Writing a book is commitment. It’s like being a parent. First there’s the commitment required to develop an idea into a story. As the story grows into a manuscript, there’s the commitment to allowing that story to change if it needs to. Then you must find the right company to publish that manuscript and to serve you as the face of your conversation. After the book is published comes the greatest commitment of all—working your ass off to give it the opportunity to succeed.

The first thing you have to understand is that Read the rest of this entry »

Okay—so you’ve got a brilliant, innovative product or service. So what? If no one knows about it, no one cares about it; it may as well not exist. The only solution, everyone seems to agree, is PR. But the best kept secret in the industry? Creating, launching, and completing a successful PR campaign is damn hard work! It takes time, teamwork, and a lot of patience. It also takes persistence—with a purpose.

First, the persistence part: It’s easy to Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s face it. Your customers don’t want to hear that deep, echoey radio voice holler at them to get to your car dealership TODAY, TODAY, TODAY! There are better ways to get your message across.

There are authentic ways to get your message across.

What are your business’s core values? Core values are the guiding principles that define what your business represents and hopes to achieve—and thus sets it miles apart from the competition. If you haven’t done it already, sit your overworked butt down and write them out. I don’t care how many other things you have to do. If you don’t have a defined set of core values, you’re doing business on a platform that could cave at any minute. So aim for five core values. Ours at Writers of the Round Table are Read the rest of this entry »

All right—you’ve published a book. Maybe it’s your first, maybe it’s your twelfth. Either way, you should know: The hard work is only beginning. Why? Because the majority of books sell fewer than 99 copies. In 2006, only 2.1% sold more than 5,000 copies; 16.6% sold fewer than 1,000 copies; and 79.6% sold fewer than 99 copies.

These are heinous, depressing, terrifying figures. Get over it. If you’re serious about publishing your book, sharing your story, having it truly resonate with people, you’ve got to get proactive about promoting. The good news is that you don’t have to be a PR or marketing guru to start a buzz about your book. All you need is creativity and dedication—two qualities I’ll assume you already possess. Stop Whining – you can do this!

So, first, buy a domain name—say, www.yourbooktitle.com—and hire a Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve all heard it before: Art is a business. And let me tell you that’s the truth!! While I loved my university training (BFA, Theatre), I spent 10 years getting over the anger that they never taught me how to generate an income from my art. I’ve actually done quite a bit of research and have yet to find a single educational program that teaches the business of artistry and that is such a shame because talent and the development of the art itself is only 25% of the equation. Over the years, I have built numerous successful businesses around artistic endeavors and I can tell you without a doubt that the other 3 ingredients (in equal parts) are:

1. Marketing
2. Networking
3. Publicity

Today, I’ll discuss marketing as it is the first ingredient I recommend artists focus on when working to generate revenue for their work.

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As artists we have to create significant buy in from audiences and from those who can hire us for our services–that’s how we get paid for our work. We do that through inviting them into our world - which we do through story…Every single person we run into can fall into one of these two categories:

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We’re living in a tough economy and people everywhere are pinching pennies (except AIG execs and that baroness who spends $4500 a week on clothes). But we’re still spending money. What we’ve done is shifted our priorities and redefined “affordable” and “necessary”. So, if someone tells you they can’t afford what you’re selling, it’s likely that you just haven’t sold them on the value. You haven’t hit that nerve that twitches the purchase muscle to whip out the wallet. Don’t rush into price cutting because you automatically devalue what you’re selling. Instead, rethink your value proposition. Is it addressing their needs, concerns, desires, and goals? If not, what can you do to drive home the value to your buyer? Sometimes “no means no” but other times it’s just a sign that you need to work a little harder.