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?”

Look My Way: The Song That Confuses

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Even the seasoned songwriters I shared this with when I wrote it 5½ years ago couldn’t come up with the mental image I thought was obvious.

Ah, language; so utterly inadequate sometimes.

After all this time I still haven’t decided if the title is Waiting or Look My Way. I’ll leave you to sort what you think it’s about.

You can listen to ‘Look My Way’ right here:

(guitar and lyrics by Joel D Canfield; vocal by Frances Riley; music by Joel D Canfield and Frances Riley)

… more … “Look My Way: The Song That Confuses”

How My Mom’s Kitchen Advice is Hindering Your Writing

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1416846 by Suzanne T http://www.sxc.hu/profile/jaroas” width=”170″ height=”300″ class=”alignright size-medium wp-image-2296]Invariably, during every cooking show my mom watches she tells the professional on the screen you shouldn’t crack the eggs right into the dish you’re preparing; what if one of the eggs is bad? You just ruined the whole thing!

Oh, and when you’re done washing the dishes and wiping the table, rinse the dish cloth in cold water. Prevents germs from growing so it doesn’t start to stink.

My mom grew up in a home and a time when eggs could be dodgy and when laundry was done weekly, not daily (or more.)

Those TV chefs? They probably use hand-selected organic custom eggs from their private stock.

The dishcloth? Own 7. Wash in bleach. No smell.

Here are some writing questions I see all the time:

… more … “How My Mom’s Kitchen Advice is Hindering Your Writing”

Getting Ready to Prepare to Plan to Begin to Think About Writing My Next Novel

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: anodyne]The website said the first Jake Calcutta mystery anodyne would be released August of 2012.

Some of the delay has been life getting in the way. Some has certainly been procrastination.

The majority of it has been me driving myself to write a better book.

Through the Fog is a fun read. I’m working on (read thinking about) a sequel. But it’s not the serious mystery that will make people think I’m Chandler reborn.

… more … “Getting Ready to Prepare to Plan to Begin to Think About Writing My Next Novel”

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?”

How Personal Relationships Make Feedback Valuable

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1230310 by peter ehrlich http://www.sxc.hu/profile/crazedcoug” width=”200″ height=”251″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-2271]Sometimes when we’re stuck a total stranger has our answer. It’s not the most likely avenue to resolve our writing challenges, though.

The stranger would have to discover that we have a problem, and they’d have to know the solution (or at least a solution.)

If you describe your writing challenge to me, I have a rare ability to see and hear viscerally which gives me insights which are valuable even to a complete stranger.

That doesn’t scale, though. I can only work with a handful of coaching clients at a time. Also, I’m expensive.

… more … “How Personal Relationships Make Feedback Valuable”

Email Notification for Comments

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Seems there’s a hitch in my gitalong. Have you subscribed to the comments on a particular post?

Have you received those emails?

I need to know if this is an isolated incident or if my site’s broken. Once I hear real-life anecdotes I’ll decide if further research is warranted.

And tomorrow, there’ll be a real post here; one that’s about you, not me.

[image: photo http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1241106 by Gokhan Okur http://www.sxc.hu/profile/gokoroko” width=”444″ height=”241″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-2274]

Year-Long Workshop: Get Your Book Out of the Someday Box in 2014

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

[image: was this place new when you started your novel?” width=”222″ height=”111″ class=”alignright size-full wp-image-2263]What if I could lead you by the hand and promise that in 2014 you’d finally finish that novel?

What’s more, what if I gave you greatly increased chances that it would be good?

Is that worth paying for?

Details to come.