Ever heard the old saying, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me?” You’d think we would learn from our mistakes but those I coach report they seem to go around the same mistakes over and over again like they are on an emotional carrousel. I’ve done it myself more times than I care to admit. If we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again, it can be damaging to our emotional health in many ways. Here are a few: 1) We conclude we are in some way incapable. If we continue to fall into the same hole, it has a way of telling us we were meant to be in the hole. 2) We learn to accept living in the hole. When […]
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Don’t Be Fooled Part Three: Driven by What’s Inside
A few years ago Subaru came up with a commercial slogan: Driven by What’s Inside. It made a snappy twenty second spot on TV but that message is not even remotely unique. Since the beginning of time mankind has always been driven by what’s inside. Your thoughts, beliefs, environment and experiences all provide the fuel for your little engine that should. I coach individuals who have been given a tankful of sugar water. Their emotional engine spat and sputtered until it completely stopped dead in the middle of their road to success. They watch helplessly as others speed by them at lightning speed, seemingly without a care in the world. The only thing they can do is be towed in and have their engine overhauled. Because we are all driven […]
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Don’t Be Fooled, Part Two: I Only Thought I Could…
Last week we talked about fool’s gold and not being attracted to bright, shiny objects. Today we’re going to journey in the opposite direction because I coach individuals all the time who fall into this trap. It goes something like this: You spend nights and weekends at the keyboard pouring your best efforts into creating the manuscript you just know will be a New York Times Best Seller. You save your pennies to register for a writer’s conference and practice your elevator speech until you recite it in your sleep. An agent and editor both want to see the manuscript so you run back to your hotel room you couldn’t afford and press the “send” button. Then you wait. You don’t want to leave your room to attend the workshop […]
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One Thing Marketing … Write a Press Release as Compelling as Your Book!
Welcome to this week’s One Thing Marketing where we talk about that “One Thing” you can do this week to build your platform, connect with readers/reviewers and snag some attention for you and your latest book or WIP. Last week we talked about a writer’s mission statement. How did you do coming up with a Brand Promise, Tagline and Emotional Relevance? This week we’ll tackle the press release. A press release is an announcement of your new book. The trick is making the announcement as compelling as your book is, and that takes a slightly different touch. It’s a simple formula merely to put together a proper press release for your book. In the first paragraph, include the following: Title ISBN number Publisher Author Price Then in the body of […]
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