I\u2019m wearing my big girl pants today. That\u2019s what I say when I have to tackle something I\u2019d rather not\u2014something that makes me a little (or a lot) uncomfortable\u2014something that confuses me, that I don\u2019t understand all that well or that I just despise doing. Today, I have to deal with the State Franchise Board with regard to filing a form for SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network). I keep filing it and they keep writing to say I\u00a0 haven\u2019t filed it. Sigh! Government and other types of filings and forms are outside my comfort zone. Neither do I like discussing finances, investments or taxes. These things complicate my world and I\u2019d rather avoid them.<\/p>\n
When you are an author, however, you\u2019re in business and forms, contracts and finances are part of the equation. This is also true if you run a nonprofit organization for authors.<\/p>\n
Some authors don\u2019t consider authorship a business and they miss the opportunity to create a successful book project because of it. There are still authors who work hard to write and produce a book and then walk away. They don\u2019t understand that, if they want a successful product, they still have work to do\u2014a lot of work. In order to sell copies of their books, they must get heavily involved in the promotion.<\/p>\n
Many authors know at an intellectual level that it is up to the author to promote his or her books. But they don\u2019t understand what goes into successful book marketing. Or they have an inkling, but they prefer not to go out of their way to promote their books. They find it so distasteful that they choose to toss their books to the wind and hope for the best.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d all like to stay within our self-imposed comfort zones. But there always comes a time when you have to\u2014simply must\u2014are forced to\u2014take a big step into the unknown, frightening, intimidating, overwhelming world you work hard to avoid. And when you do, it is never as bad as you thought it might be. At least that\u2019s what I\u2019m hoping as I approach my challenge today.<\/p>\n
Before I sign off for the day, I\u2019d like to present you with a challenge. What have you done to promote your book so far this month? Have you done any speaking gigs or planned any? Have you promoted to your mailing list? Have you contacted book reviewers? Have you established or added to a blog? Have you actively promoted your book through your social media accounts? Have you designed promotional material and started sending\/handing it out? Have you signed up to sell your book at a local book festival or one in another state where you will be visiting?<\/p>\n
You can sign up today to sell your book at the LA Times Festival of Books April 12\/13, 2014 for only $203 per day, as opposed to $1,000 for a booth of your own. Here\u2019s the link where you can get more information. http:\/\/www.spawn.org\/latfb.htm<\/a>. If you\u2019re not a SPAWN member, join here: http:\/\/www.spawn.org<\/a>. Click on join\/renew. It\u2019s $65\/year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m wearing my big girl pants today. That\u2019s what I say when I have to tackle something I\u2019d rather not\u2014something that makes me a little (or a lot) uncomfortable\u2014something that confuses me, that I don\u2019t understand all that well or that I just despise doing. Today, I have to deal with the State Franchise Board […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t