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Posts tagged Glen Ford
DT – Writing Books can be a crucial element in your Expert Marketing strategy. Or it can be just a way to vent.
01 day ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
There are many reasons you might have to write a book. One of the best reasons is as part of an expert marketing strategy. Expert marketing is a concentrated effort to build a brand for yourself based on your expertise in a particular product or market segment (or niche). In essence, it is a mass method of giving away a taste of your expertise in order to build awareness and interest. It’s like using a ‘freemium’ or giveaway, and then charging for it.
The trick is that even if you aren’t writing in order to build your brand, you are still building your brand with every book you write. So don’t use the medium to vent. Always remember that your readers will form their opinion of you based on your book or books. Think twice before committing your opinions to paper.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – Writing begins with a good book but ends with great marketing.
02 days ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
Thousands of great books are written every year. And even more are never written because the last book didn’t sell. Books only have value when they are read. No matter how great they are, no matter how important the ideas they contain, until someone reads the book it means nothing.
If you listen to the “Make a Mint by Publishing on Kindle” hype, you might believe that all that’s necessary is to write the book, publish it to Amazon and then sit back and collect the cash. But that’s just not true. You need to gain the awareness of readers. You need to convince them that they should read your book. The tool to gain awareness is marketing.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – Good editing takes time. Bad editing costs sales. Your book is worth the time to edit.
06 days ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
The purpose of editing is to catch errors which you, as a writer, might miss. These errors sometimes occur because you aren’t aware they are errors. However, they also occur because you are seeing what you expect to see rather than what is actually there. And sometimes because you are human and you will make mistakes. Unfortunately, mistakes are inevitable and when they are caught by your reader they have a negative effect on your credibility. But we can limit the number of those mistakes.
The faster anyone works the more likely it will be that they make a mistake. That applies to you as a writer. That applies to your editor. That even applies to your doctor, lawyer and television repair person. Your editor is a key defense in preventing your reader from finding your mistakes. It is important that they do a good job. So give them the time to do that job right.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – It’s easier to write the middle first. Leave the introduction and conclusion until the end.
01 week ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
I know it sounds strange. With a how-to book you will need to tell the reader what you will tell them (and why), then tell them and then tell them what you have told them. The former is the introduction, the latter is the conclusion and the middle is the main content. You’ll find that you spend more time designing the main content than you will the introduction or conclusion. You may also find as you write that your thoughts jell. After all, that’s why people are told that if they want to really learn a subject, teach it to someone else. By doing the main work first, you’ll find that you will have a much clearer idea of what to include in your introduction and conclusion to build interest in your book.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – No one wants to read the book without an end. Always plan your readers’ trip first.
01 week ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
I remember being a member of a local writer’s group many years ago. One of the members was a successful writer with dozens of fiction books in his portfolio. I’m going to call him Mike. Another member was an aspiring author of romance. Let’s call her Mary. The two would get into massive brawls over this topic. Mary believed in letting the characters go where they would. Of course, she had never finished a book. In fact, she had been writing the same book for the half dozen years I was a member. As for her story, it meandered on and on seemingly without a goal. Much like many people live their lives. Mike on the other hand, regularly produced mystery and other genre books on a bi-weekly basis. His books were tight, enjoyable and carried the reader along until they reached an inevitable conclusion. At least, inevitable to the reader in retrospect. This wasn’t by accident. Mike always knew exactly how the crime was committed, where the clues were left, how the clues would be found and how the criminal would finally be discovered. He did this because he didn’t want to reach the end and find that there was no way his hero could save the day. You may not be writing mystery but the same rules apply to your how-to books. You need to know how the book ends so that you can move your reader along the path to where you want them to be.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – Be creative with your ideas not your process. Books need a writing system to prevent failure.
01 week ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
A formal system doesn’t have to be complex or frightening. In fact, it shouldn’t be. It also shouldn’t involve a great deal of effort on your part. All that is necessary for it to be a formal system is for it to be written down and to be followed. The word ‘formal’ comes from the word form. As in filling in forms. And your writing system should be a matter of simply filling in the form. Of course, forms are a matter of taste. Personally, I find they make the process easier by taking away any tendency to rethink the process. However, you can go that far or you can simply always follow the same formats.
The big advantage to a formal system is that it handles change so well. I know it sounds counterintuitive. However, a formal system limits change to particular points in its process. And a good system will provide some form of review of its effectiveness and efficiency. In quality management we call that continuous improvement. Because it is controlled improvement, the movement is always towards doing things better. Changes which work will be introduced with intent. Those changes which don’t work will not be allowed to unintentionally creep into the system over time.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – A good book without a reader is just a waste of bookshelf space.
02 weeks ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
As a writer your job is to communicate your opinions to your readers. But communications requires two agents: yourself as writer and your reader. It all happens in the interaction between the two of you. If either is missing, there is no communication. You’re just shouting into the night. Besides, it’s hard to put that much energy into something with no return.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – Self-publishing? Small press? Or big-boy Imprint? Use a name & logo. Only quality reveals the truth.
02 weeks ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
If you are self-publishing you are by definition an indie author. Unfortunately, indie authors have gained a reputation for being poor authors. Primarily because the books are often unedited and poorly packaged. This problem has been made worse by the entry of the typical internet marketers into the market. To help yourself stand out and avoid the reader labeling your efforts as ‘indie author’, you need to steal some tricks from the major presses. The first of course is to produce a professional quality product. While some errors are inevitable your book should be edited, reedited, and be copy edited until you and your editors can recite the book verbatim. Similarly your cover and the formatting of your book needs to be of a professional quality. Fortunately, neither of these is that difficult.
Once your book is up to the same standard as a traditional publisher’s books, you only have one thing that will reveal you as an indie author. Traditionally published books use an imprint or publisher’s brand. Add a logo and a company name to your quality book and people will believe that you are professionally published. Of course, if your book isn’t up to the quality standard, all you will do is ruin the reputation of that brand in your readers’ eyes. Another option is that, publishing consultants such as TrainingNOW often can publish your book under their own imprint if your book is of acceptable quality.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – “To praise a writer for having done research is like praising a bus driver for knowing how to shift gears” Henry James
03 weeks ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
There are four key skills that every writer needs: the ability to read, the ability to write, the ability to market and the ability to research. For non-fiction writers especially, the ability to research is critical. Your book needs to reflect the fact that you really do know your topic. To do that you must be able to learn the topic (which requires research and experience). You must also be able to “salt” your book with provable facts and that also requires research. It is simply a part of every writer’s craft.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
DT – It’s easier to get somewhere if you know where you are going. See your book in your mind first.
03 weeks ago
by Glen
in Daily Tweets
Your book is unique. There may be others on its topic available. In fact, there should be if you are going to be successful. And yet it is unique. No other book is written exactly like yours. It has never existed before. That’s fine, but it also means that before you can begin to design this book, you need to know what the book is like. You’ll also need to answer a number of other questions about the book before you begin the actual writing process.
In effect, you need to create a product strategy for the book. This product strategy is no different than the product strategy for any other type of product. It includes elements of both marketing and production. And most importantly, it presents the vision you have for your book.
Like this tweet? Get the complete collection from Amazon “101 Writing Tweets: 101 Tips and Tweets about Writing How-To Books for the Kindle” by Glen Ford
