I recently attended the amazing WriterFest conference in Nashville. I met some amazing people there, including the renowned romance author Jenny Hale! (Many thanks to Honorée Corder for the introduction.)

Jenny Hale is a USA Today, Amazon, and international bestselling author of romantic contemporary fiction. Her books have sold worldwide, have been translated into multiple languages, and adapted for television.

Her novels Coming Home for Christmas and Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses are Hallmark Channel original movies. She was included in Oprah Magazine’s “19 Dreamy Summer Romances to Whisk You Away” and both Southern Living’s “30 Christmas Novels to Start Reading Now,” as well as “Beach Reads Perfect for Summer 2020.”

Her stories are chock-full of feel-good romance and overflowing with warm settings, great friends, and family. When she isn’t writing or heading up her romantic fiction imprint Harpeth Road, she can be found running around her hometown of Nashville with her husband, two boys, and their labradoodle, taking pictures, which is her favorite pastime.

This was such a fun conversation where Jenny shares insights about story structure, how to begin writing fiction, her daily writing habit, why she started her own publishing company, and much more.

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These are related but not the same thing. Let’s begin with editing first.

The essence of editing is that you are getting someone’s writing or book manuscript ready for publication. But there are different types of editing.

If you are great with content organization or story structure, you might consider developmental editing. That means thinking through the structure and flow of the book on the front end. Or, it could mean re-working a book that has not been properly organized or written. Maybe the author is stuck and needs expert help.

You could also consider line editing, copyediting, or proofreading. Line editing is more of an art than a science. It mainly concerns making sure sentences flow as well as possible. Copyediting mainly focuses on the mechanics of language, ensuring that the writing adheres to correct English usage, grammar, punctuation, citations, and so forth. Proofreading literally refers to reading the proof, which is the final version just before or after it goes to print as a last measure of defense against errors.

Another form of editing is working for a magazine or publication. A few years ago, I worked for The Good Men Project as a lead editor. This means people sent me articles, and I decided which ones to run in my sections, which are also called “verticals” in the publications world. Then, I would give the authors feedback if I needed changes. I almost always made changes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and so forth. It did not pay very well but the experience was absolutely priceless because I learned to think, write, and edit quickly.

If you enjoy the self-publishing process, you can also help others navigate their way through getting their book published. If you are detail-oriented and like to manage complex projects, you can help people get their book cover and interior formatting designed, manage editors, get their book uploaded to Amazon and other online vendors, and market their book.

The bottom line is that if you can write and publish your own books, you can also help other people do the same thing. Most of the writers I know, no matter their level of success, do some type of client work in addition to writing for themselves.

I really like doing client work as one of my income streams because I learn something from every project. Whether you are editing or helping other people publish their books, it’s a great way to serve authors and make money at the same time.

Question: Have you ever considered helping other writers with editing or publishing services? What specific services could you offer?

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Have you ever dreamed of sitting down with an editor at one of the big New York publishing houses and asking them all your questions about the publishing process? If so, you’re in luck, because that’s exactly what I did on today’s episode.

I’m excited to bring you this conversation with Noah Schwartzberg, Senior Editor at Portfolio, which is an imprint of Penguin Random House, the biggest publisher in the United States.

Before joining the Portfolio team in 2019, Noah brought over a decade of experience as an acquisitions editor for McGraw-Hill, Cambridge University Press, and Fairchild Books. His areas of focus include business, economics, finance and investing, and politics. His authors run the gamut from generals to journalists, economists to entrepreneurs. He’s especially interested in stories that shine a light on critical but overlooked issues at the intersection of business and society.

Noah shares his journey in the publishing world, what a publisher looks for in a great book concept, the benefits of traditional publishing, and much more.

You can connect with Noah on Twitter, or LinkedIn.

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Most writers feel that writing and publishing one book is a big enough accomplishment in itself. I’m excited that my guest today is here to help us think about another strategy that can involve a lot more people and produce books more quickly.

The strategy and type of book we’re talking about is an anthology series. As you might already know, an anthology is a book that contains chapters or sections by different authors.

My guest is Laura Di Franco. She is the owner of Brave Healer Productions where she’ll help you share your story, build your business, and change the world.

Laura is a multiple-time Amazon bestselling author with three decades of expertise in holistic physical therapy, a third-degree black belt, and 30 published books. She is a champion of entrepreneurs who want to grow their health-based practices.

Her publishing services, collaborative book projects, writing workshops and retreats, business strategy sessions, and online writing circle are just some of the ways she helps talented professionals maximize their professional impact.

In this conversation, Laura shares why anthologies are such a valuable type of book, how the process works when you have multiple authors involved, how you can get started, and the details of how to make this model work financially.

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In this conversation, Liz helps us understand the ins and outs of book proposals, the elements that make them successful, and why you should create a book proposal even if you self-publish.

Trust me, you’re going to want to take notes on this conversation, because Liz is going to save you countless hours of heartache and confusion by laying out how to create a powerful book proposal!

The post How to Create a Powerful Book Proposal with Liz Morrow appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Let me ask you an honest question. Do you love the work of being a writer?

Here’s what I mean. Do you love the process of coming up with ideas, writing multiple drafts, editing, and working on the design or layout of blog posts or books? Do you take pleasure in the overall creative process?

Or are you more interested in the end result? Do you see all those other things as an irritation or annoyance on the way to getting to the end result?

This is an important question. I believe if you’re going to be successful over the long haul as a writer, you must learn to love every step of the process. The author Dorothy Parker said, “I hate writing. I love having written.”

We all can relate to that, but it’s also a sad commentary on our obsession with the end result.

Sometimes you hear about world-class actors who really relish the process of bringing a character to life, or even living in character on set. Heath Ledger and Daniel Day-Lewis were famous for that. They loved the process, not just going to the movie premiere and seeing themselves on screen.

If you don’t love the drafting or editing process so much, I want you to start seeing it as your friend, as a companion that helps you to produce a better end result. When you come to love the process as much as the end result, the writing life becomes something you can enjoy every day, not just once every year or two when you release a book.

Wouldn’t that be so much more fun?

Question: Do you love every part of the writing process? Why or why not?

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I’m excited to introduce you to my friend Morgan Gist MacDonald. She began her career in academia as a sociologist, but soon found the entrepreneurial pull to take her skills as a researcher, writer, teacher, and leader into building a publishing company from the ground up. With more than 15 years’ experience in writing, editing, and publishing books, Morgan leads the Paper Raven Books team as Founder & CEO in developing the best practices for publishing successfully in the modern, digital age.

Morgan is also the author of the excellent guide Start Writing Your Book Today: A Step-by-Step Plan to Write Your Nonfiction Book, From First Draft to Finished Manuscript.

In this conversation, Morgan shares how to make time to write your book, a few important habits for getting a book done, tips on writing your draft, and a number of book marketing strategies that have worked really well for her.

Morgan is a creative genius who leads an amazing company. This conversation is packed full of insights and wisdom!

You can learn more about Morgan, Paper Raven Books, and grab her guide through the links below:

Paper Raven Books

Grab Morgan’s Guide, Start Writing Your Book Today: A Step-by-Step Plan to Write Your Nonfiction Book, From First Draft to Finished Manuscript.

Follow Morgan on Facebook

Connect with Morgan on LinkedIn

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We all know that Amazon and other print-on-demand companies give authors an amazing opportunity to get our books out into the world without having to stock and ship our own books. But you may not have known about the opportunities that exist for custom-printing your own books.

This is an area I’m exploring myself with at least one current project and possibly future ones for both me and my clients. That’s why I’m excited to bring you this conversation with Jennifer Zahourek.

Jennifer Zahourek is a highly experienced Pediatric & Adult Emergency and Trauma Registered Nurse who is now the Owner and Founder of RekMed. Before Jennifer became a nurse, she had a crippling fear of blood, struggled with dyslexia, and was told by her nursing instructor that she most likely would never pass the NCLEX—the exam you must pass to become a nurse in the US and Canada.

Jennifer then became a travel nurse for most of her nursing career that allowed her the opportunity to work in over ten different Emergency Departments across the country. Jenn found her niche in Level One Trauma Centers, Stroke & Stemi Centers where she grew her experience and education. As a full-time ER nurse, Jennifer started working on a business to help her fellow nursing community learn to lessen the struggles that she had in school. Now, Jennifer sits as the CEO of RekMed that has helped nursing students across the world.

As a result, Jennifer and her company publish print products, and she has developed quite a detailed system for publishing, printing, distributing, and fulfilling these products. You will learn all about her systems and background for creating your own print products.

I want to give a special shout-out to John Stange, author of many books and the host of several podcasts, including the Platform Launchers show. He was gracious enough to make the connection with Jennifer!

You can get connected with Jennifer through one of the links below:

You can learn more about RekMed here.

Follow Jennifer on TikTok.

Connect with Jennifer on Instagram.

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One of my very best friends is a guy named Eric Elder. He is a musician, author, and creative genius who runs TheRanch.org. A few years ago, we were on a call and he showed me how he stays motivated to finish the books he starts writing.

Then, he held up another person’s book, and to the front of it, he had taped a mock-up of a cover for the book he was writing. He already knew in advance the print size of the book, so he made sure to choose another print book of the same size.

I thought this was a genius idea and have been doing the same thing ever since. Anytime I’m working on a book, I always have the cover designed as early in the process as I can. Then I find another print book of the same size, tape a printout of the cover to the front, and keep it on my desk during the whole writing and publishing process.

This helps make the book tangible and real, instead of a file that just lives on your computer. It also helps you make it through the rough spots in the writing and editing. When you keep the vision of the final product clear and it’s sitting on your desk, you will feel much more motivated to keep going.

Daily Question: If you are working on a book project, do you have the cover designed yet? Have you printed it out and attached it to another book of the same size to keep your vision clear?

By the way, you can find out more about Eric Elder and his books, music, and more by visiting TheRanch.org.

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Whenever I talk to new writers, the most overwhelming emotion I sense from them is confusion. There are so many options and resources for writing and publishing a book that it’s hard to know what to do next.

Fortunately, there is a clear pathway forward, and my friend Brigitte Cutshall is here today to walk us through the formula for publishing a quality book. In fact, the title of her new fantastic book is Quality Book Formula: Professionally Publish Your Book for Excellence.

Brigitte is a Solutions Consultant and the Founder of Gemini Media. She knows all the secrets to publishing a quality book after spending three decades in the print media industry. She started Gemini Media to share her insider knowledge of the best solutions with content creators like you. The solutions she offers include production services, print project management, strategic sourcing, and content development.

In this conversation, Brigitte and I get pretty deep into the “geeky” side of publishing, shipping issues, and what it takes to create a fantastic print book. She is a creative genius and it was a blast having her on the show!

You can pick up your copy of Brigitte’s book, or connect with her through the links below:

Quality Book Formula: Professionally Publish Your Book for Excellence

Connect with Brigitte on LinkedIn

Connect with Brigitte on Facebook

Follow Brigitte on Instagram

Real Things Living Podcast and YouTube

Gemini Media

QualityBookFormula.com

BrigitteCutshall.com

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