March 2018
Last week, we had a blizzard that knocked out power for over 500,000 people, including my family. We were without power for 5 days. Power came back on at 7 pm on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, we got another snow storm. A tree fell on the same power lines that had been fixed the night before, as well as blocking our street. So we were without power again.
I was talking to one of my authors about that, and he mentioned that a friend of his in Puerto Rico has been without power for 3 months. It’s amazing what a little perspective can do. Instead of being annoyed at the inconvenience, I realized that what we went through wasn’t that bad and felt grateful that we have things much better than so many other places.
1. New Publications
Last month, SkillBites published a novel, For a Better Life, by Dennis LeMaster. This story is about two families who come to the fictitious Suquamish Valley after the Great War for a better life in the forests of western Washington State. They are of different cultures, but alike in that both of them are from impoverished agricultural backgrounds. They overcome adversity by repeatedly coming together and confronting the challenges afflicting their lives, not always successfully to be sure, and not all at once, but step-by-step. As one review stated, the book “intertwines the fortunes of two families, over multiple generations, in a quintessentially American story of hope, of dreams, of striving, of love lost and love won, and of the quiet triumph in having survived and thrived against all odds.”
This month, SkillBites published Dr. Karen Y. Wilson-Starks’ book, Lead Yourself First! The Senior Leader’s Guide to Engaging Your People for Greater Performance and Impact. Dr. Wilson-Starks partners and collaborates with corporate, US federal government, military, and non-profit clients to grow, scale, or make their organizations more efficient. Are you a senior leader or executive responsible for setting vision, championing corporate culture, or leading change and innovation? Do you want your people to learn, grow, and develop so they can achieve more dynamic organizational results? This book will inspire you to think about how to leverage your own unique leadership experiences and lessons learned to build a more significant life and business.
2. 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 March 21, from 1 – 2 ET. Our guest will be Rick ItzkowichVistage Chair, Entrepreneur, Speaker & Author of The Referral Playbook. As an official member of the Forbes Coaches Council and recognized Forbes CommunityVoice™ Contributor, Rick is a successful millionaire entrepreneur who creates turnkey lead-generating products to meet today’s demand for tools to increase your business. Rick will share tips on how to increase sales with proven networking strategies. Rick will touch upon the mindset you need to have in order to win at the game of getting people to know, like and trust you. He’ll share how he uses technology to save time and stay top of mind with his connections – so when they are “ready to buy,” they think of him.
To listen to the live presentation, you can call in at (641) 715-3660, Access Code: 467398.
Last month we heard from Dr. Gayle Carson, bestselling author of five books, and host of a dozen radio shows per month. Gayle provided some terrific tips on how to get media interviews and how to make the most of the interviews you get. 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 April 18, at 1 pm ET. Our guest will be Cathleen Fillmore, owner of Speakers Gold and a top marketing consultant to professional speakers. Her clients include owners of global businesses, NY Times best-selling authors, speakers in the Hall of Fame and a couple of reformed rascals.
Cathleen is also the founder and past President of the Atlantic branch of the Canadian Association for Professional Speakers, and she has written five books as well as hundreds of articles for North American trade magazines. She will speak on how to get paid professional speaking engagements. She will cut to the chase and show you how to do well in this fascinating field.
3. Tip of the Month: Conducting Amazon Pre-Sales
Before your book is even written, you can choose to pre-sell your book on Amazon. If done right, pre-selling your book can gain you a number of benefits, including the following:
- Build buzz about your book;
- Gauge the level of interest in your book;
- Provide funds to help pay for the publication of your book;
- Get reviews before the book is out;
- Build sales momentum for when your book is published; and
- Attain Amazon bestseller status, if the pre-sale goes well.
It’s not easy, however. You need to do a lot of marketing to get the word out for your pre-sale campaign to be beneficial. At a minimum, you should promote the pre-sale on your blog, social media accounts and website. You can also provide guest blog posts on the blog sites frequented by your target readership and submit your book information to a variety of websites that notify people of discounted books. You should offer a special pre-sale price for the book. For instance, if you plan to sell your eBook for $7.99, you could offer the pre-sale purchasers the eBook at $1.99.
To pre-sell your eBook on Amazon, you would simply select the option in KDP to make your eBook available for pre-sale. You would need to upload a manuscript (which could be a draft), cover (again, this doesn’t have to be the final cover), book description and pricing. You have up to 85 days to provide the final manuscript and cover, and to revise the description and pricing. You’ll get several emails from Amazon reminding you of the deadline. You have a one-time option of postponing the publication date by up to 30 days; however, if you exercise this option, Amazon will prohibit you from pre-selling any other book for the next year. If you don’t have your book ready to publish within the 30 day extension, Amazon will ban you from doing any other pre-sales. To avoid that problem, it is recommended that you not choose to pre-sell your book unless your book is substantially written, and you have your editor, layout person and cover designer lined up and knowledgeable about the deadline you face for publishing your book.
4. Learn How to Get Your Book Done Quickly and Easily
Becoming a published author can establish you as an expert in your niche, which will enable you to attract your ideal prospects and grow your business. As a business owner or professional, you may have lots of questions, such as:
- How do I find the time to write a book while running a business?
- How do I decide what topic I should write on?
- Will anyone be interested in my book?
You can learn the answers to these and other questions in the SkillBites Book It! Course, and you’ll get a roadmap that will make it much easier and quicker for you to get your book written. This course has a 100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE, so what do you have to lose?
Alternatively, if you want to get a book written but don’t have the time or interest in writing it yourself (or figuring out how to find a good editor, layout designer and cover designer, and how to publish your book), SkillBites has you covered. We are now offering a Done For You package, where we conduct interviews with you to get your expertise out of your head and then write your book for you. Not only is your book done with minimal time and effort on your part, but we also handle all of the steps from manuscript to publication as well as book launch and promotion services. You can be a published author in as little as 6 months! For more information or to sign up for this package, click here.
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.
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,
