I’m proud to be sponsoring several events in Nanaimo, BC throughout November, and into December, for the international NaNoWriMo competition.

If you’re in the Nanaimo, BC area, please come out and join us for one of the events listed here, at Meetup.com.

We’d love to meet you!

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This is one of my favourite podcasts so far – Jeri is really clear about issues related to Attitude, and how it’s a choice that we all make every morning when we get out of bed. In her clear-cut no-nonsense style, she gives us the opportunity to question our own attitude, and how we can improve it. Thanks, Jeri!

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Here’s a podcast I recorded last week with Jeri-Lyn McCrea, Author of Words in Action – A Journal to Inspire Change. Jeri’s major theme in the book is setting goals, and achieving them. In this podcast, we talk about some obstacles to goal setting (real or imagined) and how we can overcome those obstacles.

Stay tuned for a second podcast shortly!

I had such a great time tonight at the Vancouver chapter meeting of the eWomen Network, in BC, Canada. What a great bunch of gals! Thanks so much for making me feel welcome, and I was really enthused by all of your contagious energy!

The presentation that I made this evening was a bit over the time allocated, (sorry about that, Gail!) and it sounded like Members had more questions after I was done. So, let’s start a conversation here, on this blog, that carries over from tonight’s presentation. You can post questions using the comment form (in the bits below this post, there’s a link in the word “Comments” – just click it and type in the boxes that appear) and I’ll respond to them on this same spot. You might want to bookmark this page so that you can come back to it over and over again.

I’m sorry that there’s a delay in making the Private Resources page available for all of the attendees to use, but I promise it will be up by Monday when I get back to my office. Thanks for your patience. The postcard you received at dinner had a password on it, and you’ll need that to get to the page. The button mentioned on that same postcard will be available on this site by Monday.

Remember all that talk we had about feeds, and other magic words? You might want to subscribe to my site’s feed right now, by putting your email address in the boxes at right. That way, when new posts happen, you’ll get them delivered to your email inbox, without having to remember to come back to this page. And remember to Google yourself! (Yes, Google is a verb! Type your name or company name into the search bar, and see what happens!)

In addition to the Private Resources I promised, I’ll also include a set of overhead slides on the password-protected page that corresponds to tonight’s presentation. Just in case you didn’t take notes, there’s probably something there that will jog your memory.

A special thanks to Gail who was kind enough to fit me into your group’s schedule. I’m really glad that everybody got something out of the presentation. Hope to see you all again soon!!

P.S. – One of the winners of the door prizes didn’t pick up their book. If you had a blue Kitty Sticker on the back of your postcard, and you didn’t get your prize, please email me using the links at right. Thanks!

I didn’t wanna do it, I didn’t wanna do it… Being old and married, I didn’t really think that Facebook had anything to offer me. I was wrong.

It’s true that most traffic in social media is just that – social. I can’t host an open author-training Skypecast without somebody asking me what colour underwear I’m wearing.  But I’m obviously part of huge-and-growing marketing and business sector that is using these services. The third item in the top menu bar at Skype is now labelled “Business“, right after “Download” and “Use Skype”. And I’m still discovering new stuff on Facebook everyday.

It’s very important to know that when one is creating groups, events, inviting friends, writing on walls, and adding applications that the key thing to remember is to keep it a very soft sell. People don’t want to be oversold on anything – to offer them something of genuine benefit may have a cost associated with it. But that’s still cheaper than trying to sell something to someone who doesn’t want to buy it.

I have been on a diet for most of my adult life, but I’ve only been practicing social media marketing for less than a year. I’ve decided I like doing the marketing part more, not only because the results are quicker, but because it’s almost as rewarding as chocolate at midnight.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about how I’m conducting a marketing experiment on a client of mine, Jeri-Lyn McCrea. Jeri is a perfect candidate for social media marketing (SMM) for several reasons. She’s beautiful, clever, and is also now a published author. (Did I mention she’s single, guys?) It’s easy to talk about her and her lovely book online, because the book demonstrates a number of things we all have in common: hope, struggles, stress, and believing in ourselves. You don’t need to be in the same room with someone to understand these universal themes.

I’ve been using the five major techniques from that post, and several minor ones, to tackle the job of creating a “buzz” about her book. Until a few days ago, I didn’t know if it was working. But just like that morning when you step on the scale and see yourself a pound less than you were yesterday, the effects are starting to add up.

One of the so-called minor efforts we’ve been making has been to use a handy-dandy SMM tool that’s been around for a relatively long time in online terms, Meetup.com. We setup a meetup.com meeting for Jeri, called the Words in Action Meetup Group, and linked it to the Facebook group for Jeri, which is now getting attention by capitalizing on the friend networks that both she and I already have there.

The first meeting is meant to be a very casual “meet the author” sort of thing, at a local coffee house. It makes sense that the group could be a really strong regular thing after that time, because journaling is an activity that often benefits from a bit of support. Setting goals, keeping them in your sights, and constantly working towards them is very, very hard work. All the Meetup.com group really needs to be self-sustaining is a regular clique of people who want to attend. There isn’t even a cost involved, because we’ll keep paying the fees.

Dieting is hard work. So is SMM – researching target markets and mechanisms, sending out emails (individually written for each person – no form letters, please), spending hours on the phone, sending out sample copies of the book to various people, etc. I’ve done so much of that this week that I’m working up a sweat. But that’s ok – SMM is such good exercise that I’ve already lost two pounds. That’s better than I did last time on South Beach.

Check out this great item at the Huffington Post by Catherine Specter, titled “The Way We Word”. When you’re done reading the post, check out the rather stimulating comment at the bottom, which was chosen the “HuffPost’s Pick”. (Yes, that comment was written by me – Peggy – the girl who can’t keep her mouth shut.)

I’ve had an expression for a number of years that I quote to clients, partners and affiliates as often as appropriate: “Every organization is a sales organization.”(c) This means that no matter what you are part of – your school, your company, your sports team, your scouting group, your religious assembly, your book project or anything else that you have on your plate – if it’s an organization that wants to grow, selling is how that will happen. This expression also means that every activity you undertake can and must relate somehow to your sales and marketing plan – even if it’s a stretch.

Because self-published authors are almost always also self-promoted, self-publicized, and self-sold authors, they must find ways to make a single selling activity work for them in more than one way. This means that they must have a good selling strategy, based on a big-picture view of their market, and they must constantly remind themselves of their “Grand Vision”, or what it is they are trying to achieve.

But when I talk about sales to some clients, they stumble and don’t know where to go with the topic. They don’t consider themselves “sales people”. This is confusing to me, because in fact, many of them are already quite accomplished at selling. They network, they fix things, they clarify, and they communicate. They do so by providing a solution to a clearly-identified problem, and not by pushing something on someone who doesn’t want what they have to offer. That, my friends, is the definition of quality selling.

Just like writing a quality book, quality selling begins in the research. For most of my authors, they are publishing to promote their current business or enterprise, or to raise their professional profile or that of their business. They already know who their audience is and what they want. Or do they?

One of the best all-around selling research techniques that is weirdly overlooked by most people in publishing is the Focus Group. This is fancy talk for “asking people what they think”. It is necessary to perform research by talking to your readers. This is not selling – this is asking. (Which incidentally, is great practice for selling.) By asking questions and stimulating discussion in a group of independent and completely objective people, you are getting the highest quality information that any sales person could ask for: somebody’s real and unbiased opinion.

For one client that I worked with, we did this in a very casual way, by having what we called a “One-Night-Reading-Stand”, where people came by a local coffee joint, and in exchange for a free coffee and a copy of the book, we asked them what they thought. The author was not present, so people were free to speak their mind without worrying about what the author might think. We recorded the entire event as an .mp3 so that I could analyze it later. The author never heard a word of the interview. I made a summary of what needed to be done, and delivered a to-do list to the author later. The participants were never identified publicly, and they ended up being advocates for the product in the market. Everybody left happy, including the author, because he knew what needed to be done to be a success.

This research is what enabled the author to tweak his product and message, and isn’t it funny how he sold out his first printing in 60 days, without having to “sell” anything? Research in this case was performed before the first printing, but this could easily be done at any point in the production process. By networking, fixing, clarifying, and communicating, the author tripled his anticipated sales.

The bottom line: selling more of your self-published books is the same as selling anything. Apply good research, create your own opportunities for publicity (the coffee shop took on the book as a product, and many people stopped to ask us what we were doing that night), network (all the people in the group ended up helping to sell the book – they were selected as “people of influence” for their role in the community that we wanted to target), fix and clarify (the messaging activity that took place that night helped us avoid some less-than-obvious pitfalls and develop clear marketing messages for the book), and communicate (everybody that entered the coffee shop that night left with a bookmark that had a copy of the URL on it, and a handful more to pass on to friends, plus we we turned the focus group into a marketing activity by submitting a press release to the local paper).

Successful self-sold books = a single activity, turned into multiple selling activities.

What a weekend it has been for Humanus Publishing! A launch party for one of my authors, a new release from another of my authors, and the rollout of our new affiliate program, all in the last 4 days!

Sunday was the launch party for The Freshman FlyFisher, (ISBN 978-0-978-3292-1-1) by Rick Passek of Surrey, BC. Rick held his launch event at the Little Campbell Hatchery at the Semiahmoo Fish and Game Club on 184th in Surrey. What a huge success for all involved! Rick not only sold plenty of books, but made numerous contacts related to promoting family outdoor events in the Surrey area. We are grateful to the Rotary Club of Cloverdale BC, for their wonderful management of the food concession stand, and to the City of Surrey for their support. As always, Rick was a real star, and was cool as a cuke from Friday morning’s appearance on Breakfast Television on City TV, to his interview on CBC Radio’s BC Almanac Friday afternoon, right through Sunday’s festivities. My favourite moment was little 6-year old Gracie’s fishing lesson on Breakfast Television Friday morning. She picked up the fine art of casting in a matter of minutes, due at least in part to Rick’s careful tutelage. Good going, Rick!

Another one of my authors, the lovely Jeri-Lyn McCrea, is the author of Words in Action – A Journal to Inspire Change, (ISBN 978-0-9809325-0-8) which is scheduled for release on April 25th. I saw the first copies back from the printer’s on Saturday, and boy, do they look fantastic!! The matte-coated hardcover is sooooo soft in the hand, and the pages look truly inspiring. I’m really excited about this journal (I guess we should stop referring to it as a “book”), because it breaks entirely new ground in the area of motivation and self-improvement titles. Jeri is so right when she talks about people “figuring it out for themselves”, and not looking to others to “complete their lives or tell them what to do”. Her journal is a book you ultimately write for yourself, and get a little burst of energy and motivation every day. Setting goals and making up your mind to achieve them – that’s what Words in Action is all about. Watch this blog for more info about events coming soon to the Langley and Surrey areas.

The cherry on the cake of this weekend was our new Humanus Publishing Affiliate Program. I started this project a few weeks ago to solve the problems of one author’s quest to market their product online, and it has now snowballed into something that can be used by any self-publishing author who wants to sell their books direct to consumers over the internet. Authors want to be freed of the hassle and overhead of online sales in order to keep writing, and this system means that they do not need to put up any money up front to make that happen. It’s cheap, fast, and keeps writers doing what they should be doing – writing. I hope that this system will expand into something resembling a marketing co-op for self-publishing authors, while continuing to align itself with the values of Humanus Publishing. If you know of a publisher who wants to sell their products through our program, you can earn money by referring them. Simply email me and let’s find a way to make it happen.

Jeri-Lyn McCrea’s book Words in Action [ISBN 978-0-9809325-0-8] is now available for purchase. I’m extremely proud to be the Editor of this great journal with an undated page for each day of your journey. Click here to order your advance copy. Enter coupon code “PRE-RELEASE” and get $3 off until April 25th, the official release date of the book.

I’m so thrilled about this book now being available, because I can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t benefit from a copy of this. We all need encouragement to reach our goals for change in our lives, and Jeri’s simple book gives us exactly that. She has several more books and products coming in the next couple of years, and this is her first edition.

Here’s some quick info about the book;

Book name: Words in Action – A Journal to Inspire Change
ISBN: 978-0-9809325-0-8
Author: Jeri-Lyn McCrea, of Langley, BC, Canada
Publisher: Essential Wisdom Publishing
Where it’s available: currently at wordsofwisdomjournal.com, humanuspublishing.com (and hopefully soon at Save-on-Foods, Coles bookstores, and Shoppers Drug Mart) as well as a variety of gift and health outlets all over North America.

What’s it about?: It’s about you. This is not a book on how to live your life – it’s a journal that helps you change the way you think, so that you can change the way you act. Each daily page has an area for you to write your thoughts, an actionable word with its inspirational definition, and two quotes. The pages are numbered rather than dated, because everyone starts their journey on a different day. Jeri’s book has already attracted plenty of attention, because rather than preaching a one-size-fits-all solution, Words in Action is about walking your own talk.

What’s the Author’s background?: Jeri is a nurse with a special passion for helping people recover from difficult lifestyle situations. Her Essential Wisdom self-help products are geared to those recovering from the loss of a partner, a serious illness, or those ready to make major improvements for their overall health and happiness. Her positive, “never give up” attitude is contagious, and people put down the book with a better understanding of their own power.

What did you hope to accomplish by writing this book?: When Jeri-Lyn McCrea went shopping for a journal in early 2006, she couldn’t find what she was looking for. Rather than an intimidating blank page, Jeri wanted to be inspired, uplifted, and truly, deeply impacted every time she opened her journal. Cute and pretty was not enough – it had to be real. When she couldn’t find what she was seeking, she realized others were looking for the same thing, so she went out and made it.

What did you find out that surprised you in the course of your research?: Jeri couldn’t believe that something so simple could be made so incredibly complicated. We are surrounded by people that tell us what to think, what to wear, what to weigh, etc. It’s very easy to get caught up in a deep analysis of what’s wrong, instead of what’s right. When she realized that so few people had figured out what she had, by a long hard road, it became much harder to watch people she loved steer their lives in circles. The major theme in the book is so simple: we must each accept responsibility for our own happiness. We can’t look to others to complete us, or give us what we think we need, because they’re struggling to do it for themselves. Our power for happiness lies already within us. So simple, yet so easily confused and misunderstood.

Who do you suggest should read this book?: What Words in Action is really about is change, and experts universally agree that journaling can be a powerful tool for anyone who truly wants to create change. This book is for people who are at a turning point in their lives and need constant encouragement. The first thing everyone thinks of is weight loss, but it’s also perfect for someone who is working hard to start a business, is dealing with addiction, is recovering from a serious illness or injury, who is graduating from school, who has reached a milestone birthday, or anyone who is enduring frustrating times. It would be hard to think of someone who couldn’t benefit from it. It is just as suitable to give to older children as it is for those with plenty of life experience behind them.

This is the kind of book that you give to your brother, your sister, your boss, your friends, and your grandmother. The gift of encouragement is the best gift of all.

A free excerpt will be available here shortly for download as a .pdf file.