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Want to Write a Book? Here’s How!
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 21 Feb 2009 | Tagged as: Marketing, author, publishing
Last week, the National Speakers Association New England Chapter asked me to talk about how to make this the year you get that book written. When I sat down to think about what it’s really like to write a book, the image that came to mind was the old classic movie, The Wizard of Oz. While I didn’t actually write this speech, someone in the group captured the points, so I thought I should pass them along in my blog, to those of you who would like to write a book.
Before I get to the tips, let me just provide some encouragement to those of you who are wondering whether it’s worth it. Writing a book is by far the best way to establish your expertise in subject matter, and differentiate yourself from your competitors. A published book gives you credibility, and significantly enhances in business development. As an author, people seek you out. I’ve seen this first hand, after each of my books, Speak Like a CEO, and Motivate Like a CEO, was published. You have to know why you’re writing the book - so get clear on what it will mean to your business or career. If you can make a compelling case in your own mind for the value of the book to your business, it will be easier to find the time and get it written.
My thanks to the Downtown Women’s Club for taking good notes on the session so that I can provide them to you!
Follow the yellow brick road
According to Suzanne Bates of Bates Communications and best selling author of Speak Like a CEO and most recently published Motivate Like a CEO, writing a book for your business is similar to the journey Dorothy and her friends took to OZ. Here are the steps she outlined in her talk at the National Speakers Association of New England Wake Up Call on February 14, 2009:
The Tornado: Finding Your Topic, Voice and View Can Feel Chaotic
Take time to sit with your many thoughts and determine a theme for your book. Keep in mind you do not need to dump every bit of your expertise into one publication. Take the time to brainstorm ideas, find your writing voice and tolerate the chaos as it is an important part of the writing process.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road: Moving Forward on Your Book
Once you discover your theme, write with the reader in mind. Identify the target market of the book and keep that person on the forefront when writing the book. Making a visual representation of the reader can help you focus on what you want to say to your audience. Besides this information will be useful when writing your book proposal should you decide to traditionally publish.
The Wicked Witch of the West: Time
You don’t find time to write you make time to write. Anyone who has written a book knows that this is a constant struggle. Suzanne mastered the Wicked Witch by deciding that she would give up her weekends for one summer to get the book done. Schedule the time and protect it like you would the time you make for your clients. Would you stand up your highest paying contract? No. So make time in your schedule, write it down and keep the appointment.
The Scarecrows: Use Your Brains to Prepare a Brilliant Proposal
A good book proposal follows a predictable formula. Learn the formula then draft a great proposal. Pay special attention to the book’s potential marketability as this is what makes a publisher pick up your manuscript. Also include a well thought out marketing plan for the book. Publishers distribute books, they don’t market them. Authors do. Knowing this and building in a good marketing strategy for your book will help make your proposal stand out.
The Lion: The Courage to Keep Going
Yes, it takes courage to write a book. Find a place where you can get support and encouragement when the road gets bumpy. A writing group, a writing coach or a good friend can make the difference between a brilliant idea and a finished book.
The Tin Man: Write with Your Heart
Writing a book takes time and effort. Make sure you are writing about something you are passionate about and that makes sense for your long term goals. Suzanne was clear that she was writing a book to increase her company’s visibility. Others write for personal reasons. Whatever your reason, make sure you love it.
There’s No Place Like Home: Write what you know and to who you know
Do not try to be someone else. If you are great at empowering women around money then write about that topic. If you are gifted at helping people improve their speaking skills then go that route. Writing what you know and to who you know will make all stages of the book process more effective and enjoyable.
Pulling Back the Curtain on the Wizard of Oz: Best Sellers Don’t Just Happen
Market the heck out of your book. Suzanne learned with her first book many of the tricks of the trade in selling a book and getting it to be a top seller on Amazon.com. While writing the book is a great accomplishment, the difference between a best selling author and all the other authors out there is a commitment to marketing their work.
So if you decide to go down the yellow brick road, enjoy the trip and know that in the end there is nothing like seeing your finished book in print for the first time!
Check Out the New Book!!!!! Our First Copies are IN!!
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 16 Dec 2008 | Tagged as: CEO, Communication, Marketing, author, leadership development, motivating employees
I just wanted to share a photo of Meredith O’Connor, our Marketing Director, and me, holding the first two copies of Motivate Like a CEO! They’re shipping the book to bookstores in the next couple of weeks so they should be available, especially on amazon.com, around January 9th.
Presentation Zen: How to Have Visual Impact
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 16 Aug 2008 | Tagged as: Communication, Leadership, Marketing, PowerPoint, Presentations, author, executive, executive presence, public speaking
I’m wild about a brand new, beautiful, and absolutely brilliant book on how to create memorable visuals for presentations. It’s called Presentation Zen, Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, by Garr Reynolds (New Riders, 2008).
You only have to flip through the pages to immediately grasp Reynold’s provocative mix of inspiration and practical guidance. As a presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert, he shows how thoughtfully designed, graceful, efficient visual imagery can make you look good as a presenter. He has of the most popular Web sites on presentation design and delivery on the net — www.presentationzen.com.
The book is filled page after page of examples of how creativity, photos, large size font, and cool graphics can transform your PowerPoint from dull to dynamite. Just one example - picture this - the slide on the left shows a full page photo of a runner slogging through the desert with a simple message - Less than 33% of U.S. adults are at a “healthy weight.” Not bad. But the slide on the right? It shows the midsection only of an overweight man grabbing his belly fat, with the caption in large print: 66% of Americans are obsese or overweight; below that a simple chart on the numbers of all adults, women and men. It’s so much more memorable!
Garr Reynolds is a writer, designer and musician who currently holds the position of Associate Professor of Management at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan. http://www.kansaigaidai.ac.jp/asp/
Hence, his zen-way of seeing things.
His real message: Simplicity Rules.
How good is it? Seth Godin http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/ the marketing guru of gurus quips, “Please don’t buy this book! Once people start making better presentations, mine won’t look so good.”
The AJ Factor
Posted by Meredith on 27 May 2008 | Tagged as: Marketing
I often think about how customer service might be the only industry that technology hasn’t benefited. We’ve all heard (and experienced) the horror stories of “pressing 1” and getting nowhere, “pressing 4” to be told you’ve reached the wrong department and asked to start over again, etc. etc. etc. So it was refreshing when I got an email about a wonderful example of superb customer service!
My mom emailed me a few months ago about an experience she had calling the Bruins’ customer service line. (I know, I know, I shouldn’t be bringing up stories back from when there was still hope for Boston hockey fans this year, but I just have to share this story…) Below is the “excerpt” from her email -
“It was so funny… before they made the playoffs, I randomly called the Bruins direct # & got this young guy AJ. We chatted for several minutes…he joked and asked if I was a “true” fan and not just “dusting off my black & gold for the playoffs!” He took my # and email & said that he’d call as soon as they made it in. Sure enough, he called me on my cell Monday morning… I thought that was excellent service!”
Not only did ”AJ” connect with her on a personal level, but he kept his promise to call her back. It sounds “small,” but how many times has a random customer service representative promised to call you back just out of generosity and then actually done so!? Who knows, maybe the Bruins have some sort of policy for their employees to be that courteous to all customers. Or maybe this guy AJ is just a really nice, great guy. Either way, his friendliness leaves me with a great impression of the Bruins’ organization.
I’ve been reading Seth Godin’s new book “Meatball Sundae”. (The title really does make sense, I swear.) Like some of his previous books, Godin talks a lot about word of mouth marketing. My mom’s experience with AJ is a great example of how one encounter with a customer service rep can do wonders for the positive word of mouth about a company.
Big companies may have gotten rich throughout the past few decades by cutting costs and creating cookie-cutter ways of dealing with customers. But we’re all yearning for personal connections. Going forward, I think it’s clear that the “AJ Factor” is going to increasingly define consumers’ opinions of a company.