Category: Business

2 Ways Accountability Increases Awareness of Your Thinking Process

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

It’s easy to fool ourselves. Two specific ways we improve our thinking process when we feel accountable to someone else for our results:[image: railroad_tracks]

First, we’re more aware of the cues and clues we’re using to make decisions. The interplay between our conscious and unconscious is complex. As a result, the facts we think we’re using to reach conclusions aren’t necessarily the facts we’re really using. Accountability nudges us toward awareness of the cues and clues we’re actually using.

Second, we’re less likely to overestimate our accuracy. Studies show that we’re very likely to overestimate how accurate we are in our estimates and judgments. When we feel we’ll have to explain or defend our decisions, our improved thinking process reduces this tendency. It doesn’t make us more accurate, but it makes us more aware of how accurate (or inaccurate) our estimates are.

If the Box Doesn’t Fit, Don’t Wear It

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1426375 by Bas van den Eijkhof http://www.sxc.hu/profile/mistermast” width=”222″ height=”247″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-3295″ style=”border: none;]Most new authors dream of getting a book deal; having a publisher contact them and say, hey, we want your book. I’ll reserve comment on the value of getting a book deal for another conversation.

Some time back a client turned down not one, but two book deals. Two publishing houses approached them and said, hey, we want your book, just sign on the dotted line.

And they thought and they thought and they said, I don’t fit in the box you’d like to put me in.

And then they said the hardest word in the language of business: … more … “If the Box Doesn’t Fit, Don’t Wear It”

Call Me Pollyanna (Guest Post by John “Pollyanna” O’Leary)

Posted on by Sue L Canfield
I met John on a series of phone calls hosted by our mutual friend Trevor Gay, who, like us, is mad as a hatter. John is working on a book, and like many of you, he’s taking forever.

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/80376 by Jeff Prieb http://www.sxc.hu/profile/ctechs” width=”222″ height=”157″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-3196]Here on Someday Box Joel often lays out the case for self-publishing your book—instead of chasing the REALLY BIG PUBLISHING DEAL. I would have to agree that there are benefits to self-publishing. But based on my experiences as a writer (and author of the forthcoming book, Business Lessons From Rock) I believe it’s only fair that you should hear the other side of the argument. Let me take a moment to enumerate the advantages of pursuing a major publisher. There are many.

… more … “Call Me Pollyanna (Guest Post by John “Pollyanna” O’Leary)”

What Question Can You Answer Best? (Guest Post by Phil Wrzesinski )

Posted on by Sue L Canfield
I’ve known Phil for some time. His intense love for his family sometimes outshines the fact that he is a brilliant marketer and incredible teacher.

[image: ?]My first book started writing itself the day a local childcare owner asked me, “Phil, I shop a lot, and I have to say, your store has the best customer service I’ve ever encountered. What is your secret?”

The short answer was simple. I hire good people.

She pressed me further. “Can you do a presentation to our Child Care Association about it?”

Sure.

Now I needed a longer answer. Fortunately, the answer was there and pretty soon I had a presentation and the outline for a book.

The funny thing is that I never set out to write a book. I think the book had a life of its own, born when the question was asked. At least a dozen times throughout the process I wondered what made me think I was capable of writing a book. Mostly I ignored that thought and kept writing. After all, I was just answering a question.

Your business has the answer to a question, too. There is something you do better than most other businesses. You have a philosophy, a reason, a method for why you do what you do and how it makes your business better. It may be one of your own design, or one you stole from someone else, or one you pieced together from several sources. Someone has probably already asked you why or how you do what you do.

You just have to start writing it down.

My second book started the same way – with a question.

… more … “What Question Can You Answer Best? (Guest Post by Phil Wrzesinski )”

Everything You Need to Know About Self-Publishing & Marketing and I Didn’t Write It

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

This is the book you were looking for.

Write. Publish. Repeat. is the book I was writing, in fact. Except I didn’t write it. A couple even more experienced and successful guys beat me to the punch.

Barring my note below, this is the book I was writing. Mine was going to be called Commonsense Zero-Cost DIY Marketing for Authors.

Try as I might, I can’t find a reason to invest the time and creative energy into duplicating a book that already exists.

… more … “Everything You Need to Know About Self-Publishing & Marketing and I Didn’t Write It”

Can We Talk About ISBNs?

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

International Standard Book Number. ISBN. It seems to confuse folks no end.

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/947375 by Zsuzsanna Kilian http://www.sxc.hu/profile/nkzs” width=”200″ height=”240″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-2958]I get it. Numbers, to most of us in the western world, are about ownership. If someone has your social security number you could be in trouble. Credit card number? Lock it up. Driver’s license? Well, it feels important.

No. Wrong. It’s nothing like that.

… more … “Can We Talk About ISBNs?”

Should Your Book Title Be Good Marketing?

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Perhaps apocryphal: the three words that sell are free, sex, and win. Theoretically, if the headline of your ad was Win Free Sex, you’d strike it rich.

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/573750 by bharath pasupuleti http://www.sxc.hu/profile/boycute” width=”200″ height=”434″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-2783]Obviously not.

While no rational person would go to that extreme to sell something they believed in, do you sometimes allow business considerations to affect your art? … more … “Should Your Book Title Be Good Marketing?”

Self-Publishing: It’s Not Settling, It’s a Choice

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1133804 by Sigurd Decroos http://www.cobrasoft.be/photography.aspx” width=”200″ height=”200″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-2394]Though the article is too long and wandering to use in today’s newsletter, there are some salient quotes in Ether for Authors: Is It Time for Publishing to Call a Truce? Porter Anderson quotes Dr. Florian Geuppert of Hamburg-based Books on Demand. The emphasis in both quotes is mine:

We have surveyed 1,800 of our 25,0000 [sic] authors in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Scandinavia … About one-third of the authors we surveyed made a conscious choice against traditional publishing … We can identify three big groups. The first is the hobby authors. Then there are professional writers. And then there are the experts, who use self-publishing to share their expertise—being a coach, being a scientist, being a business person.
All of them across the groups said their reasons for self-publishing are first, creative freedom and control over their rights and content; second, it’s the ease of the process; third, it’s basically fun … and the desire to self-publish is even higher among professional writers.

One third of authors surveyed (by a print-on-demand company, we should note) made self-publishing their first choice.

Does that really mean the other two-thirds settled for something less than their real goal, traditional publishing?

A number of points come to mind:

  1. Don’t settle. If you want a traditional publishing deal, I think you’re wasting your time and effort, but if you still want it, don’t settle. You’ll never ever ship art that’s worth anything if you settle.
  2. Why do the majority of authors who end up self-publishing still consider it a second choice? Do they think they’ll make less money? Earn less fame? Have to work harder? Deliver an inferior product?
  3. Is fun the difference? Is this adventurous spirit where the split happens? Are we looking at, not business choices, but personalities?

Self-publishing is not automatically second-rate, second-class, second choice.

You can help prove this by producing a top quality book: the writing, editing, formatting, design, all of it.

I’m holding myself to a higher standard with all my books next year.

What could you do better with your books?

What Story Are You Telling About the Book You’re Selling?

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Stories sell.

Specifically, simple unexpected concrete credible emotional stories sell. (Oh, look; the acronym for that would be — well, you can sort it I’m sure.)

In 2007 Chip and Dan Heath published Made to Stick, a fun, easy-reading scientific study of the power of storytelling as a tool for persuasion. SUCCESS is their acronym (though they always leave the “sell” S off and I don’t know why.)

Here’s a powerful statistic from the book: 10 minutes after you make a presentation, 5% of people will remember your statistics, your logical appeal.

63% will remember a story.

… more … “What Story Are You Telling About the Book You’re Selling?”

Is Theory Enough?

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

I’ve studied humanistic marketing methods extensively during the past decade. What I’ve learned changed my life, not just my business.

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1024629 by Mikhail Lavrenov http://www.sxc.hu/profile/MikLav” width=”440″ height=”283″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-2280]

In 2006 the company I worked for shut down, just as my Best Beloved came home from 4 months in the hospital after a near-death experience. After struggling for 4 years we gave up the home we were renting in order to house-sit, in part because we could no longer afford to pay rent and utilities. From that poverty, we’ve come to making a decent living in 2013. I’ll define “decent living” — we pay all our bills on time these days, we’re celebrating our 10th anniversary with a loooong weekend in a bed and breakfast on the coast of Lake Michigan, and we’re planning a 3-month trip to Ireland some time in the next 18 months.

We don’t live an extravagant lifestyle, but we’re no longer poor, even by my humble standards.

Here’s what I haven’t done yet: applied that marketing expertise to selling my own books.

… more … “Is Theory Enough?”