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Ten “P” Keys to Becoming a Successful Writer Faster and More Easily Than Ever

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Ten P Keys to Success 

By Michael Larsen

 

 Now is the best time to be a writer, but technology is forcing writers to reinvent themselves. A new model for becoming a successful writer is needed.  The goal of these ten keys is to provide the model.

1.    Passion—your love for creating and communicating about your work. Using your passion to serve others is the ultimate key to success and happiness.

2.    Purpose—personal, literary, publishing, and community goals that inspire you to achieve them.

3.    Products—devoting yourself to the holy trinity of content: reading, writing, and sharing and the holy trinity of communication: people, platform, and pre-promotion:

4.    People—crowdsourcing your success with win-win relationships with engaged, committed, growing communities of people and collaborators you serve who want to help you, because they know, like, and trust you

5.    Platform–your continuing visibility with your communities and potential buyers, online and off, on your subject or the kind of book you write

  
6.    Pre-promotion–test-marketing your work in as many ways as you can

7.    Promotion— serving your communities by using your passion and platform to share the value of your work  

8.    People, Planet, and Profit—making the effects of your efforts on the holy trinity of sustainability—in this order–the criteria for determining what you do

9.    Professionalism:

–a positive perspective about writing, publishing, and your field
–reinventing yourself as a “contentpreneur” running a business that creates and re-purposes  a steady stream of scalable content in as many ways as possible
–making you and your work your brand
–using technology
–being a life-long learner


10.    Perseverance—a plan, patience, discipline, faith in yourself, failing your way to success, simplifying your life, a long-term perspective, the commitment to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to achieve your goals, and celebrating your victories.

These keys balance yin and yang—creating content and communicating about it. Integrating them will create a literary ecosystem that will build synergy as long as you sustain it with service. You can adapt the keys to other fields and your personal life. I welcome your suggestions for changes.

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Michael Larsen of Larsen-Pomada Literary Agency has been helping writers launch careers since 1972. For more information about him and the work he has done with Elizabeth Pomada to help writers, visit The 5th San Francisco Writing for Change Conference / Changing the World One Book at a Time at : www.sfwritingforchange.org  and  The 11th San Francisco Writers Conference / A Celebration of Craft, Commerce & Community  at: www.sfwriters.org / You can also check out Mike’s blog: http://sfwriters.info/blog @SFWC  and Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/SanFranciscoWritersConference. Finally, be sure to investigate the free classes at San Francisco Writers University / Empowering Writers to Reach Their Goals:  www.sfwritersu.com

 

Three Reasons Why I Do Not Give a Fig Who Steals My Books

By

Patricia V. Davis

Patricia V. Davis

 

By Patricia V. Davis

A few years back, I was in the audience listening to a speaker at a prestigious writers’ conference as he warned us about book piracy and how many potential sales authors stood to lose as a result.

“I know for a fact that people are pirating my work and even selling my books illegally online,” he said, clearly not happy about that.  

He went on to inform a roomful of mostly new writers that he’d even caught some reviewers ─ legitimate ones ─ selling their review copy of his book on eBay after they’d reviewed it. “When giving out review copies of your books, be sure to write ‘review copy’ in it, to help prevent that from happening,” he cautioned. He continued in the same vein about illegal copies being obtained for his ebooks, as well, and I observed several audience members taking notes diligently on his piracy prevention suggestions.

The problem is, I’d personally never heard of him before that conference, and if you ask me even now, I couldn’t tell you the title of even one of his books.

What does this mean? I’m getting to that.

Let’s take another scenario:  Me, as a teenager at a neighbor’s garage sale. She had a bin of old paperbacks that she was selling at ten cents each. Obviously we’re going way back here, before the internet even existed, so in essence, her reselling of those paperbacks at ten cents each was that era’s equivalent of today’s online book piracy. I bought a paperback that looked intriguing ─ why not, at that price? ─ and took it home to read. I became so enraptured by the story, that I read it all in one sitting, then raided my babysitting money which I’d saved for something else, walked all the way to the local bookstore and bought another of her books at the full paperback retail price that same day. Over the years, I’ve repeatedly bought her titles, and sometimes, if I’m feeling famished for the quality brain candy novels that she writes, and something new she’s written looks particularly appealing, I won’t even wait for the paperback version ─ I’ll spring for the hardback price of 25 dollars plus tax. (Yes, even this day of eReaders and iPads, I still buy hardback books.) So, the novel that I bought “illegally” hooked me into becoming a lifelong fan of this author. Her name is Nora Roberts and obviously I’m not her only devoted fan because she’s worth approximately 60 million dollars. But the conference speaker who’d advised new writers to “watch out” for book thieves was correct ─  Nora never got a penny of the ten cents my neighbor stole from her by reselling her book.  

So my first reason for not giving a fig if my books are pirated on eBay, resold at garage sales or passed on from person to person? Nora Roberts. If I hadn’t found that book at that garage sale at such a tempting price, her name on the cover of a paperback would be just another author’s name whose work I don’t know. I would wager that a good portion of her millions of fans learned about her the same way I did ─ from a paperback bought for ten cents.

My second reason is that when Harlot’s Sauce came out in 2009, a friend sent me an email that went like this: “I loved it! I loved it so much that I lent it to my mother and told her she had to read it. She loved it, also and passed it on to my aunt, who gave it to my cousin. My cousin loved it too! We all can’t wait until your next book comes out!”

Thrilled over my first email praise, I read it to my husband, who having majored in economics was not nearly as excited. “So, four people read one copy? Let’s see ─ you make about a dollar in royalties on each copy of that book. So what you’re saying is ─ you made 25 cents per reader?”

“We’ll see,” I responded to his cynicism.  

Sure enough, the friend’s cousin, whom I’d never met, belonged to a rather large book group, as book groups go. She really had loved the book, because she presented it to her group who then purchased 50 copies of Harlot’s Sauce. And one of the women in the club invited me to speak at her organization of Italian American Women, and there went another 125 copies. So from one copy being read by four different people, I sold an additional 175 books, and who knows how many more from those?

I could go on, but you get the point, which is: If you have a dog-eared copy of one of my books that you’d like to lend to someone, or even sell to someone for ten cents, go ahead─ I won’t call the Feds. For me, at this point in my writing career, it’s not about how much money I’m making; it’s about how many readers I have access to and whether or not those readers are enjoying my work. I’m a long way from a sixty million dollar income, but I do know this for sure ─ people are reading my books. Monthly, weekly, and occasionally even daily, I’ll get an email or Facebook message from someone who says, “Hey, I just finished your book, and I loved it. When are you going to write another one?” And sometimes, that note is from someone who lives in Australia. Or Indonesia. Or someplace else I’ve never been. Now, that’s the true miracle of the worldwide web. Or maybe, book piracy.

The third and last reason that I’m listing here today (although, believe me, there are many more than three) on why I don’t care who pirates, lends or sells my published books is probably the most important reason of all. It has to do with some of my former pupils in the NYC Public School system whom I will never forget. The ones who were poor and lived in group homes, the ones whose parents were about 15 years older than they were, the ones who didn’t speak English as their first language but had to translate for their mothers and fathers ─ those were the students who seemed most fascinated by the stories I read to them in English class, because they had never been exposed to them. Can you imagine never knowing Jack London, or Harper Lee, Roald Dahl or even Judy Blume? These authors and many others opened up worlds for me as a I grew up and I believe I passed on my love of their work to my pupils. The only way those young people would ever be able to read a book would be because someone had read it to them, as I had, or given it to them. Eighteen years after teaching at that school, I ran into a former pupil, now in her 30s and she exclaimed, “You’re Mrs. V, my former English teacher. Oh my God — A Tale of Two Cities — I will never forget how much you made me love that book.”

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not of the ilk who believes that all of us artists have to be broke in order to be “true” artists. Quite the contrary. I want to make money on book sales and lots of it. But I also give away plenty of my books when I feel someone will benefit from my work, or just because I want that particular person to read it.  And I’m also looking at the bigger picture of how an author can build a platform. It’s not by hoarding one’s work, or expending energy worried about how many ebooks have not been accounted for. The irony in thinking like that is this: When you get well enough known, it’s much harder to be pirated without someone noticing. I know Harlot’s Sauce has been printed in Chinese but so far, I have received not “yuan” penny for that translation. (Ha ha) But when JK Rowling’s work was pirated in China, her publishers in the US were able to put a stop to it right away. And that was only because she was already famous. Will fame happen to all 3 million authors who put out a book this year alone? Can their publishers afford the money and time it takes to create a huge marketing campaign for each book they publish? Hardly. The slower, more possible way to get known is by word of mouth.

So go ahead, steal my ebooks. And then send me an email and let me know how you liked them.

______________________________________

 Patricia V. Davis is the author of the bestselling Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss and Greece and The Diva Doctrine: 16 Universal Principles Every Woman Needs to Know. She is the founder of  The Women’s PowerStrategy™ Conference


Guy Kawasaki Goes APE over Self-Publishing

By

Frances Caballo and Guy Kawasaki

 

   By Frances Caballo

 

 

 

I recently met Guy Kawasaki, the social media ninja and author of 12 books, at the San Francisco Writers Conference. I’ve known about Guy for years, followed him on Twitter, read his book What the Plus!: Google+ for the Rest of Us, and regularly use his Alltop.com website to curate content for clients. Naturally, I wondered what this guy would be like in person.

Guy is the epitome of social media: he’s accessible, authentic, knowledgeable, generous and hilarious. He’s also amazingly unpretentious despite his incredible success and formidable talents and at every turn spews great content.

He was at the conference to promote his book, deliver a keynote address (for free) and talk with indie authors. For his first 10 books, he turned to traditional publishing houses but he self-published his most recent books, What the Plus! and his newest tome, APE: Author Publisher Entrepreneur, How to Publish a Book.

 

Artisanal Publishing

 

Don’t call Guy a self-publisher; he eschews the term. Why? He made this point during his keynote address: We don’t linguistically downgrade craft beers or artisan breads as “self-made.” Instead, we consider these specialty items – beer, wine, cheese and bread – to be carefully crafted by skilled artisans.

Guy encourages us to drop the term self-publishing to better describe what Indie authors are: artisanal publishers. That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

 

Guy Kawasaki’s 9 Tips for Indie Authors

 

  1. His Number One Tip for authors is simply to write for the right reasons. Produce great content. In fact, while you’re at it, go all the way and produce a piece of art.
  2. Don’t write a book to make money or to increase your consulting practice. Write to enrich the lives of others, to further a worthy cause, or to meet an intellectual challenge.
  3. Use the right tools when you embark on a book. These include Microsoft Word for word processing, Adobe InDesign, Evernote to keep your notes from disappearing, DropBox to keep your manuscript in the cloud, and YouSendIt to send large files to your editors.
  4. Write every single day. We already know this as writers but sometimes it’s difficult to find the time, right? Well, get up an hour early every morning or use your lunch hour to draft a story. As Nike says, Just Do It!
  5. Create an outline of your book and then distribute it to your friends as a Google Doc to solicit their input.
  6. Build your marketing platform nine months before you publish your next book. You can accomplish this by: curating and disseminating great content on your blog and social media networks, attaining 5,000 followers, tapping your audience for their skills as beta readers and content readers.
  7. Ask your copyeditors, content editors and friends to write reviews on Amazon as soon as your book becomes available.
  8. Hire the best copy editor and cover designer you can afford.
  9. Never give up!

APE Author Publisher Entrepreneur is available on Amazon and Kindle. This is a must-read for all writers pursuing artisanal publishing.  Visit Guy Kawasaki’s blog, “How to Change the World: A Practical Blog for Impractical People.”

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 Frances Caballo is a social media trainer, blogger and author of Social Media Just for Writers: The Best Online Marketing Tips for Selling Your Books. She helps writers and businesses attain their social media marketing and public relations goals. Presently, she is the Social Media Editor for the Women’s National Book Association-SF Chapter and the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+. Social Media Just for Writers is available on Amazon and at Copperfield’s Bookstore in Santa Rosa.

ABCs of Things Authors Must Know When Working with Retail Bookshops and Retail Bookshops Must Know When Working with Authors

By

Patricia V. Davis

Patricia V. Davis

   

    by Patricia V. Davis

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Booksellers:

As a responsible author, business woman, and former bookshop owner, I understand how tough times are for retail bookshops these days. Therefore I make it my duty to make sure that my author events are well-attended. I put a great deal of effort into every one of my book events to make them successful, not only for myself and my readers, but because I love retail bookshops and want to see them around for many years to come. I also consider it a privilege to be able to hold a book event at a retail bookshop and want the booksellers to come away from my events feeling financially rewarded and esthetically pleased by them. Having said all that, oddly enough, I’ve sometimes been shot in the foot during that pursuit by my very “partner” in the events ─ the bookshops themselves ─ whom I assume would want to sell as many copies of my book as I do.

I’ve had bookshops order boxes of my book for an event and then not be able to find where they’ve been stored, or if they’ve been shelved, where they’re located in the bookshop.

I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on beautifully designed posters and gone into the bookshop as near as one week before the event and not seen them up anywhere in the shop, nor does anyone know where those posters are when I inquire. Occasionally I’ve even discovered that there’s been no mention of my event in their email lists (to which I’ve subscribed, of course)  nor even on the bookshop website.

I’ve had readers contact me via Facebook to say they phoned the bookshop to ask about my book event and the sales clerks answering the phones knew nothing about it and so that was why they were contacting me.  I’ve had my name misspelled in fliers and on websites (sometimes even in shops where they know me very well) or given incorrectly when I’ve been introduced. Just for the record, “Patricia V. Davis” is women’s empowerment author and “Patricia Davis” is an aromatherapy author.  Patricia Davis and I constantly get each other’s emails from booksellers and one of my titles was misfiled on barnesandnoble.com under her name, which took months to have corrected. For the longest time I was told that my book, The Diva Doctrine wasn’t being stocked by Barnes & Noble. It was indeed being stocked; it just wasn’t possible for the individual outlets to find it in their computers until one enterprising sales clerk decided to look it up by its ISBN number. A number, by the way, which the customer ordering the book only was able to give the clerk because she’d used her iPhone to look it up right there and then on amazon.com!

I’ve had calls from bookshops saying they haven’t been able to order my book, even though the information on how and where to do so was given to them well in advance. I’ve had books not ordered in time for a book event, and so had to bring my own copies to sell.  

And most astonishing of all, considering the looming threat of online retailers, have even had the manager at one independent book shop across the country tell me in a reassuring way when I began to discuss advertising, “We’re not concerned about how many books are sold at our events. Whether it’s one or one hundred makes no difference to us at all.”  

(Hmm. I wonder if that manager is still working at that bookshop? In fact, I wonder if that bookshop is still in business?)

And so I offer here with respect and affection, a checklist of questions booksellers can ask themselves in order to insure that every book event, whether by a debut author or a NY Times bestselling author is as rewarding for the effort it takes to organize as it can be. It would be prudent for authors to read this list too, if only to understand the steps involved (and the mistakes that can be made) from a bookseller’s end when an author event is in the works.

 

BOOKSELLER LIST OF QUESTIONS

 

a)       Where is the event going to be advertised? Do you have a website, a monthly flier you mail out or have copies of for when your customers come into your shop, and/or an email list? Are there any book clubs or groups that meet in your shop that you can personally invite who might be interested in this particular title?

b)      Are you displaying the author’s book one month to two weeks before the event, along with a flier of information about the book and the author? Are posters (if any have been given to you by the publisher or the author) displayed at this time too, so that customers can become aware of and excited about this book event? If not, have you made up 8 ½ x 11 fliers about the event that customers can clearly see and maybe even take home with them or have you requested them from the author? Is the author’s names and book title correct on your website? Is there a hot link for the title so that customers can order it from you online?

c)      Are all floor sellers in your shop aware of the event so that if they receive a phone call about it they can answer questions? Have they been made aware of special details about the event, such as special guests, music, or refreshments, that might attract more attendees? (This can be achieved easily by sending an in-house email with the date and all the details of the event well in advance. If you have a large bookshop where lots of events are held, a weekly staff meeting to go over each event should not be too difficult to organize.)  Does everyone at your bookshop know the correct name of the author, the correct title of the book and where in the shop the title can be found in case a customer cannot attend the event but wants to buy a copy of the book, anyway?

d)      Might you have a small yet visible space in your bookshop to display the titles of local authors who have held events at your shop recently, or who have an event scheduled? Can this space list the upcoming events of these authors? If this isn’t possible, can a list of upcoming events along with the authors’ names, titles of their works , ISBN numbers, date and time of their events, be generated in a Word document weekly for your sales clerks to check when a customer comes in to inquire about them?

e)      Does your ordering department know how, where and when to get the title? Do you have contact email or telephone number of the author in case there is a problem? If you haven’t worked with this particular distributor or wholesaler before, does your ordering department know to contact the latter well in advance of any book event, so that the books will arrive in a timely manner?

f)       Last but not least, for you alone ─ to insure that your time and money has not been wasted─ can the staff member who was supervising this event tell you if this was a successful event? How many copies of the title were sold? Did the event generate any additional traffic and business apart from those sales? Did this particular author have a good rapport with attendees? Did attendees enjoy the event and feel it was worth two hours of their time? (After all, these are your customers, too, not just the author’s readers.) Was the author rude to your sales clerks or gracious? Is it worth your time and effort to work with this author again in the future?

As for authors, you’re not off the hook when it comes to making your own book event successful, either. The days are over when an author could show up at the designated bookshop, ask, “Where do I stand?” then read, sign books and be on her way. In today’s publishing world authors who want to eventually become bestsellers, or at the very least be invited back to a retail bookshop a second time, should be able to answer the questions below.

 

AUTHOR LIST OF QUESTIONS

 

a)      Is this my first book? If so, where is my nuclear fan base located? By “nuclear fan base” I mean your group of friends and family who you know with certainty you can rely on to attend. Discern where most of this fan base is located and choose a bookshop that’s close enough to make it easy   for them to attend. When my first book, Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece was launched, none of my nuclear fan base who I knew I could absolutely count on to attend had to travel more than 10 miles for that launch. (The only exception was my family, who lived further, but would have traveled to the moon to be there.) So, don’t pick the “in” bookshop, pick the one that closest to your nuclear fan base that holds book events,( which you can check by visiting the shop or the shop’s website.) Investigate where this might be at least six months prior to your book’s release date.

b)      Once you choose the closest bookshop, ask yourself: If I were this bookshop owner, what would I need from a debut author who wants to have an event at my bookshop? This is a question few if any authors think of asking themselves. With 3 million new titles per year, why would your local bookshop choose your new book and allow you to use their shop to hold a launch instead of another author?  What will they get in return for ordering your book, advertising your event on their website or in their newsletter, paying personnel to assist you with your launch and permitting you to take up space in their shop for two hours or more? In this day of high costs and dwindling profits for retail bookshops, you as the author have to consider all of the above. Can you guarantee a minimum of 20 copies of your books sold? ( Even if you have to buy them back from the bookseller yourself?) Will you do everything you can to advertise your event, including announcements on Facebook, Twitter, evites and emails out to your list? Will you spend one full day to write out advertisements to all of the online local “events calendars” such as Patch.com, Eventful.com and all the local newspapers? Will you search for and contact neighborhood book clubs? Are you in any local writers’ groups that can help you pass the word along? What about any local groups that might have a special interest in your particular title? ( With Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece ) I sent invitations to every local Hellenic Association or Greek Group I could find.) If you can present a “business plan” for the event to the bookshop events planner and do so well in advance of when you wish to have the event, you have a much better chance of getting them excited about having your launch at their facility.

c)      Now that I have brought in friends and groups, what can I do to bring in others? To an author, any stranger = a potential new reader. To a bookshop, any new reader = a potential book sale.  What can I do to make my event fun and unique so that even people who might not know me or my work might be tempted to come into the bookshop for my launch? The more creative you get the better chance you have of drawing in people. To see some ideas I’ve utilized in the past and to see some well attended events, check out the photo gallery on my website.


AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST:

 

d)      How can the bookshop order my book? The most vital information every business-savvy author will have on hand when she’s talking with a bookshop is the correct ordering information. Who’s the wholesaler/distributor of the title? What are the terms, meaning discount to bookshop and payment schedule? What is your publisher’s return policy for booksellers? How long before the event does the bookshop need to order the books for them to arrive on time for the event?

If you’re thinking, “Shouldn’t the bookshop know this?” you’ll learn that often they don’t. I’ve had bookshops say they can’t “get” my book, can’t “find” my book, and can’t open a retail account with my book publisher(s). Even before your book is published you should make a call to your publisher and get the information above so you can pass it on to bookshops, just in case. If your book is self-published, you need to set reasonable discount terms with a bookshop in order to encourage them to carry your book. Reasonable terms include at least a 35-40% discount off cover price and full right of return after three months if the books don’t sell. If they’re not planning on carrying your book as part of their stock, you’ll need to offer a consignment deal for any event. This means you bring your books in, they get an agreed upon discount off the cover price on every book sold and you leave the event with whatever remaining unsold books from the books you brought in. Arrange with your publisher to receive an author discount of at least 50% if you plan to sell the books yourself to bookshops. A smart debut author knows it’s not the amount of money she makes on each title, it’s how much volume she moves and how many new readers she garners. Remember that you’re not selling fruit, (though it sometimes may feel that way) you’re building your name as an author. And the only way to do that is to make sure you move your published works to as many readers as possible. This includes not organizing an author event out of hubris, but to sell books.

_____________________

PATRICIA V. DAVIS is the author of the bestselling Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss and Greece, and The Diva Doctrine: 16 Universal Principles Every Woman Needs to Know. Her latest work and first published fiction, “Chopin, Fiendishly” appears in Tales From the House Band: Volume I.  Patricia holds a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing and Education, and is the founder of The Women’s PowerStrategy Conference. This article is excerpted from Patricia’s upcoming book, written with Gilbert Mansergh, with the working title, PowerStrategy Publishing! The Paramount Guide for Authors, Publishers and Booksellers On Leveraging Industry Change.

 

What to do after pitching to agents and acquisition editors?

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What to do after pitching to agents and acquisition editors?

Coach Teresa here… to say “I’m sorry that I’ll have to miss being with you at WNBA-SF Chapter’s signature event on March 24, 2012.  Special thanks to WNBA-SF Chapter fellow pitch-coaches Mary E. Knippel and Tanya Egan Gibson, program chair Lynn Henriksen and co-president Linda Lee for providing  bios of the agents and acquisition editors so that I was able to create handout material for tomorrow, and Mary E. Knippel and co-president Linda Joy Myers for taking care of duplicating material and bringing to event tomorrow.”

“I wish my colleagues, all the authors who will be pitching, agents and acquisition editors, and luncheon keynote speaker Meg Waite Clayton a most wonderful day at our signature event ‘Meet and Speed Date with Agents and Acquisition Editors.’”

After you pitch . . .

What to do if an agent or acquisition editor has asked you to send a portion of your full manuscript or the entire manuscript?

If he/she has asked you to email the submission:

  • Make your email subject line” to the point”  (Example:  follow-up on our meeting at WNBA event on March 24      Another example:  Thank you for asking me to send my manuscript)
  • Use salutation; pitch in 1 to 3 sentences (do not assume that agent/ acquisition editor remembers everything you told her/him); state what you are attaching  (first 3 chapters?  first 50 pages?  book proposal? (for a how-to book also known as prescriptive nonfiction);  ask when you can expect a reply;  your “thank you”; signature block with your full name and contact information and website/blog/facebook/twitter/YouTube address.  Be sure to use paragraphs in the body of your email so that your message doesn’t look like a block of text.  Email yourself to preview.
  • The attachment—use industry standard format (Cover page showing your book title; genre; word count; your full name; your contact information.  Manuscript pages — 1” margins; double spaced; 12-pt. font; header on each page contains book title and  your full name; each page numbered)

Multiple agents and/or acquisition editors have asked to read a portion of your manuscript or the entire project?

  • Show your professional self.  If more than one person asked to read a substantial portion of your manuscript (investing their time),  you be honorable–give one agent an exclusive reading period (typically 2 to 3 weeks); let that agent know that other agents are waiting to read.

What to do if no agent or acquisition editor has asked to see your work?

Despair not.  Polish your pitch and query other agents.  How do you find other agents?  Read acknowledgment pages of books similar to yours; authors usually thank their agents and editors.  Go to Association of Authors’ Representatives’ website and search in their database.

Books that can help you refine your pitch and/or build your writer’s platform:

How to Write a Book Proposal by Michael Larsen

Break Through the Noise: 9 Tools to Propel Your Marketing Message by Elisa Southard

Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW by Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Cheering for you!

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Coach Teresa says: “Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams!”

https://wnba-sfchapter.org

 

Authors Exchange Solutions at WNBA-SF Chapter Meetings at SFPL

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Authors Exchange Solutions at WNBA-SF Chapter Meetings at SFPL

Thursday, December 1, 2011 6:00-7:30pm San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch, Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room A (food is allowed).
22-Day Platform-Building Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan (SF Chapter Secretary) here to say: “What an exciting get-together!  11 hard-working writers cheered and swapped marketing & editing tips at the December 2011 meeting. Please join co-facilitators Birgit Soyka, Mary E. Knippel and me at the next meeting–Thursday, January 5, 2012  6:00-7:30pm San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch, Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room A (food is allowed).

All attendees from tonight’s meeting please submit a comment to this post — introduce yourselves to WNBA fans and tell them what gems you walked away with this evening.

Birgit Soyka

Mary E. Knippel

Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Laura Bean

Mary French

Jane Glendinning

Shulamit Sofia

Rob Robbins

Catherine C. Robbins

Fred Glynn

Matilde Schmidt

Who is already a member?  https://wnba-sfchapter.org/wnba-sf-chapter-membership-directory/

Join us!  https://wnba-sfchapter.org/membership/join-or-renew-here/

 

 

Scribd is the place that changed my life

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Laura Novak Book on ScribBy Laura Novak


Scribd calls itself the place where the world comes to read. I call it the place that changed my life.

In November 2009, I went to a roundtable panel, as part of LitQuake, on how to get your first novel published. A young woman from Scribd, which I had only vaguely heard of, told the audience that as writers, we had to “get vertical.” I had no idea what she meant, but I had a novel I was working on, so I knew I had to do something in terms of social media long before I was ready to publish.

The next day I got on Facebook for the first time and was thrilled when I pushed the right button to upload a photo. That’s how much of a Luddite I was. The day after, I set up an account on Scribd. At first, the profile page was overwhelming. I didn’t have a website and I had no idea how to navigate such a vast and dynamic portal.

But I did have years of articles I had reported for The New York Times. So, I uploaded those, with brief descriptions of each. While I waited for my work to fill my Profile Page, I followed Scribd’s Home Page seeing writers talking to one another, interacting, sharing, and offering feedback.

I jumped in for the first time thoroughly afraid I might fall of a metaphorical cliff. But by observing others, I found how easy it could be to communicate with other writers, and how gratifying it would all soon become.

Every day, I made it a point to follow five new writers. They followed me back. I began to fall in love with poets’ poetry and the short stories of people who have now become my best writer friends.

The first time my stats show 200 reads of my work, I was floored. Nearly two years later, I have 140,000 reads of my work with more than 45,000 followers.

Hard to imagine? Not if you take it one small step at a time. Find people whose work you admire. Comment, engage, interact. Upload your work with colorful photos and ask for feedback.  

The strength of Scribd is the phenomenal community and how vastly it has grown. What once seemed like a sleepy little village is now a bustling metropolis. Scribd truly is the YouTube of the print world: Publishers, periodicals and even politicians have pages. With its robust algorithms, Google catches even your smallest comments on Scribd so the search engine really gets to know your name.

Not only is your work highly visible on Scribd, but tech support is strong and the Scribd team is expanding their online reach and presence. Through Float, its new application for iPhone, you can follow your Facebook and Twitter feeds at the same time. You can read your favorite Scribd writers on your phone, and they can follow your work just as easily.

I have sold work on Scribd. But more importantly, I learned what it means to be “vertical” as a writer. My NYT’s stories, novel chapters, and essays have gone viral in a way I would never have imagined.

Scribd is where the world comes to read. And it really is where every writer should be.

 

Submitted by By Laura Novak, WNBA-SF Co-Vice President

 

Laura’s hilarious debut novel, Finding Clarity: A Mom, A Dwarf and a Posh Private School in the People’s Republic of Berkeley is now on sale through the holidays for .99 cents! You can find it on:

 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HRNIUK

 

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/finding-clarity-laura-novak/1105949777?ean=2940013416765&itm=1&usri=laura%2bnovak

 

And find more of Laura Novak’s work at Scribd:

 

http://www.scribd.com/LauraNovak

 

And at her website: http://www.lauranovakauthor.com/index.html

December 1, 2011, 6:00-7:30pm Women’s National Book Association-San Francisco Chapter

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Join Us – WNBA-SF Gathering at SF Main Library, Dec. 1, 2011, 6:00-7:30pm

Members and prospective members welcomed.

Click on the headline/title bar of this post to see full description of event and RSVP by submitting comment.

San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch, Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room (food is allowed).  Near BART Civic Center Station. 2 entrances for the library: 100 Larkin St. (and 30 Grove St.), S.F., CA 94102

Facilitated by Birgit Soyka, author of To Drink the Wild Air.

RSVP by submitting comment here OR email Birgit Soyka at   bsr107  at  yahoo.com

Discuss your writing projects; bring your ideas for future event.

Also, Your-Writing-Mentor Mary E. Knippel (creator of “Create Your Success Story” workshops) and Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan (author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW  and Love Made of Heart) will be present.

 

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Leon Veal, thank you for arranging meeting space at SFPL year-round!

At the October 6, 2011 meeting, Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan and Mentor Mary E. Knippel helped members create 60-second videos/marketing pieces for themselves.  Click here to see thank-you message to Brian at SF Project Read.

At the November 3, 2011 meeting, author Birgit Soyka facilitated another fun meeting.

To become a WNBA member or to renew: https://wnba-sfchapter.org

See you there!

Who Are the Movers and Shakers at Women’s National Book Association San Francisco Chapter?

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Who Are the Movers and Shakers at Women’s National Book Association San Francisco Chapter?


June 26, 2011 planning retreat

Back row: Linda Lee (co-President), Verna Dreisbach (co-VP), Leigh Anne Lindsey, Kate Farrell, Margie Yee Webb, Pat Windom, Laura Novak (co-VP), Birgit Soyka (SF bookstore readings Liaison)

Front row: Mary E. Knippel (past President), Barbara Santos, Ana Manwaring, Apala Egan, Linda Joy Myers (co-President), Teresa LeYung-Ryan (Secretary)

In four hours, each of the fourteen powerful women declared what is most important in her career and community.
Here’s a partial list of events sponsored by WNBA-SF Chapter or supported by chapter members:

In addition to mixers/meet-ups at libraries & bookstores and book festivals . . .

January – WNBA New Year Creativity Workshop with Mary E. Knippel

February – San Francisco Writers Conference

March – WNBA’s “Meet the Agents”

April – Redwood Writers Conference

Effie Lee Morris Lecture – WNBA joins Friends of the San Francisco Public Library

October is National Reading Group Month – WNBA National event, every chapter participates

Sunday November 6, 2011 (tentative date)– WNBA publishing panel

https://wnba-sfchapter.org/

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung-Ryan

WNBA-SF Chapter Secretary

Writing Career Coach – Author – Manuscript Consultant

http://writingcoachteresa.com

Why is it important to show up to network?

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Why is it important to show up to network?

WNBA-SF Chapter Board Member and Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here to answer the question:

June 2, 2011

Take care of yourself; take care of your career. I don’t even like the word “network” so I get creative. Speaking of getting creative, tonight’s WNBA-SF Chapter Meet Up was an example of how to network and have fun.

WNBA member Leon Veal, the outreach coordinator for Project Read San Francisco, calendars meeting space at the San Francisco Public Library main branch for us once a month.  I had asked SF Chapter past president Creativity Mentor Mary E. Knippel to co-lead a WNBA Meet Up with me.

Members Birgit Soyka and Janine Kovac RSVPed.

Mary and I showed up early.  I helped Mary re-configure her business card to read: You’ve been thinking about writing your book? Let me (Mary E. Knippel) help you. Mary showed me her Google Voice phone number. I want to create a YouTube channel for WNBA-SF Chapter–I provided the format and Mary came up with a great idea–”Let’s create a how-to video/tutorial for our members!”  Mary is indeed the Creativity Mentor.

Birgit Soyka arrived, looking vibrant.  She and I will be showcasing our books later this month:

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Tuesday, June 28, 2011, 7:00-9:00pm

BookShop West Portal, 80 West Portal Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127 415-564-8080

Women’s National Book Association (WNBA) members celebrate June’s “Rebuild Your Life Month” featuring books by members Birgit Soyka and Teresa LeYung-Ryan. Join us for a fun evening— reception; authors’ presentations; meet the new board and members of the San Francisco Chapter. Please RSVP by emailing  BookShopRSVP@wnba-sfchapter.org

Birgit Soyka (author of To Drink the Wild Air: One Woman’s Quest to Touch the Horizon)

and

Teresa LeYung-Ryan (author of Love Made of Heart and Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days)

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Mary and I were telling Birgit about using YouTube to promote our work and Birgit was telling us about her wanting to identify her biggest target audience. Would that be readers of spiritual growth, world travels, women’s issues or motorcycle racing?

Then Terri Bertini (screenwriter, producer and director) showed up!  I had met Terri at the Asian Heritage Street Celebration last month.  When Birgit showed her book to Terri and started talking about her motorcycle racing and world travel . . . Terri said she remembers meeting Birgit in Los Angeles fifteen years ago at a race and that it seems like just yesterday. Voila!  Birgit (in her motorcycle gear) is memorable and attracts attention.

I asked Terri if she has a blog and she told us the blog name she is considering. When her blog name is official I will broadcast on my blog.

Birgit is interested in showcasing her book at more venues.  Mary and I will be at the Literary Arts/Fine Arts Department at the San Mateo County Fair on Friday 17, 2011 (please see http://www.lovemadeofheart.com/Teresa-LeYung-Ryan%27s-Events.html for details) but we cannot be at the fair the following day for Bardi Rosman Koodrin’s Author Book Day June 18, 2011, 2:00-4:00pm because Mary is giving a workshop in Half Moon Bay and I had promised to take photos and film her.

Here’s an idea:  I would email Bardi and pitch Birgit. Mary suggested to Birgit that if she gets table space on the 18th to showcase her books that she might also showcase my books.

Aah, helping each other, helping ourselves and having fun at the same time! This is why it is important to show up to network.

Janine Kovac, we missed you. Check out Janine’s blog.  See you real soon.

Terri Bertini, thank you for joining us at the library.

Cheering for all hardworking writers!

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan


Hope to see you on June 17, 2011!  at the Literary Arts Dept. Stage at the San Mateo County Fair in California

4:00-6:00pm Mary E. Knippel presents “Coaxing Creativity” workshop

6:30-8:00pm readings by California Writers Club–San Francisco Peninsula Branch members including contributing authors in the anthology Fault Zone: Words from the Edge.

8:00-9:00pm Author Teresa LeYung-Ryan uses Love Made of Heart to inspire adult-children of mentally-ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas and gain resources for their families. As Writing Career Coach Teresa, she helps fiction and nonfiction authors gain a competitive edge before and after publication with her workbook Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days.

JOIN WNBA-SF CHAPTER AND HAVE FUN BUILDING YOUR CAREER