October 2018

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers to affect women, but men are also at risk, albeit a much smaller one.  

According to BreastCancer.org, about 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer over their lifetime. However, even without the BRCA gene, the statistics show that a first degree relative of someone who has had breast cancer has double the chance of developing the disease.

Besides self-exams and screenings, one important thing you can do is eat immune-boosting foods.  A recent study reported by The American Institute of Cancer Research shows that people who ate at least five and a half servings of fruits and vegetables daily had a lower risk of getting breast cancer, and if they did get it, they got the less dangerous form. This was a long- term study, and it demonstrated the importance of a healthy diet not as a fad, but as a permanent part of your life.  It is never too late to get on a heathier path.  

You may want to get some support in making such a change, as people who obtain support tend to be much more successful in making the change they embark on.  You can contact a nutritionist or health coach, or you can go to helpful websites such as https://missiontowellness.com/, where you can sign up to receive wellness tips, recipes and access to coaching and nutritional programs.

1. New Audiobook

SkillBites will soon be publishing Kim McDonnel’s audiobook, You Change, They Change:  How to take control of your life by losing control over others.  Kim is a Holistic Health Coach and Spiritual Counselor. Through her own journey to healing Kim found success in letting go.  After 10 years of medical diagnoses with no cure, debilitating pain, and bouts of depression, Kim was introduced to holistic health. In working with a Naturopathic Doctor Kim saw results which gave her hope. Her healing journey took her back to the root cause of all dis-ease to focus on the spiritual journey of the mind body connection.  Her book provides guidance for those who feel stuck in relationships that aren’t working, taking the reader on a journey of discovery that will change family dynamics and put the reader on the road to success. Online resources and guided meditations are included that will help the reader personally apply each lesson and put it into action. 

If you would like to convert your print book or eBook into an audiobook, contact SkillBites.  We can help you get your audiobook created and available on Amazon, Audible and iTunes.

2. It is Time?

So many people tell me that they really want to get their book written but they just can’t find the time.  To help those for whom getting a book done is a high priority, I have developed a workshop designed to enable you to find the time to get your book written.  The workshop is 4 one-hour sessions, one week apart.  The fee is $195.  There are only a few places left so if this is something you want to do, please contact me at judy@skillbites.net as soon as possible.  

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 October 17 at 11 am ET.  Our guest will be Karen Yankovich, owner of Uplevel Media and known as the LinkedIn Queen.  Karen will share some free LinkedIn secrets to get MORE CLIENTS and tap into the recurring revenue stream that emerges from this social media platform.

To listen to the live presentation, you can call in at (641) 715-3660, Access Code: 467398. 

Last month we heard from Isaac Navias, owner of Localfi, a company that helps local businesses flourish.  Last year alone, Localfi created over $5,000,000 in additional revenue and thousands of new customers for local businesses.  Isaac shared elements of his system of online advertising. If you missed this presentation, you can listen to it by clicking here, or you can read some of the tips from this show on the SkillBites blog at http://resources.skillbites.net/blog/.

SAVE THE DATE:  Next month, the SkillBites Show will be on Tuesday, November 20, at 1 pm ET.  Our guest will be Kim McDonnel, a Holistic Health Coach and Spiritual Counselor and author of You Change, They Change:  How to take control of your life by losing control over others.  Kim narrated her own audiobook.  She will talk about her journey to health through the system that she teaches in her book as well as how she accomplished the creation of her audiobook.

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.

4. Tip of the Month:  KDP’s Pricing Support Service 

As addressed in the last few newsletters, Amazon is doing away with CreateSpace and consolidating print book and eBook publishing in KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).  I found some bugs in KDP when I tried publishing a print book on that platform, so for now I am still using CreateSpace for print books and KDP for eBooks.  There are a few advantages that KDP offers, however, that CreateSpace doesn’t.  One of those is a new service called KDP Pricing Support.  

This service searches for books similar to a book being published through KDP and compares the sales of the various books and the prices of those books.  It will then recommend a price for the book being published that will maximize the author’s royalties.  For example, one of my authors wrote a book on how to meditate that she was selling for $9.99.  The KDP pricing support program found that books on meditation that were priced at $2.99 sold many more copies so that the authors of those books made more money in royalties than if the books had been priced higher.  

Of course, the system isn’t perfect, as it doesn’t evaluate the marketing effort undertaken, or the quality of the book, or other factors that could have a much greater influence on the book sales than just the price; but it is interesting to consider.

5. New Royalty Payment Program

Amazon has announced that royalty payments for books published through KDP will be made 60 days after the end of each month instead of 30 days as it had been paying.  Accordingly, SkillBites’ royalty payments to our authors will be made 60 days from the end of each calendar quarter instead of 30 days.

6. 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,