Orrin Jason Bradford's Blog, page 17

Book Written? How about an Audiobook Edition?

Have you finally finished writing that book that’s been trying to be birthed, perhaps like the small creature in the Alien movie?  And perhaps you have decided to publish it yourself through Kindle and Nook, even Create Space.  So, you’re finished, right? Now, all you need to do is wait for the money to start flowing in.

Well, I’d like to suggest one other possibility for your book that might just expand that flow of money — create an audiobook edition that can then be marketed through such sites as Amazon.com, Audible.com and even iTunes.

There’s even a new web-based service that makes this easier than it’s ever been before. It’s called the Audiobook Creation Exchange or simply ACX.

At ACX you’ll have the choice of recording the book yourself or contracting with a narrator/producer. According to ACX there are some advantages to recording it yourself:

“It’s your book, so your voice tells it best. You know your characters, your story or subject, and your words better than anyone else. Narrating is a creative way of expressing your thoughts to listeners, just like articulating them on paper is a way to express yourself to readers.
You keep more revenue. If your book is produced through ACX, you’ll likely share royalties with a narrator or pay a narrator upfront to perform your audiobook. When you narrate your own book, all of your audiobook’s revenue goes to you.
You just might enjoy it! Narrating your own book can be a rewarding, satisfying way to bring the creative process full circle.”

But if that’s not your thing, then you can connect with other professionals who can record it. Here’s what ACX says about going in this direction:

Once you find your book in ACX’s database (they use Amazon’s database), you “then create a Title Profile for your book. Afterwards, one of the following three things will happen:

Narrators, audiobook studios, and other Producers will find your book on ACX and proactively audition to record your book.

OR
You’ll search ACX’s database to find the perfect Producer to record your book.

OR
An Audio Publisher searching ACX will message you about buying the audio rights directly from you.”

Pretty nifty, right?  But there’s one more little twist that I think is the niftiest of all. It’s called Whisperync for Voice:

“Now you don’t have to put a good book down even if you’re cooking, running, or commuting. Switch back and forth between the Kindle book and the Audible audiobook without ever losing your place.”

How cool is that for both authors and readers.

It’s NaNoWriMo Time

In two weeks one of the largest, most fun, and challenging writing opportunities will begin – NaNoWriMo. And if you happen to be a writer who’s been sleeping under a rock for the past several years and think I just spoke a word of Klingon, NaNoWriMo actually stands for National Novel Writing Month. That month is November.

And now is the time to prepare for it. You see, the aim of NaNoWriMo is simple – complete a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. That’s right – 30 days to write 50,000 words or about 1,666 words per day. So, while technically you don’t want to start writing those words just yet, you can prepare the soil by deciding what novel you want to write, outlining the chapters, developing the characters, creating the conflict, etc.

Now, truth be told I’m a NaNoWriMo novice, having participated for the first time last year when I wrote Endangered — book two of the Zak Bates Eco-Adventure series.  Last year NaNoWriMo snuck up on me and so the first week was spent figuring out what to write and outlining the scenes. Luckily, I had many of the characters already created from writing the first book of the series – Dominion Over All.

So, this year I’m starting early. I have two book ideas that are in the running to be written during November:

Ivory – book three of the Zak Bates Eco-Adventure series. (and yes, it has the inside track at the moment.) Zak Bates, Ra-Kit the magic cat, and Sampson the flying dog are on their next adventure as they try to stop the illegal ivory trade that is decimating  the elephant population.
Love for the Ages – a first person account of an aging writer who loses his wife and soulmate to cancer and promised to mourn her death for only a year, and then “get on with his life.” This one came from a strange and very emotional dream about a year ago.

A little desktop inspiration as I work on Ivory. (And no, it’s not made of ivory – soap stone.)

So, I’ve given myself up to seven days to decide which one to work on by researching and developing characters, etc. on both, then choosing the one to focus on for the second week. So, hopefully, I’ll  be fully prepared to start the rough draft by November 1.

Today I’m surfing the internet about the illegal ivory trade and saving pertinent web sites in my Ivory Scrivener file. (One more reason I love Scrivener. It allows me to store all my research material in one place including web pages.)

Here are just a few striking reasons I want to focus on this topic in Ivory:

According to Christo, at the beginning of the 1980s there were over a million elephants roaming Africa. Today that number has dramatically fallen to “no more than 400,000.”

And this as reported on CNN:

But the wanton shooting of the innocents to satisfy vanity has reached a level of madness no one can ignore. This is perhaps made most clear in the recent destruction of 400 elephants in the Central African Republic by armed militia from Sudan.

And this last one:

The African elephant is in great measure the architect of its environment…. And as the elephant disappears, scientists and conservationists say, many other species will also disappear from vast stretches of forest and savanna, drastically altering and impoverishing whole ecosystems…. The problem is compounded by the elephant’s relatively slow rate of population replacement. It gestates for 20 to 21 months and takes 15 to 20 years to reach breeding age.

Anyone else out there planning on participating in NaNoWriMo next month? Let me hear from you. How are you preparing yourself so that rough draft will flow from your fingers into the next Great American Novel?

Igniting Passion for Writing through Purpose

Click here for the Passion Police Exercise

The Spark of Passion

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a purposeful, published and profitable writer?  To not only to be able to express your true self and purpose through your writing but to share it with others while also making a good living from your efforts. Then read on as I explore the role that purpose and passion plays.

Why so much emphasis on passion as a writer? There are several reasons. Writing about subjects that interest you and ignite your passion is a whole lot more fun, not to mention that the articles are easier to write. Besides, the final product is likely to be much better because you’re writing something that you find interesting and/or that you’re curious to learn about.

Several years ago I discovered that I’m passionate about writing profiles, interviews, and other kinds of articles about people who are committed to making a difference in the world. I had also determined by that time that the whole subject of purpose was part of my life purpose, so in an effort to bring more purpose and meaning to my writing career, I created Project Purpose:

To write and publish articles about people and institutions whose lives and missions are dedicated to a bold and inspired purpose or vision.

I started to focus my efforts on getting assignments that would fit Project Purpose.  About three months after creating the project, I received my first official Project Purpose assignment to write a profile of Bo Lozoff of The Human Kindness Foundation in Carrboro, North Carolina. The assignment came from New Age Journal  (since re-named Body and Soul). At the time, it was the largest assignment I’d received, both in the prestige of the magazine and the size of the paycheck. In fact, the check was close to double what I had so far received for any other single article.

Perhaps the most interesting phenomenon was that receiving the payment was the proverbial icing on the cake. I loved doing the research for the article, which involved traveling to Carrboro to interview Bo, his wife, Sita, and other people whose lives had been touched by this incredible couple.

The writing was a joy, both challenging and fun. Even the revision process was virtually painless because I was doing something close to my heart. Then the check arrived— the icing on an already delectable dessert, and I knew I had hit upon something really important.  As Greg Braendel of Career Dreams, Inc. and another Project Purpose profile subject says, “Passion always sells, obsession never does.”

The other reason I encourage aspiring writers to tap into their passions is because the profession of freelance writing is a tough one. There’s a lot of competition. Busy, often over-worked editors are not always as nice as they could be. And the pay . . . well, there are easier ways to make money. I’ve seen and talked to too many freelancers, both part-timers and those doing it for a living, who have become jaded about their work. In many cases, that happens because they sell out by writing too many articles that they find boring and uninteresting just to pay the rent. They find subjects they can write about that, even though uninspiring, still bring in the bacon. But years of writing just for the money can desiccate the staunchest soul. Don’t let it happen to you.

Tapping Into Your Passion

What stirs your passion? The question isn’t as silly as you may think. Many people have lost touch with their passion, the inner spark that ignites them into inspired action. The best they can muster is a mild curiosity or a passing interest.

The following exercise will help you get in touch with your passion and help determine what’s really important to you. I recommend that you take out your notebook and find a nice quiet place to go through this exercise. Find a place where you can be sure you won’t be disturbed during the short time the exercise will take. Many experienced as well as aspiring writers have found the Passion Police Exercise both entertaining and insightful. Here’s how it goes.

The Passion Police are on the way to your home. In just a few minutes, they’ll knock on your door. Their mission is to take away everything you’re passionate about. Your only hope is to write down those things in life that are really important to you. If it’s not written down, the Passion Police will take it away, never to be in your world again.

You must be as precise as possible about what you write. For instance, if relationships are important to you, write down which relationships are important. If you’re passionate about nature, write down the specific aspects of nature that matter the most to you. If you love animals, which ones do you love most? Describe the specific details of your passion. What do you want to have in your world after the Passion Police leave? It must be written down or, after they’ve left, it won’t exist in your world.

They’re almost at your door. You now have five minutes to record in your notebook everything that you’re passionate about. Check your watch and start writing. Remember—five minutes of writing as much and as fast and as precisely as you can. BEGIN!

How did you do?

It’s likely that as you look over your list you’ll realized you missed some important things that you want in your world. Okay, take one minute and add those to your list. The passion police were a little slow today. Once you’ve made those additions, look over the list again. While you may not have listed everything you’re passionate about, it’s a great place to start getting ideas you could write about.

Add Purpose & Passion to Your Writing

Have you ever wondered what it takes to see your writing in print? (And be paid and paid well for it?) If you’re interested in becoming a more purposeful, published and profitable writer, you owe it to yourself to check out the From Spark to Flame Online Writer’s Course. And during the our September’s Special Launch, you can save $100 when you invest in this proven, systematic writing process that I’ve used for the past twenty years to publish well over 350 articles, earned thousands of dollars while also making a difference with tens of thousands of readers. Complete information including a sample of the course is here.

Title Search for Business Book

Ann and I have been hard at play in revising and updating a book of mine that chronicles the key principles I’ve learned about the power of creating a coaching climate in a professional business, and now we’re looking for the right title and subtitle for it.

So, being a big believer in the power of collaboration as well as creating fun games, I’m seeking assistance in finding that right title and subtitle that will help attract the perfect readers who will benefit the most from this book.

If your nominated title and/or subtitle is chosen, you’ll receive 3 autographed copies of the book – one to keep and two to share with your friends. The game/contest will run until July 31, 2012. Send your nomination to me at admin@lifeonpurpose.com with “Biz Book Title” in the subject line and your nominated title and subtitle along with your name and mailing address in the body of the email.

But what’s the book about?  Glad you asked.

Here’s what I wrote about it in the introduction:

The Transformational Power of Coaching

This book is about that power — the difference creating a climate of coaching can make in a professional, service-oriented business. While my examples focus on the business of running a veterinary clinic, this book is really for all professional business owners. Whether you’re a dentist, accountant, chiropractor, attorney, medical doctor, veterinarian or other professional business owner, you will benefit from the material. I’ve seen the same coaching principles work for all kinds of businesses, from one-person operations to mega-corporations the size of AT&T. The only requirement: The business owner must be “coachable.” This point is so important that the first chapter explores not only what it takes to be a great coach but what it means to be coachable.

Although it took months of hard work for my practice to explode with unprecedented results, I know that coaching works and that the concept is here to stay. Before long, the question won’t  be,  “What is a business coach?” but instead, “Who is your business coach?” You’ll gain a strategic advantage in your business if you start practicing the principles of coaching today.

Here’s what the original publisher wrote about the book when it was first released:

A contributor to VETERINARY ECONOMICS magazine, Dr. Swift shows the way to true teamwork, efficiency, and productivity. Coaching to Win provides proven strategies for inspiring peak performance, leading your team with a strong vision, designing a top-notch staff training program, and bonding clients to your practice.

And here’s the Table of Contents

Foreword           

Introduction: How it All Began           

Section One           

You’re the Coach           

Create a Vision           

Turning Your Vision Into Reality           

Are You Winning? Check the Scoreboard           

Superstitions That Hurt Your Business           

Turining Business Breakdowns into Business Breakthroughs           

Huddle Up!           

A Team in Training           

You Gotta Have Heart           

Section Two           

Straight Talk           

Tell Your Staff to Speak Up           

Turning Complaints into Gold           

Defusing Explosive Conversations           

Does your Team get the Respect they Deserve           

Section Three           

It’s Time to Practice ON PURPOSE           

Balancing Your Business and Your Life           

Slow Down, You Move too Fast           

Magic Moments!           

Resources           

Screenflow & Power Point – Great Combo for Online Course

I’m working on Lesson #6 of a projected 12 or 13 total lessons that will make up the From Spark to Flame Online Writers’ Course. This course is based on my book, From Spark to Flame: Fanning Your Passion & Ideas into Money-making Magazine Articles that Make a Difference.

You could also say that the book itself is based on or has as part of its foundation the Life On Purpose Perspective. You can learn more about that perspective through this introductory video.

Today I want to share some of the technology I’m using to create each of these lessons, specifically the combination of Power Point and Screenflow.  I’m finding this to be an excellent combination. While I’ve used Power Point for years for public speaking events, etc. this is the first time I’ve used it extensively for an online course like this.  It’s also the very first time of using Screenflow.

What I like about this combination is that it allows me to create specific slides that guides the student through the course while also having me, the instructor, on a split screen. As you can see in the screenshot here. Speaking of screenshots, I’m also using Jing from time to time for such screenshots. I love Jing because it stays active in the upper corner of my Macbook screen until I need it.

So far, I’ve received very positive feedback from my beta testing team both for the content of the lessons and the combination presentation that shows the Power Point slides as well as the instructor.

I also realize that Screenflow has several other ‘bells and whistles’ that I’m not that familiar with and so I’m not using them, preferring the simple is better approach, at least at this point.

Last point for now, I’m also enjoying working with my beta tester team. One of the them dubbed the team members as “Sparklers,” and so far they’ve been a valuable resource in giving me some very useful input and feedback. Now, on to the next set of lessons. And stay tuned. I plan to post a sample video lesson here soon.

 

From Spark to Flame Online Course Update

I’ve had on my “to do list” and future purpose project list to create my next purposeful product and passive income stream based on the book I published in 2009 – From Spark to Flame: Fanning Your Passion & Ideas into Money-making Magazine Articles that Make a Difference.

My vision for the online writers’ course is to outline the proven, systemic process that I developed over the past 20-plus years that I’ve used to publish well over 350 articles in dozens of different national and regional magazines that has resulted in thousands of dollars of income for my family and me.  I’ve also taught this process in live classes, as well as developing a group of Visionary Writers On Purpose who used this process as part of our foundation.

Reading the excellent series by Steve Pavlina on How to Create Passive Income was just the impetus I needed to move this from the back burner to the front burner with a target date for completion of August 31, 2012. I also took Steve’s advice to involve more people to keep up my enthusiasm long enough to complete the project. As Steve pointed out, involving other people in the project would also help me stay inspired to work on the project. I’ve certainly found that to be true.

My original plan was to work with six people who would be my ‘beta testers,’ and I laid out these criteria for beta testers:

Be interested in developing their writing talents,
Be open to pointing out the course’s strong points, as well as
Making suggestions on what could make it more user friendly, understandable and valuable.
At the end of the testing be open to giving an overview of their experience with the course, including sharing their results.

And in turn the beta testers would receive:

Access to the private, password protected area of the website where they’ll find the online videos that makes up the course, and also
A copy of the book, From Spark to Flame: Fanning Your Passion & Ideas into Money-making Magazine Articles that Make a Difference, upon which the course is based.
Personal interaction with me as their writing coach as they go through the course.

I sent out the call for beta testers and was thrilled by the response. In fact, the response was so good that I found it hard to narrow the list down to just six folks, so I expanded the size of the team to ten. I then set up a private Facebook group as a way for us to stay connected to each other.

Besides the beta team, my plan is to also give periodic blog updates here. I see this having multi-dimensional results:

It’ll help keep me inspired,
Hopefully, it will provide something of value to you, my blog readers,
It’ll start to get the word out about the online course.

So, stay tuned for a ‘blow-by-blow’ description of how this project continues to unfold, including the resources that I’m using to create this passive income stream that I envision could make a real difference with a lot of other aspiring visionary writers.

 

 

Birthing the From Spark to Flame Online Writers Course

In 2009 I published From Spark to Flame: Fanning Your Passion & Ideas into Money-making Magazine Articles that Make a Difference. The book outlines a proven, systemic process that I developed over the past 20-plus years that I’ve used to publish well over 350 articles in dozens of different national and regional magazines, and that has resulted in thousands of dollars of income for my family and me.  I’ve taught this process in live classes, as well as developing a group of Visionary Writers On Purpose who used this process as part of our foundation. Yes, I’m pretty proud about the difference this process can make for aspiring writers.

The book was a great start in helping other people called to make a difference and to express their life purpose through their writing. It’s now time to take it much further, to provide a much more in depth way aspiring writers can learn how to publish and be paid for their writing talents.

I’m following a similar model that I used with my book, Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life that later led me to creating the Life On Purpose Virtual Video Coach. As personal development expert Steve Pavlina, who was a strong enthusiast for the book when it first came out, wrote later about the Virtual Video Coach:

“I read Brad’s book and loved it; however, I gained much more value from his Virtual Video Coach. I was a bit surprised because I figured it would simply be a video version of his book. It does cover a lot of the same ground as the book, but I experienced the material in a totally different way.”

Looking for Six Beta-testers

I see the same increase in value being possible from the From Spark to Flame Online Writers Course. There is one thing I want to do differently this time, and that is to work with some ‘beta testers’ during the creation process. Ideally, these six folks will:

Be interested in developing their writing talents,
Be open to pointing out the course’s strong points, as well as
Making suggestions on what could make it more user friendly, understandable and valuable.
At the end of the testing be open to giving an overview of their experience with the course, including sharing their results.

The beta testers will receive:

Access to the private, password protected area of the website where they’ll find the online videos that makes up the course, and also
A copy of the book, From Spark to Flame: Fanning Your Passion & Ideas into Money-making Magazine Articles that Make a Difference, upon which the course is based.
Personal interaction with me as their writing coach as they go through the course.

Interested in Being a Beta Tester?

If you’d like to apply to be a beta tester for this Purpose Project, send me an email to admin@lifeonpurpose.com with Spark Beta Tester in the subject line.  I’ll send you back a short application for you to complete.  I hope to make the selection for beta testers within the next seven to fourteen days. Of course, there will be no charge to be a beta tester.  I see it being more of an Equal Energy Exchange collaboration.

Interested in the Book but not Beta Testing?

That’s fine. I understand. You can purchase the book either as a Kindle edition or quality paperback edition RIGHT HERE.

 

Mommy – Where Do Magic Cats Come From?

My friends and writing colleagues know that one of the main reason I’m writing the Zak Bates Eco-Adventure Series is because I care greatly about our planet and the young ones who are inheriting it from us (not in all that great a shape I might add).

So, in celebration of Sunday’s Earth Day I decided it would be fun to write a short story that answers the question:

Where do magic cats come from?  Specifically where did Ra-Kit get her magic?

It just came available as a Kindle ebook this morning (Saturday, April 21), but I also realized not everyone has a Kindle or uses Kindles apps, so in an effort to make this quirky story available to more people, I’m also offering it here as a downloadable PDF.  And both the Kindle and PDF versions will be free for the first 3 days. After that, you can purchase either version for a mere $1.79.  Also, both editions come with two bonus chapters of book one of the Zak Bates Eco-adventure series, Dominion Over All. What a deal, right?

Of course, if you like the story, it would be great if you’d take a little cybertrip to Amazon and give it a positive review. But mainly, I just thought you’d appreciate learning about a bit of Ra-Kit’s past that is just now coming to light. I sure hope Ra-Kit doesn’t get mad at me.  Just like it’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature, it’s a really bad idea to get on the wrong side of a magic cat.

Okay, to download the Kindle version of Ra-Kit’s Initiation, Go Here .
You can download the PDF edition right here .

And of course, you can always leave me a message below in the comment section. Just be nice.

Free Visionary Fiction – Saturday is the Last Day

As you may remember if you’ve been following my antics through this web site, one of my strongest passions these days is writing visionary fiction and non-fiction including short fiction.  Growing up reading science fiction and fantasy, I feel it’s my turn to give back by sharing my own speculative fiction stories.

So, this week, I’m offering one of my short stories, Hunt Along the Iron River, for free for Kindle users for three days but given this is Saturday, this is your last day.

Thursday, April 12
Friday, April 13
Saturday,  April 14

Just go HERE.

Remember, you can also read this story using a Kindle App on your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc. And you’ll find a couple extra surprises included at the end of Hunt.  So, pay a visit to Amazon starting tomorrow and for the next three days to download your own copy of one of my favorite stories, inspired by my time at Clarion West Writing Conference.

Here’s a little of what the story is about:

Taylor Webb is on expedition in South America searching for a rare tree frog reported by the native hunters to have mystical powers. When tragedy strikes at home, he’s forced to cut the expedition short. Returning home, he finds himself on another expedition with deadly consequences and discovers there are just as many dangers in the concrete jungles of Atlanta as in the Amazon.

Download it for free Thursday through Saturday here:

And share this link with your friends who enjoy short fiction.

Free Visionary Fiction – 3 Days Only

As you may remember if you've been following my antics through this web site, one of my strongest passions these days is writing visionary fiction and non-fiction including short fiction.  Growing up reading science fiction and fantasy, I feel it's my turn to give back by sharing my own speculative fiction stories.

So, this week, I'm offering one of my short stories, Hunt Along the Iron River, for free for Kindle users for three days:

Thursday, April 12
Friday, April 13
Saturday,  April 14

Just go HERE.

Remember, you can also read this story using a Kindle App on your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc. And you'll find a couple extra surprises included at the end of Hunt.  So, pay a visit to Amazon starting tomorrow and for the next three days to download your own copy of one of my favorite stories, inspired by my time at Clarion West Writing Conference.

Here's a little of what the story is about:

Taylor Webb is on expedition in South America searching for a rare tree frog reported by the native hunters to have mystical powers. When tragedy strikes at home, he's forced to cut the expedition short. Returning home, he finds himself on another expedition with deadly consequences and discovers there are just as many dangers in the concrete jungles of Atlanta as in the Amazon.

Download it for free Thursday through Saturday here:

And share this link with your friends who enjoy short fiction.