Bryan Heathman's Blog, page 4

Like Climbing a Mountain – The 5 Things to Know in Writing a Successful Book

Like Climbing a Mountain – The 5 Things to Know in Writing a Successful Book

Bryan Heathman

Few things are as satisfying as that feeling you get once you see the book you’ve written on bookstore shelves. At the very least, it’s a valuable conversation starter at cocktail parties. At the very best, your name becomes a household name.

Some people say the best part about being a published author is the passive income you receive from your quarterly royalty checks. Patricia Fripp is famous in my office for her thank you letters about receiving “mailbox money.”

For those who are already published writers, you probably know that there is nothing passive about your income. There’s also nothing glamorous about the sweat involved in bringing your opus to market and banging your drum for months leading into your launch to attract the attention of book buyers. Hence, there needs to be more to your reward than riveting conversation at cocktail parties.

The Key to Reaching the Top Is Actually Starting

This reminds me of a story. One weekend a few years ago, when my son was still a teenager – eyebrows fashionably bushy, girls squabbling over him, physically fit and taking it for granted – we set out for a day hike to the summit of the famous Mt. Saint Helens. Yes, that Mt. Saint Helens, the semi-active volcano which continues to brew to this day under a dome of hardened lava.

We arrived at the trailhead early-morning. The path was strewn with sharp gray rocks, pieces of ash and pumice left over from her famous explosion back in May of 1980. Even though the terrain on the trail was rough, my son and I got started – he with the rash haste of a 16-year old; I with the more practiced gait of a silverback. The point is that we started, a delicate point that most fail to appreciate. As they say, “The start is what stops most people.”

The morning wore on, and the trail climbed without any consideration for my physical condition. I looked around to see if we were keeping pace with the healthy couple from Connecticut who were climbing 3 summits in 3 days. I was hanging in there. However, in the back of my mind I was hoping that after a while my son would tire, slow down, and give his ol’ man a break. Not a chance. He pushed ahead, summited with ease, and waited impatiently for me at the top.

The air was thin towards the top of this 10,000 foot peak, but despite the elevation everything was going great. Then suddenly, 50 yards from the peak, my thigh seriously cramped-up. There I was, so close to the elusive summit that I could hear the conversations from the group at the summit. As I sat there on a rock stretching my thigh, I wondered flippantly if there were any rickshaws nearby that I could hire. It was only a persistent inner resolve that got me off that rock and up the steep, rocky path to the summit.

Writing a book can be like that.

Whether you start out writing your book with high hopes and a burst of energy, or you pace yourself with the long view in mind, the key is to start. Once you get started, momentum works in your favor. Then, your next challenge is to finish it. The rewards will be many and finishing a book is incredibly fulfilling, despite the challenges along the way.

5 Things to Know about a Published Book

Knowing that it’s hard to tell stories at events about a book you haven’t finished yet, here are five steps for getting your book manuscript done, out the door, and into the hands of readers.

1. Derivatives: Consider the different types of book derivatives that are available to you, such as physical books, eBooks and audiobooks. Choose the format that’s most appropriate for your ideas and your audience. Some authors launch their ebook first. Others will record an audiobook first, get it transcribed, then convert that to their book.

2. Licensing: Know about licensing for both domestic and foreign rights. Getting your book translated into foreign languages and published can make an attractive ancillary income from your writing.

3. Title: Come up with a gripping title for your book and don’t underestimate this part of your writing. Do some social media research study to get the book’s title and subtitle locked down. You can get opinions from fans in real-time this way. It’s a great use of technology!

4. Structure: Use your table of contents as the essence of your book. It will help establish the flow of your ideas and serve as an outline for your material. You can refer to it as you write and create the structure of your book.

5. Refinement: As the writing progresses, always have someone proof edit your work to make sure that the writing is sharp. Have a trusted ally provide you with ongoing feedback. This means that through the writing process, you’re not alone and you have help every step of the way.

Using these steps can accelerate your writing process and help you complete your manuscript at a brisk pace. What I’ve discovered after years of working with authors is that even people who maintain a crazy busy schedule can complete a book inside a three-month time frame, by disciplining their time on their writing project.

What kind of conversation will you start at your next cocktail party? Challenge yourself to get started with a book and push it across the finish-line in the next 6-months…what comes next may surprise you.

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

On Speakers Bureaus & the Business of Speaking

In my line of work as a Publisher, I work with about 250 different professional speakers. These speakers who write books use the books we publish to promote their speaking business, and vice versa. Their talent ranges from the up-and-comer to top tier speakers who give talks around the world. Many professional speakers engage with speakers bureaus and/or speaking managers to land gigs on their behalf.

Recently I attended a large association conference in Dallas. Besides attending the event, I make it a habit to touch base with authors I work with while in town. On this trip I took one of these authors out to lunch. She has a hilarious personality and is brimming with stories about this business.

But to me the most fascinating story was not new to me – how she keeps so busy. She uses the services of a speakers bureau. She works hard to stay top-of-mind with her favorite speakers bureaus to keep her speaking schedule full.

This speaker was typically engaged in nearly two speaking gigs per week, or just over 90 engagements per year. If you know something about the speaking business, you’ll agree that this is a phenomenal pace to maintain. Clearly the time invested in these relationships are paying off for her.

Navigating the ins and outs of using a speakers bureau can be somewhat complicated for a new speaker. With this in mind, here are a few salient points to consider when you choose to take your act on the road.

Getting A Little Help from Your (Professional) Friends

Cultivating relationships with a speakers bureau or speaking manager can greatly enhance your public speaking opportunities, giving you an entree into venues you wouldn’t otherwise reach. So what does this look like?

First, you’ll want to be sure you are working with a bureau that is motivated to assist you. However, you need to know that their goals may run counter to your objectives as a speaker. Typically, what the bureau wants is to close speaking engagements with their customers – corporations, associations and non-profits. They’re not necessarily “brand faithful” to one particular speaker because they make it their business to offer choices to their clients. Their role is to weed through the hundreds of speakers they like, and end-up with a handful of trusted performers for their client.

Does this mean you can’t become the darling of a particular speakers bureau? Not necessarily, but it will take consistent excellence and a proven track record to get their attention. You’ll also need to be persistent when it comes to staying in touch – essentially you’ll have to be the squeaky wheel.

Usually it’s best to work with more multiple bureaus in order to stay as busy as possible. Their standard rate is 25% of your speaking fee.

Some bureaus prefer to have exclusivity with the speaker. This sounds great, right? Instead of marketing yourself to dozens of bureaus, you only need to cultivate a relationship with one who provides a guarantee to book you 75 times per year for a period of time. However over the long run, an exclusive bureau relationship sometimes does not work in your favor. You may wind up with a long dry spell after they have worked through their list of contacts in in 2-3 years. Industry insiders suggest remaining open to working with multiple bureaus.

Working with a manager is similar to working with a speaking bureau. Like the bureau, they will land gigs for you and take a fee on top of the bureau fee – probably 10%. The difference is that are getting paid to be loyal to you. It can be worth it if you are generally strapped for time and are focused on running a business, speaking, writing or traveling. If your manager is working with a bureau, then 35% of your speaking fee may be consumed by the cost of getting the engagement in professional fees.

To Fee or Not To Fee – That Is the Question

There is a world of difference between a keynote speaker who charges $5,000 per one-hour speech and a speaker who charges $20,000 for the same amount of time.

In each case, the speaker works diligently to earn that speaking fee. The higher the fee, however, the greater the expectation that the keynoter is going to have rock star charisma and a dazzling presentation. Rehearsal and intentional work on your stage presence are keys to bringing home this much bacon. A corporate trainer isn’t going to be required to have the same Wow factor as a speaker who captivates an entire arena.

There are some folks who have become famous for reasons other than public speaking yet still find themselves needing to address a major audience. Best-selling authors and media celebrities fit this category. Even though their public speaking skills may leave a lot to be desired, they still may command a major price tag for what a appears to be a minor delivery. But this is the exception, not the rule.

When you set your speaking fee, one place to start is with your income goal. If you have a certain amount of overhead you need to meet, calculate the number of speaking gigs you will need to have in order to achieve that income. Be realistic about your level of talent, experience and degree of fame as you set your fees. Know also that buyers have very high expectations from speakers to charge over $15,000 per keynote speech.

Speaking fees run the gamut, from as little as $500 for a one-hour talk up to $50,000 for top-tier professionals. Legendary speakers like Zig Ziglar would command a $75,000 speaking fee. Some speakers choose to waive their speaking fee if they may be allowed to promote their books, products or services at the back of the room following the event. This can prove extremely profitable, despite the apparent discount. I’ve seen famous speakers who choose to waive their speaking fees and clear $50,000 per event selling product back of room.

The most common range for speakers just starting out is between $1,000 and $5,000. These lower-end gigs are widely available in every major city, and they often involve speaking at schools and service organizations.

The juicier gigs are typically reserved for members of the speakers bureaus, and these professionals are ready to go at a moment’s notice. It’s not uncommon for a keynote speaker to get a phone call in the evening to appear the following day deliver a performance. One such speaker got a last minute call and was asked if his schedule was clear the following week. He accepted the engagement and to his amazement, he found himself speaking at a formal dinner at the White House.

When you’re ready to play at this level you will be living the dream of the jet setters, complete with Champaign and caviar waiting in your hotel suite at check-in. After that, what more can you say?

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

Book Publishing Comparison – How to Choose the Best Book Publishing Model

In my work as a book publisher and book marketing consultant, I’m often asked: “what is the best publishing model?” It’s an important question. After all, if you’ve responded to the calling of being an author, then you want it to give your book the best possible chance to succeed.

Both experienced authors and first-timers search for publishing options in a variety of ways. There are a ton of choices to consider, and researching them can be overwhelming.

By popular demand, here is an overview of the three major types of publishing methods: Traditional, Self-Publishing and Assisted Self-Publishing. Each publishing option has its merits. Naturally, the one you choose has to fit your needs most intelligently while serving the mission of your writing or speaking business. With that in mind, here is a review of the three options.

Self-Publishing Overview:

This option is best for experienced authors who are good at everything and like to retain control. On the upside, it takes only three to six months to publish your book, and you retain ownership of your intellectual property.

But there is a downside. As the author and publisher, you assume the cost of editing, cover design, and interior layout. Physical books that have printed cannot be returned, and the price per book is high if you choose print-on-demand services.

The deeper concern, however, is that most bookstores won’t carry self-published books. Most authors discover this “gotcha” after they’ve published with CreateSpace or similar services. This shrinks your potential considerably, as 85% of books are sold outside of Amazon.com. Being locked-out of traditional bookstores also leaves you with fewer marketing choices.

If you’re into the DIY thing – including lots of guess work, learning new software and a few costly fumbles – you may want to choose the self-publishing option. Recognize that these activities will take a bite out of your marketing, speaking and writing time.

Traditional Book Publishing Overview:

Traditional publishing plays the glamour card. This is the typical scenario where the author finds an agent, and the agent shops the finished manuscript to the dozens of publishing houses where they have connections. Finally, one editor falls in love with the book, catches hold of the vision, and promises to turn the author into a star.

The publisher takes control of all the design and editing, along with full retail distribution, book trade advertising, and confident pricing. There’s celebratory champagne followed by meetings, lots of back and forth, editing, rewrites and delays.

In fact, putting a book into the marketplace through traditional publishing takes between eighteen and thirty months. That’s almost three years. No lie! By the time your book hits the shelves, you’ve (hopefully) written your second book required by contract.

At this stage, the publisher now owns your book. You’ve sold it to them for an advance on royalties, and you may never see another dime if it doesn’t take off in the first 90 days. Oh, and by the way, you are responsible for 100% of the marketing for your book; you won’t get much help from the publisher unless your first book was a smashing success. Some publishers offer the services of a speakers bureau and public relations services if you’re in the top 5% of their catalogs such as J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown or Stephen King.

Traditional publishing isn’t necessarily the best answer if you’re concerned about copyright restrictions, movie rights and flexibility with your intellectual property. This is the reason self-publishing has become popular in recent years, despite the drawbacks on publishing your book yourself.

But there is a third publishing option, one that combines the best of both worlds.

Assisted Self Publishing Overview:

One company offering the assisted self-publishing model is Made for Success Publishing, which was designed for speakers and authors who want to play a bigger game. This means publishing a book is not just another product launch. The book’s mission is to establish a national presence for the author.

In reality, assisted self-publishing provides the best of traditional and self-publishing models. Printed books are returnable, and a variety of book derivatives are published (like audiobooks). You also have the flexibility to use ghostwriting services, designed for the hyper busy executive who prefers a writing expert to craft their message.

In this model, authors benefit from expertise with elements like cover design, editing, book formatting, distribution and marketing recommendations. For some authors who speak, a high performing book can make the difference in adding another $5,000 to their speaking fees.

In today’s book publishing environment, just getting a book printed is not enough due to the increasingly competitive nature of the book industry. As you may have inferred, I have a bias towards the hybrid option. That’s because it is designed to leverage the best of both worlds; offering the author control over their work while capitalizing on the full opportunities in the marketplace.

For a birds-eye overview of the deal terms commonly associated with these three publishing options, review this book publishing comparison chart.

Enjoy the journey as you research these publishing options.

Adult Coloring Books: Catching the Wave of New Opportunity

One of the most explosive trends in the book publishing industry recently is Adult Coloring Books. Whether it’s Amazon, Barnes & Noble, airport bookstores or your neighborhood craft store, coloring books are flying off the shelves.

As the early-adopter speakers and authors are jumping into this segment of the publishing business, it begs the question of whether you should too.

This intriguing factoid brings up a few questions. What exactly are Adult Coloring Books? What is their unique appeal? Is this a trend that’s going to last? And – most importantly – how do you get your work published in this oh-so-haute format?

Let’s break these down one at a time.

What Are Adult Coloring Books?

A lot of people associate coloring books with childhood, waxing nostalgic about the hours they spent with Dick, Jane and Spot. Back then it was tough to decide just the right shade of red for hats and shoes, hoping they wouldn’t clash with the rosy apples on the trees or the brick red barn in the background. If you could stay within the lines, you were an artistic genius.

Coloring really was fun when we were kids… for about 10 minutes. Only a few of us had the patience to hang out long enough to finish the page, let alone the whole book. Our hyperactive growth hormones made us want to bolt upright and play catch in the backyard or rassle with the dog rather that sit quietly with a bunch of crayons.

But fast forward a few years, and suddenly adult coloring books are everywhere. Patience doesn’t enter into the equation at all. Large conference centers are giving coloring pads and a set of sharp pencils to attendees, as studies have demonstrated that people stay more attentive to speakers, trainers and business executives while engaging multiple senses.

Today’s line drawings which beg for pigment are all about de-stressing and expressing. The images are centered around a theme, like religion, lifestyle, hobbies or personal development. Companies are even developing artwork around their key initiatives to help employees retain rapidly changing business priorities.

Why Create With Color?

Adult Coloring Books offer a kind a release from stress that few other activities can. With an engaging image and a set of sharp colored pencils or Sharpies, coloring can transport you into another time and place, a world of make believe, professional development or even hyper-reality. Here’s are 5 reasons why the adult coloring market is booming.

It’s Kinetic – Coloring is a physical act. It requires hand to eye coordination, and it causes the brain to absorb the messages on the printed page.
It’s Visual – Coloring is inherently visual, stimulating the optic nerve, bathing the eye in rich hues, and releasing endorphins into the bloodstream as we get into the zone.
It’s Imaginative – Let’s face it: coloring is hypnotic. It liberates the senses and allows us to let our imagination run wild.
It’s Memorable – By connecting the visual and the physical, we can create a memorable and lasting impression through the messages we include in our Adult Coloring Books.
It’s Associative – Creating an Adult Coloring Book of your own can be a great branding tool for you as a speaker or trainer. When clients invest their time, emotion and imagination into evocative imagery associated with words, they will associate positive feelings with your ideas.

Is This Too Trendy to Last?

As early as the 1960s, exotic coloring books for adults were all the rage. “The Fat Cat Coloring & Limerick Book” was first published in 1967, and it was a big hit well into the ’70s. During that time you could also find coloring books for all ages on subjects like the Old and New Testaments, Folklore, Art Nouveau and even publications inspired by Pop Artist extraordinaire, Peter Max.

In the 1980s, the trend continued. You could always find Adult Coloring Books at the gift shops of airports and major museums, including the Museum of Natural History in New York City. There were even hanging mobiles designed for just this purpose. You could always find intricate fish, dinosaurs or wild animals to color and hang from your ceiling.

During the 1990s, Adult Coloring Books were still available and growing in force. Gift shops at National Parks and nature centers, as well as traditional bookstores like Barnes & Noble stocked the crème de la crème.

Today the adult coloring book phenomena is booming. A respectable percentage of Amazon’s top 100 books are now adult coloring books. With a history this evolved, there’s no doubt that the popularity of this medium will continue to hold strong. Adult Coloring Books are here to stay.

What Are Best Practices for Offering Adult Coloring Books?

As an author or corporate training director, once you decide to add Adult Coloring Books to your line up of published materials, you may want to consider the following options.

Illustrations: Stay current on what’s selling in the coloring book market. Chose a favorite style such as hand drawn or computer generated graphics, and run with it. For our purposes as a publishing house, we’re gathering a team of independent illustrators who are hungry to work on new published projects in order to keep-up with the demand in this segment.

Themes: Build your book based on a theme, not a mishmash of subjects. You might create one book with classic designs, one with inspirational sayings, or a series of books with images from one specific continent or era. Avoid mixing themes together in one edition. Keep it focused. For example, consider topics such as quotations, lists of information, meditative reflections, characters from a novel, motivational quotes or a series of key insights related to your brand.

Publishing: If you decide to publish your Adult Coloring Book yourself, be aware that there a several product development decisions to make about your book. Details such as book size, weight of the paper stock, page perforations and book binding (perfect bound, spiral bound) all have an impact on your cost and price, as well as your coloring book’s usability. Check-in with a publisher who has an established retail distribution footprint, as the retail distribution landscape is rapidly expanding into pet stores, cruise ships, craft stores, coffee shops, cooking stores and more.

Adult Coloring Books can add a rainbow of opportunity to your personal brand and your product line up. Like coloring itself, the only limit is your imagination!

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

How to Structure a Book for Success: Author Writing Tips

When it comes to drawing readers into your world, one of the most important elements of your book is its structure. Few first-time authors realize how creative a device this can be.

Whether you’re writing an article or a full length book, the structure of your material determines its final shape – and how compelling it is. The structure of your writing is like the blueprint of your dream cabin upon which it is built. Structure has a big influence on whether people want to buy what you’ve written and engage with your ideas.

In both fiction and non-fiction, your message can be likened to a tale – a linear narrative that you tell from beginning to end. But you don’t have to tell your story in linear fashion. Think about it.

In movies, the plot is often quite different from the linear tale it contains. The tale is 2D, a line that connects two points, beginning and end. But the plot is 3D and can be sculpted from a variety of angles, casting fresh light on even the most familiar topics.

So it is with your own content. You can break it up, rearrange certain pieces, and play with time through flashbacks and futurescapes. You can mold your story into something compelling, adding mystery and mystique to what is otherwise humdrum.

Many authors may not realize their story can be told in a non-linear fashion. The tale can be wrapped around a series of points, time can fold or jump, and the events in the tale can be highlighted to make a point. All of this is crafted through the structure of the book.

Crafting Your Book’s Basic Brilliance

If you’re just getting started with your manuscript, it can be tough to decide how much material to include and where it should go. This is where brainstorming comes into play. Brainstorming a simple idea and easy to do – so simple that a lot of the authors I work with forget to use it.

Set aside a limited amount of time, such as one hour, and do a brain dump of ideas surrounding your topic, no matter how trivial they may seem. More is good here. In fact, being critical of your ideas before you write them down can stem the flow. Once you’re done, organize the material into groups of ideas. These groups will become your chapters.

Recently a former MLB pitcher of some notoriety visited “The Ranch” where I work with authors on their books. During this two-day process, we brainstorm ideas and then map their book visually in what I call the “War Room,” taking over my conference room for the duration of their session. We shared some laughs, told stories and even shed a few tears as we talked through pivotal events in the author’s life which shaped the arc of his story.

We used to use flip charts positioned around the room to display the book’s concepts, one chart for each chapter. After sifting through the content we came up with in the brainstorm, we write down each idea on a PostIt note to add to the flip charts.

Today we use electronic systems to mimic this process, with a giant screen to visualize the components of the story. We even conduct real-time polls in social media accounts to hone-in on the perfect Title for the book. During this 2-day session at the Ranch our goal is to rapidly organize a writing plan, with the goal of writing a book in 3-months.

There’s always one chapter that seems to be problematic. Bringing the book into the real world, making it larger than life, helps us get over the hump and work through the rough patches.

Authors consistently tell me that using this method – having someone to hash out their book’s structure with – is the highlight of the session (my apologies to the cook). While many authors give up when they hit a block, the War Room tactic helps my clients overcome their biggest structural obstacles.

This method works because it allows us to see the entire book at a glance. It gives the author the ability to visualize the big picture in living color.

Once we have settled on the book’s structure and content, we divide the entire project into sections. This lets us determine how much to write on each topic and chapter. Once you break-down a writing project into sections, the writing gets quite easy.

Working this way is a lot like the storyboarding that Creative Directors in ad agencies use to create television commercials, so they can visualize each shot of a commercial before they hire a crew and go on-location. Storyboarding allows the author to play with changes in the storyline to heighten tension and peak interest.

How Do I List Thee? Let Me Count the Words

Once you have decided on your book structure, it’s time to decide the length. This has a lot to do with the format of the book you’re planning to publish.

If you want your book to be printed on paper and listed in bookstores and catalogs, your word count has everything to do with it being accepted by book buyers. A book with a narrow spine just won’t leap off the shelf into readers’ hands. Sometimes all they can see of your book is the spine, so it has to make an impact.

In the print world, the length of the book determines marketability. The first thing book buyers look at is the page count, which determines the spine width. The spine needs to be wide enough to be able to print your name and book title effectively. The page count also helps determine the pricing of the book.

A typical printed book in the non-fiction or business genre comes in at 35,000 to 80,000 words. The standard for novels ranges from 80,000 to 120,000. It depends on the style. Romance novels have different word count than Westerns, and even the sub-genres within these markets can vary in length. Books in a series also have word count standards.

Amazon has become the gorilla in the room when it comes to publishing, and they have influenced the way books are marketed. Their massive amount of sales data has shown us the sweet spot for book and ebook length, and their catalog has responded to it with agility.

However you choose to structure your book, the key is to keep writing. When you have an abundance of good ideas, your ideas will invariably take shape. This lets you storyboard your way to success!

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

How to Overcome Writer’s Block

It happens to the best of us. You’ve got a brilliant idea for a book. You outline it clearly, and the words just flow. Your book was born whole in your mind, and all you need to do is capture a few of those fleeting shafts of brilliance to be assured of a #1 Best Seller. You can feel the “flow”, and your energy is pumping.

But once you’ve got the outline and you sit down to write it, you’re stuck. Nothing comes. You don’t have the slightest idea what to commit to your manuscript, and even if you do have an inkling, the ink just won’t flow. You’re stuck – that’s all there is to it. You’ve got a full blown case of writer’s block. So what can you do?

Well, frankly it depends on the source of your blockage. Are you swimming in a sea of ideas, afraid to pick one for offending the others? Are you looking for the perfect path to the book of your dreams, yet you fear the road not taken? Are you shunning what comes to mind because it’s just not Hemingwayesque enough?

There are five common causes of writer’s block, and there’s a cure for each one. In fact, the cures aren’t mutually exclusive. You can unclog your cranium with any number of strategies. The key is to pick one and get moving forward again.

The 5 Most Common Creativity Killers

As a writer, being stuck can make it seem impossible to get yourself moving again. If this sounds like you, you’re probably suffering from one or more of these five common causes. Take a look and see if any of these creativity killers ring-true for you.

Procrastination: You had a great idea for a book, but you’ve been putting off getting it started. Now the task seems so huge, you feel like you can never tackle it. It’s become the monster under your bed, and your flashlight batteries just went out.
Perfectionism: You know what you want to say, but you just can’t seem to get the tone right. Every time you start typing (or put ink to paper, if you’re the noble retro type), the garbage that comes out isn’t worthy the paper on which it is written.
Intimidation: You’re deeply in love with your topic (or characters… or plot) and you don’t feel worthy to flesh the thing out. After all, who are you to breathe life into this project – God? You want to put a bag over your head and change your name to Anonymous.
Distraction: You’d love to start writing your book, but it’s just so dang fun to gather material instead. Or do your laundry. Or pick lint out of your navel. You know that once you get started writing you won’t have time for anything else, so you’re squeezing it all in before you begin.
Sheer Boredom: You loved your topic when you started – no, really. But now the New is off, and you’ve settled into a desperately dull sameness. It would have been enough for you to draft an outline. But why, oh why did you have to commit to 300,000 words of this drivel? By now you’d rather schedule yourself for a root canal than finish your manuscript, except you’re too bored to get off the couch.

Bring It Home with These Writers Block Busters

Procrastination: If the idea of writing your book has turned monstrous, the best way to deal with this is to dive in….slowly. Commit to yourself that you’ll dip your toe in the water, or start in small increments. I recommend scheduling 15-minutes to work on your book, and then let yourself quit when the time’s up. If you want to keep going after that, go ahead! Schedule more than one session so you don’t feel that performance is do-or-die. You’ll be amazed by how easy it is to get started.
Perfectionism: If you’re embarrassed by the garbage that comes out every time you try to tackle your manuscript, maybe it’s time to recognize a fundamental point about writing: it always starts out bad. For everyone. Even Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway rewrote his stuff 30 times before he even handed it off to an editor! Get over it and allow the process to be uncomfortable, and deal with that lousy, tragic first draft. It’s private stuff. Show others your work only once it’s been pressed down and shaken together.
Intimidation: If you love your topic and you don’t feel worthy to flesh it out, consider this: It wouldn’t exist at all if it weren’t for you. No one else can put your own unique perspective on the work. Don’t let your fear define you. Use your butterflies as kinetic fuel for the fire of your passion. Take the bull by the horns and write what no one else can. It’s all yours, so own it. Personally, I went through this challenge when I wrote my first book. When I read the material months later, I was amazed at how smart I was “way back then.” LOL.
Distraction: If you’re favorite pastime is doing everything but writing, you’re in good company. This is a cliché. If you’re trying to “squeeze it all in” before you begin writing – housework, poker, working out, filing your taxes – give it up. There will always be one more thing to do. Just start writing, you commitment-phoebe (and buy your spouse some flowers while you’re at it!). Nothing worthwhile ever came from a tepid heart. Stop making excuses and start making history.
Sheer Boredom: If your love for your topic doesn’t look the same as when you started, there’s a very good reason. You haven’t let yourself dive in. Imagine you’re sitting around and talking with just one person. Give them the goods on your topic, and show them the pitfalls. You’ll be fascinated and swimming in verbiage in no time.

Now that you know some of the causes of writer’s block, you’re ready to meet the challenge head-on, get over yourself and your writing blues, and let the words flow. It won’t be long until your writing turns into the stuff of legends, and that paper napkin with your first ideas will be worth a fortune. Or at least it will be worth dabbing your eyes with, as you read the gold that flows from your fingers. Who knew?

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

Common Missteps when Self-Publishing Books

The first time they publish, most authors unknowingly make mistakes that render their book unsaleable. It’s not that they’re uninformed, but they lack necessary experience. There are a myriad of complexities in the book business, and it’s not all that intuitive to learn them.

In fact, there isn’t a week that goes by without a new author asking me for help with marketing their self-published book or selling the inventory sitting in their garage.

A lot of authors have such passion for their vision, they believe if they could just get it written, the book would sell millions of copies on its own merits. “Write it, and they will come.” These fresh-faced would-be Hemingway’s mistakenly believe that 90% of the work is in mastering the medium – writing the book.

In reality, writing the book is only 10% of the work involved. Publishing is a business. The other 90% involves getting the book into the marketplace and promoting it to the world at large.

What begins to dawn on the self-published authors who seek my help is the enormity of this task of breaking into a competitive, multi-billion-dollar marketplace. There are very few cases where an author is also an accomplished book marketer. It takes a team.

Heavy Lifting Is Not Just For Superheroes

For example, I recently worked with an author who came to my team for help. She wanted us to design her cover for her as part of the project, but she was insistent about determining the theme of the design. Her concept was to use the silhouette of a female superhero.

Our team counseled her to allow our professional designer to come up with a more compelling front cover image. But because she was insistent, and we gave her what she asked for.

When I included the final product in our catalog and shopped it to our traditional contacts at Barnes & Nobel, Hastings and other bookstores, the comments were consistent. They loved the author’s message and her credentials, but they declined to carry the book because they said the cover made it look self-published.

Eventually, we redesigned the cover and re-released the book. We gave the professional design team total authority over the artwork, and this book went on to sell thousands upon thousands of copies.

The spine is another element that needs careful consideration. When your book is on the shelf beside others in its genre, you want it to stand out. If you choose a publishing format that renders your book’s spine too slim to read, book buyers are more inclined to pass it by simply because people can’t read the spine text. Your spine needs to make an impact in terms of size, color and visual appeal.

Accuracy is another factor that requires meticulous attention when you’re publishing your book. Your book’s final edit naturally needs a careful check for grammar and punctuation. However many new authors make the mistake of trying to manage this themselves. Those who are savvy enough to hire a professional editor for the job often make the mistake of having their editor focus solely on the creative content. The cover and back text also need careful review.

Getting Published “Oline”

One of the most prolific authors published by Made For Success performed an independent test of the Kindle Direct Publishing service. Understanding that we have a team of about 30 people involved in publishing each book, she wanted to find out the best features of KDP and share her results with me.

The author drafted a short manuscript, designed the cover herself, then came up with some punchy marketing copy. She uploaded the manuscript to Amazon, and with a little bit of nervousness, she hit the “publish” button and waited.

The next day she searched Amazon to find her book. But it wasn’t there. It simply didn’t come up in the search results. Where could it be?

After a frustrating 15 minutes of hunting through search results, she logged into her Kindle account to find the answer. You can imagine how crestfallen she felt when she discovered she had made a typo in the title! Instead of using the word “Online” in the metadata, she’d typed “oline”.

Without a team of professionals backing her up, her mistake fell through the cracks to yield a very real embarrassment. Later she told me, “Now I get what you guys do at Made for Success.” That was the end of her self-publishing experiment.

If you are serious about your book as part of your professional life, then making the right publishing choices can make a world of difference. Leveraging professionals to edit, design and distribute your work can give your book its best possible chances for success. Your publisher should have a sales force that consistently calls on retailers and writes regular orders with them.

A worthy publisher will guide you through drafting and executing your book marketing plan and be there to ensure the best possible follow through. After all, it takes a village to launch a writing project. Isn’t your book worth it?

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

Time for Your Book to Take Flight

Ready to see your book succeed? Whether you’re just now sitting down to write, searching for a publisher, or wondering how to market your book, we have the tools you need. Partnering with Mark Bowser, Stephen Woessner, Katherine Anne, Dawn Jones and others, Made for Success has launched a podcast series just for you. Book Publisher Bryan Heathman shares insights for authors and speakers, from his experience as President of Made for Success Publishing, sharing tips, tricks and formulas for writing and getting published.

Our tools include naturally stimulating demand for books and audiobooks from the speaking platform, setting up your in-home podcast studio, navigating the labyrinth of self publishing options for new authors, the process of getting a literary agent to shop your manuscript to publishers that pay an advance on royalties, and more!

Listen now on iTunes

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

The Traditional Publishing Roadmap

Selling your manuscript for an advance on royalties is a dream come true for the thousands of authors whose works line the shelves of bookstores around the world. What’s really involved in traditionally publishing your book? Here’s a look into that process.

The details involved in traditional book publishing seem like a labyrinth for many authors. But really it’s rather straightforward, requiring only some common sense, focused attention and a bit of work.

Let’s delve into the nitty gritty – what it takes to build and publish your book.

Building Your Book, One Stroke at a Time

Now that you’ve connected with an agent and inked the right deal with a publisher, you’re ready to build your book. Getting an editor involved is usually the first step preparing your manuscript for publication. A professional editor will know your genre and marketplace far better than you do, and they can provide feedback you might not have considered.

Ernest Hemingway refined his manuscripts 30 times or more before calling them good. Many authors agree that the majority of the writing process is rewriting, and it’s a lot of work!

Even though you may feel that your book is finally finished now, don’t put the brakes on this process. Your editor will add refinements that will take your work to a whole new level. Every best seller starts with a great manuscript, so don’t be discouraged when your editor requires rewrites.

Once you’ve got your final edit, now it’s time to consider the title, sub-title, and cover art. You may have concepts for them worked out for yourself, but once again, be sure to get professional help with these all important features. What’s inside your book won’t matter if your book’s title and cover don’t entice the book shopper to buy.

Now that you have a final draft, you will need to have it proofed again – check for typos, spelling, grammar and word choice. Almost invariably, the layout process introduces errors into your manuscript. Using a professional to proof your book layout will pay you dividends down the road and will save money in the long term.

Countdown to Launching Your Book

Once you’ve written your book, you’ve completed 10% of the work involved in the publishing picture. Launching your book truly takes a full-court press. Many authors dislike this part of the equation, but the work is necessary for the ambitious author.

This piece of the book marketing puzzle usually falls onto the shoulders of the publisher. However, that doesn’t mean the author has no responsibility in launching the book – far from it!

Publishers do run ads on billboards and buses for their most successful authors, but this is a kind of attention that has to be earned.

Launching your book involves making the Trade aware that your book exists and demonstrating why it’s worth stocking on their shelves. This involves getting the word out to retail buyers, library buyers, book critics in trade publications and bloggers.

Getting your book into the marketplace is complicated, especially when you consider all the many types of outlets for your book. The most common outlet for selling books is the retail bookstore, but there are several other outlets for selling books as well.

For example, libraries are an often overlooked source of revenue for authors. They buy in volume, and they require more durable bindings, such as hardback. Connecting with these choice book buyers is not hard, but it does require an in. Usually the best way to start is through publicity in trusted publications like The Library Journal.

Corporate buyers are also a hotbed of sales for non-fiction authors. Developing these relationships require time and trust, which is often one of the tradeoffs you choose to make when working with a traditional publisher who have pre-existing relationships with dozens and dozens of professional book buyers.

It’s up to the author to generate a bit of buzz and heat about their book through press releases, social media and live events. Many of the most widely known authors have hired a publicist or agency to manage the bulk of their book launch. They are widely known because of the choice to invest in building awareness for their book.

One Made for Success author in Australia, the CEO of a credit union, hired a publicity firm to launch his book. His PR representative was successful in booking the author within the in-flight programming with Australia’s largest airline. This is one example of a hidden opportunity found by a PR professional to generate awareness with a relevant audience.

One way to promote your book with a splash is to do book signings in stores and libraries. This means you appear at a bookstore, give a brief talk about your book, and sign copies for attendees. In certain circles, it’s a glamorous kind of event – nerd chic. In any crowd, it’s a great way to make the buying public aware that you are launching your book.

Wagging the Long Tail

There are two phases in the life of a published book: The Front List and the Back List. Each one has its merits and its own economy.

Front List Titles – These books are fresh off the press, and the publisher is actively promoting them. The author is in motion promoting the work as well, doing bookstore signings, media interviews and public appearances. This period is typically two to three months.

Back List Titles – This is the life of the book after its initial launch, often called the long tail. A quality book may produce royalties for the author for years to come if it’s handled properly. The beauty of this stage of the publishing business is that if you’re an author, your work is mostly done. You can rest on your laurels if you like and simply collect royalty checks.

However, the wise author will continue promoting their books even after the titles move to the Back List. One truism about the consumer market is that if someone likes your work, they will want all of you. Promoting your writing to book clubs, professional associations or through speaking engagements is a great way to ensure that your royalties remain high and that your Back List titles remain active.

Writing and publishing your book can be a long process. Even after you land that all-important publishing contract, the timeline to build your book and get it into the marketplace is a long waiting game. It can take eighteen months or more to see your precious work on the shelf.

This is a great time to promote your book, book speaking engagements, write your next book and keep the hits coming!

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

Getting a Traditional Publishing Contract for Your Book

For many writers, the labyrinth of details involved in book publishing are as mysterious as the secrets of the ancient pyramids – and seemingly just as impenetrable! But it’s really no mystery, just a lot of common sense and hard work. Let’s break it down.

Legacy publishing, or what many people call traditional publishing, is still the largest sector of the book marketplace in 2016 when it comes to selling books. When you walk into your local Barnes & Noble bookstore, the spines you see lining the shelves are there because a traditional publisher selected a manuscript and went through the laborious process of bringing it to market.

If you are an author frothing at the mouth to sell your manuscript for an advance on royalties, here’s a glimpse into that seemingly cryptic journey.

What’s really involved in traditionally publishing your book? Let’s take a look at the process for getting your book into the hands of hungry readers.

Finding the Right Fit With An Agent

The process typically starts with finding a literary agent. The agent’s job is to marry your manuscript with the perfect publisher. Sometimes this involves shopping your book to their connections in the industry. Other times this means entering your book in a live auction for the rights to the manuscript. It all depends on the agent’s judgment, their assessment of your work and the marketplace.

This quest to find the perfect literary agent always begins with your book proposal. You can find templates online for this. While templates are helpful, they can be your starting point as many agents have their own specific requirements (often published on their websites). The proposal needs to include a summary of your book, a sample of your writing, a profile of what your audience looks like and information about your “platform” (or Marketing Plan). The book proposal will show best practices to generate awareness for your book and demonstrate how similar books are being presented.

Be sure you find the right type of agent for your genre, one who deals in your genre. You’ll need to send a query letter before you send your book proposal, or your costly submission package may be wasted.

Let’s Make A Deal!

The legal aspects of the deal you strike with a publisher require care. Working with an agent can be a help or a hindrance in getting your book published through a traditional publisher, and it often depends on the situation.

An agent can put your project in front of just the right people and open doors you’d never even considered. On the other hand, working with an agent can delay the publishing process, sometimes by years. Go carefully in this area. To coin a phrase, date before getting married.

There are some authors who manage to work with publishers without involving an agent, but these cases are rare and can be a bit tricky to enter into. If you can get around using an agent to cement your book deal, you can save that commission – typically 15% from your royalties – but you may wind up in murky waters when you negotiate your deal with a publisher unless you are familiar with common terms of a book contract.

Whether or not you have an agent, you will need to thoroughly work out the derivative rights and advance on royalties. Be sure you consider all the angles before signing the final document.

If a publisher is footing the bill for the book’s cover, interior layout, editing, proofreading and inventory, they often would like to retain the copyright for your manuscript. However this isn’t always the case, and some authors retain copyright. This can be one of your bargaining chips involved in making the deal.

You will want to consider the implications of your contract down the road when your book becomes a major hit, is published in several languages or is optioned for a Hollywood movie. Your best move is to have any legal aspects of the deal reviewed by a qualified attorney or book industry insider.

When you finally land that all-important publishing contract, the haggling may be over but there’s more work to be done. The timeline to get your book into the marketplace through a traditional publisher can take a year and a half or more.

But don’t be discouraged. This downtime presents a great opportunity to build your audience and create suspense for your book’s release.

To learn more about the traditional publishing process, I would encourage you to check-out this comparison chart on 3 most common publishing models. And remember, life is about the journey…enjoy it to the fullest!

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.