You now have insider information!

How many of you have read about how much best sellers actually make? L Viehl shares in this blog how much they actually earn. While it was a little discouraging for me to see that she received a $50,000 cash advance and only began to receive royalty statements about a year after the books RELEASE, it also is a very useful article to see how a best selling author determines her marketing budget [yes, even best sellers use some of their cash to promote their books.]

What is great is that in this blog posting we're able to see the wizard behind the curtain and get an idea of what our actual potential is in publishing.

Here is the positive view. This is ONE book! For a writer who wants to build a business as a writer it is likely to do more than write a single book in a year. Furthermore, 1/2 that advance is still $25,000 which is a decent wage.

This demonstrates again the need to have multiple streams of income in your writing business. You need to have a marketing strategy that not only points to your current book but to your developing back list [books you've previously published]. This is a growing warehouse of products you're creating. Think also of the teaching opportunities that come with a best selling book. What articles can you write? What auxiliary services can you provide [remember those from a few weeks ago?]

What this shows you is that the book can be the "infusion of capital" that fuels your writing business. Rather than being the end result, a cash advance can actually be the ongoing income stream that helps you build your actual writing business [which includes not only books and articles, but speaking, teaching and other products/services.]

It's about thinking flexibly about your writing career. It is about seeing how everything works together and then creating a business plan that will capitalize on the REALITY rather than the ILLUSION.

You have information that most people only dream of. Use it to your advantage!



Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Why Should You Care?

What differentiates your writing from that of others? What is it that makes your craft more exciting than that of other writers.

Do you have a unique angle?

While it isn't always necessary to have a specific thing, like Koontz has Dogs, it is necessary to know what it is that distinguishes your writing from that of other writers.

Many times as part of our marketing we do a comparative analysis. We look at similar books. The purpose of this is to say that the READERS of those books will likely be among the people who would also enjoy your book.

However, you must always be aware of what it is that makes you unique. Build on it. Integrate it in your marketing. Make it a part of your website. Use it in giveaways.

Begin to determine what is unique about you, your writing and your stories.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Perception is Truth

I know, I'm being a bit philosophical for a Monday, but let me explain. I am currently reading three business books. One of them is on presentation skills. In this book, the name currently escapes me, the author makes the assertion that our marketing is skewed because we think that the facts will win out.

That was startling to me...of course the facts will win out.

He went on to say that rather than the facts, a customer will purchase based on perception.

And I realized he is right.

Imagine I cracked two eggs in a bowl. Which would you perceive to be the healthier, the one with a pale yellow yolk or the one with a deep yellow yolk?

What if I presented you with two apples, one is shiny and red the other is dull yellow and pink with a bit of green. Which would you determine to be the best to eat?

What if two men walked in for an interview, one with a scruffy beard, the other clean shaved.

Do you perceive your brand of toothpaste to be the best?

I started thinking about this idea and I realized how much we are driven by our perceptions rather than facts. It is actually a bit scary!

However, armed with this information we can design a marketing strategy for our books and stories that will reach to our target reader. That is why knowing your reader is so important [look at last weeks blog for more on that.]

Look at the websites of other writers and see which appeal to you and which do not. What do you want a reader to feel when they read your books? They should feel that when they visit your site.

Their perception of you will be shaped by their contacts with you. Most of their contact will be through your website and your books.

It doesn't matter who you are or what your writing actually is. The perception a potential reader has of you will determine whether they give you a shot. Then their perception of your writing will determine their opinion of you overall.

And no matter what writing contests, experts or facts say...the perception of the readers IS the truth.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

What is your reader doing right now?

Recently I've encountered a large number of aspiring writers who have a target market like this:

Men and women 18-65

I can pretty well guarantee you that will not impress book publishers. In fact, it looks downright unprofessional!!

Of course we want everyone to like our books but take the time to think of WHO specifically your reader is.

What are they doing right now?

There are numerous sheets that you can download that ask you to think about the various characteristics of your hero/heroine. They'll ask eye color, face shape, favorite childhood experience, greatest fear.

We need to have these questions so that we can get inside the head of our character...

And that is the exact reason you need to know this about your reader too.

Unless you take the time to get inside their head and find out what interests them your platform will be worthless.

I am only in my early 30s but I am finding an increasing gap between me and people in their early 20s. When I was a senior in high school you were not allowed to wear a pager in school. [we were told the only people who wore pagers were drug dealers...which still seems pretty dumb to me!!] Now I have a 10 year old child that I homeschool who INSISTS that she needs a cell phone! Why? I drive her to dance, her clubs and camps!! When does she need to reach me?

Here is an assignment for the weekend: Think about your current WIP [Work in Progress]. What is the most effective way to reach this target reader? Are they more likely to want bonus content on your website or a Tweet when you post a blog?

Is your target reader more likely to read an article on the latest fashions or the latest scientific discovery? Are they more interested in current events or cutting coupons?

These are the questions I ask myself as I prepare to write blogs. I consider where each of you likely are in your writing and I think about what would most benefit you to read. Right now there aren't large sales at publishing houses so people need to think about creative marketing. We need to try to get beyond what "has always been done" and focus on "what will bring results."

So that is the exercise. I hope you're up to the challenge.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

The hidden Gems

Last week was a tough week for me. I wasn't feeling well, I was getting behind in my work and my characters seemed to be on strike in my mind.

We all have those weeks, don't we. Those times where we question our talent and begin to wonder if there is really a future for us. For me there is never a question of what I'll do. Teaching, writing and speaking are my dreams and I'm thrilled to live them each day...but some days we need encouragement.

Many of you may have heard of Susan Boyle in the UK. She was on Britain's Got Talent or maybe it's called "The X Factor". I'm not sure. Go to youtube and check it out. She walked out on that stage knowing what was inside her. While those around her saw her as an unemployed 47 year old woman...she knew who she really was.

The judges and audience scoffed and were openly condescending [hey, it's TV, that's what they're paid to do.] From the first note...everything changed.

One thing I've heard over and over is "How was she not discovered before?" or "How was she unemployed."

She summed it up best, she hadn't yet had the opportunity to audition.

Many of you, my blog readers, are hidden Gems. You are laboring away, day after day, in complete obscurity. You may have occasional glimmers of hope-but nothing breaking out yet.

Susan stepped out on a stage in front of thousands of people in the audience and millions by television. She knew she had one shot-and she was ready. She could have let nerves defeat her. She could have allowed poor self-image to push her down. She could have looked in the mirror and said "I'm nothing more than an unemployed middle-aged woman."

But she KNEW who she was.

I think that so much of success has nothing to do with timing, it has everything to do with believing. Believing who we are on the inside, even when others don't see it. It is recognizing the opportunities when they present themselves-even when it is scary. Finally, it is preparing for our shot-because we never know when it is coming.

This woman was literally catapulted in a moment from obscurity to international stardom.

When she woke up that morning-did she realize how famous she'd be when she went to bed that night?

She is no longer a hidden Gem...many of you still are.

Are you ready for your moment?

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

How are you perceived?

I am currently reading "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" by Al Reis and Jack Trout. It is an interesting and quick read. Id suggest you take the time to grab it at the library or bookstore and see what nuggets you can glean from it.

Tonight I was reading over a few things and I stopped on Chapter 4 "The Law of Perception". According to this chapter it is perception, not fact, that is crucial to your marketing strategy. This is very interesting to consider and has major implications to a writer's marketing plan.

But this does explain a few things...

For example, a best selling book isn't always the one that is the best written [as many writers will tell you].

Despite their decades in the industry, publishers continue to be shocked when a book breaks out.

It also shows us why a website is crucial!! You are PERCEIVED to be more of a professional if you have an online presence. Furthermore, the perception of you is heightened or diminished based on the quality of that online presence.

It is why my publicity photos are of me in a nice top with make-up on and my hair done RATHER than the jeans and pony tail I usually wear when I'm writing.

So consider how you are perceived. I am not asking you to be fake or to be someone you are not, but your online presence is your 'job interview' to future readers. Your interactions with editors and agents today will shape your reputation in the industry for years to come. You want to be seen as a professional who is reliable.

When you are marketing your services you want to exude professionalism and instill confidence.

When you are marketing your writing you want your website to give the feel of your books.

Now that you've considered it-what do you need to adjust or enhance to give the impression you want others to have of you?

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

By the Project or by the Hour?

What did you think of when you saw this heading? Many of you freelancers out there likely thought I was talking about how to bill clients on writing or editing. I will save that for another day because today I want to focus on something much more critical to the success of your writing business than invoicing...

Time Management.

The end of March I taught a 1 hour webinar on time management to a business group, PVN. [It is available On Demand at this Link.] One of the things I talked about was the beeper system. This is a great way to keep you on task during the day by allotting a specific amount of time for each task [like research or emails]. I find this works particularly well for people who have a tendency to get off track. I have also used it a great deal to help me keep my day moving forward. It gives me deadlines throughout the day.

But I've been experimenting with my time managment and I've found something else that is helping me even more, that is being project based. Since I have clients that I work with on teaching, coaching, and editing this works particularly well for me. I close down my email and other windows and focus on one project when I first arrive in the office. I do not open a single email until that project is done. After I complete it my "reward" is to go on the email for about 30 minutes to clean out my box, delegate tasks to my assistant, respond to various questions, etc.

Then my email "Task" is done and I move on to the next project. I just began this week doing it this way and I've seen an increase in the productivity on larger projects. In fact, the way I set up my day has completely changed. If you'd like to imitate my model here is what it looks like:

In office, check email to be certain blogs posted as scheduled and download any new editing projects. No more than 30 minutes on this.

Tackle big project #1. Usually this will be 2-3 hours of work.

Email check. I now have 30 minutes to go through email like I did at the start of the day.

Tackle an hour of smaller projects.

Lunch

Tackle big project #2. Usually this will be 2-3 hours of work.

Email check and to-do list for next day.

I have found that I'm better able to focus on a project when I'm doing it start to finish. When I have a series of small projects it is easier to work a 50min/10min in a cycle but doing that with a large project [like editing chapters of a client's MS] because too distracting to me.

The point of this blog is not to say one way is better than another but rather to offer you a few suggestions so you can find the system that works the best for you. The key is to increase our productivity so we can spend less time at work OR the same amount of time at work but with a better return on time invested.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Two Sides to Personality Part 2

As I promised yesterday, today I'm going to talk about the two sides of our own personality and using that in marketing.

When I was in Network Marketing there was a #2 income earner in the whole company. In about 15 years she'd build her group to the point that she earned over $800,000 a year consistently.

One thing I found interesting about her story was how she started out. She had a very slow start, but after a few months of "playing" with the business she decided to get serious. She pretended to be her own assistant and called large numbers of people to book shows. From there her business began to turn around.

She knew her personality. She was horribly shy and afraid of rejection. So she made adjustments.

We understand we need professionalism in our business but I wonder how often we allow the wrong things to influence us. Many writers work from home, and thus, in comfortable clothes. It is not uncommon for us to be at our computer working on a story at 5pm in sweatpants and a ponytail. While this makes us more comfortable, does it sometimes make us less professional? I think sometimes it does.

What do you have to do to put yourself in a professional mindset? To some people the casual clothes make it more relaxing so they are better able to focus on their work. To other people those comfortable clothes create a distraction because they don't take their work seriously.

I used to color pictures when I made sales calls because it allowed me to separate myself from the rejection.

Take some time to think about your unique personality type. Remember it could manifest itself really sneaky. Shyness could really be drive without hope. You fear you won't make it.

Then look at ways to overcome the negative, and encourage the positive. I'm reading a few books right now on seminar presentation and marketing. Friday I want to talk about a few things I'm applying to my business that might help you.

In the meantime, continue to work on your craft and considering how to work WITH your unique personality and style to create a marketing plan.

See you the end of the week.


Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Two Sides to Personality Part 1

As writers we spend a great deal of time of personal reflection. I find that I often analyze my thoughts and emotions to try to think how I would describe them in a story.

I also try to read about people and how they act. The biographies of famous people are good for that as are books on psychology written for common people. [Like books on "Helping your Diabetic Spouse" or "Understanding Autism"].

One thing I've found very interesting is what I call the two sides of personality. Remember, ladies, when we were little and a boy would pick on us. The response typically was "Oh, he just picks on you because he likes you." So, attraction was manifested in "violence". I know that is an extreme representation of it, but follow my logic.

How about an attractive, successful woman who feels awkward and inferior. I actually read of a study last fall that said most women classified as "Very attractive" are actually very self-conscious. You would think she would be confident...

So, how to play with this. Give your characters both sides of the personality trait. Have a very kind woman with an anger-management problem. Have a meticulous accountant who constantly loses his car keys. have a successful business professional who constantly second-guesses their own decisions.

Tomorrow we are going to look at this two-sided personality and see how our OWN quirks affect our sales and marketing.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Becoming human

When we are developing our characters for our stories we spend a great deal of time creating believable people. We want them to be flawed, but likable. This even goes for the bad guy sometimes. Some of the creepiest bad guys are those that we want to win anyway. My favorite example is Phantom in Phantom of the Opera. You know what he did is wrong but your heart breaks just the same at the end of the story.

I think one thing we as authors and business owners must also do is be human. There is a delicate balance between being human and committing a TMI-faux pas [TMI=Too much information]. The rise in popularity of reality shows, blogs and social networking, I believe, is the desire to pull people from their pedestals and "see behind the curtain" as it were.

How much humanity are you allowing your readers or your target market to see. Don't show so much that you undermine confidence in your professionalism, but you don't want to be aloof either. It is about striking a balance.

I'd like to share with you a blog interview I did with Nora St. Laurent. Here is the link. I was discussing a bit about Writing Career Coach but I also talked a bit about our family's financial struggles in the wake of my husband's cancer diagnosis 2 1/2 years ago. From that was birthed my other website "The Balanced Life".

As professionals who move in to the spotlight upon publication it is important to maintain our privacy while at the same time being human to the people who invest in us. Consider how you, and your characters, can become more human to your target readership. And please go check out the blog. It is a lot of fun. You'll find out about the Green Dress, Worm Farms [huh], and how we turned little Debbie snack cakes in to a chicken farm.

It's your opportunity to look behind the curtain of my life for a moment and see my driving motivation as a Coach.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Visit the Live Chat Tonight!!

Hello everyone!

This isn't a webinar, those are running through their final test now and will be posted any day, this is an author chat I'll be doing at Dancing Word. These chats are free and, since you type everything, they might be friendlier for people with dial-up. I hope most or all of you will come and check out the chat. Transcripts will be posted later but get your questions answered tonight!!

Here is the official announcement from Dancing Word.

Are you concerned that these hard economic times will prevent you from moving forward in your writing career? Get some career tips from Writing Coach Tiff Colter on Tuesday, April 7th, beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Pacific in the Dancing Word chat room.


“History shows that times of downturn are the fertile soil that produces exponential growth,” Colter states. “Aspiring and newly published writers can capitalize on these changes. We will talk about how writers can prepare their writing business in this time of slow book sales. We will also look at opportunities to build the business you have now. To get you started I will give away a free month of coaching to one lucky participant and a special discount to all who come.”



To join the chat go to:

http://www.centralchat.net/chatrooms/channel/dancingword type in your name where you see "enter nick" and then click on the "connect" button. Please test out the chat room ahead of time.



Those who cannot use the java program will need to use the central chat mIRC program. Go to:

http://www.centralchat.net/chatrooms/cgiirc.php?c=dancingword Type your name in the "nickname" box and click on the "Login" button.


If you need help getting into the chat room, please contact me at dancingword @ gmail (dot) com [without the spaces and replace dot with .]

--
Blessings!

Annie McDonald
Dancing Word Writer Network
www.dancingword.net

Upcoming chat guests: Tiff Colter, DiAnn Mills, Jill Williamson

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Getting back to the story

As authors we have so many different things we need to do. We need to be marketers, writers, business people...not to mention our personal lives. Today I want to talk a bit about getting back to the story.

What do I mean by that?

I'm talking about what we do when we've spent a great deal of time working on the business side of our business and not as much on the actual creative writing. I find that I go in cycles where I'll write a few thousand words a week, then I can go a week or two without working on my fiction. During that time I've written articles, countless blogs, emails, content for clients and proposals for projects...but not fiction.

So how to we get back in to that mode?

I've heard a few different tips that have worked for me with varying degrees of success. See what helps you get back in to your story. I do have ONE word of caution-try to resist the urge to do too much editing!! I find that many times, especially if I choose the first option, that many times I'll end up spending so much time editing what I've done that I get no meaningful writing done. Avoid this temptation.

1. Reread the previous scene to see where you were in the story and get a feel for the character voices.
2. Look through your outline and notes you've made.
3. Listen to a few of the songs that are "theme music" for either the character or the manuscript. I tend to listen to 80s love ballads [Air Supply, Journey] when I'm working on the romantic elements of a story. I listen to 80s/90s metal when I'm working on intense scenes or the bad guy. When I'm working on tying up the loose ends of a story in the concluding chapters I love to listen to Natalie Grant and Nicole Nordeman.
4. Spend the 24 hours leading up to the writing playing scenes from your story in your mind. Let the characters chat with each other. Imagine them in various predicaments and see how you can make them WORSE...then how they can escape.
5. Think about a great book you read recently and try to think of ONE thing that really impacted you.
6. Read the opening of 5-6 books [or chapter openings of a few books] and see what it was about the verbiage that grabbed you.

Maybe you have other things that help-share them with us. If not, use some of these. I usually use each of these at various stages of each book. They help me get focused on the creativity needed to have great craft.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Get the Publishers to want you! How Linore did it.

I am very excited to have Linore Rose Burkard, author of Before the Season Ends, today. Linore did an amazing thing. She self published a book that was so successful that she was picked up by a Royalty publishing house. Now she is working on a multi-book deal. I am proud to call her friend. I asked her if she would tell us a bit about how she did it.

WCC: You are not only a writer but you also speak on marketing your writing. This has served you well because you have great reviews of your craft and also great book sales. What are a few of the things you've done to really help launch your books? What would you suggest that a writer do while they're in the process of submitting manuscripts to really help them build their platform?

Linore: Every writer should begin by establishing a web presence, and I've got an article about that posted HERE called, "I've Submitted My Work--Now What?" But even if you haven't finished your first book, yet, it's never too early to begin with a blog and by joining online groups. Some of the things that have worked best for me are getting book reviews, touring the blogs of readers and writers, and trying tohelp others with good suggestions, recommendations, and information when it is asked for on email groups that I belong to. When you help other readers or writers, it enhances your own image, so it's a win/win situation. And, by offering good resources or references you also become known as a "go-to" person; someone who is knowledgeable. This goes a long way with online exposure.

WCC: Your books are Regency Romance. For other authors who like to write in historical settings what unique ideas do you have for marketing these kinds of books?

Linore: Since so much of marketing takes place online, today, I recommend doing an in-depth search for your ideal readers. For historical writers, this means finding out where other readers and writers of historical romance hang out on the web. Check Shoutlife groups (Christian), or MySpace, Facebook, and YahooGroups, etc. You find these groups by entering keywords into the search engines, like "readers", "historical" "historical fiction," "book lovers," etc. Enter every pertinent keyword you can think of until you find a list of groups. Then, begin to introduce yourself and learn their rules for posting. Eventually, when they recognize your name, or know you, they'll be happy to learn of your new books or free resources, and you'll gain readers. Which reminds me, creating and having free resources for readers is the best way to offer something of value to others without having to "sell" yourself. Let your work speak for you, and if they like it, they just might decide to try your book(s) as well. I have a number of great free resources on my website, which you can look at to get an idea of how to make your own. Here

WCC: I believe that your book was first released as a subsidy published book but then it was bought by a royalty publisher. How did that happen? How are you able to sell the same book twice? When do you suggest a writer go the subsidy publishing route? Why did you do it?

Linore: These are a lot of questions, and each one could be addressed in length! Briefly, however, I went the subsidy route because I had a lot of confidence in my book, and I like to exert a lot of control over my own projects. But using a subsidy publisher is NOT the same as selling your book. Actually, it's the opposite: you are buying the service of publishing, in order to then sell your book to readers.

I became an author for Harvest House Publishers after my editor found me on the web, and saw that my book had garnered a lot of rave reviews on places like Amazon. I still owned the rights (and anyone considering subsidy publishing should be careful to retain the rights) so that I could sell it to Harvest House when my editor asked to see the book. So, first I would say that you must write the best book you are capable of, and don't even consider self-publishing, or seeking a publisher, until you've finished it. I also don't recommend self-publishing unless you are widely known,or have well-known friends who will help you, and are prepared to devote yourself to marketing full-time. People think, "If I write it, they [readers] will come." It doesn't work this way unless you're already a big name.

WCC: You do workshops of writers; could we see the topics that you teach about?

Linore: My speaking topics are posted on my website Here.

WCC: Thanks so much, Linore. I knew you'd have great advice!

Linore: My pleasure, Tiff.

Linore said she'd stop by and answer questions from people who left comments in the comment section so leave a note for her.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.