Late yesterday, in checking my emails after a late client call, I found a Google Alert in my inbox.  I hope you use Google Alerts to let you know that your name or your book title is being mentioned somewhere online.  I clicked on the link and there, for the first time, was a negative review – not of a book or article, but of a course I’ve created for Virtual Author’s Assistants.  It wasn’t just a brief mention but an entire blog post on the subject, very suspicious of the whole idea of the author’s assistant.

I chose to write the author an email rather than posting a comment because I wanted to connect with the author and offer her the opportunity to take an unlimited look at any and all aspects of the course (which she can easily do online) rather than deciding it looked suspiciously like a scam from the sales page for the course alone.  I haven’t heard back from her yet, but I hope to.

Bloggers aren’t journalists and there are no ethical standards that require them to be fair, accurate or to do any investigation into the truth of what they are saying. But I will feel better if I set the record straight here about the virtual author’s assistant training program.

Not every author will need or should use an author’s assistant or virtual author’s assistant.  The authors I work with are nonfiction authors who are subject matter experts and have businesses or solo practices to run.  It is less likely that an author of a fiction book would need an author’s assistant, something we go out of our way to make very clear in the course.  Subject matter experts often self publish because they have a ready sales avenue for their books such as speaking engagements, seminars and corporate volume sales.  Many don’t want to handle the administrative aspects of book publishing (ISBN, bar code, LCCN, coordinating with the printer, copyright registration, social media, Amazon listings and content, virtual book tours, customer service, fulfilling orders and more) and have the kind of budget for their books that makes it possible for them to hire some help to get this done.

I developed the program to train individuals, and mostly people already working as virtual assistants, on the administrative skills they might need in working with author clients.  Another point we strive to make in the course is that this is a team effort.  The author’s assistant plays the role of what used to be called the “production coordinator” when I ran a publishing company, handling certain tasks but generally making sure everything got done on time and on budget.  They are not publishing experts, but they do have expertise in their particular portion of the process.

I highly recommend people use book coaches, and this is much of the work I do myself.  But at $140 an hour, most of my author clients would rather work with a $50 an hour person to execute the plans we’ve made and I’m not interested in explaining (again) to an author how to get an ISBN, whether they need a series, whether they need a new one with a new edition, etc., etc., etc.  It has been wonderful for me, reminding me of my old days as an editor, to hand off this work to someone who knows just where to go and what to do.

Ironically, my adventure in creating a course to train author’s assistants was an effort to help as many self published authors as possible keep their intellectual property and all the proceeds from their books.  Publishing strategy is hard – creating a marketable book, getting appropriate distribution, getting media attention are all things that need to be handled by publishing experts.  Author’s assistants aren’t trained to do these things – they are trained to do the things that aren’t so hard, but are time consuming and they provide that service just for people who want it. Do most author’s assistants think they know all about book publishing?  No, they don’t, but they know a lot more than most.  They do know how to get specific things done that authors need and they are reliable and resourceful members of some authors’ teams.  Do they make an important contribution?  I think they do, for those who want to use them.

The number of new trade books published in the U.S. last year was approximately 500,000 with about half self published.  If even 5% of these self published authors wanted to use an author’s assistant, that would be 12,500.  Considering the number of virtual author’s assistants is in the hundreds, not thousands, I think demand for these people is high.  Since the program is international, we have trained author’s assistants in Canada, the UK and Australia as well as in the U.S. to work with authors anywhere.

The price of the course is $597.  Working at only $30 an hour, an individual could make back the price of the course in three days of work. I think the information in the course is worth far more than that, but we’ve intentionally kept it affordable, not for all, but for most.  But more than just the course itself, what author’s assistants get is my expertise since they can talk to me about any challenges their authors face for the life of their businesses -as long as I’m around to answer the questions, I will be supporting their efforts and giving additional classes at no additional charge.  There is no membership, no annual fee, just an affiliate program for those who choose to use it.

The certification includes a not-so-easy final exam and practice work along the way.  The Master Virtual Author’s Assistant certification includes a list of things that must be accomplished including taking additional classes (not mine), writing, an ethics requirement, actual client recommendations and more.  It isn’t as easy as paying $85.  I am well aware that creating a certification program is a controversial thing, particularly in this industry where even literary agents don’t have any certification, competency or licensing requirements although they deal with authors’ money every day.

I am grateful for this opportunity and reminder to take another look at our marketing materials.  The blogger cast light on things that might seem shady to some and because of that we will be making some changes in our language.  There is always a fine line between proactive marketing and intentionally giving a false impression.  If anything said in the sales material about your book doesn’t feel right to you, even if it was a copywriter’s effort to help you sell books, I urge you to change it. You don’t want to be in the position of having to defend something you weren’t 100% sure of in the first place.  We’ve got a new web space for the course that I think will better describe it at www.AuthorsAssistantTraining.com and we will continue to hone it as time goes on.

Because the blogger specifically said she was open to hearing from author’s assistants or authors who had worked with them, I sent out a message last night with a link to the blog and encouraging comment.  I can’t thank those of you enough who did that. And thanks to the many authors and author’s assistants who took time to send me an encouraging email, thanking me for the course and the opportunity to do what you love,  working virtually and working with authors.  While I think it is productive to continue this important discussion and raise awareness of this field within the larger world of book publishing, please don’t feel the need to defend yourselves.  Your clients appreciate what you do and not everyone is the right client for you.

I’m mad, as the blogger is, about the number of scams taking place in book publishing today.  There are many people who prey on the fears of authors and offer them “book deals” by getting them to pay for their own publication.  I applaud any effort to keep an eye on these kinds of practices and expose them.  Many POD publishers pay authors royalty percentages on their own books, make them buy their own books after marking up the printing, and keep them from owning the art files for their books, preventing them from changing to a better way of publishing.

From time to time I’ve worked with authors who have been completely devastated by reviews of their books that had the slightest bit of criticism and until yesterday I can’t say I was very sympathetic.  I heard my own advice which I’ve given so many times: “Everyone who puts himself out there gets negative reviews from time to time.  The key is not to overreact and certainly not to argue the point. Just work on getting more positive reviews than negative and eventually it will not seem that important.” And of course, this advice: “Any publicity is good publicity.  Controversy sells books!”

Apparently it does.  All this attention to virtual author’s assistants has resulted in a great sales day.

I talk with many authors and aspiring authors each week and I find they fit loosely in two camps:  those who are 110% sure of themselves and their messages and are certain their books will sell in the millions (unless someone else screws them up) and those who have every doubt in the world of whether they can even write a book, let alone write one that anyone other than close family and friends would think of buying or reading.

The truth of any author’s experience in becoming an author and writing a successful book is a trip between these two extremes which can be taken in a shorter time than it takes to read this sentence.

Authors and those who aspire to become authors are at one moment supremely confident.  They know they have something important to say and that there are people who want to hear it and will benefit from it.  Just talk to an aspiring author who has given a workshop or successful teleseminar and she knows she has it in her to write her book and get it published.

Then talk to her two days later when she’s had her car breakdown, had a fight with her significant other and is doing the laundry and you will hear the opposite extreme, something like this: “I don’t know what ever made me think I should write a book.  I’m not getting anywhere and I’m wasting time I could be spending with clients and making money.  And who is going to want to read what I have to say anyway?  I’ll just be one more author of one more book that never sells any.  At least now I still have my dreams intact.  Why should I waste so much time and money on something that has so little chance for success?”

So let’s assume you’ve been through both extremes over the past month and try something that could be a little more productive – some strategic thinking.  You know you have something to say because you have clients who value you.  You argue the points when you read books of other authors and think to yourself that you could do this as well, if not better, than they have.

One key is to find where your expertise meets the needs of your audience.  The best place to find the need is with the people who read your blog, listen to you speak and in conversations with your clients.  Listen to what they ask and write these things down.

Another key is to write as if you were writing a personal email or having a one-to-one conversation with that client.  When you try to write over the audience instead of connecting with a single individual you leave them all behind.

A final key is to do research at the bookstore.  Find the very shelf where you would like your book to be and write down the names of three to six publishing companies that publish the same types of books that you would like to write.  Can you think of reasons why your book would be a good addition to their product line?  Would it be a good companion work, one that could be marketed alongside another book in their catalog?

Know that if you are passionate about your subject and that you regularly speak to or connect with your audience that there is probably a place for you in the book world as an author.  Rarely is an aspiring author either a “nobody” or a “VIP”, but generally somewhere in the middle.  Start where you are and be objective about your situation.  It takes time and consistent effort to become an author of a book worth reading, but many have done it.  You must find your own place and write your way into it.

I have really been tickled lately about the messages going out to authors and others about how often they should blog, tweet and update their Facebook status.  If I were to follow those recommendations I would be doing nothing else, even if I scheduled them in advance.

I think it is worth finding the right ways to participate in the new social media for you and for your audience.  I would recommend that you sign up for LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and that you set up a blog.  But don’t do any of it until you are ready to stay on that treadmill once you get on.  Set a pace that will work for you and then set specific times when you will follow through.

Thankfully, you can write now and send later for your blog and Twitter, meaning you can create a lot of content at once and send it out over time.  You can always interrupt that flow and send a special message if there is something important happening now.

Please think about your audience and only your audience in creating your message.  While I like to get to know authors and others as people and I might be interested in knowing that you are investigating ideas for your new book while vacationing in Aspen, I don’t care at all about what your five year old said that was funny this morning (unless you are a children’s book writer  then it is relevant).  What blogs and other posts do you want to read?

Another reason to send out messages is  to interact with your clients and potential clients in a way that will appeal to them. Ask questions, stimulate discussion, do surveys, create polls to involve your readers.

It isn’t about what you want people to know about you, it is about what your readers want to know about you and your work that will help them understand themselves and their own work.  Reader focus is just as important here as it is with your book.

Step One is to sign up for accounts and integrate them with your web site.

Step Two is to make a plan for how often you will participate and what topics you will focus on, based on what you want to accomplish.

Step Three is to stick with your plan, but be open to opportunities for commenting on the news of the day that come your way.

The best blogs are updated as often as you have something important to say and share with energy and enthusiasm the interesting parts of the work you are doing or the challenges you are facing or your clients are facing. They allow you to showcase your expertise and show you get what is going on in your industry and are actively finding solutions for yourself and your clients. You can use a blog to interview someone (or to have them write a guest blog), to talk about an event you attended or just to give your opinion about what is going on.

If you get stuck on what to write about, go back to your book or your writing.  A powerful sentence from an article or from your book can make a great tweet. Pose a question about something you are stuck on in your work. Link to other blogs (please do this sparingly).  Be a champion for other people (particularly those you would like to connect with and who will appreciate your attention).  Don’t say anything for the sake of saying something.  Only write when you have something worth reading.

Don’t forget that this about reading as well as writing.  You can learn a lot about trends and opinions by keeping up with bloggers and others who write on the web.  Follow authors, editors and others who are knowledgeable and who don’t waste your time with irrelevant details.