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Featured Expert: Nancy Kaye on writing and creativity

Nancy KayeNancy’s acceptance speech for Creative Writing
Instructor of the Year UCSD ext. Award

My dear friend and colleague Nancy Kaye agreed to chat with me about her work of helping experts and writers overcome writer’s block and let their creativity flow.

Nancy’s background includes hosting her own TV and radio shows in Chicago, New York and California. She is an internationally published writer (122 countries), having interviewed many famous people, including H. H. Dalai Lama, Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer and many more. She is an engaging and inspiring keynote speaker.

Founder of The Confident Communicator™ Workshops, she instructs one-to-one personalized and group training re-programming sessions globally in all areas of communication. The intensive curriculum is tailored to the needs of each client. She diagnoses, evaluates, and teaches clients on a needs basis, and fine tunes them offering coaching, on-call client support, and empowerment.

Nancy is the founder of Define Your Destiny™ Intensives. She unveils the secrets to creating permanent change in your personal, professional and spiritual path. This unique self-development intensive with mentoring follow-up gives you the powerful tools you can use and build on throughout your entire life. Finding deep solutions to following your destiny to discover your perfect life plan.

She is the founder of Quantum Leaps Mastermind Group.™  Nancy is the West Coast Bureau office and Contributing Editor for the Integral Yoga Magazine.  With her my multiple life and business experience, service to her clients, along with the support know-how, Nancy can help you get the results that you want. Visit http://www.defineyourdestiny.com/ to learn more.

 

By | 2015-04-10T14:08:38+00:00 April 10th, 2015|Books, Communication, Creativity|0 Comments

One Simple Solution to Stop “Exchanging Money for Time” Madness

friends

…There’s only one of you…And, like you’ve probably realized, there’s only so many hours in a day. And that means that no matter what, your income (and your impact) will always be limited.

When there’s no more room in the day for any more billable hours, how do you grow? And even more importantly– how do you stay sane?

Here are some possible causes of your “insanity” (see if you catch yourself nodding your head as you read the following statements):

  • You want to be seen as a leader in your industry and being recognized for your expertise
  • You want to create something tangible, something of your own, but instead you are still a jack of all trades (doing tons of things that others are doing), or have so many offerings that even you can’t keep up with them….feeling drained and unmotivated…
  • You have a lot of great ideas but you are not sure which one to pursue – which one will make the most impact and bring the most income.
  • After following tons of other experts, it seems that all niches are taken and you just do not have anything unique to offer to the world anymore…
  • You know you have talents but it seems that you cannot get out of the “world’s best kept secret” level …

 These thoughts are a sure way to get yourself upset, disappointed, unmotivated and “stuck”

 Now, how do we stop this madness?

 Very Simply- You need to create your original

Signature Program

that can be used either face-to-face or online.

See how your world (and your physical and emotional state) change as a result of this simple solution:

  • You will stop worrying about attracting new clients. Imagine creating a referral powerhouse where your satisfied clients spread the word about you! (Remember, people would more likely buy a product recommended by their friends).
  • You will feel more fulfilled and confident as your make much more impact on other people’s lives
  • You will grow your income in less time. When you can serve more people and still offer high-quality products that deliver outstanding results, and create an army of raving fans–your reputation grows.
  • You find your “golden niche”: during the process of creating your Signature Program you become crystal clear about your main message and your competitive advantage.
  • You build your presence and your expertise. Having a Signature Program moves you to a “leading expert” or “authority” status. You start being recognized for your message and your unique way to solve your customers’ problems.  You will see that new opportunities that you have never before imagined possible start rolling into your life.
  • You package and repackage already created content.  All of those cool ideas that you have been writing down, all of those pieces of content that has been created over the years – they will be rolled into one system., You will be able to use them and reuse them to create more products that serve multiple people at the same time.
  • You attract more engaging, committed clients that are willing to pay premium prices.

So, in essence, it’s about leverage. It’s about scalability.

And it’s about going from a 1:1 mindset, to 1:1000 And beyond… while being able to engage with each customer ….

Now that you discovered one simple solution to help you move from 1:1 model to 1:10000000 model, do you want to know HOW to do it?

Then join us for a Rapid Fire Free Mentorship Session on Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at 8pm ET http://forms.aweber.com/form/08/86908308.htm

In this session we will show you how to follow a 3-step process for creating Signature Systems.  You will discover 3 simple steps to:

  1. Discover your main idea and Signature System that will instantly connect with your audience.
  2. Shape, reposition & intelligently repackage your ideas into training programs that multiply your impact and income.
  3. Build connection and engagement through compelling storytelling, gamification and scenario-based activities that could be adapted to face-to-face and online environments.

Here is the link again: http://forms.aweber.com/form/08/86908308.htm

 

By | 2015-02-05T21:56:22+00:00 February 5th, 2015|Books, Communication, Learning|0 Comments

25 Goodie Bag Ideas for Your Book Launches, Readings, Signings and Other Promotions

book bag

Image credit: Hammer & Thread

 

Goodie bags are not just for birthday parties anymore. Just like companies give goodie bags filled with small presents to promote their products, authors can fill goodie bags with little literary treasures to excite and delight the hearts and minds of book lovers. You can use them as gift bags for your VIP clients and strategic partners, as well as prizes in giveaways and contests.

Everybody wants to feel special, and with a little imagination, you can put together your own signature goodie bag to make your readers and clients happy. Here are 25 bookish goodie bag ideas for your book launches, readings, signings and other promotions:

  1. Your book autographed by you (Duh!);
  2. Bookmarks: check out some cute DIY felt ones on our Bookphoria Pinterest board or turn your photo collage into a bookmark with an added quote ;
  3. Reading lights;
  4. Fabric book covers;
  5. Pens custom-branded for you;
  6. Calendars with illustrations or quotes from your book;
  7. A set of cards featuring illustrations and quotes from your book;
  8. Stationary, such as notepads, cards and envelopes, custom-branded for you;
  9. Magnets with quotes from your book;
  10. A set of printed library cards that can be used as gift tags, invitations, records of book exchanges, or little notepads (see examples here);
  11. Gummy worm candies for bookworms;
  12. Book-themed mugs;
  13. Feeling crafty? Make some DIY Tile Photo Coasters or pick from the existing styles, colors and shapes, add your words, and then personalize your coasters with your own photo or art.
  14. Favor containers personalized with your quotes;
  15. Recipe cards if your book contains any recipes;
  16. Fortune cookies with your book quotes inside;
  17. A pack of custom heart candies with your clever sayings;
  18. A spice jar filled with your favorite spices and a label with your quote;
  19. A whimsy literary charm to mark a drink glass, like this set of 6 double-sided Fairytale Wine Glass Charms that include Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Snow White, Red Riding Hood, Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella;
  20. Copied book pages to wrap small items;
  21. Bookish socks, like Curl Up With a Good Bookworm Socks or Typewriters: “Your feet will want to tap, tap, tap the day away in our fun Typewriter women’s crew socks!”
  22. Origami made out of paper with your printed press releases, book reviews and other marketing materials that look impressive but not salesy in a cute origami form;
  23. A flash drive with audio files of your interviews, book readings, etc.;
  24. A DVD of your public appearances, talks or presentations;
  25. A custom designed library tote bag to hold your creative goodies.

What bookish gifts have you enjoyed giving or receiving? Share in the comments below.

P.S. Want our opinion on how you can multiply your impact and income?
Click here to join other experts invited to our free rapid fire mentorship session.

By | 2015-01-28T19:38:59+00:00 January 28th, 2015|Books, Communication|0 Comments

52 blogging ideas for authors and experts, based on their book content

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Many authors choose to publish a blog as a way to stay connected with their readers, promote books, build their brand, share ideas, grow and engage their readership. A blog helps you stay visible and relevant to your audience. Publishers look for authors with active, buzzing and growing communities of readers and a robust social media presence.

If you have just written a book, you may feel like you have exhausted your creative potential and squeezed every original thought out of your head. What else could you possibly write about in a blog? Don’t despair! Get your blog publishing calendar out and start filling it with these 52 blogging ideas. If you publish once a week, they will give you the whole year worth of material!

  1. Things that didn’t make into the book, such as background stories of the characters, descriptions of people and places, or details of the events;
  2. Your personal elaborations on the characters and the plot;
  3. Your motivation for writing the book;
  4. Your mission, goals and inspirations as an author;
  5. A brief video introducing you and your book to your audience;
  6. Alternative plot developments that could have happened;
  7. Questions that you struggled with as you were writing the book;
  8. Your answers to the readers’ questions;
  9. Your responses to the readers’ reviews and comments;
  10. The summary of benefits your readers can expect when they study and implement your ideas;
  11. The summary of pain points that your book addresses;
  12. Lessons, case studies and examples of application of the ideas in your book;
  13. Your personal favorite or least favorite parts of the book and why you chose them;
  14. Anchors, such as catchy phrases, memorable metaphors or anecdotes that can improve the recall of your book content;
  15. Tests and assessments that allow readers to evaluate their knowledge and skills;
  16. Your questions to your readership;
  17. Photos of any physical artifacts that became a part of your book or helped you in the writing process, with your commentary;
  18. Recipes of any food or drinks mentioned in the book;
  19. Sharing of how you implement your own ideas – live your truth – your personal successes and failures along the way;
  20. Your habits as a writer and your creative process;
  21. Guide questions and activities for book clubs that want to discuss your book;
  22. Your own interviews about the book;
  23. Interviews of other people who have read and used your book;
  24. Stories, scenarios, problems that build on your material and encourage readers to apply the strategies in your book;
  25. Additional activities and exercises to help your readers implement your ideas;
  26. Daily observations and spin offs that relate to your book content;
  27. Giving voice to different characters in your book by writing a post from their perspective on a situation or interviewing them;
  28. A collection of quotes from your book that can be easily shared on social media;
  29. A collection of quotes from book reviews;
  30. Endorsements of your book by other distinguished writers and experts;
  31. Press releases about your book signings and other public appearances;
  32. Unfolding a passage of your book with additional thoughts, illustrations, etc.;
  33. Making your characters and places come alive through drawings, cartoons, maps, photos, etc.;
  34. Creating and sharing an infographic or visual illustration of your book content;
  35. Commentary of the news and current events that can be related to your book content;
  36. Guest posts from your readers or other writers;
  37. Reader contests where you ask your readers to submit some content, such as their stories, reviews, designs, for a chance to win a prize;
  38. Participating in a blog tour where other bloggers get to interview you about your book;
  39. Clips from newspapers, magazines and other publications about you and your book;
  40. How-to lists based on your book content;
  41. Before and after photos that illustrate the implementation of your system or strategies;
  42. Reader “makeover” challenges where you follow and write about some readers who are using your book to improve their lives;
  43. DIY projects based on your book content;
  44. Crossword puzzles based on your book content;
  45. Reviews of other books with complementary topics;
  46. Product and service suggestions based on your book content;
  47. Recap of your social media activity with most popular tweets, Facebook updates, LinkedIn discussions, readers’ comments, etc.
  48. Brief audio or video tips based on your book content;
  49. Teasers of your upcoming books;
  50. Brainstorming future book ideas with your readers;
  51. Asking readers’ opinions on your titles, book covers, etc.;
  52. Sharing your work process and progress if you are writing another book.

What do you write about in your blog? Share in the comments below.

P.S. Multimedia solutions, such as brief video explainers, games, assessments, scenarios, and animations, can make your content marketing more engaging. Want our opinion on what kind of multimedia solution you could create? We’ll mentor you for free.
Click here to set up a free rapid fire mentorship session with us.

By | 2015-01-13T14:23:12+00:00 January 13th, 2015|Books, Communication|4 Comments

U-Quotable: How to find the ideal location for your expert quotes

authors wanted

There is no such thing as an unquotable book. As an author, you have spent many days stringing words together, so it’s natural that you want to be memorable, sharable and remarkable. You want people to quote you, don’t you? After all, people quote other authors all the time! You see those quotes on social media. There are even websites that categorize and publish quotes. How do you make your words of wisdom shine in all their brilliance? We, here at Bookphoria, want to help you become more quotable by following the real estate mantra: location, location, location. To illustrate our point, let’s take a look at the example of one author who uses this principle with much success.

Dallas Clayton is an American author and illustrator of children’s books whose quotes amazingly appear in all sorts of places, all well documented on his Instagram account to the delight of his many readers and followers. Here are some examples:

On the pavement:

pavement

On a plate:

plate

On a billboard:

billboard

On a street poll:

street pole

On a tree:

tree

On a human body… One of his followers even got a tattoo of his drawing. Now, that’s a commitment!

tattoo

We are not suggesting that you should start copying Dallas Clayton’s ideas. Rather, use him as an inspiration to come up with some unique ways to showcase your quotes. There are many possibilities:

Share in the comments your ideal location for quotes.

And whatever you do, make photos and share them on social media to make your projects shine across various media channels.

We even created a Pinterest board just for you to pin your quotes and to view other authors’ quotes! Do you want to become a contributor to our U-Quotable board and share your pearls of wisdom with the world? Click here to fill out the form or email info@bookphoria.com, and we will send you an invitation to join the board as a pinner. Not on Pinterest? No problem, just send us your image with the quote and the proper attribution, and we will post it on your behalf. If your quotes get lots of repins, we may even send you a mug or some other physical artifact with that quote to celebrate! Happy pinning, U-Quotables!

P.S. We can help you design your visuals with quotes to share on social media. Click here to set up a free rapid fire mentorship session with us.

By | 2014-12-16T16:04:42+00:00 December 16th, 2014|Books, Communication, Learning|0 Comments