W. Terry Whalin's Blog, page 53

Ask Your Hard Publishing Questions

There is often confusion on the world of
publishing. At times you get conflicting information. Is it better to self-publish
or to do the work to go with a traditional publisher? Do you need a literary
agent? How do you find a good one? 



Sometimes you read about agents who do
nothing or are crooks (yes they are out there). You read some websites and that
information conflicts with what you hear from published authors or in writing
books. Where do you get an experienced answer to your hard publishing
questions?



When I face these types of questions, I turn to an
expert. Yet how do you even reach an expert and especially if you don't
know many people in publishing?



Tuesday, March 1st, I'm interviewing
Rick Frishman who is in his
39th  year in publishing. For many years, Rick ran one of the
largest public relations firms in the United States—Planned Television Arts in
New York City (now called Media Connect). For almost ten years, Rick has been
the publisher at Morgan James Publishing. He has guided many authors to become bestsellers and knows this
industry inside and out.

Here's your opportunity: I've convinced Rick Frishman to go on the hotseat for my questions during
a LIVE 70-minute telewebcast on Tuesday, March 1st!



* * * Here's My Small Request * * *



Rather than have the "content" come out of Rick's
head (or my head) for the March 1, 2016 telewebcast at 6 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m.
EST, I decided to let you ask Rick a question. 



Sound fair?



So, if you could ask Rick Frishman ANY question you
wanted about attending a writers conference  like Author 101 University, what
would your question be?



Here's your chance to ask Rick directly and
get registered for our call on Tuesday, March 1, 2016 (starts promptly according
to www.Time.gov). 



Click the link below:



http://writersconf101.com



 * * Get Rick Frishman's FREE Special Report *
*



You will receive a FREE copy of Rick Frishman's
special report, Creating An Award Winning Proposal that
Rick wrote with
Robyn Freedman Spizman. It's FREE  if you ask a question and register for this telewebcast. Click the link below:

http://writersconf101.com



After your question gets submitted, you'll
find out how to get phone access and webcast access to Rick and myself for our
LIVE telewebcast, March 1, 2016. If your schedule doesn't allow you to attend
this LIVE event, I encourage you to go ahead and register—and ask your question.
The event will be recorded and everyone who registers for the event will receive
the replay recording.



Rick is one of the most experienced people in
publishing that I know. I hope you will bring on your hard questions about
various aspects of the publishing business. I will be reading these questions
and then asking Rick on Tuesday. I hope to speak to you soon on the
call.

Are You Checking Your Twitter Followers?

If you are just starting on Twitter or have been there for a while, you are probably thrilled when anyone follows you back and you are growing your followers. Even though I have over 165,000 followers on Twitter, at least once a day, I'm checking through those followers and looking for several things:


1. Is this follower someone that I want following me? The world is full of people that I don't want to follow you such as porn or people who are only selling twitter followers or have no content. If I spot such a person, then I quickly block this person and exclude them from being one of my followers. Their tweets will not appear in my twitter feed if I block them.


2. Does this person speak English? I do not speak Arabic or Chinese or Japanese or ???. I speak English and only want to follow and have followers who tweet in English.  If you read their profile, in seconds you can determine whether they are writing in English or another language. Or possibly they don't have anything in their profile (as many new people don't). In these cases, I open a new tab and take a quick look at their tweets. If I see it is in another language, then I block these followers.


3. Is this follower in my target market and something I would want to see in my twitter feed (my home page on Twitter)? I make an instant decision and at times I block these people as well and remove them from Twitter.


From the outside, it may look like I follow everyone who follows me. I don't. It's important to make sure you have the right followers. I've written about the daily actions I take on Twitter. If you want to know more of these details, I encourage you to follow this link. I'm continuing to use these tools. In this article, I'm writing about some other simple and quick detailed actions I take with my twitter followers.






I appreciate the people who follow me on Twitter. While it may not seem like you have a lot of control over who follows you, you do. Take consistent action. If you attract porn or spam or twitter trolls, then others in these categories will begin to follow you as well. Through your consistent action, you send a message to others about the types of followers you want to have on Twitter.


From my years in publishing, nothing happens overnight. You will not have hundreds of entries in your blog without consistent effort. You will not have written multiple books without consistent effort. It's the same on your social media. Little by little and daily efforts for only a few minutes will make a huge difference.  

Overcome Your Roadblocks

Some days feel like you are stopped at every turn.
Your
queries to magazines are rejected. You've crafted your proposal or
manuscript and sent it to a number of literary agents at the same time. None of them are
responding. You glance at the Amazon numbers for your books and they are in the
millions (i.e. not selling at least on Amazon). Your twitter followers are not
growing. The list of possible roadblocks to your writing life appears
endless.



The critical difference between success and being
in these types of stall is to persevere and find the way to overcome your
roadblocks. Think about your current roadblocks. Are you stuck or are you
looking for the path around that roadblock?



I've written about how I use a tool called Refollow where in a short amount of
time I follow 800 new people every day. About once or twice a week, when I use
this tool, I will get a message from Twitter telling me that I've followed the
maximum number of people for that day and it will reset tomorrow. Maybe I've
only followed 123 people of my planned 800. It looks like I'm blocked from
following additional people.  Yet I've learned if I wait 45 minutes to an hour,
then return to the tool again, it starts working and I follow the additional
people. I have found a way to move forward even when blocked.



It's the same way with your writing. If you want to
write for magazines, are you targeting the right audience for a publication? Are
you crafting good articles with solid storytelling, a beginning, middle and an
end? Do your articles have a single point or a takeaway? If not, there may be
good reason why you are getting rejections from the editors. You will need to learn
more or make different adjustments to get through these roadblocks. Maybe you
need to join
a critique group or form your own critique group to get this
help.



Or maybe you are writing children's books and
sending out your material and getting quickly rejected or hearing silence. It's
another roadblock. While many people believe children's books are easy to write
(they aren't), you need skills and background to pull off such a submission. Get this additional
information and you will find your way around the roadblock.



If you aren't selling enough of your books, what
actions can you take today to change this roadblock? Can you reach out to speak
at another event? Can you create your own event? Can you begin to be active in
an online forum? Pitch some podcasts for scheduling you as someone to interview
and gain exposure to a new audience? There are dozens of ways around the
roadblocks but it will not happen if you wait on someone else and don't take
action.



The world is full of opportunity but you have to
seize it. It will not happen if you sit around and wait for it to come to you. Look for the opportunities to overcome your
roadblocks. 

Seven Critical Steps for Every Author

Over 80% of
Americans plan to publish a book at some point in
their lifetime. Over 4,500 new books are published every day. Yet
repeatedly I hear from authors wondering how to sell their books and what steps
they should be taking in this process.



Let me tell you right from the start, when it comes
to book publishing and in particular selling books, there is no magic formula.
If there were such a formula every book would be a bestseller. Yet
there are proven essentials that every author can do—and that's what I'm writing
about in this article. These steps are not in any particular order but it's
important to tackle each of them.



1. Know your target audience
(readers). The more information you have
about this reader, the better you can focus your efforts to reach them. No
matter how much we want it, not everyone will read your book but your target
audience will.



2. Be active or visible with your
audience. It is different for every author but if you know your target.
Where are they? Listening to their radios? Then you need to be on radio
programs. On Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn, then you need to become
more visible in these places. To help you, I have a free ebook, Platform building Ideas for Every
Author.



3. Start and actively use an email
list. If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about then I
recommend you explore these two links for My List Building Tycoon at: http://bit.ly/t2W1zy or on Kindle: http://amzn.to/wU6Fzb. The essence of it is you
create an ebook or audio or something valuable for your audience. Then give that
ethical bribe away to your audience in exchange for them giving you their email
address. Only you control your email list (not some other platform like Twitter
or Facebook). Then you build your list as you use the list to continue to give
your audience value. 



4. Take responsibility for your own
marketing. Each of us have excuses. We are introverted. We don't like
it. We want to just write. We want someone else to do it—why we get a publisher.
Listen to yourself and then stop the excuses and take action. Every day when I
speak to authors I tell them that they bear 80% of the responsibility for
selling their book.. They say, “yes” but then balk at taking action. You will be
exceptional if you do take your own responsibility.



5. Get to a
writer's conference . Conferences are a key part of
my own growth and people I know in publishing. You will learn a great deal and
also make friendships with editors and agents. Over the next few months, I'm speaking at different
conferences and would love to meet you in person. Follow this link
to my schedule. I especially recommend Author 101
University.



6. Have the Right attitude. You
should always be growing, trying new things and experimenting to find your path.
It is different for each book and each author so you have to be moving forward.
Remember you are not selling your book or yourself. Instead you are helping as
many people as you can help. In the process, stress the benefits and advantages
of your book and how it will help others. Much more attractive to people than
“selling” and as an author you will be more comfortable doing it.



7. Create a simple system to become active
with your readers. It is different for every author. Maybe your path is
blogging or social media
or radio interviews. As you speak or write, focus on helping others but also
leading them to your products where to spend money to get additional help. An
example of this process would be my free teleseminar about book proposals. When you
take this teleseminar, I lead you to my Write A Book Proposal membership course. 



Opportunities are around you—but to take advantage
of these opportunities, you have to seize them and take action. Don't count on
anyone else or you will certainly be disappointed (publisher, bookstore,
Amazon—no one). If I can help you, reach out to me. 

A Valuable Twitter Tool to Locate A Tweet

If you are on twitter, consistent posting tweets
with valuable content for your target audience is one of the most valuable steps
you can take to build your audience. I've written about the tools that I use and the simple steps I
take every day to post this content.



Day after day I'm posting valuable articles and
content. Weeks or even months later, I want to
find that piece of content. How do I find it? My challenge is there are
thousands of tweets in my profile and it's not easy to find something specific.




When I face this
situation, I turn to a free tool called Snap Bird. The first
step is to authenticate your twitter account. You have to be logged on to your
twitter account. It is a one-time process to authenticate your
account. 



Then because Snap Bird is logged on your twitter account,
you can search for a key
word or a person's name or twitter name, or a word that you recall from the
twitter post or any number of other ways to do it. This tool is simple and menu
driven. I like how this tool is
quick and searches through through a number of tweets. If it doesn't find the
tweet, then it can continue searching. The program has limitations but often
using it, I can locate my missing tweet.

This tool has a
specialized use—searching your tweets. For some of you, it may come in handy. I
hope so. Give Snap Bird a try and let me know
how you like it and the innovative ways you use it.



 

Break Out of the Pack

Through the years, I've read thousands of
submissions from authors, their proposals or manuscripts. In a few sentences I can see
if they are quality storytellers or what they are pitching. It doesn't take long
or reading much information to see it. Some people have estimated at any given
time there are over a million manuscripts and proposals in circulation in the
publishing world. While the process is somewhat subjective and different from
person to person, all of us are looking for a standout. We want to see
someone who breaks out of the pack (in a
positive way). The author has to quickly show their distinctions and how they
are going to sell books.









Recently I was filling out a form for a publisher.
They were asking about my number of Twitter followers.
Was it 1-500 or 500-2500, or 2501-10,000 or 10,000+? If you look around at other
authors and see they have 1,000 to 4,000 followers on Twitter. Then how can you
increase your followers and stand out. I'm not talking about buying followers to
instantly increase your number (which doesn't count since these are fake
followers and will not be caring about your tweets or engagement). I'm talking
about making a consistent effort to increase your followers so you will break
out of the pack and stand apart. I've detailed what you can do on twitter to increase
followers. With my over 161,000 followers, it's one of the ways I break out
of the pack in such a discussion—but you can do the same with your work. It's a
matter of consistent focus and deciding that you will stand out.









Or consider Facebook. The average Facebook user now
has about 338 friends, though the median number is quite a bit lower: 200. This
means that while half of all Facebook users have 200 or fewer friends, many of
the billion-plus Facebookers have quite a few more. In fact, 15 percent of users
have friend lists topping 500. Now there is a limit on personal accounts of
5,000 friends but if you have over 500 friends then you are suddenly in the top
15% of Facebook users and are standing out. Currently I have over
4,800 friends on Facebook. I grew these numbers gradually but it is another
way to break out of the pack.









It was not until about a year ago, that I began to
be active on Goodreads (check my profile). There are 40 million readers on Goodreads.
How many friends do you have on Goodreads? Through hitting the maximum, I
learned the number of friends tops out at 5,000. And I have that number so I
stand out from the people who only have a hundred or two hundred friends. How
can you increase your Goodreads friends? Go to this page and
use the buttons which help you find friends.



To break out from the pack takes consistent effort
but you can do it. What steps are you taking today to help you get the right
attention from editors and agents for your work?

You Need "Honest" Book Reviews

Do you have book reviews for your book? Are they
“honest” reviews or something you have orchestrated from friends and
family?



It is hard work to write a good book and get it
into the market. Whether you work with a traditional publisher or self-publish,
I hope you have produced an excellent product. At some point in the process,
you are ready to release this book into the market. What will others say about
your writing? The natural tendency is to expect everyone to glow about your book
and send you accolades.



Yet that expectation is not reality.  Not every
review will be five star. These reviews are important social proof from readers
and feedback to you as the author. Several years ago, I met a novelist who
claimed to have sold thousands of books on Amazon. Yes, this author touted
amazing numbers for her book sales. Yet when I looked on Amazon, there was one
review—and the author had written that review. If you don't think this result is
unusual, take a few minutes and look at any bestselling novel on Amazon. If the
book has been selling well, then people enjoy it and write reviews—often
hundreds of reviews.



I look at other books (even self-published) which
have less than five reviews—even if they have been out on the market for several
years. Again this absence is social proof of the quality and feedback from
readers. Your book should have reviews and as the author, you need to take
responsibility to get these reviews.



As the author, you can create a launch team.
Recently I've been involved in the launch of several books. I've filled out
applications to be a part of the launch team. These applications ask why I
should be included. The launch director creates a private Facebook area with
encouragement to read the book and post reviews. Recently I got added to a
launch team that said they were only going to let 500 people to be on their
launch team. What a huge team but see the social proof these authors are
gathering for the launch of their book?



Your team may be smaller than 500. Can you launch
your book with 25 reviews on Amazon? To launch with 25 reviews, you will need to
gather at least 50 people who agree to review your book and will post a review
during the week your book is launched. Why so many more than the 25 you need?
Even though you do your work and the person has committed, not everyone carries
through with their commitment. Maybe the book doesn't reach them in the mail.
Maybe they get ill. Maybe they have some family emergency. Life happens for
every person and they don't carry through with their promised review. As the
author, you need to recognize this fact and move beyond it with even more people
to write the review.



This process takes work and effort from the author.
Bestselling author Tim Grahl has written about this process and guided numerous
bestselling authors. He has a valuable article here. Be sure and
scroll to the bottom of the page and get his Amazon Review Package.  You give up
your email address but get an excel spread sheet, sample emails and much more.
This package can be a valuable resource for you to gather your reviews—if you
use it. Also I encourage you to get this free teleseminar that
I created with Dana Lynn Smith about reviews.



In your request to the reviewer, you are asking for
an “honest” review. Not every review will be a Five Star Amazon review or
glowing. One of my Morgan James authors called me almost in tears a while back
asking what she should do with a one star review. My advice: do nothing. Don't
comment back. Don't complain to Amazon. Do nothing. The fact that you've
received a variety of reviews is good for your book.







Over ten years ago as a frustrated acquisitions
editor, I wrote Book Proposals
That Sell. The book has hundreds of Five Star Amazon reviews and it has
helped many people. I have offered my publisher a revision or update but he has
not taken my offer. The inside of this book has not been revised. It continues
to be reviewed. About four months ago, I received a detailed One Star review.
Did I read the review? Yes. Did I take any action or reach out to this reviewer?
No. This book continues to help people. If you want the revision, then get the
Ebook version, which has
been updated. Or take my Write A Book Proposal course. You need to fix what you can,
then let the rest go—and continue working on getting reviews.



Has your book been out several years? Are you still
working on getting reviews? I hope so. These new reviews will help you continue
to sell more books.

5 Reasons to Read Biographies, Autobiographies and Memoir

I have always loved reading biographies, autobiographies and memoirs. I've written more than 60 books and many of the books fall into one of these categories. Also when I read a book, I often write a short review on Goodreads. If you check this page and look through the covers with books and my reviews, you will see many of these books are biographies, autobiographies or memoirs.



1. The Experiences Are Real







While I enjoy reading a good novel, the stories in biographies or memoirs are not created but based on reality. Recently I’ve been listening to Anjelica Huston read her book, Watch Me . She told about being in a car accident in the 70's where she wasn’t wearing a seat belt (not required then). As a part of this accident, she broke her nose in eight places. That little details stuck because I found it fascinating.





2. Personal Encouragement







Last year my biography of Billy Graham was released. Mr. Graham has preached the Good News about Jesus face to face in front of more peple than anyone on the planet. He is currently 97 years old. Some people may wonder if Billy Graham ever doubted his faith. He had doubts and here's a brief excerpt from my book (pages 59-60):


"Several other series of meetings were held that year, and for the summer of 1949, the team prepared for a crusade in Los Angeles, the largest citywide meetings of its kind to date. At the end of August, before the campaign began, Billy attended the annual College Briefing Conference at Forest Home, becoming the youngest college president to speak at the conference."

"One night after the conference’s evening session, Billy pondered a simple question: Can I really trust the Bible? He decided that if the answer was no, he could not with a clear conscience conduct the campaign in Los Angeles. At thirty years of age, it wasn’t too late to quit the ministry and return to his wife in North Carolina. He wrestled with the answer."

"Unable to sleep, he took a walk in the San Bernardino Mountains. Dropping to his knees in the moonlight, he placed his Bible on a tree stump. The moon didn’t cast enough light for him to read its pages, but there at his makeshift altar, he prayed to God: “There are many things in this book that I don’t understand,” he began. “There are many problems with it for which I have no solution. There are many seeming contradictions, and many areas that do not correlate with modern science.”

"Billy was trying to be honest with God about his deepest thoughts and questions. Finally, he felt the assurance of the Holy Spirit, and he said, “Father, I am going to accept this as your Word—by faith. I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be your inspired Word.” Billy got to his feet and immediately sensed the presence of God and a new source of power within himself. While not every question was answered, he sensed that God was leading him, and he knew that he could depend on the Word.”

I hope you find this story encouraging. It certainly helped me to know Mr. Graham's experience.

3. Discover Memorable Stories




From reading Tom Jones autiobiography, Over the Top and Back , I learned at one point early in his career, he sold vacuum cleaners door to door. Or also in his book, he told an unforgettable story about Elvis Presley and how he carried a six shooter. I would never know these true stories if I did not read these types of books.



4. Gain Insight into the Success of Others







I enjoyed reading Troublemaker by actress Leah Remini about her involvement and escape from Scientolgy. Many people believe a well-known actress like Remini just skyrocketed to her success with shows like King of Queens. But this line in Chapter Seven was revealing and dispels this misconception. "All told, I've been on more than twenty-five eventually cancelled television shows in my career, and have appeared on even more pilots that never made it to air. While I would never complain, I certainly did feel anxiety. This is not an easy business to be in." (page 68 to 69) This quote affirmed to me again that there are no overnight successes.



5. Changes Revered People into Real People







Years ago I wrote a youth biography about Chuck Colson, a much revered person in the Christian market because of his teaching and work in Prisons through Prison Fellowship.

When I interviewed people around Chuck every person wanted to tell me about his practical jokes—something you would not expect on the surface. I built some of those stories into my book. To my knowledge, it is about the only record of this aspect of Chuck’s life and makes him real as well as a hero.



I love reading these types of books. Do you read them or listen to them? What are you learning from these types of books? I look forward to your lessons and comments.

Five Ways to Boost Your Writing To A New Level

It's hard for every writer to begin and it takes
work for every writer to move to a new level with their writing. I've been
pouring words into stories since I was in high school and have had a lot of
practice—yet I continue to learn new aspects of the publishing world.




Late one night at a writers' conference, I was
sitting with several much published writers listening to their stories. At that
point in my career, I had published only a few magazine articles. These writers
discussed how each of them has huge doubts and fears every time they
begin a new book. I found their honesty encouraging. It is like the actors or
public speakers who admit to getting nervous or butterflies right before they
walk on the stage. Such feelings are a part of life and these professionals have
learned to acknowledge these feelings, accept them and yet move past them to
produce excellent work.



If you want to move your writing to a new level of
excellence, here's five ways to boost your writing. I encourage you to do as
many of these ways as you can in the days ahead. If you take action, then in a
few months your writing will be at a new place in the market.



1. Attend a Writers' Conference (cost:
varies)



Published authors agree the step which propelled
their writing life is attending a writer's
conference. If you have never been to a conference, now is the time to plan
to attend a conference. I'm going to be speaking at several conferences in the
coming months (use this link to learn more details). There are many excellent
conferences. Prepare ahead of time and this action will broaden your
connections to editors and agents—but also give you key insights into your own
writing life. Attend the workshops, take notes and follow the teaching. Also
meet one-on-one with different editors and agents, then follow their suggestions
and submit your material to them.



2. Read a Book on the Writing Craft Every
Month (cost: free or low)



Whether you write fiction or nonfiction or have
never written, I encourage you to intentionally read books about the craft of
writing.  I have shelves of these books that I have read but you don't have to
purchase them. Get them from your local library. I've written a couple of these
books like Book Proposals That Sell or Jumpstart Your Publishing
Dreams . Weave these books into your reading plans then take action on
what you learn—apply it to the writing and marketing of your books.



3. Take an online course (cost:
varies)



There are many possibilities in this area.
Bestselling author Jerry B.
Jenkins has launched a FREE three lesson course course. Or another alternative
is listening to a number of my free teleseminars on different topics like blogging or book reviews or dealing with the media or special market sales. Also you
can take my Write a Book
Proposal course.  Finally for this method, you can use my Simple Membership System to
create your own membership course. 



4. Read blog posts from respected leaders
(cost: free)



A number of literary agents and well-known editors have created blogs.
Look for their subscription button on the site and sign up. The updates will
come to your email box and you can read them and learn from their expertise. To
get you started, here's a new list of the Top 100 Writing Blogs for Authors and Bloggers. Notice how I
qualify who you read. Select people with experience and follow their guidance
instead of “so-called experts” who when you look at their credentials have
published less than five books. I include this reality check to make sure you
are taking teaching from real experts.



5. Follow my twitter
feed and read the articles in it (cost:
free)



At this writing, I've been on twitter since 2009
and tweeted over 28,000 times (almost every hour throughout every day). I'm
committed to reading and telling my followers about solid teaching information
in the publishing and writing area.  As you follow this information stream, it
is a terrific education to help you take your writing to a new level of
excellence.



Follow the links and advice in this post and you
will take your writing to a new level. It is critical that you do more than read
and absorb new information.  It's great to learn but in addition to
learning, you need to take action and incorporate what you learn into your
daily actions. If I can help you in this journey, don't hesitate to reach out to
me. My personal email is in my twitter profile. You can boost your writing with these
active steps.

3 Ways to Read More Books

Thousands of new books are published every
day.  No one can keep up. Yes, you can take speed-reading courses and other
things but even then, the sheer volume of new books makes it impossible. In this
article, I want to give three ways that I'm using to add more focused reading
into my life. I'm always learning about books. I use these methods to acquire
and read books.









1. Learn to Use Your Public
Library



It is not practical to purchase every new book. I
find many people forget about or don't use their public library. Get a library
card then when you see an interesting book, get on your library website and see
if that book is available. In my area, I often find the library has acquired the
book and I can ask them to hold a copy for me. When I put a “hold” the library
sends me an email when the book is available to check out. Also my library sends
me an email when my book is about due to be returned (and possibly I can renew
if I haven't read it).



Also ask questions to the librarians about using
the library or locating a book you can't find, then listen to the answers. These
professionals are helpful and knowledgeable about books. Check out the services
of your library and begin to use them.



2. Listen to Audio Books in Your
Car



My library has an extensive collection of audio
books on CD.  Browse the section and select a couple of different titles. Try
the book and if it isn't exactly what you wanted, then try another one. I've
heard incredible audio books using this method in my car.



In the last few weeks, I've learned to listen to
audio books on my car's speaker system that originate on my smartphone. My car
has bluetooth so I'm able to continue listening on my car speaker system to the
same audio book that I'm hearing on my smartphone. Listening in my car as well
as on my phone, helps me move through the audio book even quicker than normal.
For example, recently I got on the hold list for Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the
Quest for a Fantastic Future. I only had 21
days to hear this audio book but using my car and my phone, I finished it in
less than a week. The book was fascinating but uses the F-word throughout so use
caution if you get it.











3. Learn to Use Hoopla or Overdrive on Your
Smartphone



Hoopla or Overdrive are are free services from your library. Download
the apps on your smartphone and learn about these opportunities. There is a bit
of a learning curve to use them. Throughout my day I have some time at my
computer when I'm setting up my social media. I've found I can be listening to
an audio book on my phone as I do some of this busywork. In the process, I'm
consuming more books. I also listen to the book while I'm exercising.









I've written about this before (follow this link). After I read (or hear) an interesting book,
I add a review to Amazon, then paste the same review
on Goodreads. And often (not always) I
tell my social media connections about the review. This entire process takes
only a few minutes but it is my way of supporting and telling others (quickly)
about what I'm reading and learning from good books. Every author needs this
type of support—and you will build goodwill with other authors—and help the
entire community with this simple and consistent action.



I hope you will use these three ways to read more
books. If you have other ideas or methods, I'd love to hear it in the comment
section. May the days ahead be filled with more reading and learning from time
well-spent.