GET IT WRITE is here!

"Writing a book is a lot like giving birth, it can be a painful, labor intensive exercise … Once your ‘new baby’ is born, the real work begins.” - Heidi Richards, President WUN Publications, INC.

Check out the newest ebook by members of the WECAI Network™ today….

GET IT WRITE! – The Women's eGuide to Writing, Publishing and Promoting Your Book by 20 Best-Selling Authors

For many people the thought of writing a book can seem overwhelming. In fact, people who have never written a book think it takes a lot longer than it actually can and often does take. Some writers spend years laboring over every word in their book and therefore, a project that could take one to two years to complete takes several. And others find a way to get their book onto paper in months, weeks and even days!

That’s why GET IT WRITE! was created. To help you to better understand the process of writing a book, getting it published and coming up with strategies to promote your book once it’s done. Because once it’s published, the real work begins. Whether you go the traditional route or self-publish (or somewhere in between) you must be willing, able and available to promote the book – sometimes in a very short timeframe.

The real question is not will you get your book written. If you have the drive, determination and commitment to the project, your book will get done. The real question is will anybody buy it – or read it? This 94 page ebook is jam-packed with ideas and strategies to write, publish and promote your book.

Part One of GET IT WRITE! takes you through the process of writing, including finding time to write, overcoming writers’ block, generating ideas for your writing projects, copywriting musts, whether or not to work with a co-author, and more.

Part Two of GET IT WRITE! covers how to find out if there’s a market for your book idea, finding a literary agent for the traditional published author, how to approach agents and publishers, and compares the various publishing options available today and the new face of publishing

Part Three gives solid ideas to promote and sell your book beginning with creating your virtual media kit, doing book signings, selling outside the bookstores, internet marketing strategies for your book , participating in virtual book tours and at least 27 other ideas to sell your books.

Part Four is filled with resources for the new and seasoned author suggested by our contributing authors and the guest experts who spoke during the Women’s Writing & Publishing Summit. These include websites for authors, online forums, books, ecourses, books, organizations and more.

"The ebook looks great, and there's a wealth of information in it; I'm sure recipients are going to love it. And I'll look forward to hearing about next year's conference." Fern Reiss – PublishingGame.com

"Thanks, Heidi, I can imagine the many hours you put into this project. I still am in awe."

Jo Condrill, GoalMinds.com

"Hi Heidi: Wow! Great job, as always. Appreciate all the effort that went into this."

Rosalind Sedacca, CCT, HowDoITelltheKids.com

TO GET YOUR COMPLIMENTARY COPY, VISIT: http://wecai.org/wwps/html/getitwrite.html

Special thanks to Linda Alexander, Moira Allen, Linda & Allen Anderson, Laura Backes, Jo Condrill, Kathleen Gage, Donna Gunter, Marilyn Jenett, Sheri McConnell, Ann McIndoo, Elizabeth Parsons, Dan Poynter, Linda F. Radke, Fern Reiss, Heidi Richards, Lynn Rosen, Melissa A. Rosati, Rosalind Sedacca, Cathy Stucker, Dorothy Thompson and Debra Shiveley Welch for your contributions to GET IT WRITE! On behalf of each of them, I hope you enjoy reading GET IT WRITE! and use the information to further your own writing career. There is no time like the present to get your book onto paper and into the hands of your readers!

GET IT WRITE! WAS A COLLABORATION OF EXPERTS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE WOMEN'S WRITING & PUBLISHING SUMMIT - You can still get copies of all 15 audios when you visit http://wecai.org/wwps/html/registration.html (and dozens of other free resources!)

Wishing everyone a wonderful day... and more!

Heidi

Heidi Richards, Founder & CEO, The WECAI Network™
Join TODAY - BASIC Membership is FREE! http://www.wecai.org/
Our Mission is to "Help You do Business On and Off the WEB!"

Check out these Podcast Resources!

"When you participate in a mastermind, you cut your learning curve by at least 75% and acheive your goals at a rate far quicker than trying to do it on your own." Heidi Richards

Dave Jackson the Personal Podcast Coach and Founder of School of Podcasting was our guest expert this week for session three of our book mastermind. He was a delight and had some wonderful tips for everyone.

Many thanks to Roy Montero, The SEO Guy of Verbal Networking (http://www.verbalnetworking.com) for recording yesterday's session and also for saving the text chat notes for me to send to you.

We asked Dave what we needed to record a good podcast and here are some of his suggested resources:

Microphone is number one the most important! Get a mic for about $60 - MXL - AudioTechnica About $99

Also need a cable- 3 foot cable $10 - $15 and a stand for mic $10 - $15

He recommends a mixer too - it powers the microphone and helps you tweak your voice and with Berringer model 802 you can plug in 2 Mics (cost about $50)

PodProducer is a software that will help you produce and record your podcast and it's free

Editing software:

FREE http://audacity.sourceforge.org – download it here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

FREE - Wavepad Recording and Editing Program

Sony Sound Forge Editor is about $70

Check out Dave's Weekly Web recommendations for more podcasting tools at: http://www.weeklywebtools.com/

Place for storing your podcasts (server) http://www.libsyn.com unlimited bandwith (unlimited listeners and storage – you can upload podcasts per month - they move to a holding area so you can upload new ones monthly ) costs up to $20 per month

Some more sites for finding posdcasts:

http://coolerwebsites.com,
http://www.podcastpickle.com
andhttp://www.podcastalley.com
http://www.podcastfastpass.com
http://www.121podcasting.com – also has a forum

Some of the Podcasts Dave listens to include:

This Week In Tech
InternetBusinessMastery
RumorGirls

Dave also mentioned inexpensive places you can Buy jingles:

SoundDog.com
PodsafeMusicNetwork is mostly free when you find music you want to use, you simply mention who the music came from.

When asked about the 2 or 3 biggest mistakes podcasters make Dave said:

1. Not realizing how big (important) podcasts could be

2. Finding a balance and pacing yourself in each episode.

3. Trying not to give it all away in one session.

The key to podcasting is great content and quality – quality is QUEEN!

BTW, If you are a member of the Book Mastermind, you automatically get a copy of the audio file as part of your registration. If not, you can still sign up to receive the audio program and all audio files we make from our various weekly masterminds. You can go to Women's Writing & Publishing Summit to sign up today.

Thanks to everyone who participated and expecially DAVE Jackson!

Heidi Richards, Founder & CEO - The WECAI Network™

More GREAT Book Promotion Ideas!

"As a new aspiring writer, all the Summit information was invaluable. The new insights gained will better enable me to accomplish my objectives. I now know by name, face and voice of an agent and publisher to contact. Thank you!" Elizabeth Skronski, Rise International

Yesterday I mentioned 13 great book promotion ideas shared during the eWednesday Chat Mastermind session at Noon and just wanted to write about the 5 PM session and all the great ideas shared then as well.

In addition to more ways to promote your book, I have included links to the audio recordings sent to me by Sheila Finkelstein of EteleTours and Natures Playground a multi-talented and gracious woman who I have the priviledge of calling a friend. She is also the author of Banana Sky DVD and Pictures to Ponder among many other artistic works.

Here's the link to audio session one of our book mastermind: http://sheilaf.audioacrobat.com/download/WECAI-WPmasterminding80107AM.mp3

Session TWO: http://sheilaf.audioacrobat.com/download/FINAL-WECAI-WPcall-PM-80107.mp3

Here are the tips shared during session TWO:

Catherine Franz came back for part two and again had lots of great ideas to share with everyone: Here are NINE more to add to your marketing strategic plan:

1. Sing for your supper. Get passage on a cruise line or room and board at an exotic convention spot by offering to give your presentation to their guests for free. I just came back from one from in Arizona. Afterwards use this as a BIG testimonial. This also adds a lot of credibility.

2. Provide waiting room copies. When you receive your shipment of books from the printer, open the boxes and hand check each book for flaws. Set aside those copies that are less than perfect and negotiate a partial refund from the printer. Place flawed books in waiting rooms throughout your city/country. You can also place copies in the lunch room or waiting rooms at large companies. You want to place a label on it "property of X, please leave behind for others to see".

3. Sell your book thru cold calls. Think about it, if you make 10 contacts a day everyday and get one good lead a day, that's five good leads a week. Put yourself on a schedule and only call places/people/companies (whatever applies) -- your reader target market. If calling entrepreneurs call before 8 am and afer 6 pm. If calling regular companies its okay to call human resource department directors and ask if this is something that they would like to give out to all their employees (such as for Christmas -- and the deadline for this is this month). Once you start realizing results, you'll probably become more comfortable doing this and automatically spend more time reaching out to potential buyers and reviewers. Remember, it takes as much time to sell one book is it does hundrds.

4. If your work is poetry - Companies like to give poetry as Christmas gifts to their employees. Look at companies with between 20 to 50 employees. (But don't leave out under 20 employee companies).

5. Send your book to school. If your book has educational aspects, consider offering it to school districts. Even if your book isn't destined to be a textbook, it may be apporpriate for school libraries or college bookstores. At colleges, contact the professors, they have a book buying for student budget that doesn't need a lot of approval.

6. IDEA for those those writing a cook book or recipe book: Give demonstrations, not just at book signings, do it at gift stores, department stores, grocery stores (many independent stores love you for doing this), you'll sell alot of books if you do it at the right time. You can do this with craft books, sewing books, or something similar.

7. write a letter to the editor. Get publicity for your book by commenting on someone else's letter to the editor in a newspaper, ezine, magazines (yes, yes, yes), Amazon, B&N, etc., even your own. You might notice a letter from soneone on a particular topic that relates to your book. You could respond to htem. Or respond to an issue that has appeared in the paper. For example, maybe there's a controversy in your community. Mention your book as a reference for your expertise.

8. Donate books. Donating books is another way to get exposure. There's nothing like an auction to get your book noticed. I often donate local books to community fundraisers for their silent auctions (I used this as questions as an introductory question when I do a cold call -- Do you have a silent action?). I often donate people's books that they give me because of the radio show to community fundraisers for their silent auctions, raffle drawings, and for prizes (even on other radio shows). I've donated my books to benefit schools, club and church charity projects, the humane league and a feral catt association fundraiser. What are the benefits of donating books? Exposure, notoriety and that good feeling that comes from giving. You book gets exposure when its exhibited at the event and/or help up and described by the auctioneer or emcee. Sometimes the donated items are listed on a handout. There may also be newspaper publicity. And your donation is a tax write-off. I do it with other people's books and still get mentioned -- a triple win-win!!!!

9. If you begin to sell a book, ask if they want to give one as a gift, then you sell two or three.

You can reach Catherine at http://www.abundancecenter.com or www.letstalkmarketingshow.com or you can call her at: (304) 724-8901.

My next post will be about all the wonderful women (and men) who shared their books with us.

Be sure and sign up for this blog or bookmark it so you can see what's next.

And if you are interested in participating in our mastermind group, send a message to me at heidi (at) wecai.org with "book mastermind" in the subject line. This group oringinally started with people who registered for the Women's Writing & Publishing Summit and we have room for a few more! And the best part of all... it's FREE.

In fact, if you missed the summit, you can still purchase the audio recordings (which includes a workbook and many other great things like links to other audios about writing, publishing and promoting books).

Here's what just two of our 90+ guests had to say about the Summit:

"I was impressed with the quality of the speakers. I liked the ability to access this information in the comfort of my own home. I appreciated that it was available both via verbal connection and telephone. I love that we have access to the audios." Jane Carroll, author Bertha-size Your Life

"Love the webinar format, a great range of very practical topics and excellent and experienced speakers. Heidi you did a fabulous job of getting that together. I know from experience how much work it takes." Louisa Bird, Women's Marketing Forum.

Thanks again to Roy Montero, The SEO Guy of Verbal Networking for being our sponsor!

Wishing you a terrific day... and then some.

Heidi

Heidi Richards is the Founder of the WECAI Network™, President and CEO of Eden Florist & Gift Baskets, Publisher and President of WUN Publications, Inc., a professional speaker and author/co-author of eight books, five internationally distributed e-magazines, several ebooks, tips booklets and special reports. She is also the Editor-in-Chief for WE Magazine for Women.

Conducting a Book Mastermind Session Noon & 5 pm (EDT) TODAY!

"Writing a book is a lot like giving birth, it can be a painful, labor intensive exercise … Once your ‘new baby’ is born, the real work begins.” Heidi Richards

Today, instead of doing a regular eWednesday Chat seminar session we are conducting a mastermind session about selling books in places other than a bookstore (and any questions you have about writing, publishing and promoting your books tomorrow at 12 noon EDT and again at 5pm EDT. Your input would be greatly appreciated. Each session will be one hour long so if you cannot attend at noon, you are welcome to stop by at 5pm.

During these sessions we plan to discuss the following:

What's your book about?

Who's your audience?

How do you plan to connect with your audience?

Are you:

Self-published?

Traditional?

Partnership Publishing?

What is the number one challenge you are currently having with your book project?

How can we help?

Is your book available? If so, what's the title and how can we get a copy?

Would you be interested in participating in a mastermind forum like this on a regular basis?

In addition to bookstores, at what other possible venues could you sell your book?

And of course, any other "book" concerns you may have.

In addition, you may send a message to heidi@wecai.org with the title of your book – a 2-3 sentence description and the website describing your book (or where it can be purchased). Please put "book for blog" in the subject line. Everyone who participates in either of these sessions will have their book mentioned on the Virtual Woman's Day Blog… and eMonday News (if we have not yet covered it).

If you are available for either of those times, please stop by our Verbal Networking Room – To join us all you have to do is download the conference room at http://www.verbalnetworking.com/. If you have not yet done so, download the room first. Then all you have to do is go back to the URL and click on the Click Here to Enter theVerbal Networking Room. Type in your full name. No password is required as this is a F.R.E.E. event.

Once you do so, you won't have to download again (if you save it to your desktop) - Do not login as the moderator or you will not be able to get in the room. This conference room is currently only available to PC users – however, you can also call into the free conference line and listen and participate by calling: 1-218-486-1300
The teleconference ID number is 440530.

Looking forward to "masterminding" with you.

Warmest regards,

Heidi

Heidi Richards, Founder & CEO http://www.wecai.org/ - “Helping Women Do Business on and off the WEB™”
http://www.edenflorist.com/ - "NO Reason is the BEST Reason to Send Flowers!
Be sure to check out the Women’s Writing & Publishing Summit that took place Online July 19-21 & 25 – http://www.womenswritingandpublishingsummit.com/ - you can still sign up and receive access to the audio recordings!

Women's Writing Summit Bad News, Good News

The Women's Writing and Publishing Summit is behind us and now the real work begins! Getting our books written, published and sold.

During this four-day event (started out as three days, and experts kept contacting me to speak to our guests) we had 15 women and men share their thoughts on writing books, getting over writers block, finding time to write, writing on the run, working with a literary agent, finding a publisher, planning your book tour, using the laws of attraction to find a publisher, working with a co-author, and so much more!

In case you missed it, here was the lineup:

Partnership Publishing - How and when to use the Combined Forces of Publisher and Author to Produce Your Next Book with Linda Radke

So You Want to Write a Book! with Ann McIndoo

What to Expect When Working With a Literary Agent with Sharlene Martin

Publishing Books - The New Book Model with Dan Poynter

How to Leverage Your Contacts to Promote Your Book with Lynn Waymon

Publishing Options – Which One Is Right For YOU with Sherri McConnell

Are you about to Be Published? Insider "Secrets" to Get into Major Publishing Houses and Into the Hands of Your Readers! with Kim Weiss

The Art and Science of Working with a Co-Author and Writing Children's Books with Debra
Shively Welch

Copywriting Secrets Every Author Needs to Know with Rosalind Sedacca

From Book Signing to Best Seller: An Insider's Guide to Conducting a Successful Low-Cost Book Signing Tour with Jo Condrill

The Busy Author's Guide to Writing on the Run with Linda & Allen Anderson

How to Set up Your Own Small Publishing Company with Betty Dobson

How to Use the Internet to Promote Your Book with Donna Gunter

Let the Universe be Your Guide - Using the Laws of Attraction to Get Your Book Written and Published and So Much More! with Marilyn Jenett

The bad news that it's over and you will have to wait until next year to attend our second annual event.

The good news is that we recorded all the sessions and they will be available as audio downloads early next week ($67) and on CD in the next month ($97). If you are interested in more information, contact heidi (at) wecai.org with "WWPS AUDIO Program" in the subject line.

In addition, we are hosting a couple of additional sessions (for free) to anyone who would like to attend either online or in our virtual conference room - the next one takes place on Wednesday August 1st. If you are interested in attending, leave a comment on this blog.

Wishing you much success in your writing career... and then some.

Warmest regards,

Heidi Richards, Founder & Chief Visionary
The WECAI Network™