November 2019
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and for many of us, that brings a time of family gatherings, delicious food and reflection on the things we’re thankful for. Identifying things we are thankful for is something that we ought to do much more frequently than once a year on Thanksgiving. Scientific research has shown that expressing gratitude improves mental, physical and relational well-being, resulting in greater optimism and happiness. In particular, it increases one’s self-esteem, strengthens the heart and immune system, and decreases blood pressure, stress, anxiety, depression and headaches. Not bad for something you can do in just a few minutes a day!
The most common method for cultivating gratitude is by keeping a gratitude journal and recording experiences for which one is grateful. Such experiences could include observing a beautiful tree or flower, or a good cup of coffee, or the feeling of the sun on one’s face, or a pleasant conversation. Try to take notice of at least three positive experiences every day, and see how that affects your mood. If you can record those experiences, you are more likely to have sustained positive results. As you cultivate the habit of thinking of positive experiences, you’ll find your focus shifting from what is lacking in your life to the abundance that already exists. Let me know how this is working for you.
1. Free Book Writing or Publishing Course!
So that I can develop programs and services that best meet your needs, I’d greatly appreciate it if you could complete a short survey – it should take no more than 2 minutes of your time. To show my appreciation for your completing the survey by November 30, 2019, you will be entered into a drawing for a free registration into either the Book It! course on how to write a book or the Publish It! course on how to publish, promote and leverage a book or 20% off your next SkillBites service.
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 Thursday, November 21 at 1 pm ET. Our guest will be Gene Marks, President of The Marks Group, PC, author of six books on business management and author of weekly columns for Forbes, Inc. Magazine, Fox Business, The Huffington Post and Entrepreneur.com. The Marks Group specializes in making sure companies are using systems and technologies that enable the employees to work as productively as possible. Gene will be addressing the issue of cybersecurity, and what companies ought to be doing to protect themselves from cyberthreats.
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
Last month, we heard from Cece Smith, President and Owner of Toolbox Studios, an award winning marketing and design firm. Cece talked about how to build a successful business with all the right marketing tools. 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 at http://resources.skillbites.net/blog/.
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.
3. Launch Strategy Part 3: Build A Book Sales Page
The last two newsletters discussed Step 2 in the strategy for launching your book, which was getting endorsements from the media and from celebrities, and getting testimonials. This month addresses Step 3, creating a landing page to sign up advance readers of your book as well as those who are interested in your topic, and ultimately to sell your book when it is ready.
The page should include the front cover of your book, a few key points or short description and an invitation to receive a PDF version of your book for anyone who agrees to be an advanced reader willing to provide a review of your book. You’ll include a call to action button (e.g., Download your free advanced reader copy now). You can also have a sign up for anyone who wants you to let them know when the book is available for purchase, so you can build an email list of fans. You’ll need to have a second call to action button for this.
You might also include a give-away, such as a checklist or assessment tool, or a portion of your book (say, the introduction). You could include a call to action button for people to provide their email address to obtain the give-away, which allows you to follow up with them.
In addition to the landing page, you’ll need to create the sign up pages, for advanced readers and those who want to be informed when the book is available, and those who want your give-away. You should also create a Thank You page, and link the sign ups to your email system (e.g., ConstantContact, InfusionSoft (now called Keap) or AWeber) so you can auto-send the PDF to the advanced readers and the give-away to those who sign up. If the PDF of your book is not yet ready, the message could say that the PDF will be sent as soon as it is ready. Later, you will want to auto-send an email to all those who signed up, announcing the availability of your book for sale.
The thank you page should thank the people who sign up to be advanced readers and let them know that the book will be emailed to them, so they should be sure to whitelist your email address. Likewise, for those who signed up for your give-away, they should watch their email for that. For those who signed up to receive information on the availability of the book, your thank you page will advise them to watch for an email advising them of the book’s availability. In each of the thank you notes, you could also invite people to subscribe to your newsletter or blog or join your book launch team. You also should provide ways for people to follow you on social media.
Make sure you test your page before sending out information. You don’t want any broken links, or other mistakes in your system, as those will detract from your credibility. Next month, you can read about developing joint venture connections to increase the reach of your 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.
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 title and some of the information comes from a blog post by Dr. Randy Kamen on HuffPost, 6/1/15.