Month: May 2014

If I can’t market my romance novel
in one sentence,
a Twitter-length post,
I know I won’t be able
to sell the story to readers.

Simplicity is rare.
It is also challenging to achieve.
But when we achieve it
and that simplicity connects with prospects,
it’s magical,
a recipe for success.

As Steve Jobs
shared

“”That’s been one of my mantras
—focus and simplicity.
Simple can be harder than complex:
You have to work hard
to get your thinking clean
to make it simple.
But it’s worth it in the end
because once you get there,
you can move mountains.”

Make EVERYTHING
as simple as possible.

Yes, this is your irregularly scheduled
get off your a$$
and get ‘er done reminder.

Nolan Bushnell,
founder of
Atari, Inc. and
the Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza
-Time Theaters chain,
shares

“The critical ingredient is
getting off your butt and
doing something.
It’s as simple as that.
A lot of people have ideas,
but there are few
who decide to do something about them
now.
Not tomorrow.
Not next week.
But today.
The true entrepreneur is a doer,
not a dreamer.“

You’re an entrepreneur.
Prove it today
and do something!

The hot topic right now
is bullying.

At first, the fight against bullying
targeted mean-spirited comments.
The movement had noble intentions.

More recently,
the bullying label is being applied
to ANY disagreement,
any negative comments or discussion,
any push back against the status quo.

Which means,
as entrepreneurs,
as sh*t disturbers,
as proponents of change,
you and I will eventually be labelled bullies.

Disagreeing is NOT bullying.
Disagreeing is not wrong.
All of the advancements
we’re enjoying right now
occurred because someone disagreed
with the established way of thinking.

I think disagreeing is so important
to a healthy society,
that if it means being mislabeled a bully,
I’ll accept that incorrect label.

Success always comes as a price.
What price are you willing to pay?

I have a make it or break it release
with a big New York publisher
this year.

There are two possibilities
with this release.

If this story sells well,
I’ll break out of midlist
and become a best selling writer.
Every publisher will want me,
no matter what I’ve done.

If this story doesn’t sell well,
I’ll be fired from my current publisher.
The other New York publishers
won’t want me either,
no matter what I’ve done.

What does this mean?

I’m free, completely free.
I can say or do
whatever I like
because I’m not really risking anything.
No editor is going to say
“I’m not signing k
because she’s a sh*t disturber.”

I can be fearless, take risks,
do things other writers can’t.
And I’m taking full advantage of this,
stirring things up in Romanceland.

Ironically, this new attitude will likely
INCREASE the odds
I’ll be successful.

Be fearless.
You truly have nothing to lose.

Piano Man is the song
most people associate
with Billy Joel.
What many people don’t realize
is he worked as a piano man
AFTER he received a record contract.

The record contract sucked
and he was trying to break it
yet he still had to earn money
and he still loved to play.
This experience taught him a lot.

Billy Joel
shares

“What you’re doing
in a piano bar basically
is playing for tips,
so you try to pick out
what will get bread out of the audience.
Is this guy Italian?
You play the ‘Godfather’ theme
or something like that.
Is this guy Irish?
You play ‘Danny Boy.’
You try to get those $5 bills
in the brandy glass.”

“I’ve never given myself
more than two seconds of self-pity,
ever since I realized that
the piano bar gig is something
a lot of people have to do for years
and maybe their entire lives.
And they’re happy to have the work.”

There are lessons to be learned
from every set back.

There are also people
who would be thrilled
to have the experience
you view as a set back.

Seth Godin shares

“What’s your job?

Not your job title,
but your job.
What do you do
when you’re doing your work?
What’s difficult and important
about what you do,
what change do you make,
what do you do
that’s hard to live without
and worth paying for?”

This isn’t an easy question
to answer
yet it is key to our success.

Many of my writing buddies,
when asked this question,
say
their job is to write.
This means
they resent any time spent
interacting with readers,
and
promoting their work.
They feel this
takes time away
from their true job.

When I asked myself this question,
my answer was
“To entertain others.
To make them happy.”
This means
I deliberately make
my marketing and promotion
fun and entertaining.
Reader events are exactly that
— events.
Even when I’m not writing,
I can do my true job.

What is YOUR true job?