Category: New Business Development

In many publisher submission guidelines,
they state
that they won’t accept manuscripts
submitted for consideration elsewhere.

That is a lie.

Because they accept (and prefer)
manuscripts from agents.
Agents submit to ALL publishers
at the same time.
They do that with a hope of creating bidding wars.

There are no rules in business.
There are laws
which you should follow
if you want to stay out of court
(and jail).
There are guidelines
(ethical and other)
that may or may not help you
be successful.
But there are no rules.

For every rule,
there is someone breaking that rule
and becoming VERY successful
by doing exactly that.

Be conscious of your ‘rules’
and ask yourself
‘are they limiting me?’

Seth Godin has a great post
on the increase in fabulous products.

As he states…
“If there was ever a moment
to follow your passion and
do work that matters,
this is it.
You can’t say,
“but I need to make a fortune instead,”
because that’s not happening right now.
So you might as well join the people
who can say,
“I love doing this.””

I had a challenging weekend
because my list of fabulous things
I want to do is almost overwhelming.
I’m so excited,
I don’t know where to start.

And yes,
NONE of those things
will give me an immediate return.
I’m building for the future.

Go out there
and do something fabulous!

Renowned architect John Portman
looks back
on 85 years of living
and the business lessons he’s learned.

One of them is not to concentrate on profit.
Focus on contribution instead.

“The emphasis on contribution
often results in greater long-term profitability,
because you’re focused on the long term
and the greater good
rather than short-term financial gain.”

Entrepreneurs are naturally long-term focused.
We build businesses
knowing that it may take years, even decades,
to see profitability.

Yes, we need cash flow to stay alive
but often our contribution in early years
far outweighs profitability.
Build for the future.

A friend of mine is entering
a Harlequin Presents contest.

Harlequin Presents is a very successful line.
One of the reasons
it is so successful
is because they put their product tags
right in their titles.
Their titles are monstrosities like…
The Spanish Billionaire’s Virgin Secretary
or
The Sheikh’s Captive Mistress
or
The Prince’s Waitress Wife.

Readers will buy all the Billionaire books
or the Sheikh books
or the Virgin books.

Marketers love it.
Authors cringe.

My author buddy submitted an manuscript
called something entirely different.
She insists that if she wins,
she won’t budge on the title.

She won’t win.
Why?
Because she doesn’t respect the product
and when you don’t respect the product,
it shows.
Selling is difficult enough
when you believe in what you’re selling.

There are millions of products out there.
Work with a product
you believe in.

In David Silverman’s post
How Successful CEOs Respond to Failure,
he says
“Faced with failure,
they stayed in motion.
They quit the bad job,
they separated from investors they conflicted with,
they got up off the sidewalk
and went back to work.”

I deal with failure
by having multiple projects on the go.
Right now,
I have three stories submitted to publishers,
one story in edits,
one story in second draft,
and one story in first draft.

I also have what I call a failure plan.
For example:
If the three stories are not accepted,
(i.e. I fail)
I have a list of other publishers
to send them to.

I’m 38 years old
and have a long list of things I plan to accomplish.
I don’t have time to wallow in failure.
I fail, learn, and move on.

Seth Godin has a great post
on Trolls.
My favorite line in it is
“critics rarely create”

I had a release
last week.
I am very open
about loving feedback,
especially around ‘what to work on’ areas
(and ALL writers have areas to work on).

What I find interesting is the tone.
The feedback from published writers
was constructive yet very positive.
The feedback from unpublished writers
focused on the negative.
It was critical rather than constructive.

As with advice,
not all criticism is equal.
Listen to all of it
but weigh it
based on the source.

When you say no to a project
is almost as important
as how you say no.

If I want a healthy relationship
with the person pitching to me,
I always listen to her entire pitch.
I don’t cut her off
mid pitch
even if I know the project isn’t for me.
(That smacks of arrogance)

If the request/project is big/important
to her,
I’ll, at least, think about the offer
over night.
When I contact her
with my no,
I’ll drop some facts about the industry/project
that she didn’t include in the pitch.
This communicates that
I was seriously thinking about it.

I never say yes
when I really mean no.
In a documentary about Monty Python,
there was some bitterness
because,
after Graham Chapman’s death,
Michael Palin said yes
to another project
‘to be nice’
when really he had no intention
of ever reviving Monty Python.
This initial yes
wasted the others’ time and money.

So say no quickly
but not TOO quickly.

This weekend,
I’m at a writer’s retreat
with 5 up and coming romance authors.
All are published in eBook format.

It is an exciting format to be in
because each of us
are regularly involved
in readers’ first exposures to eBooks.

On Wednesday,
I walked a reader through the process.
The first eBook she read
was my short story Released.
My story will ALWAYS be her first eBook.
Forever.
It will always be associated with
her experience of the format.

When you hear you’re part
of a customer’s ‘first’
(first dentist appointment,
first business start up,
first job interview),
remember that you’ll be remembered forever.
Make it a pleasant memory.

Pantone has released their predictions
of the hot colors
for spring and summer 2010.

They are…

Aurora (yellow tinted with green)
Tomato puree (red)
Eucalyptus (like the plant)
Turquoise

The article also mentions
that America’s favorite color
is blue.

How to use these hot colors?
– In flexible product design
(as they will change)
– In marketing material
– Book covers

After a successful project launch,
there is always at least one celebration,
usually two.

The first celebration
is for everyone.
That is,
everyone who touched the project
however briefly
or will touch the project
when things go wrong tomorrow,
everyone who supported the project
or will support one of your projects tomorrow.
This is the celebration with the slab cake
and sometimes pizza.
It is a big, happy, noisy affair.

The purpose of that first celebration
is to broadcast the project’s success
throughout the organization,
publicly thank your stars,
and show that helping you out on projects
will help people out career-wise.

The second celebration (if needed)
is smaller and quieter.
You take your core team out
for a lunch,
sometimes giving them a token
for working on the project
(a hat or a jacket or a laptop case),
and you sincerely thank your team.

If you have the second, smaller celebration,
always, always, always
have the first, larger celebration.
If you don’t,
you’ll tick off your not-so-visible project helpers.
Not a happy situation
(as one of my buddies is finding out this week).
You need those helpers.
You want them on your team.