January 2020

I’ve been listening to a course recently on outsmarting your brain, and have learned some interesting tips.  Here are a few of them.  When in a noisy environment, if you want to talk to the person next to you, speak into their right ear.  They will be more likely to hear and understand what you are saying.

If you have a tough problem to solve, don’t put it off and do something else.  Try not doing anything.  Don’t think about the problem and don’t focus on anything else for about 10 minutes.  When you focus on something else, you can’t think about how to solve your problem; but by not thinking of anything, your mind will be better able to focus on the problem when you resume thinking about it.  The worst thing you can do is play video games to distract you from the problem.  Another option is to go for a walk, preferably outside.  Many brilliant thinkers have found they do their best thinking when walking outside.

If you are feeling unhappy or stressed, try smiling, even if you have to fake it.  Somehow, when you smile, your brain thinks you are happy and then you’ll feel happier and less stressed.  Smiling has also been associated with reduced pain and a stronger immune system.  If you find yourself unable to smile, put a (clean) pencil between your teeth, where it doesn’t touch your lips.  That will cause the same muscles used for smiling to be activated which will trigger the same results as smiling.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

1. Increase Your Visibility

If you want more visibility for your business, mark your calendar for January 10 for a virtual Visibility Summit.  It will feature 20+ experts, with each interview being approximately 15 minutes centered around ideas to get more visibility for your business in 2020.  Registration to attend the event is free.  To register, go to www.getseen2020.com.  If you register, you’ll get access to the recorded interviews, so you can listen to them at your convenience, and you’ll have access to the bonuses offered by the speakers.  I hope you can attend.

2. SkillBites News

The SkillBites Show is now a podcast!  You can find the episodes on iTunes and many other channels.  To hear past episodes, just click here.  You can search for the topics that interest you.

Last month, I was a guest on the Kerry Kathleen Heaps’ podcast, Plan, Meet, Repeat, where I spoke to her audience of speakers and meeting planners on the value of being a published author, and the steps to become a published author.

The redesigned SkillBites website is almost complete.  If you are reading this newsletter a few weeks after it is issued, some of the links included in this newsletter may have changed.  Let me know if you are having any problems with the links and I’ll provide the updated links for you.

3. 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 Wednesday, January 15 at 1 pm ET.  Our guest will be Carlee Myers, an expert at helping professionals who feel overworked, overwhelmed or on the verge of burnout relieve stress so they can find more joy at work, home and beyond. As the founder of The Stress Less Company, Carlee has helped hundreds of professionals across the country take action to reduce stress. Her work has most recently been featured through media outlets such as Good Day Philadelphia, FOX 29, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Mag and Whoolly Magazine. As professionals, it can be tough to manage your stress with bills, clients and a myriad of other responsibilities in your life. You may feel like you’ve tried everything to manage your stress only to find yourself overwhelmed yet again. In this podcast, Carlee will teach exactly what you need to learn to manage stress and step out of overwhelm so you can find more joy in life.

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 February 19 at 1 pm ET.  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. Ally will be sharing tips on how to find a literary agent and land a book deal with a traditional publisher.

Last month, we heard from Kerry Kathleen Heaps, a veteran entrepreneur, established Speaker and Author, and owner of Book.Speak.Repeat, a speaker referral company that helps speakers get more paid gigs across the country.

Kerry shared the top 5 things you need to have before you start marketing yourself, as well as common mistakes speakers make and how to avoid them.

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.

Launch Strategy Part 5:  Pre-Launch Actions

Last month’s newsletter discussed Step 4 in the strategy for launching your book, which was developing joint venture connections to increase the reach of your launch.  If you get 5 JV partners with networks of 5000+ people to promote your book launch to their audiences, and their audiences are your target market, then you have expanded your reach by at least 25,000 people.  The prior launch strategy steps included 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 Step 5, getting everything in order so that your launch runs flawlessly.

If you’ve done the prior 4 steps, then you are nearly there.  This next step consists of a number of actions, including the following:

• Build buzz about your upcoming book launch by sending out a series of enticing emails about the impending launch and posting on social media. You could provide a story of why you wrote the book, a few tips from the book and some testimonials about the value that others have gained from reading your book.  Make sure you use good keywords in your posts.
• Try to get in front of other people’s audiences that are comparable to your target market, such as by being a podcast guest, or guest blogger. The blogger or podcaster may not be willing to be a joint venture partner, or may not be a suitable JV partner, but may be willing to have you be a guest who can provide value to their audience.  That gives you the opportunity to announce your upcoming book launch.
• Set up your Author Central profile on Amazon (https://authorcentral.amazon.com). Readers sometimes go to an author’s profile page to read more about them and see if they’ve published other books.
• If your book will be free during the launch period, or reduced to $.99, you should submit your book to free eBook sites or sites that promote books that are under $1. There’s a site called eBook Booster where you can pay $30 to have your eBook submitted to 40+ sites (http://www.ebookbooster.com).
• Consider running a Facebook ad or an Amazon ad publicizing your launch.
• Set up spreadsheets listing the people you reach out to for your launch. You might want to capture their names, email address, when they bought your book, whether they left a testimonial and whether they purchased anything else from you.
• Test your promotion, if you are offering purchasers a freebie when they buy your book during your launch period, to make sure the freebie gets delivered properly, the download works, and the thank you and email sequence get delivered in a timely manner. Likewise, ask all your JV partners to test their promotions.
• Consider sending out a press release.
• Make sure you proofread everything. Typos can spoil a good launch.

4. 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.

5. 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,

[1]This information came from a course on Outsmarting Your Brain, part of the Great Courses series, presented by Peter Vishton.