I know a few of you have been awaiting the replays of our Bi-Monthly calls. After a few hiccups with the new web conference service we are using, I’ve finally managed to get the bugs worked out and will once again start posting the replays here.

You have to be registered as a member (on this site) and have the proper permissions enabled. If you are an active author, this should be setup. Just be sure you first login to the right first.

3-23-11 Launch event in Fort Collins – Please help get the word out!

• Eventbrite registration page: http://authorlaunch.eventbrite.com
• Facebook Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=155158571207556
• Linked In Event page: http://events.linkedin.com/Authorpalooza-2011-multi-author-launch/pub/586688

Once you are logged in, you can click below to view the replay.

I received this from a new friend who I met at this year’s Author Fest of the Rockies…

http://talkingbookstv.com/record-skype-calls-video-and-audio/

And thought a few of you might be interested!

My best,

Are you an 80/20 author? The idea we discussed on our call last night is based on Richard Koch’s book, in that we as authors need to strive for activities that produce the most significant results.  And we need to limit ourselves, no matter how difficult, to those activities only!  As a community of over 20 authors now, we have the unique ability to flush out the 20% of activities we do that produce 80% of the results (ie. Book sales).

Here’s what we identified as a group are some of the 20% tactics that we have authors have found to account for 80% of our success:

• Mike is driving 25% of the traffic to his website by utilizing MailChimp.
• Don is outselling everyone else.  He and I attribute that to the fact that he has more positive reviews on Amazon than anyone else. Be sure to seek out more Amazon interviews for yourself.
• Speaking is the single most effective way I and others have found to sell books.  It’s time consuming and speakers are getting paid less and less from what I see… so it would be best to negotiate a special event only deal. If you can pre-sell copies of your book for a discount, even better!
• Amazon Kindle is proving to be a reachable market for us.  I am working hard to convert all of our titles over to Kindle, but it takes time to do it right.

What else is working? What’s not? A common theme going forward on our all calls will be to answer these questions in the beginning of our call during the wins/losses discussion – The more you share, the more you gain. Let the rest of the crew know what’s working and what’ not.  I’ll commit to document those findings here.  Even better – drop a note in the comments section to share with the group whenever a thought comes to mind.

There are lots of places you can spin your wheels as an author – and plenty of people eager to take your money to show you how.  There’s really no end in sight.  As a community of authors, we have the unique ability to flush out what’s worthwhile, and what’s a waste of time.  You always need to ask yourself, if the technique were so effective, why isn’t that person doing more of it instead of spending time, energy, and effort showing others how?  This is the classic example of those who are making money off social media are those teaching others how.  I don’t have a problem with those making a living doing just that, it’s just that I wish they would be a little more transparent about the obvious fact that their bread & butter comes from teaching others, not necessarily from the results of what they are teaching others to do.

PS: The one thing I want you to grasp about the 80/20 principle is this: Life is not fair, it was never intended to be.  The results you get back are never going to be equal to the results you put in. The key to seeing the world as 80/20 is to focus on those activities that produce a far greater result than the effort you’ve put in.   When you focus all of your energy on those 20% of the activities, producing 80% of your results, you’ll multiple your results – just like making a great investment in the stock market… the return can be dramatic.  And the shocker is that more often than not, all of an authors success stems from one or two things they do as an author.  But with an 80/20 mindset, you find what works and do it over and over and over again – in turn multiplying the results. Our primary goal on our weekly calls will be be to identify those 20% for each of us.

Synonyms are other words in our language that carry similar meaning to another one.  For example: Some synonyms for the word  ’ Top ‘ are: ‘ First ‘ and ‘ Dominant ‘ and ‘ Superior ‘ .. and so on.

As an author, no matter what you are writing – finding the right words to use can sometimes be challenging, but the right choice of words can make all the difference in what is conveyed to the reader. We say one thing, but mean another.  While Microsoft Word does have a built in synonym tool (which you can access by highlighting the word you want and then right clicking and choosing the option from the dropdown menu), I am find that it lacks the depth you really should have as a writer. So here’s a free tool that I recommend you start using, it’s called Thesaurus.com and you simply type in the word at the top of the page & it will give you a long list of possible synonyms to use!  If you know of some other tools/tricks to help find the right words, please share them with us through the comments below. Thanks!

John Kremer created a new list on Twitter in case you want to see which independent bookstores/booksellers are on Twitter… http://twitter.com/JohnKremer/bookstores/members

You never know who you might find online!

In case you missed our last call, it was a good one!  Below is a link to listen to the replay. It begins with an introduction to our soon-to-be newest author, Dave Boon.

Hello crew,

Since we moved the registration process to EventBrite, a few of you apparently haven’t been receiving the confirmation emails with the dial in & login details. So here they are, I will add it as a widget (button to the right) shortly, so the info is readily available anytime you need it. Please do RSVP for the calls through EventBrite so I know to look for you.

Our calls are normally every Wednesday night (with a few exceptions), and take place from 6:45pm-8pm Mountain timezone. Login at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/join/473366520
You can indeed use your PC microphone and speakers, as GoToMeeting as a built in VoIP, but if you do, please plan to use a headset &  not your PC speakers.  Or, you can always dial in  using your telephone. Dial 213-289-0010, Access Code: 473-366-520, Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting.

Let me know if you have any problems. You can always text me during the call at 970-215-1078.

Thanks!

PS: The link to the replays will now be posted in ‘Authors’ Smartsheet.  I will walk you through how to find them.

Here’s part 1 of 3 part series for a class I recently taught in Denver.  I will be teaching the same class in Fort Collins from 9/21/10-10/19/10 (Tuesday nights, 6-7pm) for the Fort Collins Recreator (Course # 44533-01). This preview video is a little over 30 minutes long, and in it I run through a ‘reverse engineering’ of the most recent non-fiction best sellers as well as some other authors who are monetizing their content successfully as ebooks. You will see the evidence behind why I believe tomorrow’s best sellers are today’s bloggers.