February ‘20 Newsletter
Eight years ago this month, I launched SkillBites to help business owners and others get their books published. Having been through the grueling, frustrating process of self-publishing my book, I knew there had to be a better way. It is hard enough for business owners to get their book written, much less figure out how to find a good editor, cover designer and other resources to get their book published. And yet being a published author brings with it so many powerful benefits that I wanted to facilitate the process so more business owners could reap these benefits.
After helping over 100 people get their books done, I’ve developed a system that makes it much faster and convenient to get one’s book published. Over the years, I’ve expanded the platform, to include such services as ghostwriting, illustrating, marketing services and audiobook creation. It’s been an amazing journey and I’m looking forward to serving many more authors.
In honor of the SkillBites anniversary, I’m offering an 80% discount off of the Book It! and Publish It! online courses, through the end of February – a savings of over $400! The Book It! course provides a roadmap for getting a book written as easily and quickly as possible. The Publish It! course contains the various steps to take before getting a book published, as well as how to get a book on Amazon, how to promote a book, how Amazon works, and how to leverage a book. To take advantage of this offer, click here to purchase the Book It! course or click here to purchase the Publish It! course by February 29, 2020, and use the Coupon Code FEB2020 at checkout. Let me know how you enjoy the course!
- SkillBites News
It’s been 6 months in gestation and my new website is finally done! My new website is easier to navigate, more clearly spells out who SkillBites is and what we do, and is mobile friendly. Click here to take a look. I’d love to hear what you think of it. Please email me at judy@skillbites.net
If you are reading newsletters from prior months, some of the links may have changed. Let me know if you are having any problems with the links and I’ll provide the updated links for you.
- The SkillBites Show
Each month, we bring you an expert to help you get your book done, leverage your book, grow your business or improve your life. The shows are recorded, so if you can’t listen to one live, you can listen to the recording by clicking here.
Our next SkillBites Show will be held on February 19 at 1 pm ET / 12 pm CT / 11 am MT / 10 am PT. My guest will be Ally Machate, a bestselling author and expert publishing consultant, Ally has served both small and “Big Five” publishers, including Simon & Schuster, where she acquired and edited books for the Touchstone and Fireside imprints. Ally helps her clients get their books selected by literary agents and traditional publishers. Her client list includes authors publishing with such companies as Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Rodale Inc., Chronicle Books, Kaplan Publishing, Sourcebooks, Sunrise River Press, and Hay House, as well as independently published bestsellers. Are you an author seeking a literary agent? Are you hoping to get a book deal with a publisher? If so, you need to tune in to this podcast episode. We’ll be discussing why you might (or might not) need an agent, what agents expect to see from authors, how to find the right agent for you, and more.
To listen to the live presentation, you can go to https://zoom.us/j/3021564627 or call in, using a line local to you:
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/abAXTgmoXv
Meeting ID: 302 156 4627
Save The Date: Next month, the SkillBites Show will be on March 18, at 1 pm ET / 12 pm CT / 11 am MT / 10 am PT. Our guest will be Chuck Monroe, founder of Gold Dust Publicity LLC, which has been instrumental in the successful launch of more than a thousand books. These include politics, current events, history, fiction, health and fitness, science, biography, memoir, self-help, spiritual, religious, cooking, text books… if there’s a genre, he has promoted it. Prior to founding Gold Dust Publicity, Chuck served as Vice-President of a Boston literary publicity firm, ran two fine Boston restaurants, spent 12 years on-air at Boston radio stations and spent 10 years working on commercial fishing boats in the North Atlantic.
If you don’t publicize your work, no one will know it exists. Chuck will explain how to self-promote your book.
Last month, we heard from Carlee Myers, founder of The Stress Less Company, which helps professionals who feel overworked, overwhelmed or on the verge of burnout relieve stress so they can find more joy at work, home and beyond. Carlee talked about what you need to learn to manage stress and step out of overwhelm so you can find more joy in life.
If you missed this presentation, you can listen to it by clicking here, or you can read a summary of the show on the SkillBites blog by clicking here.
Do you have expertise that you believe would benefit the SkillBites community of entrepreneurs and authors? If you would like to be the guest on the monthly SkillBites Show, contact me at judy@skillbites.net or 610-783-4519.
- Speaker Training
My colleague Steve Sapato is doing a 2 day SpeakerTalks training in Tampa, Florida on March 20 – 21, 2020. In addition to getting trained to be a speaker, you’ll also have the opportunity to have a speaker real created to submit to event planners to get more and better speaking opportunities. If interested, click here for more information.
- Tip of the Month: Launch Strategy Part 6: Outreach
Last month’s newsletter discussed how to get everything in order so that your launch runs flawlessly. Prior newsletters covered developing joint venture connections to increase the reach of your launch, building your audience, getting reviews and testimonials from the media, influencers and members of your target market to build social proof of the value of your book, and building a book sales page, along with setting up your book delivery system, thank you page and follow up email sequence. This month addresses how to expand your reach by getting in front of new audiences, such as those of bloggers, podcasters and influencers.
Begin by researching bloggers and podcasters who have the same audience you are seeking. Determine who your ideal candidate is – perhaps bloggers or podcasters with a particular subject matter, or who have a certain size audience, and who are open to having authors as guests. Compile the information in a spreadsheet, capturing their name, title of their podcast or blog, audience size and contact information.
Next, contact the bloggers and podcasters you’ve identified. You’ll want to provide a description of your book, information about yourself and why you would be a good fit for their blog or podcast, when you are seeking to be interviewed, and possibly a copy of your book. Keep track of who you’ve heard back from, and for any acceptances, the dates you’ll need to submit your guest blog post or conduct your guest podcast appearance. Confirm with the podcasters the day before your guest appearance. Follow up a few times with any that you haven’t heard from. Make sure you have a plan to promote your guest blog posts and/or guest podcast appearances.
During this stage, you should also follow up with the people who agreed to provide reviews for you, if they haven’t yet provided a review. Make sure you read over the reviews. If they are too general, ask the reviewer to describe something specific that they liked about your book, or that they got out of it. Compile all of the reviews, and include the reviewers’ photo.
You can also contact influencers whose audience overlaps with the audience you are targeting, and find out if they would be willing to announce your book launch to their audience. These could be people in your field with some notoriety, or people you follow on social media who have a large following, or authors or speakers in your area of expertise. You’ll have more success if you know them or have been following them in social media, liking their posts and leaving comments on their pages. If the topic of your book is one that could benefit their audience, they might be willing to help you out. Offer to reciprocate and promote an event or program that they have coming up.
Lastly, prepare one or more press releases and distribute them to various sites, such as PRLog, PR.com and Pr-Inside.com. When you have a press release published on major news websites like NBC, Fox and CBS, it will make it easier for you to get interviews with your local news station.
- Get Your Book Done On Your Schedule
For those who have wanted to write and publish a book but cannot find the time to get it done, or aren’t sure how to get started, SkillBites has developed a program just for you. Each week, you will be emailed a small assignment that should take less than 30 minutes of your time. You have the option of having your assignments reviewed and getting feedback on them or not. At the end of three months, if you do the assignments, you will be well on your way to getting your book done. Interested? Contact me at Judy@skillbites.net or 610-783-4519 for more information.
- Earn Commissions For Referrals
Do you know anyone who has been wanting to write a book but has been stalling? Let them know that SkillBites offers a variety of services to make book writing and publishing easy, quick and convenient. When you sign up to be a SkillBites affiliate, you can get a commission for each person who signs up to purchase SkillBites services through your unique referral link. To obtain more information and to sign up for our referral program, click here.
Thanks for supporting SkillBites. If there is anything you think we ought to be doing better or anything we should be doing that we’re not, please let us know. We value your input.
Cordially,
