Jeff Goins's Blog, page 19

The Importance of Your Book Cover Design: An Interview with Pamela Webber

Remember that old saying — “You can’t judge a book by its cover”? Well, it’s just not true. You can judge a book by its cover, and you should.

To get to the heart of why design plays such a big role in an author’s success, I invited the Chief Marketing Officer of 99Designs, Pamela Webber, to join us.

99Designs is an online community of hundreds of thousands of graphic designers who help small business owners and entrepreneurs get their design needs met for everything from logos to book covers to packaging.

It works through a contest model. To start, you submit a creative brief explaining what you envision for your project. Designers who want to participate then read your brief and create something for you. Next you select with design you like best and agree to work with that designer exclusively as you finalize your project.

Today on this episode of The Portfolio Life, we focus primarily on the design of books, interior and exterior. Pamela joins us to explain why book covers matter, including the statistical data to support this. She walks us through each of the steps necessary to get our cover designed as a first-time author and also shares what is included in the interior of your book and why each piece is important.

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you’re reading this via email, please click here).

Show highlights

In this episode, Pamela reveals:

What does it really cost to get a book professionally designed?
In the overall strategy of selling your book, how important is the design?
When should you think about the marketing of your book?
Real-life data on the impact book covers can make on sales.
Why does she believe the contest model on 99 Designs is fair?

“Start thinking more like a business owner, and less like an author.Pamela WebberTweet thisTweet
On the interior design of your book:

What are the two main parts of a book’s interior design?
How does the interior differ among genres?
How can font and spacing impact the sales of your book?
Why does book cover design depend so heavily on genre and audience?

“You need every piece of your marketing strategy to be working as hard as possible for you.Pamela WebberTweet thisTweet
The basics of book design:

Design for your audience – not for yourself.
Create your book’s design with reader engagement in mind.
Design for sales rather than aesthetics and perfection more than sales.
Your book interior matters but also varies by genre and readership.

Resources:

99 Designs web site
99 Designs blog article on book covers and genres
Calculate the cost of self-publishing a book
99 Designs on Twitter
Real Artists Don’t Starve
Subscribe, rate and review on iTunes

 What will you do differently with your next book’s design after hearing from Pamela? Share in the comments!

How to Really Get Your Writing Done

Everyone wants to write a book, but few people ever do. Why is this? Because we writers tend to focus on the wrong thing.

Most people who want to write a book start with goals, and that’s not how it works. If you want to write a book some day, you need to start writing today. In other words, don’t set out to write a book. Set out to become a regular writer.

“If you want to write a book some day, you need to start writing today.Tweet thisTweet

That’s the secret. It’s not the goals that make us writers. It’s the habits. Anyone can say they want to write. It’s another thing to actually be a writer. What’s the difference? Habits. An amateur talks about the work. A pro does the work.

I’ve written before about this, so I won’t belabor the point here, but you need to focus more on the process than the results. This is especially true when you’re getting started as a writer. Goals are good, but habits are better.

Don’t misunderstand me. I want you to achieve your goals and get the results you desire. But what gets you there is the process. How you do this matters a lot.

So what does that mean for you, the aspiring author who said this year was going to be different, this time you were actually going to finish a book? There are three things you need.

1. Routines: When and where you write

Routines are what make a writer a writer. A routine is the way you approach your work, and every successful writer has one. A routine includes when and where you write. It should be consistent and replicable so you can focus on the writing itself instead of finding a time and a place to write.

No two routines are alike. You have to find what works for you. Is it writing 10 minutes a day, like Shaunta Grimes does? Or 500 words a day as I do? Do you write best in the morning or at night? Find something that works for you and do it over and over again.

“Don’t set out to write a book. Set out to become a regular writer.Tweet thisTweet

To begin establishing a routine, ask yourself these two questions:

Where will you write every day?
When will you write every day?

Imagine what it looks like for you to be sitting down, doing your writing. Where are you? What time is it? How do you feel? Then, do everything you can to actually create that scene on a daily basis.

2. Systems: How you get the writing done

In addition to routines, you need a system. A system is simply the way that you do the writing. Do you use MS Word, your phone, or some other tool — maybe a notebook? Do you light a candle? Drink a cup of coffee? This is all your system.

Again, every writer has a unique system; but the essentials of any good system is that it’s simple and effective.

I write in a distraction-free tool called Bear and follow a system I developed called The 3-Bucket System to break my writing time into ideas, drafts, and edits.

3. Deadlines: What it takes to finish on time

The only thing that really gets the writing done is a deadline. A deadline includes a word count and an actual date when the writing will be due.

With a blog, that maybe once a day, or once a week. If weekly, it should be on the same day of the week at the same time. Make it something your readers can expect of you. If it’s a book, it needs to be delivered on time to the audience or publisher.

“The only thing that really gets the writing done is a deadline.Tweet thisTweet

Think about your next writing project. What is the scope of it? How long will it be? Whose it for? When will you know that you’re done?

Set a deadline, or series of deadlines for various drafts if it’s a more in-depth piece. Then decide on a word count, or at least a range, and get to writing.

If you don’t define the end ahead of time, you’ll never reach it.

Going deeper with writing routines, systems, and deadlines

This is what it takes to become a regular writer, and eventually an author. Consistent routines, simple systems, and regular deadlines. These are the tools you need to do your job.

And before you know it, you will have developed a regular writing habit that can then be applied to larger writing projects, like actually finishing a book.

If you’d like more help with this, I’d love to invite you to a masterclass where I’m teaching how to use routines, systems, and deadlines to get your writing done — and then how to turn that into a book.

Come with questions, and I’ll do everything I can to help you get unstuck and start writing more. It’s totally free, but you have to register to get access to the training.

Click here to learn more and register at no cost.

What’s your biggest struggle with getting your writing done? Share in the comments.

The One Quality You Need to Reach Your Most Important Goals

What does it take to achieve your most important goals? Some people think it’s mostly about luck, smarts, good looks, and social connections. Nope.

Researcher Angela Lee Duckworth studied West Point cadets, National Spelling Bee contestants, teachers in tough schools, and sales peoples, asking who would succeed and why.

“In all those very different contexts one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success,” she said in a popular TED Talk. And it wasn’t the usual suspects. What was it? “It was grit.”

Duckworth defines grit as “passion and and perseverance for very long-term goals . . . sticking with your future, day in day out. . . .” I call that persistence.

We’ve all had dreams about the future that haven’t come true. We’ve probably let some of those dreams die. But what if we could develop the grit and persistence required to revive those dreams and achieve them?

We can. And it’s simpler than you might think. Here are six techniques proven by research and practical experience that can help you break through to have your best year ever.

1. Find your why

No one perseveres unless they care. To maximize our persistence, we have to pursue goals that really matter to us.

That doesn’t mean we always find these goals fun or even that they’re our idea. They just have to be personally rewarding. Researchers sometimes call these “autonomous motives.”

Think about parenting or getting fit or hitting a major professional goal. All of these challenges will test our perseverance. The trick is to connect with what’s at stake. Why does it matter?

If we don’t stay connected to your why, as one study put it, “the infusion of goals with energy may be distressingly temporary.” In other words, chances are good we’ll burn out and bail.

But, as another study found,

[A]utonomous goal motives will result in greater objectively assessed persistence toward an increasingly difficult goal. . . . [I]f individuals strive with more autonomous motives, they will be better equipped to overcome challenges in goal pursuit.

Finding our why is the first step to developing the persistence we need to attain our goals. This forms one whole section of my new book Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals.

2. Believe the possibility

To accomplish anything, we have to believe we’re up to the challenge. That doesn’t mean it will be easy or that even know how we’re going to accomplish it. Usually we don’t know. It just means we believe we’re capable.

Every goal has obstacles. When some people have trouble getting over obstacles, they doubt they have what it takes.

Others just work harder. What’s the difference?

According to Heidi Grant Halvorson, researchers label the first group “entity theorists.” They think their abilities are set in stone. You’ve heard people say this: “I’m just no good at x, y, or z.”

The second group are called “incremental theorists.” These are the possibility thinkers. When they can’t seem to get over an obstacle, they don’t blame it on themselves. Since they believe they’ve got what it takes, they just look for new approaches to the problem.

“This gritty attitude pays off in a big way,” says Halvorson, “leading to far greater long-term accomplishments.”

So what’s your mindset? Developing persistence requires possibility thinking.

What if that’s not you? The good news is that we can become a possibility thinkers by gaining confidence in our abilities. One way to do that is to get some wins under our belt.

3. Set your targets

So let’s say we’ve found our why and believe we’ve got what it takes. It’s time to address the goals we’re pursuing.

I’ve always recommended going after goals that push us into the discomfort zone. Why?

Research shows a direct link between the difficulty of a goal and our enthusiasm and performance. And the emotional payoff of attaining big goals rewards our persistence. It becomes self-perpetuating.

The trick is setting milestones that are squarely inside your comfort zone. Big, risky goals can also feel daunting. If we chunk them up, we can get some wins under our belt. And those wins can keep our energy up for the big goals. How?

According to Christopher Bergland, when we accomplish small tasks and hit deadlines, our brains give us a hit of dopamine and we feel good.

The more we train our minds toward accomplishing the small goals, the more persistence we’ll display for major long-term accomplishments.

4. Measure your gains

When we set big, challenging goals it’s easy to see how far we have to go and lose enthusiasm. We can start criticizing ourselves and get dispirited, can’t we?

Something I learned from Dan Sullivan has helped me rethink this problem. Dan talks about measuring the gain and not the gap.

If your goal is to write a book, pay off your mortgage, build up your retirement—whatever—it can be daunting to look up and realize how far you still have to go.

That’s the gap. But look at the gain. See how far you’ve already come and let your progress inspire your perseverance.

This another reason setting milestone is helpful. Not only do they help break up the big goal into manageable chunks, they give us something to measure—forward or backward.

And here’s a plus: If we get good at measuring the gains, we’ll not only cultivate persistence. We can also sustain momentum.

5. Build your team

We have a very powerful myth in our culture—the myth of the self-made individual. I’ve got news for you. There’s no such thing.

Success requires help, usually lots of it. After the surprise success of The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien was asked to write a sequel. But when he began writing The Lord of the Rings he couldn’t make any progress.

So how did he finish what became one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century? The constant encouragement of his friends—especially C. S. Lewis, who kept him focused and energized.

There are two kinds of relationships that we need to develop to help us persist in the face of adversity:

Mentors. Everyone needs a guide, preferably many. These are people with experience and maturity who can counsel, inspire, and challenge us. These relationships can be personal or virtual. They can even been literary through biographies, histories, and great novels.


Peers. We also need a circle of co-travelers, people who are at our level struggling with their own goals. Facing the world with friends and colleagues gives us confidence. It also provides us insights and solutions we wouldn’t have considered on our own.

Building a team of mentors and peers will help us persist toward even the most daunting of goals. We all need community, especially when the going gets tough.

6. Celebrate your wins (especially the small ones)

In the Genesis story, it says that God looked at everything he created and called it good. But he didn’t wait until the whole creation was finished. He did it at each stage. It’s a good model for us too.

I firmly believe in celebrating our wins. I recently took my whole company on a Caribbean cruise to acknowledge a major win. But it’s important to pause and celebrate the small wins too.

When we celebrate reaching our milestones, we stay emotionally engaged for the long haul. Bergland says it’s “about harnessing your reward circuitry and tapping your dopamine pipeline.”

All I know is that’s exciting. And I want more after every win.

Winning helps keep us in the game. That means we need to be serious about celebrating our wins. And the bigger our goals, the more important it becomes to celebrate small victories.

So forget about talent, brains, and all the rest. The real question is are you tenacious? Do you have grit? Because when the dust clears, only the persistent are still around to claim the prize.

How to Vlog Like a Boss: An Interview with Amy Schmittauer

Online video is becoming increasingly popular with every passing day. No one knows this better than Amy Schmittauer, the founder of Savvy Sexy Social and author of Vlog Like a Boss.

For nearly a decade, Amy has been in the video content creation business, and it all began with a surprise gift for a friend’s wedding. Amy wanted to create something personal, meaningful surprising for her friend’s rehearsal dinner, so she made a video.

When she saw the emotional impact her video had on all of the guests — not just her friend — the proverbial light bulb clicked on for Amy. She fell in love with the idea of making something that surprised people and drew a reaction from them. Although she knew little of video creation or editing, she dove in headfirst.

With a bit of research and creativity, she saw the opportunity to teach others how to use video, especially businesses. For the next few years, she kept her full-time job and started a “side hustle” of helping businesses make videos to reach their customers and grow their platforms.

On this episode of The Portfolio Life, Amy and I talk about how she knew it was time to have her own business, how she helped others see the value of video before everyone was doing it, and why being uncomfortable is necessary to achieving success as an entrepreneur.

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you’re reading this via email, please click here).

Show highlights

In this episode, Amy and I discuss:

What’s the second largest search engine in the world?
These two metrics are extremely important in video today: what are they?
When does long-form content become meaningful?
What was her first channel on YouTube?
What is one of the biggest misconceptions about making money from YouTube?

“If you can make a normal day look interesting on video you can do a lot! Amy SchmittauerTweet thisTweet
Amy on making the leap into entrepreneurship

Why consistency is so critical to becoming known in any field.
How did she know starting her own business was worth the risk?
Who was her first client and why did she work for them for free?
Do you have to live in certain cities to be the most successful?
What are the different streams that make up her income?

“YouTube is extremely powerful if you know how to use it.Amy SchmittauerTweet thisTweet
Amy’s quick tricks to start blogging now

Come up with major themes for your videos.
Q&A shows are a good concept to get you started.
Start by publishing once a week, 2-3 videos a week once you know what you’re doing.
Give your videos at least 48 hours to perform, before publishing more.
Be exceptionally generous with your knowledge to become a thought leader to your viewers.

Resources:

Savvy Sexy Social web site
Aftermarq web site
Savvy Sexy Social YouTube channel
Vlog Like a Boss , by Amy Schmittauer
Authority Video Formula
Amy’s gear guide for vlogging
Real Artists Don’t Starve
Subscribe, rate and review on iTunes

What did Amy share on today’s show that will help you start or improve your vlogging? Share in the comments.

Please Don’t Write a Book This Year (and What You Should Do Instead)

How’s your new year going? Sadly, by today, most people have already broken their resolutions. Isn’t that crazy? Well, maybe not, and here’s why.

I’ve always been terrible at setting goals, especially writing goals. For years, I’d set them, claiming this time was going to be different. This year was going to be my year, the year that I’d finally write a book. And for years, I was disappointed.

Finally, I stopped trying to write a book. Instead, I did something different — a few things, actually — and they made all the difference.

Maybe you’re like me, and you’re great at setting writing goals but terrible at achieving them. If so, keep reading, because what I’m going to share next will help you avoid a lot of pain and frustration.

Why most goals fail before they start

Most goals get broken not because we lack the discipline to achieve them, but because we often don’t set the right kind of goals. As an example, let’s take a goal that many people set every year, one I’m well acquainted with and one you may have entertained yourself: writing a book.

Do you know what it takes to write a book? It took me several years of failing before learning how to actually do it. As it turns, out you can’t just up and write a book. Not really. You can write a word, a sentence, maybe even a paragraph. But that’s it. Not a whole book. Never a whole book. Not all at once.

“You can’t write a book. You can only write a word, a sentence, a paragraph.Tweet thisTweet

This is all anyone ever writes — a little bit at a time. As Hemingway once remarked on his writing process during those early days in Paris as a fledgling writer:

All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know. So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say.

Eventually, those sentences become paragraphs and those paragraphs become pages until what you are writing becomes something bigger than your latest thought, something we eventually call a book. But nobody ever sits down to write a book. It doesn’t work that way.

So setting out to write a book is a bad goal. That would be like saying “I’m going to lose thirty pounds” or “I want to pay off $100,000 in debt.” Of course, these are good things to say and great aspirations to have, but such changes don’t happen overnight. They aren’t good goals, because they’re just another example of measuring the results instead of measuring the process.

You have probably done this. I certainly have. And let me tell you this: we fail because the way we set the goal was doomed from the start. So what does it take to actually accomplish your goals as a writer — whether that means writing a book, selling a certain number of copies, or simply becoming better at the craft?

It takes a few things. Let’s explore them together.

1. Write at least 500 words a day

All any of us can do is begin, and the way we begin matters a lot. This doesn’t mean we’re powerless — quite the opposite, in fact — but we must understand what we can and cannot control in the creative process.

None of us has the ability to sit down and tackle a major project like a book all at once. What we do have the power to do is create daily habits that eventually allow us to accomplish our bigger goals. In other words, the work you do every day matters far more than what you do on the “big” day (e.g. finishing that book manuscript, publishing the book, etc.).

“The work you do every day matters far more than what you do on the big day.Tweet thisTweet

I’ve written before on the importance of habits, so I won’t belabor the point here. Let me just say this, though: If you want to write a book, the best way to set yourself up for success with that goal is to start by writing a least 500 words every day.

If you can write more than that, great. But the goal is to meet a minimum word count every day that adds up to something substantial over time. This was how I completed four traditionally published books, meeting the publisher’s deadline each time, and how I was able to publish a bestselling self-published book that sold over 10,000 copies in the first few months. It wasn’t by setting out to “write a book.” It was by first establishing a daily writing ritual.

Meeting a daily word count takes away all your excuses and puts you back in the driver’s seat.

Recommend resource: If you need some help writing 500 words a day, please check out my 31-day writing challenge and free online writing group.
2. Find a community to hold you accountable

If you’re going to succeed at writing a book, you can’t go it alone. This is ironic, because most of the work of a writer is done in solitude. But the truth is, as I like to say, every story of success is really a story of community. You need help.

Sometimes, we ask our fellow writing friends to hold us accountable. But this almost never works, and the reason for this is that no one can hold you accountable. Not really. Only you can do that.

I’ve had writing coaches and accountability partners and all that. None of them worked in helping me actually write my first book. You know why? Not because these people weren’t helpful or intelligent — they were — but because I wasn’t committed. I thought someone else could make me do the work, and I was wrong.

I tried doing it on my own, and that didn’t work either. I was stuck.

It wasn’t until I turned to community that things began to change. After establishing daily writing habits, I committed to the writing process and joined a community of writers who could help me when I got stuck, encourage me when I needed it, and call me out when I stalled.

If you are a part of a writing group, you won’t need someone to hold you accountable. You will hold yourself accountable.

“Every story of success is really a story of community.Tweet thisTweet

That’s why I started the My 500 Words daily writing challenge and group. It’s the best way I’ve found to get my writing done every single day. This is so much better than simply setting out to “write a book” without any transparency or visibility into the process. When I include others in the process, it makes me take the work more seriously.

Every story of success is really a story of community.

3. Follow a proven process

If you’ve never written a book, then how would you know how to write one?

This is the dilemma facing many first-time authors. You’ve never written a book, and yet you set out to accomplish something you’ve never done without the slightest idea or experience of how to do it.

Of course, you’ve read books, so there’s that. But that’s like saying just because you can drive a car that you can fix your own engine. I’m not saying that you couldn’t do that eventually; you just need some training.

The best way to do this is to follow a proven process, to learn from someone who’s already done it. That’s why I share my methodology in the Write a Bestseller program, which is an online course I teach on the 10 steps to write a book that you can be proud of and have confidence will sell.

Of course, you don’t have to sign up for that. You can read my article on how to write a book or study the 5-draft method I created and be on your way. But if you’d like some more help and to join a small writing community of aspiring authors who finally want to complete their book, we’d love to have you. (You can learn more about the course here.)

Warning: This won’t make you happy

So, it’s settled. Setting out to write a book is just a bad goal. That’s not how writing works. Not only that, but accomplishing such a goal won’t actually make you happy. I know, because I’ve written five books and each time I finished one, there was this surprising feeling of emptiness lingering behind.

Do you know what fills that void? Not launching a book or hitting the bestsellers list or any of that. The only thing that brings a writer satisfaction is starting the next book.

“The only thing that brings a writer satisfaction is starting the next book.Tweet thisTweet

Recently, I wrote about starting my next book, and the truth is that was an entirely selfish decision. I am at my best when I’m working on a project, usually a book. Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi calls this state of working on challenging projects that you are also good at “flow.”

When we are doing hard work that requires us to raise the bar for what we’re capable of, we are operating at our peak, creative states. And that brings us the greatest feelings of joy and accomplishment.

Not long ago, I was sharing with a friend how I’d forgotten I published a new book last year. It made me sad. My friend replied, “Well, that makes sense. That book was a slog, and it took a lot longer than you thought. So by the time it was done, you were kind of over it. The end was anticlimactic.”

That’s true, not just of that book but of most creative projects. The end for me is not the most exciting part. It’s just the final punctuation — the period, or maybe even an comma. It’s an important part but only in that it’s an excuse to start the next one.

What are you writing this year? What is your best advice for new writers? Share in the comments.

Why I Stopped Waiting to Win the Lottery and Just Published My Book

It was nearly midnight when I desperately tweeted to my 300 precious followers, “Does anyone have any sort of literary agent connection they could hook me up with?”

I had little to no idea how to go about getting the book burning inside me published. It felt impossible to get a publisher to bat an eye at little ol’ me. Because really, I had little to no platform and in order to win the lottery of a traditional publisher, I needed a platform.

None of my blog posts had gone viral.

I had been blogging for six years and had 56 dear subscribers.

I felt really successful when a single blog post had over 100 views.

Combining my Facebook friends, Facebook page fans, Twitter and Instagram followers, I had about 1,500 names in my social circle.

Platform? What is that? Surely someone will just notice me.

Though my online community was small, I still had countless people asking me when I was going to start writing books. I wanted to have started yesterday, but I didn’t know where to begin or if I could start with so little of a following.

Nine months after tweeting that desperate request, my book This Undeserved Life was released. It became a bestseller in six different Amazon categories, sold over 500 copies the first week and 1,000 copies the first month. It remained number one in the Family Health and Adoption category for most of its release. Within 3 weeks it had over 50 reviews on Amazon.

I have since had dozens of readers reach out and ask me about my next book. I have a traditional publisher inviting me to draw up a proposal for my next book. I have had requests to create and offer a course or coaching on various topics. To some, these numbers may be miniscule. To me, they are both mind-blowing and humbling.

In January 2017, I started my email list at a whopping zero when I transferred my website and lost my dear, dear 56 committed community members.

My goal was to build a list of 1,000 subscribers by release day — September 18.

To me, this goal was big: I am a full-time photographer, a full-time work at home mom to two toddlers (both under one-year-old at the time of starting the book), and a wife to a full-time unpaid graduate student. And we are involved in church and community events.

My time to give my book and online community (platform) building was at zero, but I moved around priorities and worked my butt off. The goal was met. But not without hard work, determination, and belief in myself and my message.

Have I yet mentioned I began writing this book with two babies under one-year-old as well as a growing photography business? Just want to make sure that is clear: I am not sitting around with tons of time to pursue this, just as you aren’t.

So, how in the world did little ol’ me, a blogger of seven years with a minuscule platform — can I even call it a platform? — become a best-selling author nine months later?

Writing This Undeserved Life was a painful, difficult labor of love and it followed many years of unsuccessfully creating the online community I had hoped for. Let’s dive into the process.

Part 1: Identity

It all began with grabbing ahold of my identity as a writer.

I grabbed ahold of it tightly and began calling myself and acting like a writer.

A mental shift happened: I began to take myself seriously.

Part 2: The why

Since reading Simon Sinek’s Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action, I knew the importance to start with why.

Why did I want to write this book? Why did I think the world needed it? Why is this book anything different than what’s already available?

Part 3: Study the pros

After I processed why I wanted to write This Undeserved Life and why I believed the world would be better if it was created, I began studying people who were successful in the book writing, marketing, and selling world as well as people who were successful in my genre.

Part 4: Traditional vs. self-publishing?

For the longest time, I heard the term “self-publishing” and scoffed. I shook my head with a smirk, ignorantly, not even wanting to adventure what that meant.

Self-publishing sounded weak, illegitimate, and like something someone desperate would do.

I have seen some self-published books that were clearly self-published. They lacked professionalism and were completely DIY. I knew if I was going to even consider self-publishing, I was going to do it like a professional.

Part 5: Professionally self-publishing

Which meant…

Setting a budget. I talked with a few people, one of them being Jeff Goins, and asked their advice on a budget. Mine was small. In fact, we had zero extra money to funnel towards this book.

I was advised that a nice budget was around $3,000. This was more than we made each month, because that’s where we were at. But I trusted my advisors who’d walked before me and knew it was not going to be one giant sum of $3,000. I picked up extra freelance writing and photography jobs to help.

Hiring a great editor, not just a cheap edito — someone will always do something cheaper. I interviewed a few editors and knew pretty quickly which ones I wasn’t going to hire. I asked the few being considered for reviews from former clients. I ended up hiring Ashley Ormon, and have been incredibly thankful for her.
Hiring designers for the interior and jacket of my book. There was no way I was going to attempt a DIY cover or format. I worked with Amanda on my jacket’s sleeve and Melinda for my interior. They worked together beautifully.

Part 6: Just do it

At the end of the day, I just had to do it. Here were the steps I took to write and self-publish This Undeserved Life, in nine months:

1. I just started doing it

No one is motivated to run a marathon before they start running. Maybe they are, but they’re crazy. When I was training for the Portland Marathon, beginning every training run was difficult.

It wasn’t until I started doing it that I gained motivation.

This was the same for writing my book: I knew there was so much work ahead, but I knew it wouldn’t happen over night.

I simply started showing up and doing the work.

2. Redesigned and used my website + blog

I honed my voice and began writing more consistently on my website.

Creating a blog calendar to post at least once a week helped.

Just write — goal was to spend less than 90 minutes per post, publish, and share.

3. Expand my circle — influencers

I set out to use my website as a place to interview other authors in my genre who I admire.

I sent emails and explained to them why I loved their book(s), how I’ve implemented their advice or tips, and asked if I could do an interview and book giveaway.

Most said yes, others said no. I conducted interviews via phone, Skype, and email.

4. I built my email list

After I read and heard how incredibly important email lists are, I began putting a good amount of energy into creating a safe community.

I created a grief guide ebook, Wholeness Despite the Brokenness, and offered it for free to anyone who wanted to download it. I also created an adoption fundraising guide, Financing Adoption with Fundraising.

I found a groove sending out emails to my dear community every other week.

I love this community; they helped me pick my title, my author photo, and more. I want to give my community only good and valuable things.

5. I wrote my manuscript

While doing these steps and chipping away at everything I could, I was also working on my manuscript. In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott refers to the first draft as the shitty draft.

I cannot tell you how right she was. My first draft made my eyes bleed. I rewrote and erased and rewrote the next draft.

The important thing was: I got it out. I wrote the first draft (and then the second and third…)

6. Set deadlines and stick to them

In the beginning stages of writing my manuscript, I set deadlines.

I had to communicate well with my editor and designers, and we created a great timeline.

We were late here and there, but we worked hard and made up for lost time. Sometimes our deadlines were slightly late; they were never missed. I’m proud of the work we did in such a short time frame.

I chose a release date and worked backwards.

Deadlines to think through and process are:

Book release date: My release date was September 18, 2017.
Book completion (cover, spine, and manuscript formatted): My goal was August 1, of which I told my designers and editor.
Completely edited and proofread:

A manuscript must be completely edited before it is typeset.
I asked my interior designer/formatter how much time she needed.
I told her my “due date” to have everything finished was August 1. She said she needed my full, edited and finished manuscript by July 1.
This meant my editor and I needed to be completely done editing my manuscript by July 1.



7. Make an influencer list and ask for endorsements

I created a three-tier influencer list. These were people I wanted to write an endorsement, and give me a shout out or two.

My first tier was names of people who I knew would say “yes” to reading and endorsing my book. A few were writing and podcast friends, one was a best friend, and the rest were people on my email list.

My second-tier list were people of whom I wasn’t sure would say “yes” to endorsing my book, but I thought might. Most of them were influencers of sorts, whether a popular blog or podcaster or author.

My third-tier list were people who I highly doubted would respond to me, but would make my year if they read and endorsed my book.

I began with tier one: sending clear emails, asking them to read my book, and write a few lines to endorse it. This would be used either for the inside the book, or my website. I gave a deadline. When they responded with “yes,” I sent the PDF immediately.

Once I had a couple, I wrote to each individual influencer on list number two. They were similar emails, but specific to each influencer. I told the author, podcaster, speaker — whatever their respective title — why I was thankful for their work, and how I had used their advice. Then I shared two sentences about my book, along with an endorsement I had received. I asked if they’d be willing to read it and do the same. When they said “yes,” I sent it right away with the deadline. When they said “no,” I asked if I could send them a copy of my book to read for a giveaway or shout out.

I did this with the third tier as well. Each person who responded gave me their address. So even if I didn’t receive an endorsement, I have permission to mail them a copy of my book to share on their social media.

Part 7: But don’t forget!

Who knew I should get a P.O. Box?

I also registered my manuscript for copyrights, purchased ISBNs in a ten-pack, and bought a barcode.

Part 8: Book launch time — don’t do this alone

Nothing in my life that has been successful has been done alone. I knew I needed a community, and specifically the community I had been working hard to create and build.

I set up a Facebook Group to invite readers to help me launch This Undeserved Life. I gave everyone the manuscript digitally and asked their help on finishing touches of the cover.

This group remains a strong support network: I have loved the community built around This Undeserved Life through that group.

Tim Grahl has an entire podcast series and website that guides you on how to successfully launch a book. I listened to the entire series twice.

Part 9: Publish and release!

I set up pre-orders with bonuses and a special price. These are incentives to buy the book now.

When the day came, I uploaded the final pieces of my book — cover and manuscript — and hit publish.

It is now available on Amazon and has been sold across the globe.

I believe in the message of This Undeserved Life.

There have been purchases from multiple countries and continents, and not because I’m someone fancy. I chose to do the hard work it required.

And, so can you.

You don’t have to win the lottery to publish your book.

I believe in you. Do you?

What book do you want to get out into the world? What are you doing to make it a reality? Share in the comments.

How to Travel Around the World with Your Family for a Year: An Interview with Tsh Oxenreider

Have you ever dreamed of traveling the world but the constraints of life got in the way? Our guest this week dreamed of taking a year off to explore the globe with her family, and she made it happen. Here’s how.

Today, Tsh Oxenreider recounts that experience as well as how it led to her latest book, At Home in the World.

Tsh’s journey into the life of a writer began when she was living in Turkey. She and her husband had a 2-year old and she was pregnant with their second child. Tsh says moving there was like a do-over, and it was the first time she felt she had permission to allow what she wanted and needed into her home.

About this time Tsh was also diagnosed with depression and her therapist suggested she find a creative outlet because doing so would allow Tsh to reclaim some normalcy in her ex-pat existence.

Tsh’s husband suggested she start start a blog because he remembered how much she enjoyed writing. This was about 2007 when blogs were just becoming popular, and she jumped on board. Her original intention was to write about parenting and what it was like living overseas. Soon her site grew in popularity and Tsh dove into expanding its reach and content.

On today’s show we talk about that process of growing her blog, as well as how Tsh approaches book launches and balancing the marketing and writing her books. Join us as we dig into those topics and more on this episode of The Portfolio Life!

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you’re reading this via email, please click here).

Show highlights

In this episode, Tsh and I discuss:

Why is no one ever 100% ready?
What is the “1,000 true fans” concept?
Why does she say she isn’t a simple living guru?
How many years did they save and prepare for their year-long trip around the world?
What were some of the main logistics to make this type of travel possible?

“You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.Tsh OxenreiderTweet thisTweet
Tsh on full-time blogging and entrepreneurship

Did she think this was going to be a new business venture?
Where did she learn how to make money from blogging?
How much was she earning from her blog by mid-2008?
When did she make the leap to full-time?
What other streams of revenue did she have in addition to her blog?

“Everybody has a different way of living simply.Tsh OxenreiderTweet thisTweet
Tsh’s lessons from her book and on writing

What was a “sub-reason” they took their trip?
What is the vow of stability?
Is wanderlust ever quenched?
What has changed in her daily life as a result of these travels?
Why does she write this particular style of books?

Resources:

The Art of Simple web site
At Home in the World: Reflections on Belonging While Wandering the Globe, by Tsh Oxenreider
Real Artists Don’t Starve
Subscribe, rate and review on iTunes

What dream or adventure have you been contemplating, and how can you take a step towards it today? Share in the comments.

Using Data and Metrics to Build a Painting Career: An Interview with Justin Vining

Do you know where most of your customers live, or how much your market is willing to spend on your art? If you think those questions don’t matter to being a successful artist, think again.

Justin Vining is a painter based in Indianapolis, Indiana who has gone from bare bones living to having a comfortable and healthy income from his art.

And he’s done it in an unconventional way: rather than setting an arbitrary price for his art, Justin chooses the price point based on where his market consistently buys. He also tracks his data so he knows how to reach his goals for opening nights, and he networks to become a big player in the local community.

Justin has done all of this by learning as he goes. After graduating from Purdue University, he worked as an elementary education art teacher. In his third year of teaching he left to go to law school. While earning his law degree, Justin began selling his art to classmates in order to make some money. He also built a Facebook following on a hunch. It was the beginning of his painting career.

He went on to become a lawyer (even keeping his license active today), but about 6 years ago Justin made the leap into a full-time painting career. He is a fourth generation farmer who was raised with a strong work ethic so when he dove into painting he worked day and night to get sales and make it happen.

Today, we talk about how Justin finds balance between working late into the night and still spending quality time with his loved ones, why he’s living proof that artists don’t have to starve, and how he landed his biggest commission to date. You’re going to love hearing Justin’s straightforward advice on those topics and more on this episode of The Portfolio Life!

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you’re reading this via email, please click here).

Show highlights

In this episode, Justin and I discuss:

What role does metrics play in the selling and marketing of his art?
Why is he willing to make less money per piece?
How do you find a balance of working hard without burning out?
Why is he getting push back from his painting peers?
How did the invention of paint tubes change the way painting is done?

“If you want something you have to go get it.Justin ViningTweet thisTweet
Justin on work ethic and growing his business

How did growing up on a farm influence Justin’s work ethic?
In his first five years, how many paintings did he create per year?
What was his strategy for generating followers for his Facebook page?
Did he have a long-term strategy when he began painting during law school?
How has he approached his business differently than other artists?

“I price on where the market buys the work consistently.Justin ViningTweet thisTweet
Using metrics, goals and data as an artist

What happened in September 2012 that taught him a big lesson?
Why did he choose to focus on Indianapolis as his target market?
How have both his customer base and his subject matter evolved in the last year?
How did tracking his sales data help him sell 72 paintings during one opening night?
What does he do leading up to a show to create momentum and build demand?

Resources:

Justin Vining’s web site
Justin Vining on Instagram
Justin Vining on Twitter
Life After Art , by Matt Appling
Lust For Life , by Irving Stone
Real Artists Don’t Starve
Subscribe, rate and review on iTunes

What metrics do you track right now, and which will you start tracking after listening to Justin’s episode? Share in the comments.

How to Start Writing a Book

I’m finally getting to work on writing my next book. It’s taken six months to feel ready, but I’m glad I didn’t jump right into it. Today, I want to share with you what compels me to start writing a book.

Because this probably doesn’t work the way you think.

I used to think that writing a book was as simple as sitting down and doing the work. Heck, I probably even said it was that simple at one point. Well, I was wrong. It’s a lot more complicated than that.

The most neglected part of the writing process

Let me back up. It’s easy to write a book. I mean, relatively speaking. Lots of people do it every year. Millions of authors create millions of mediocre books. But if you’re reading this, my guess is you want more. I certainly do.

What does it take to write a good book? Not only one that sells well, but that people enjoy?

It takes more than hard work. It takes the right kind of work.

“Writing a good book takes more than hard work. It takes the right kind of work.Tweet thisTweet

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before you even start doing the work (which we’ll cover in a future post), you have to begin with an idea.

This is probably the most neglected part of the writing process. Before you sit down to write, you have to start somewhere else. That’s right. Writing a book doesn’t begin with writing. It begins with thinking.

Right now, I’m ghostwriting a book with a friend, and we have spent the past three months simply kicking ideas back and forth. Next, I am talking to an acquisitions editor at a publisher who will share feedback on our idea that we’ve developed for the past few months. Long story short: our idea isn’t ready.

This is how it works. Coming up with a good idea that may eventually turn into a good book takes a lot of work. And most people simply circumvent this process. Because it isn’t necessary. You can, after all, just start writing. And isn’t that what we tell ourselves? “Do the work”?

But before we do that, we have to ask ourselves an even more important question:

What is the work for?

This was something I learned from the great Seth Godin. Before you attempt any great project, before you hire your first employee for your startup or put one word on paper for your novel, you should ask two very important questions:

What is the work for?
Who is it for?

These are selfless questions, ones that supersede your passions and desires of what you want for yourself. Certainly, writing can be incredibly fun and fulfilling; we writers shouldn’t feel bad for gratifying ourselves with the work that we love. But there comes a point when you have to ask: what is this for?

Is it just for me? Just for my own amusement and entertainment? Or am I also doing it for someone else?

I can’t speak for you, but in my case, I’m writing for myself and for other people. I want to move people and make them think, maybe even act, differently. I don’t always accomplish this goal, but it’s my mission, nonetheless.

And so, before I sit down to write, I have to ask: What is this book for?

What will it do? How will it move people? What will it change?

The truth that I’ve found after writing five books, two of which were national bestsellers, is that for me to finish a book I have to be completely caught up in this idea. It has to feel so important that not writing it feels like a disservice to others.

As my friend Ryan Holiday says, if you can avoid writing this book, then you should.

When you write a book, it should be something you can’t not write.

“If you can avoid writing a book, you should.Ryan HolidayTweet thisTweet

So, how does this work?

How do you come up with an idea worth writing about?

I’m glad you asked. Here’s my process.

1. Find a good idea

I don’t have a great process for this other than the following:

Read a bunch of books and articles
Take notes on everything that fascinates you
Collect stories and anecdotes even if you don’t know why
In general, chase your curiosity

I’ve written about this more at length in this post on how to pick a good book title, so I won’t go into all that. Suffice to say, you need an idea that you can get completely obsessed with.

This, I think, goes for both fiction and nonfiction alike. Whether it’s a novel, a memoir, or an advice book, you’ve got to believe that the world needs to hear this thing. Which brings my to my second point.

2. Test your idea

But how do you know an idea is good?

Short answer: you don’t.

Slightly longer answer: you don’t until you get feedback.

Once I get an idea for a book, do you know what I do?

I incessantly bug my friends about it. I text them, take them to coffee, nag them over and over about it.

“Do you think this is a good idea?” I ask. “Does it make sense?”

I always want them to say kind things to me, like “this is the best idea ever!” And that never happens. It turns out that the idea is never as clear as I think it is.

Which has taught me an important lesson: your big idea is not clear until you can clearly talk about it.

“Your big idea is not clear until you can clearly talk about it.Tweet thisTweet

For me, I have to talk to think. I have to process verbally to get my ideas out of my head and into the world. And whenever I do this, I always am surprised by how unclear my idea really is.

So when I ask my friends for feedback, I ask the following questions:

What do you think of this idea?
Would you buy this book? (This is important because someone may say your idea is a good idea for someone else, but they’re just being nice. You need to know if they would actually pay real money for this. Otherwise, they’re just blowing smoke.)
What am I missing?

That’s it. Pretty simple right?

Don’t move forward until you get multiple whose opinions you trust to tell you that this is a good idea, they would pay money for it, and have given you constructive feedback on what else you can add.

The idea doesn’t have to be perfect, but it needs to be compelling. You need multiple people telling you, “Wow! You need to write that.”

But don’t stop there. You’re not done yet.

3. Research the market

Once you have your idea, you need to make sure someone else hasn’t already come up with the idea. You need to make sure it really is an original thought.

Spoiler alert: it probably isn’t. This step will help make your idea more original.

I often hear other authors say when they’re working on a book, they don’t read anything from any of their peers or anything like that, because they don’t want their thinking tainted by other people’s ideas.

That’s ridiculous. Either you subconsciously steal from your friends and heroes and get accused of plagiarism, or you do it on purpose and give credit where credit’s due.

I recommend the latter.

So here’s what I do:

Go to Amazon.com.
Search the topic of my new book and see if anything comes up (for my last book, I searched “art and money”).
Either buy those books or check them out at the library and see what the authors are actually saying about the topic.
Ask yourself, “Do I have something to add to this?” If not, don’t write the book. If you do, proceed.

4. Let the idea germinate

What I mean by this is once you know you have a good idea, just let it sit. Let the seeds of genius grow into something more. Let the idea haunt you.

Wait a few weeks. Maybe even a few months, as I recently did. And if the idea still is gnawing at you, then you might really have something.

As a matter of caution, run the idea by a few more friends or colleagues. Get some more feedback. Is it still clear? Does it still resonate? Does this still feel something you can’t not do?

If so, it’s time to write that book.

Resources

The Secret to Developing a Regular Writing Habit
How to Not Waste Your Words: The Secret to Writing a Crappy but Usable First Draft
How to Write a Book: The 5-Draft Method
What I Learned from Launching My First Best Seller
What I Learned from Not Hitting the New York Times Best Sellers List
What Nobody Tells You About Being a Best-selling Author

If you want to write a book, a good book that people will buy and read, you won’t want to miss my new course, Write a Bestseller. Click here to get on the waiting list.

What book are you writing (or want to write)? What is the big idea? Share in the comments.

Why It’s Never Too Late To Be An Artist: An Interview with Lisa Congdon

Do you think it’s never too late to be an artist? Or is there a cutoff point in life when to give up on your artistic dreams? Our guest for today is shaking up the notion that you can only pursue your artistic path when you’re young.

Lisa Congdon is an illustrator, and a fine artist. Her work is in the Museum of Modern Art’s store, Harvard University, and Martha Stewart Living to name a few. She also has a wonderful book called Art Inc.: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist.

Even though she grew up in an artistic home, Lisa didn’t pursue art as a living until later in her adult life. She was an elementary education teacher for most of her 20s and worked in an education non-profit during her 30s. But that shifted when she ended a 10-year relationship with another artist.

Lisa was lonely after the breakup and had a lot of space to fill in her life. Her brother also ended a long-term relationship about the same time, and he was questioning what to do with the rest of his life much like Lisa.

He went back to school and had to take an elective so he chose a painting class. The class was on a Friday night and he didn’t want to go by himself so he asked Lisa to join him. She said yes and was immediately smitten. Lisa took a few more classes with the teacher and also began painting in her apartment. Then she took a few drawing classes and began experimenting with all types of art from drawing to painting to sewing to cooking.

Lisa talks about what happened next in this episode of The Portfolio Life, including how many years it took for her work to become a part-time source of income and then a full-time source. You’ll definitely want to hear her inspiring journey, and her advice on how you can follow suit.

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you’re reading this via email, please click here).

Show highlights

In this episode, Lisa and I discuss:

Did she always know she was going to be an artist?
What was it like after she quit her job to become a full-time artist?
How did she sign with an illustration agent?
How long did it take for her to find her voice and her style?
Did she struggle with the starving artist mindset?

“You cannot make a living as an artist without relationships.Lisa CongdonTweet thisTweet
Lisa’s timeline for becoming a full-time artist

How long did she have Impostor Syndrome?
What did Impostor Syndrome stop her from doing for a time?
When did she make the switch to focusing on her art full-time?
Why does her art look so different today versus when she started?
What’s the one way to know which artistic medium is right for you?

“It’s never too late to pursue our dreams.Lisa CongdonTweet thisTweet
How to start thriving as an artist:

Experiment. Start thinking differently!
What is possible? Pretend that everything is possible and think of what you would have in your life.
Find what is stopping you. Look at what is getting in your way of success. Is it your mindset? Is it your relationship with money?
Map it out. Make a map of what it will take to get to your dreams, and then start taking one step at a time.

Resources:

Lisa Congdon’s web site
Lisa on Instagram
Art, Inc.: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist , by Lisa Congdon
Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives , by Lisa Congdon
Real Artists Don’t Starve
Subscribe, rate and review on iTunes

Have you been letting age or anything else stop you from pursuing your art? Share in the comments.