, have you thought about exploring what might be a fit for you and your expertise that could be waiting to be found via the public domain?

It's always fun to share new things that come across the AuthorU desk that does just that, especially when it is birthed from one of our own.

Inspiration and Ideals: Thoughts for Every Day by Philippa Burgess pops this week and what a terrific book to encourage you in your writing and yes, your marketing. Think of it as a non-fiction every day inspiration with something to read and noodle upon.

Here's what is cool. This is an old book brought back to live with love and care. Originally discovered at a flea market over 30 years ago, Philippa used it as her daily encourager as a

teen to today. Written by Grenville Kleiser (1868 - 1935), the daily thoughts in their original form carried a quality to them designed to instruct and uplift and became a guidepost for her life.

Learning about public domain books and fondly reading her very, very worn copy, the light bulb was turned on. She worked closely with a book coach, editor and designer--morphing her version for today's modern audiences. Her vision was to create a vivifying and instructive and very friend manual for your own life's journey. And she did.

Here's a few lessons for all of us:

ID what has inspired | encouraged you over the years ... can it be morphed for your own writing/authorship?
Are there an "oldies" out there that you can "repurpose" a bit and bring them out as a new version with your name attached?
Don't forget your roots. For Philippa, what brought her to where she is today, she has now made it a contemporary and beautiful book.

I love it and would encourage you to get your copy--I chose "hard"--I get what a well used book looks like after multiple readings. Something you will do. I'm for helping our fellow and fellowette author members out. Here's Philippa Burgess' website where pre-orders are currently being taken. Think of it as a gift to yourself and anyone you care for.

Monday, August 24, 2015

It's Hot ... CrowdFunding for Authors!

You want to be in the minority in you are CrowdFunding!

That is, the minority that succeeds in a publishing crowdfunding project. Just under 30 percent are successful in reaching their funding goals. That should be you.

CrowdFunding Is a Trend … Not a Fad!

You’ve written a book … and now you need money for design and printing; money for marketing; money to develop a website; even money for a PR campaign. Money. If your resources are low and your bank yawns when you approach it, there’s another way.

Welcome to OPM—Other People’s Money … money that is given to you and money that you don’t have to pay back. Welcome to Crowdfunding.

You want the odds to be on your side. You want to be in the 30 percent minority that succeeds if you are an author or author-to-be. Not the 70 percent that fail.

The CrowdFunding Guide for Authors & Writers is exactly what you need and this week is the big launch on Amazon. It will show you how to:

Create rewards that are slick, click and tick with donors.
Identify timelines: pre, during and post a crowdfunding campaign.
Determine which crowdfunding sites are best for authors and writers.
Pinpoint the essentials that every successful crowdfunding campaign has.
Get hot tips for creating momentum and the final push.
Structure a social media checklist that’s ideal for your project.

It's the compact guide you’ve been looking for that is easy and understandable—one that shows you how to set budgets and limit costs. Does crowdfunding work? Yes. Is it doable? Absolutely … with some help.

With The CrowdFunding Guide for Authors and Writers, you’ve got The Book Shepherd, Dr. Judith Briles at your side. As publishing expert, all her crowdfunded authors have been over-funded. You can be too.

One of the essentials is the GamePlan. You need one. Another is the critical Timelines ... starting as far out as one year before you run your campaign. Granted, most don't think a year out ... but there is planning, and it's critical to your success. For example, here are tips for three months to launch date:

1 to 3 months before Crowdfunding Launch

eMail Gathering Continues. Don’t be surprised when people will say they are interested and want to be contacted when your launch begins—and vanish. It happens. There will be a percentage that come through, many won’t.
Book Cover and Support Branding. Having your book cover (even if it changes during the evolution post funding) delivers a visual of what’s to come.
Create Content for Crowdfunding Platform. Video, text for pages, gather images to include.
Crowdfunding Platform Site. You are building a landing page for your project that has a variety of elements to it. The good news is that you don’t have to “think up” what you need—you will get a step-by-step guide with the platform you choose to build your campaign on. What you need is to supply the content that goes in each. Think snap, crackle and pop in presentation. You want this completed several weeks before launch day.
Build Rewards. Study what other successful campaigns have presented for Rewards—what types appeared to be the most successful (you will tell this by the greatest number taken)? Create descriptions. Add a few that are “back-ups” to be used as a substitute for one that is posted and not being subscribed to or as a Bonus at the end of the campaign to lure already committed supporters into contributed a second round of funding.
Make your Video. When your campaign starts, consider adding an additional video—updating your supporters of any news. You can have a professional do it or DIY. What it needs is the heartfelt outreach, the why you are doing it, what the benefit will be to the reader, what you are doing with the moneys, and a call to action.
Refine your Marketing Strategy. Many authors automatically go to Kickstarter because it’s huge and they think because of size, the sheer volume of traffic it gets will automatically bring donors to them. Wrong thinking. Because of its size, you can be lost easily. Will you get looky-loos wherever you launch from? Sure. But the real success will come from your own push, your friends and relatives and the list building you did prior to launch.

Within The CrowdFunding Guide for Authors & Writers, you will find Timeline nuggets for one month prior, one week prior and tips for what you need to do during the Launch month and after the campaign is complete.

Get on board ... this is part of the AuthorYOU Mini-Guide series. Less than 100 pages, it's ideal for all author personal libraries. Get your copy today.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

YES ... you can write a nonfiction book in 4 weeks!

WOWIE ... Our first onsite class has finished and I'm deep in the heart of the first ONLINE class this month ... Write a NonFiction Book in 4 Weeks!

Each class is kept small (never over 18 members) so that I can know each author, what his or

her book is about and focus on their individual goals. What a pleasure to be in that position and what fun to watch as one by one, magic happens. The evolving Story Board tells are, creating a fantastic roadmap so that the book has guideposts for completion.

Boy-oh-boy, the first session is intense ... so much to get out, capped with the Kick-Butt Title Exercise. By the time session two pops up, the goove hits and believe it or not (better believe it), all titles are in place. Mission accomplished, it's gathering and plotting the rest of the book time.

Anita and Dennis Lunt are on their mission for their book, 10,000 Steps Straight Up. They plan to have it available for the AuthorU Holiday Christmas sale in November.

As the leader and creator of the How to Write a Non-Fiction Book in 4 Weeks, I loved the comments from several of the participants:

"Yes! Yes! Yes! I already see myself as an author--I can even feel and hold a copy of my first book. I see it hitting the market by storm."

"I enjoyed learning about how to really publish a book and about marketing."

"The reviewing and repeating of the processes as we added new steps each week was so helpful. It broke it down into manageable bites."

"I got more done in a month than I got done over an entire year."

"I really learned a lot from the first week's homework and hardcore evaluation of everyone's titles."

"Working with the story boarding, creative writing drills along with the styles of publish, marketing and all the social media strategies was invaluable."

Did anyone walk out with their book completed, edited, layed out, ready to print? No. Did anyone finish their first drafts? Yes, several did and all are working away with the tools they need to have a book in hand. Call me a happy Book Coach.

Both the onsite classes in Denver will be in September 8, 15, 22, 29 and online classes in October 6, 13, 20, 27--they will be repeated throughout the year. If you are just beginning, there is a place for you. If you have published, there is a place for you. Come join in. All information is on the website here.

ONLINE: Write Your Non-Fiction Book in Only 4 Weeks! sheepie-guy-write1-606x800

Judith Briles is a book publishing expert and coach. She empowers authors and is the Founder of Author.org, a membership organization created for the serious author who wants to be seriously successful. She’s been writing about and conducting workshops on publishing since the 80s. Judith is the author of 33 books including Author YOU: Creating and Building Your Author and Book Platforms (ForeWord IndieFab Book of the Year), Snappy Sassy Salty: Wise Words for Authors and Writers and a speaker at publishing conferences. The CrowdFunding Guide for Authors & Writers was published in June 2015.
Become part of her inner circle by joining the Author’s Ark and exclusive monthly webinar and coaching event. Each summer, she holds Judith Briles Book Publishing Unplugged, a three day intensive limited to a small group of authors who want to be seriously successful. In 2015, the dates are August 27-29th. Join Judith live on several shows on AuthorsRadio.fm: Authors on Fire (one-on-one interviews with authors and their books with Judith asking the questions on Tuesdays at 1 EST), Author YOU (the journey begins, retstarts or ignites to set the author on the road to success on Fridays at 1 EST) and AuthorU - Your Guide to Book Publishing (book publishing today - over all strategies to your marketing and publishing success on Wednesdays at 1 EST).
You can also hear her on Thursdays at 6 p.m. EST for Author U – Your Guide to Book Publishing on the Toginet Network at bit.ly/PublishingShow.
Follow @AuthorU and @MyBookShepherd on Twitter and do a “Like” at AuthorU and Judith Briles – TheBookShepherd on Facebook. If you want to create a book that has no regrets, contact Judith at Judith@Briles.com.

Author U is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the author who wants to be seriously successful. Monthly education programs delivered face-to-face and online, The Author Resource ezine, BookCamps and the annual Author U Extravaganza are tools designed for authors pre, during and post publishing of their books. Join AuthorU.org today.
If you are looking for FREE author and book coaching ... call in to Judith's Author Monday Mornings at NOON Eastern each Monday. The number is 218-632-9854; Access Code 1239874444 ... have your questions ready--there's a full hour to ask and listen.