Authors need feedback, reality checks and plain old-fashion butt-kicking. And they need a little kindness. Few think about putting together an “official” type of board to serve in the feedback/reality check/butt-kicking honors. An Author Inner Circle … a type of Advisory Board.

Who Belongs in Your Inner Circle?

It’s time to create yours. The Author Inner Circle … trusted colleagues, pals, and always someone who has “been there, done that.” Most likely, it’s not going to be your sibling, mom or dad. Not unless they’ve authored or work with authors, publishing, books. You want someone who has got an inkling of what is going on in the publishing business; someone who is connected with others; someone who has a sense of humor; someone who has a kaleidoscope of business experience; someone who will say it as it is and not side-step the elephant in the room (which could be you); someone who loves to brainstorming and bounce off-the-wall ideas around; someone who will move you to action; someone who gets what social media marketing is about; someone who gets your Vision for your book and where you want to go with it.

          This week celebrates National Library Week. For authors, libraries can be your best friend. With over 100,000 throughout the country, their budgets still purchase approximately $2,000,000,000 in books each year—two billion dollars! That’s what the American Library Association and the Book Industry Study Group report.

So … the question is … are you getting your share?

•  Say hello to your local library and librarian. Let them know about your book.
• Offer to do a program—especially if you are a children’s author. Many libraries have author programs and are enthusiastic in working and featuring authors—stick your neck out. And if you get invited, make sure you encourage others to come. Bodies count!
• Ask for testimonials and endorsements.
• Make sure you share reviews and any media clippings with your librarian … the one you befriended!
• Donate a book to the library—it just may be the thing that generates a purchase order.

Social media keeps shifting.  That’s an understatement. It used to be that AMs were the best time to blast out Tweets to your Peeps and get on Facebook. Google+ is now roaring into place and timing is unknown, yet my gut tells me AMs will dominate with revisits later in the day for it.

Social media posts get lost quickly; they have a limited shelf life. Very limited. If you have something that is timely and important—your post time becomes critical.

Who Is Using What When?

What’s your time zone? Almost half the U.S. population is in the Eastern time zone … it’s critical to post within. If you are regionally based and do events/activities with one zone—focus on it.

Twitter users are spending more time between the hours of noon and 6 PM. On Twitter, most of the United States posts and reads tweets between Noon and 6:00 PM with the best time to Tweet being 5 PM and a range of one to four tweets within the hour.

 Author U continues to grow and grow. We have just received notification that we are the proud owner of an official registered trademark! The Extravaganza has only 30 seats left and six weeks to fill them! The odds are high—we will be sold out this year. All Exhibitor spots are already taken. The Author Shark Tank already has one member ready to take a swim. The Extravaganza is going to show every participant how to create the “edge” as an author; and for their book.

We have plans for many new programs and services to help our Author U® members create quality books, as well as market and sell more books. Meaning money and adding to your bank account.  In other words: achieve success as an author. Isn’t that your goal?

The hiccup is that we need some assist.  We have more ideas than people to implement them. Are you feeling creative? Would you be willing to volunteer some time to help us continue to grow?

Emotions and Intentions. They affect us all when it comes to the book.

Sharing with a publishing colleague that I’m always amazed that authors wait until the last minute to sign up for things. “Pay more later for the same thing that I could have gotten for less sooner,” is their operating model. Or, “I just can’t make up my mind what I want to do, to be.” Or, “I don’t like to, don’t want, to prioritize.” Or, “My book success really isn’t critical … at least now.”

What prompted our discussion was a recent conversation with a client who said that she wouldn’t be attending the Author U Extravaganza May 2-4, 2013 because she had another workshop that she was going to register for the same week—it was one with a business sales orientation. I had held a spot for her at the early bird rate. Well, business sales are important. But …

It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous. – Robert Benchley

      Today, Your Guide to Book Publishing with Judith Briles and Nicholas Taylor where the focus was on online marketing for books, especially fiction.  You can go to the Home page of http://www.AuthorU.org, scroll down and click on any of the past five show—just click and you are instantly there!

Here’s your Top Ten Tweets for the past week  

Tweets are faster than a speeding bird … below are Author U’s Top Ten Tweets from the past week that you may have missed …

Success & Resources

The best revenge is success. Have you had book rejects? Here’s a list of 30 mega sellers who have had multiple.    http://ow.ly/hNoaY

Author Update on Amazon E-book Borrowing http://t.co/h3DANVry

Have you wondered why celebrities being interviewed on television can look so calm when millions of people are watching them?  And have you ever wondered if you could do that?

At the Extravaganza you will learn how to perform on national television and radio while appearing calm and collected.

The key to any good performance is preparation. Just as actors do, media guests need to know what they are going to say during all their performances and practice their delivery of each word beforehand. Adequate preparation will make you more confident in your ability to perform and help you relax while you are on the air. 

You have probably heard that practice makes perfect. However, that is not necessarily true. Practice makes permanent, so you have to make sure you are rehearsing the right things. At the Extravaganza, you will discover the right techniques that you can make permanent.

Why video:

Oh boy, today is your day to snooze in full view. And, today is the day to do it—it’s National Public Sleeping Day.  A bench in the mall, a slab in the park, a catnap the job, 40 winks in the car (not while driving!), in the sun—take a few winks and enjoy.

Today, Your Guide to Book Publishing will focus on creating audio tapes and how to avoid some of the most common, and costly errors. Judith’s guest is Bret Ridgway. Tune in at 6 Eastern, 5 Central, 4 Mountain, 3 Pacific and for our out-of-the-country members and followers … you are going to have to do the clock crunching for your time zone at http://rsrn.us/youpublish.  You can also go to the Home page of http://www.AuthorU.org, scroll down and click on any of the past five show—just click and you are instantly there!

A well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent one. – Thomas Carlyle

Author U will hold its 4^th Annual Extravaganza May 2-4 at the Renaissance Denver Hotel. With 25 author and publishing experts speaking at workshops and 30 national Exhibitors, the Author U Extravaganza attendees will feast in information to expand their marketing, social media and publishing efforts. The question is: will YOU be there?

 Do You Have the Edge? Every Author Needs One!

Over THREE amazing days, you will be working with amazing book marketing strategists, publicists, Internet gurus, mobile marketing geniuses, audio and video pioneers … all done in an intense workshop environment … Block the dates on your calendar and register now for THREE days that will turn you and your book into creating the edge that you both need. Keynotes are Guy Kawasaki (APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur), Joel Friedlander (The Book Designer)and Penny Sansevieri (Red Hot Internet Publicity).

                      Get Your LCCN

(Library of Congress Catalog Control Number)

One question that most authors don’t know to ask is, “How do I get the LCCN?” What’s a LCCN? Good question—it’s the Library of Congress number that shows that you exist, and the one that any library that you are pitching your book to wants to know you have.

The good news is that these are free (although going through the two steps to get them can sometimes be a pain in the tush.

Here are your steps:

The LCCN:  The Library of Congress Control Number. It is free and can be obtained fairly quickly―a week or less― although we’ve received them within just a day or two. You must have your ISBN to get it. Once you have the LCCN, it will cover case bound (hard, paper, eBook)