Personal Development;Life Enhancement;Achievement
Books
$100,000 Mistakes in Book Writing
Aug 27th
“A friend accepts us as we are yet helps us to be what we should.” ~Author Unknown
This article assumes that you have some interest in getting a non-fiction book published some day. You might find it interesting even if you don’t have any such desires!
Book Writing Mistakes Cost $100,000
Last time I talked about the mistakes that I made after I decided to write a book. I would guess that those mistakes cost me at least three years – three additional years where I did not have a book working for me to increase my income. Guessing what that has meant to me in lost income from additional speaking engagement fees, increased coaching income and direct book sales to my seminar participants, without out even calculating in any book sales thru Amazon or other sources, I am going estimate that not having a book for those three years cost me at least $100,000 in additional income. (Wow! It even hurts to type that out and read it!)
What will it cost you to add an additional three years onto the book writing/publication/marketing cycle? I don’t know, but I guarantee it will cost you at lot! Depending on your business, it could cost you much more than $100,000!
So what would I do differently if I was starting a book today and wanted to get it done and working for me as quickly and elegantly as possible?
11 Steps to Non-Fiction Publishing Success
- I would completely forget about getting my first book published traditionally and I would immediately start the process of becoming an expert on self-publishing. (I’ll talk about the why of this in future entries, and notice that I said first book.)
- I would find and join or create a non-fiction writer’s group that met weekly and made me read new, not revised, material each and every week. (I’ll talk more about this in future entries as well.)
- I would immediately start blogging, however short the entries, 5 times per week. (More to come here as well.)
- I would immediately hire an email newsletter service and start collecting names of people that like my material. (More coming)
- As quickly as possible, I would start to release a weekly newsletter to those collected names – however short the newsletter! (More coming)
- I would create a Mastermind group of like energy and achievement minded and completely different skills people and we would begin to meet weekly. (Much more about this process later – this is one of my strongest passions!)
- I would decide and commit that I was going to write every single day, no matter what, and I would slowly amp up the volume of that writing. (More coming)
- I would hire a book writing coach, if I could afford one, or join a monthly book writing coaching membership site if I could not afford a personal coach. (More about this to come as well)
- If I wasn’t already a public speaker, I would join Toastmasters and start the process of becoming one! (Yes – you guessed it…more coming)
- I would open a twitter account and start following people that interested me. (More to come!)
- I would start on account on LinkedIn and then dedicate just a bit of time each week here.
I wouldn’t expect to get all of these things done right away. But I would expect to have most of them in place within six weeks and all of them in place and working for me within six month. (In point of fact, I don’t quite have all of them in place myself yet, but I will within a couple of weeks!)
Did I mention yet that I have a non-fiction book coming out in September of 2011? I do! More about that next time as well.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.” ~John Wooden
I’m Back!
Aug 23rd
“Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around.” ~Sofia Serrano speaking to David Aames in the movie “Vanilla Sky (2001)
I’m back!
I’m finally going to have the time to start updating this blog on a regular basis again. I’ve spent much of the past 4 months buried in writing the first draft of a book. What time I had left over from that adventure, I split between working with my coaching and consulting clients, working out 6 days per week with personal trainers and of course, my family time always comes first. Anyhow, enough excuses and as Paul Newman said so well in the movie The Color of Money “I’m back!”
What you can expect to find here
So, what can you expect to find here? Of the many blogs that you could decide to read, why add mine to that list?
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You’ll find useful pieces that you can use immediately to improve your life – these nuggets will initially be drawn from my upcoming book about goals and achievement. I’ll share everything I’ve learned about setting goals and the process of achieving them rapidly and pleasurably.
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You can watch and learn the entire process of getting a non- fiction book written and profitably (I intend!) self-published. You will also learn why I decided to self-publish even though I had offers to buy my book from traditional publishing houses.
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See me as I transform my 50+ plus year old body from a neglected, taken for granted shell to a fit, muscular and energetic living work of art! (Wow! That even motivates me!)
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Learn from all of the massive mistakes that I have made all along the way. That way you can either avoid them or at least have a heads up on what to expect if you go there yourself.
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Learn first-hand the tips, techniques and strategies that I have developed and used with my clients over the course of more than 20 years working as a coach and business consultant.
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Get my take on business books that you might want to read or maybe not read. I am an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction and I will be reviewing business books here on a very regular basis.
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And if I go or do something interesting, you can bet I’ll share that as well.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
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“Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.” ~Goethe
Stopwatch Today – Hourglass Soon
Jun 30th
“Time goes, you say? Ah no!
Alas, Time stays, we go.”
~Henry Austin Dobson
Just before I wrote this blog entry, I had been working on reviewing my goals for the year. As I write this, the 6 month mark is passing and I am heading into the second half of the year. How have I done so far this year on achieving my most critical goals? Frankly, not very well yet! It’s a good thing that I still have 6 months to get them done!
As part of the goal review process, I was thinking about new skills or habits that I had started to use this year – skills and habits that helped me to achieve more and have more fun along the way. The biggest beneficial new habit, other than lifting weights at 5am, is the use of a stopwatch! I’ll get into exactly how this ‘using a stopwatch’ has helped me later, but now I must go make a quick revision to my book in process and add some information about this very subject!
Till next time…Jack
“Time is the fire in which we burn.” ~Delmore Schwartz
Learn to Write Like Author Richard Bach
Mar 9th
“The meaning I picked, the one that changed my life: Overcome fear, behold wonder.” ~Richard Bach
Last time I wrote about planning and the importance of setting big goals, long term goals that stretch out at least 10 years. I was going to write today about the process of setting these goals and how to create a great attitude that makes this process even easier and even more fun. Well, scratch that bit of learning for a couple of days, wonderful as it would be and will be again and instead let’s go on a little adventure filled side-trip together. Let’s take a trip into the mind of best-selling author and pilot Richard Bach.
Learn to Write Like Richard Bach
I have been reading Richard’s books since early 1970 and after nearly 40 years, his books are still some of my best friends. Just like my human best friends, I enjoy seeing Richard’s books each time and I enjoy spending time with them. Also just like my human friends, Richard Bach’s books are smart and I learn something from them every time we meet. I had the pleasure of finding a short video interview with Richard Bach a couple of days ago and it really had an impact on me. I am including a link to this video here and I encourage you to watch it. For ears that are ready to hear, there are wonderful, bright and beautiful gems of empowering beliefs just waiting to be picked up in this interview. Next time I will talk about some of these beliefs that Richard is gifting us with and how we can use them to make our own writing better and more fun for us and for our readers. The link will autoload and start to play immediately. Link to Richard Bach video interview.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“When you have come to the edge of all the light you have
And step into the darkness of the unknown
Believe that one of the two will happen to you
Either you’ll find something solid to stand on
Or you’ll be taught how to fly!” ~Richard Bach
Is Self-Publishing a Wise Choice?
Feb 5th
“Patience is also a form of action”. ~Auguste Rodin
Last time I talked about some of the things that I would not be getting by self-publishing my first book. Now let’s start talking about the rewards of self-publishing.
Rewards of Self-Publishing
- I have much more control of the entire process. My choice of proofreaders, editors, cover design and designers, who gets contacted for peer reviews and many other choices; I get to make these decisions. (There is opportunity and peril here. If I make poor choices here, I am not going to get good results.)
- I learn the book business. I intend to be a successful published author and publish many books. I certainly have the material for many books. I believe that the sooner I learn the process of publishing, the better off I will ultimately be.
- I intend to be a successful published author. (Yes, I said it again…I know.) My research indicates that more than 90% of the first time non-fiction authors, published traditionally or self-published, never make any significant amount of money from their writing efforts. My research also indicates that something in the neighborhood of 90% of the first time non-fiction writers never get a second book published. These seem like very bad odds to me and I wanted a way to stack the deck in my favor.
Next time I will explore in more detail how self-publishing, done properly, can hopefully stack the deck wonderfully in my favor – and yours too.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“Patience is the companion of wisdom”. ~St. Augustine
I’m an Idiot for Self-Publishing?
Feb 4th
“One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it”. ~Sidney Howard
I’m an idiot for self-publishing? Maybe, but maybe not. Last time I talked a bit about what I had recently learned from my study of the genius British novelist Charles Dickens. I also mentioned that some of what I had learned from my study of him had been a deciding factor in my decision to self-publish my first book. I think if Dickens had been beginning his writing career today, he would have almost certainly self-published his first works. Then I think he would have partnered with a great publisher for his next works.
For me, the decision to self-publish was a hard one. I am already busy and writing and then publishing a book – and really doing the proper promotion to ensure a great reception for the fledgling book – this is a lot of work. I had no idea how much work it was until I began the process. For me at least, the writing of the book has turned out to be the easiest part. All of the things that the publisher would do for me, if I had sold the rights of my first book immediately to a publisher, – that has been quite a steep learning curve.
So why did I decide to self-publish? I’ll start from the side of what I won’t be getting or what I am giving up.
- It will cost me more money to self-publish, quite a bit more. Since I am taking on all of the costs of proofreaders and editors, cover designers and printing and the hiring of top-notch PR people, all things that a publisher might have done for me, I am spending more money.
- I am giving up a great deal of my time learning the book business. Had I sold my book immediately, I would have needed to learn very little about the book business – at least at first. I could have let the publishers handle all of the details for me.
- I am giving up the money that I could have made by simply coaching or speaking instead of learning the book business. I am usually fully booked or as booked as I care to be for coaching and I could have simply coached more, earned more, and let the publishers do what they know best.
- I am giving up some credibility for this my first book. A self-published book does not have the credibility in the eyes of some people that a traditionally published book has.
- I am almost certainly giving up some sales that I might have had otherwise. I don’t know all of the distribution channels that an established publisher knows and although I am learning fast – it is certain that I will miss some of them – and not sell those copies of my book.
So, with all of that, why on earth would I self-publish? We will both have to wait until next time for that answer – my time is up for this entry.
Next time I will explain the balance of my thinking about traditional publishing versus self-publishing.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs”. ~Vance Havner
Charles Dickens and Groundhog Day
Feb 2nd
“Groundhog Day is a lot like a rock concert but the people are better behaved and there’s a groundhog involved…” ~Tom Chapin, editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper.
… As an aside, it is Groundhog Day in the United States while I am writing this entry. Although I am not sure that “Punxsutawney Phil” is any better at weather forecasting than me, and I am not very good; I do love the concept! The cute little devil did see his shadow today and has forecast 6 more weeks of winter. Not a shocker – this winter does not seem to want to let go. …
Last time I talked about my first book and its upcoming release in November of 2010. I also mentioned that my decision to self-publish this first book was influenced by my research into the life of Charles Dickens. Here is a bit more about that story:
I recently read “The Making of Charles Dickens” by Christopher Hibbert and I really enjoyed the experience! I not only discovered a new author whose style I liked, but a prolific author as well. This means I have lots of great books waiting for me to find and read. I also got some great insights into what might have helped Charles Dickens be the incredible novelist that he was. (Did you know that he is one of the very few authors that has never gone out of print? And this, as I write this entry, some 140 years after his death? Wow!)
I am always looking for the “secrets of success” or the unique beliefs that help exceptional people be exceptional. Here are some of the secrets that I extracted from my recent study of “Boz”:
1) Being extremely focused on the task at hand – fiercely determined to get it right – is a key to success in writing (and any other aspect of living.)
2) It is okay to be afraid about the reception your writing will receive – as long as you are brave enough to get it out to the public to read.
3) Believe in the value of your writing, even if others at first do not share your enthusiasm.
4) Write about what you know intimately well and share the clarity of your vision.
5) Don’t be afraid to ask what you think your writing is worth.
6) You can do more than you think you can.
7) It is fine to use newest technology to publish your books. (Dickens commonly used magazines and serial releases of chapters – then he sold the books as completed documents. This was pretty cutting edge stuff for the day.) This final point is the one that swayed me to the side of self-publishing.
Next time I’ll be talking about the complete set of reasons why I decided to self-publish this first book and what the implications might be for you and me.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time”. ~Charles Dickens from his novel “David Copperfield”
Ready to Learn the Rules of Life?
Nov 4th
“Life is succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood” ~Helen Keller
I just finished reading “If Life is a Game, These are the Rules” by Cherie Carter-Scott Ph.D and it was a great experience! I am not sure why it took me so long to run across this wonderful little guide-book for life. It was originally published in 1998 and I do read a lot, especially in the fields of self-help and self-development. I am going to assume that I was not ready for the lessons contained in the book until now. (If Cherie should run across this entry, my apology in advance. I just could not figure out how to get that mark over the first “e” in your first name. Sorry about that!)
I am not going to repeat all of the ten lessons from the book; I am going to encourage you to buy a copy to read if you don’t already own one. I do want to share just the first three rules…
Rule One: You Will Receive a Body – You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration of your life on Earth.
Rule Two: You Will Be Presented With Lessons – You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called “life.” Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum.
Rule Three: There Are No Mistakes, Only Lessons – Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors, and occassional victories. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that work.
These three rules really called out to me and in light of my recent illness and my new dedication to the health and vitality of my body, I know that I am ready to learn.
Do yourself a favor – go find this book. Here is a link to Carter-Scott’s website which is also a great education in and of itself.
Till next time faithful readers…Jack
“I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.” ~Eartha Kitt
What I Learned from Dan Brown of “The Da Vinci Code” Fame
Aug 26th
“You can be anything you want to be, if only you believe with sufficient conviction and act in accordance with your faith; for whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” ~ Napoleon Hill
I just finished reading ‘The Man Behind The Da Vinci Code” – “An Unauthorized Biography of Dan Brown” by Lisa Rogak. This was by no means an earth-shakingly good book, but it did give me some good insights into how Dan Brown became the mega-successful author that he is today. I love to read autobiographies whenever I can, but Dan Brown has not written one yet. So, this book was as good as I could do.
I read autobiographies and biographies of people that I respect or people that have already achieved some part of what I intend to achieve. I believe that doing this saves me time and missteps – if someone has already done what I intend to do, and I do the same things that they did, I should achieve very similar results. (This is a basic tenet of NLP.) For me, I intend to be a best selling author and Dan has already done that. There should be a great deal that I can learn from him, even if I write non-fiction and he writes fiction.
So, What Did I Learn From My Study of Dan Brown?
- Write early in the day when you have no other commitments or excuses. Dan did most of the work on his first books starting between 4am and 430am.
- Study your first results and early feedback. Dan used each of his books as an exercise in learning what attracted attention and sales and what did not.
- Find a job that supports you while giving you time to write. Dan worked in LA and back on the East Coast as a teacher while working and publishing his early works. Self-discipline must be one of his keys to success!
- Find a supportive mate or best friend. Dan very wisely hooked up with his wife-to-be while he was a musician in LA and from what I gather, she is still a great source of help and guidance and belief.
- Study the competition. What is selling or not selling and how did they do that – I believe that Dan spent lots of time here.
- Carefully plot and plan your work. Dan had great outlines long before he wrote any significant amounts of his actual prose.
- Write much more than you need and edit harshly. I think this is great advice for anyone that writes!
Thanks for the great advice Dan. Even though I am getting this information from someone who did not actually interview you, I think you would agree with what I have extracted. And Dan, should you by some miracle read this – I and millions of others are really ready for your next book – call it good and send it out to us – perfection is unobtainable anyhow.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times.” ~ Johann Von Schiller
What Sir Richard Branson Taught Me
Jul 31st
“I believe in benevolent dictatorship provided I am the dictator.” ~Richard Branson
I just got back from a business trip to Minneapolis and St. Paul; Minnesota, USA. I had a great time – both personally and professionally. I hadn’t been to the twin cities since 1975 and I had no idea what to expect. What I found was a pair of modern cities with great nightlife, great restaurants and museums and just a really nice upbeat feeling. I’m working now to set up some speaking engagements and I can’t wait to go back. I’ll talk more about my trip and places you might want to go another time.
On to Richard Branson and what I have learned from him. I can hear you asking: “Did you meet him?”. Nope. Sadly I haven’t had the chance to meet Sir Richard Branson yet. What I was lucky enough to do was finish reading “Losing My Virginity”; a book that he wrote in 1998. I am not sure that he was “Sir” when he wrote this book, but he was already a most amazing man.
Reading, NLP, Modeling and Richard Branson
i am an avid reader – both fiction and nonfiction books are my very good friends. i estimate that I read around one hundred and fifty to two hundred books per year. As long as I can remember, I have had the gift of rapid reading and it has served me well. It is one of my secrets of success, but reading this many books is not something that I expect anyone else to adopt; and you certainly don’t need to read even a fraction of this many books to absolutely master your chosen field of study.
You do need to read though and I encourage you to read autobiographies, of the people that you admire, whenever you can. My life has been totally transformed from the reading of perhaps a dozen great autobiographies and greatly influenced by a few more. In the case of Sir Richard Branson, I admired what he had achieved and I want to see what he did to achieve it. In NLPish terms, I wanted to model the repeatable aspects of him and see what I could learn and potentially adopt to make my own business journey more enjoyable and more successful.
What Sir Richard Branson Taught Me
You can model many things from a person. Actions, capabilities, beliefs, their identity and even their connection to their creator or to the universe can be extracted and be potentially adopted. For me, here are the main things that I was able to get from my reading of “Losing My Virginity”:
- I believe that Richard views life as a great adventure that is meant to be lived. Throughout the book, adventure is a very common theme. What would you do or attempt to do if you viewed life this way? (This by the way is a belief of Richard’s and also a life metaphor – I believe his dominate one.)
- Richard is great at creating a brand that people want to be associated with. Like Apple is today, Richard’s Virgin brand became something that people wanted to be involved with – they wanted to shop there, hang out there, travel there – Richard carefully nurtured the image of his brand to give his company a huge competitive advantage. How is your brand? I am still evolving mine, but you can bet that I am going to pay attention to it now!
- Richard is great at surrounding himself with people that have the skills that he does not. He is fantastic at forming great partnerships and at recruiting top talent that compliment his skills. How about you? Are you spending your time doing what you are meant to do and having someone else do the parts that are tough for you, but easy for them? What if you did – what great things might happen?
- Richard is not afraid to take big risks to achieve what he wants, and he believes that he will find a way to make whatever it is happen. How about you? Are you willing to take big risks for the right cause? What might it be like if you were?
- Richard believes in following his gut instincts – right or wrong – and over time his gut instinct has gotten very good indeed at being right – by being right and sometimes by being massively wrong! For me, if I view something that did not do what I want as a learning experience and not as a failure, I am much more likely to take sufficient action to make my dreams happen. If I viewed every mistake or sub-optimal result as a failure, I would soon quit – I hate to fail!
- I am not sure if Richard is fearless in self-promotion or simply gets himself to act that way. It really doesn’t matter – Richard promotes himself and his ideas again and again until he gets the results he wants or he finds out that something else is actually more valuable to go after. What about you? What would your life be like is you could fearlessly promote yourself and your ideas – if the fear of rejection simply didn’t exist for you? I know for me, getting past the fear of rejection was the turning point in my life.
Richard may or may not say that these are the key elements of his unusual success, but these are the items that caught my attention. I guarantee that I did some sorting, both consciously and unconsciously while compiling this list. I can tell already that I made note of things that Richard and I did in common and I know that I especially made note of things that he did, or believed, that are not currently in my repertoire. That is one of the many reasons that it is critical that you read! You need to see what makes sense for you. If you are at all serious about achieving a life that you are proud to call your own, then you need to read and find out first hand information that someone else gave their life to identify.
Till next time…here’s hoping you go read a good book!
Jack
We sat around in the church crypt trying to choose a good name. “I know,” she said. “What about “Virgin’? We’re complete virgins at business.” “And there aren’t many virgins left around here,” laughed one of the other girls. “It would be nice to have one here in name if nothing else.” “Great,” I decided on the spot. “It’s Virgin.” ~Richard Branson circa 1970