Month: March 2014

A friend of mine asked me
to take part in a box set
she’s organizing.
12 writers are contributing
1 new novella each,
in the hopes of making
the best seller lists.

I wouldn’t mind being on the best seller lists,
I had a story already written,
and this person was a buddy of mine,
so I said yes.

And then discovered
no one in the group
knows what the hell they were talking about.
They are all writers with less experience than I have.

Everything is at a lower level.
They do less promo.
The cover art is amateurish.
They don’t even have a contract.

I’ve already given up on the best seller lists.
That won’t happen.
There is no income in this project.
My greatest worry now is that
I will look amateurish by comparison.

If possible,
work with partners
at a higher level than you.
If you’re the only ‘expert’
in the partnership,
reconsider the arrangement.

I’m 4 stories into a 12 story project.
It is challenging to stay motivated,
to stay excited, fresh.

One of the ways
I do this
is by taking courses.
I listen to a 1 hour audio seminar
every week.
The topic is writing.
Sometimes I learn something new.
Sometimes I don’t.
But I ALWAYS leave motivated.

Michele Woodward,
an executive coach,
gives more ideas
to shake things up.

“See if you can change the patterns,
schedules and rhythms of your day.
Drive to the office
via a different route.
Change the way you do meetings.
Delegate differently.
Read a book.
Take a class.
Take on a different responsibility,
project or task.
All these strategies are designed
to incite your learning and growth,
and bring a new sense of zest
into your work.”

Consider taking a course.

The first few months on a new job,
in a new industry,
are a golden time.
No one expects you to know anything
so you can ask the crazy questions
and suggest the revolutionary ideas
with no risk of looking like an a$$.

If the ideas don’t work,
you have an excuse.
You’re the new kid.
You don’t know any better.

But sometimes the ideas work
and that is when
your career can really take off.

As it did for
Scott McGillivray,
host of Income Property.

He
shares
in the March/April
The Costco Connection

“I think my innocence
on the television side of things
was almost an asset,
because a lot of people
on these shows
want to be on TV.
I didn’t really care
and I didn’t really know,
so I just played myself.
I think [Debbie Travis]
was a little surprised
when she would come around
and talk to me,
and if she was wrong about something
I would just say it.”

Take advantage
of the first few months
on a new job.

I have writing buddies
who have been polishing
the same damn story
for ten long years.
They want everything to be perfect,
to be 100% sure
that when they finally send the story
to agents or publishers,
they’ll sell it.

They’ll never sell their stories.

Why?

Because there’s never any
100% certainty in life
or business.

As Mark Burnett
shared,
on Piers Morgan Live,

“You can only have a little bit figured out
and go forward anyway.
And believe in faith that it will work out.
The people who need to be 100% sure
don’t do anything.”

You will always have some uncertainty.
Don’t let this uncertainty stop you.
Launch the damn product.

The latest thing
is to complain about every slight.
Someone made a politically insensitive comment?
Out them on the internet.
Rally up some sympathy.
Perhaps have a donation jar.

There’s no shortage of content
because there is no shortage of insensitive
unfair
comments.

Why?

Because the world isn’t fair.
North Americans are complaining
about people calling them fat.
Half the world away,
people are starving to death.
That’s certainly not fair.

We can spend our lives being offended,
complaining about this or that slight,
or
we can spend our lives doing,
making a difference.

My mom often tells me
“Success is the best revenge.”
If you’re truly offended by someone,
get your revenge.
Be successful.

Yesterday, I talked about
how my New York publisher
didn’t tag my books properly
AND didn’t put my books
in the proper categories.

I contacted my editor.
She told me
they have a (antiquated) system
and they don’t do anything special
for Amazon,
the bookseller responsible
for over 80% of my sales.

They refused to tweak my listings
to ensure the stories are in the right categories
and have the right tags.

I politely pushed back,
stating that this reduces
my chances of success to damn close to zero.
The reply was
this is our system.
We’re not changing it.

So I looped in my agent
and asked to escalate it.
I posted a query on the author loop.
I’m raising a freakin’ stink
because I have nothing to lose.
If my sales are low,
I don’t get paid
and I will ironically get fired
from the publisher causing my sales to be low.

You launched your product
because you believe in it.
Fight for its success.

When I investigated what failed
during my latest book release,
I found out that
not only did my (big New York) publisher
not tag my books with key words,
they didn’t even put them
into the right categories at Amazon.

You would think they’d care
to do that.
They’re making twice what I do
on every sale.

They didn’t care.
(and ironically,
they don’t even care enough
to correct their mistake)

No one cares about your business
as much as you do.
This doesn’t mean you do everything
(that’s impossible)
but it does mean you track the results you want
and hold people accountable.

Delegation is necessary
but it is always paired with
managing this delegation.